Top 5 best commercial insurance companies

Here is our list of the top 5 best commercial insurance companies in our opinion. This list is only made up of insurers that offer Business Package Insurance policies. We have categorised these insurers based off their level of cover, claims service and pricing.

When businesses are looking for insurance it is common for them to search for the best commercial insurance companies or who is the cheapest insurance company in my area. With the insurance industry the way that it is, these questions can be difficult to answer as some insurers are extremely competitive for insuring Doctors practices or medical clinics and others love retail shop fronts. As such, it is important to find a good balance between the 3 key categories of who offers a strong level of cover, is quite easy to deal with when making a claim and who is priced competitively.

As an Insurance Broker in the industry, we see these 3 categories come to light day in and day out so here is some insight on who we rank as the top 10 best commercial insurance companies in Australia.

Hollard Commercial Insurance

Hollard unfortunately, doesnt have the best reviews if you search their company online and i’ve had to address this with clients multiple times. Hollard Commercial Insurance underwrites policies for a large amount of niche underwriting agencies here in Australia and when something doesn’t go to plan or a claim is declined Hollard have unfortuantely copped the poor reviews when really, its the underwriting agency that builds the product and the insurer simply agrees to charge a premium for the cover and pays out the respective claims that fall within that cover.

Overall Hollard Commercial Insurance probably have one of the broadest levels of cover which allows them to write policies for most industries, have a stable level of premium across these risks and also has quite a strong track record with their claim service. It is also important to note that they have a strong level of engagement with insurance brokers where they continue to take on feedback that we provide that would offer a better level of service.

Allianz

Allianz would rank second in our opinion of the top 5 best commercial insurance companies and Allianz are a global empire where insurance is concerned. They have a strong insurance presence worldwide and you will find them operating in most countries around the world. Allianz Australia offer most types of policies from Business Package Insurance, Motor, Management Liability and Professional Indemnity. Their reach of accessibility has allowed them to build a competitively priced suite of products with broad levels of cover across their policies. As a broker, we love broad policies because in the game of insurance when endorsements are applied to policies this will usually restrict or minimise the level of cover that is provided. Commonly referred to as “the fine print”. If we had to offer Allianz any constructive feedback it would be their claim service, not that it is poor by any means however, being such a large company there have been times where clients have fallen through the cracks.

QBE

QBE is a fairly common household name and whether you have purchased a policy directly through QBE or have used a broker before there is a good chance that you have come across a policy or a recommendation which includes QBE. QBE was a perfect fit to take out a position in the top 3 best commercial insurance companies in Australia. QBE can be one the insurers that we mentioned above that can be very aggressively priced on industries that they love to write however, can be a lot higher for industries they consider as higher risk. One significant factor which should be recognised for QBE is that you will typically find them as the only insurer left willing to cover certain risks or occupations when everyone else has declined. If you have a higher risk property location that deals in manufacturing goods than most insurers will start walking away very quickly however, QBE will usually always put some sort of cover forward.

AIG

AIG is an American based insurer which also has a strong presense in Australia and New Zealand. They will typically only write policies that come through a broking network and are heavily involved in the commercial insurance space. AIG has had some service related issues in the past which are continually getting rectified however, overall they still remain a competitive option worth considering. For most clients, they are happy to never have to engage with their insurer and just want piece of mind that if something does go extremely wrong than they have cover in place to fall back on so when AIG puts forward quotes that are very attractively priced they will usually be one of our recomendations.

 

Zurich

Another international insurer that has been insuring Australian businesses for a number of years is Zurich and with their strong reputation for quality product offerings has allowed them to be our 5th choice in our top 5 best commercial insurance companies in Australia. Zurich offer business package policies through broker arrangements that are competitive and have comprehensive cover. They also offer multiple product lines which means that their presence, service expectations and cover is usually quite strong. Zurich are also one of the only insurers that automatically include flood cover under their Steadfast Business Package policies which is a great advantage. Flood is an optional cover in commercial insurance however, when an insurer automatically includes something like Flood – this shows their intention to best protect their customers.

Why did we pick these insurers to be the top 5 best insurance companies?

These top 5 best insurance companies have all been based off their association with Steadfast and all of these insurers offer a Steadfast branded policy wording for their business package policies. A Steadfast branded policy wording means that it has gone through the audit process of Steadfast and Steadfast has agreed that the policy offered is sufficient enough to be offered on their contestable quoting platform. These particular insurers of the multiple that we could have chosen offer what we consider a better level of service and a level of service that we expect to be maintained for our clients.

Please note: Policies that have been arranged directly with these insurers are different to that offered through a broking group suchas Steadfast. Should you wish to have the same level of confidence that we do in the above insurers than i would strongly suggest placing these policies through a Steadfast Broker. Any policy placed directly with an insurer is bound only by the policy written and intended to be offered by that insurer and in most cases we find that these policies provide you with less cover.