Author, Dave Garcia, President, Rancho Mesa Insurance Services, Inc.

In two previous articles/podcasts, we explored “below the surface” impacts from payroll inflation and lost time workers’ compensation claims. We provided detail on how these can negatively impact a business’s productivity and profitability and what companies can do to mitigate those impacts. Today, let’s look at another area where you need a keen awareness to really understand all the impacts.

What is the true impact an auto accident can have on areas of your business? For discussion, let’s consider an accident where your driver is at fault and also injured. This type of accident is much like an octopus in that it is going to touch many areas of your insurance program. 

• First, there is the damage to your auto, obviously this will be covered under the physical damage portion of your policy.

• Second, you will have the physical damage and potential bodily injury to the third party whom your driver hit. This would fall under the auto liability portion of your policy. Additionally, if the other party or parties are severely injured it could penetrate your initial layer of liability insurance requiring your umbrella/excess policy to respond. As a side note, in my 35 years in the insurance industry, the largest claims that we see are predominately in auto due to the potential of severe bodily injury.

• Third, given that your driver was injured, this claim will trigger your workers compensation policy to provide coverage for both the indemnity and medical costs of their injuries.

• Fourth, the claims will impact your loss ratios in both your automobile insurance and workers compensation, causing the potential for future premium increases.

• Fifth, this claim will also cause your Experience Modification to rise, which again will cause the potential for future premium increases as well as potentially, if you’re a contractor, eliminate you from bidding on certain work.

• Sixth, replacing the injured driver may mean having to hire someone new which will increase payroll and lead to additional training time and a loss of productivity.

I’m sure your head is spinning and you’re probably wondering “all this, from one accident?” What should I do? Thankfully there are several things you can do to mitigate this before the accident occurs. Consider the following:

• Do you have a formal fleet safety program in place? If not, work with your trusted advisor to get one in place. If you would like us to help you with that contact our client services team to set up a time to review our trainings and fleet safety resources with you.

• Do you have a distracted driving policy in place for your drivers? This is by far the leading cause of auto accidents and while many are at low speeds, they can still be very costly. High speed distracted driving accidents can be catastrophic.

• Are you participating in the DMV Pull Program? If not, this is a valuable tool that will provide you with information on your drivers’ experience regardless if the infraction or incident occurred as a part of work or outside of work. Most auto insurance carriers will view this as a subjective credit on your premium rating. You can do this very inexpensively and direct via the DMV website.

• Are you using any telematics tools, like GPS, speed and breaking tracking, cameras (both forward facing and rear facing)? These devices are again viewed as a subjective credit by insurance carriers.

• Once an accident occurs, are you completing a thorough accident investigation report with a description of the accident, witness statements, pictures, police report (if available) and then reviewing the data to determine root cause and possible changes to your fleet safety program?

As you’ve seen, the key to mitigating this type of claim is to keep it from occurring, which is easier said than done.  Accidents will still happen. While you may not be the “at fault’ party in many of the accidents, reducing the likelihood of your driver being at fault starts with your commitment to a strong fleet safety program. If you need help in creating this fleet safety program, please contact our client services team to get started. 

Once you have a strong program in place and you feel more in control of your vehicle safety performance there are other cost saving programs that you would be eligible to consider.  We discussed those in other articles where we explore Performance Based Insurance Programs.

I hope you find this information useful and that you are able to take away an idea or two that might improve your operations. To learn more best practice techniques, contact us or reach out to me directly at dgarcia@ranchomesa.com.