BearWise Landscapers is proud to be a member of the Professional Landcare Network (PLANET).

PLANET is an international association serving lawn care professionals, landscape management contractors, design/build/installation professionals, and interior plantscapers. PLANET provides its members with a good business foundation to help them evaluate, plan, and better manage their companies. Member firms have direct access to marketing tools, industry specific business publications, updates on legislative issues, and networking opportunities that can assist them in becoming more profitable.

PLANET emerged on January 1, 2005, when the Associated Landscape Contractors of America (ALCA) and the Professional Lawn Care Association of America (PLCAA) joined forces to become a more encompassing network of green industry professionals.

PLCAA, organized in 1979, was the premier global trade association for residential and commercial lawn care professionals.

ALCA, founded in 1961, was the premier global trade association for landscape maintenance, installation, and design/build contractors and interiorscapers.

PLANET develops and maintains active programs for more than 4,000 member firms in the areas of business management, government affairs, public relations, technical assistance, safety and insurance, education, and interindustry relations with other facets of the green industry.

With more than 4,000 member companies and affiliates in PLANET, these firms and their employees represent more than 100,000 green industry professionals served by the association.

For more information, visit LandcareNetwork.org

BearWise Landscapers is a division of Black Bear Insurance Agency that specializes in the unique needs of landscaping businesses. We are proud to be a member of the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA). Here is some information about IIABA:

The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America (IIABA) is a national alliance of 300,000 business owners and their employees who offer all types of insurance and financial services products.

Unlike company-employed agents, IIABA independent insurance agents and insurance brokers represent more than one insurance company, so they can offer clients a wider choice of auto, home, business, life, health coverages as well as retirement and employee-benefit products.

IIABA agents and brokers not only advise clients about insurance, they recommend loss-prevention ideas that can cut costs. If a loss occurs, the independent insurance agent or broker stands with the client until the claim is settled.

IIABA was founded in 1896 as the National Local Association of Fire Insurance Agents. With the expansion of property-casualty business and coverages, the organization’s name was changed to the National Association of Insurance Agents in 1913. To emphasize its members’ ability to work with a variety of insurance companies, the organization became the Independent Insurance Agents of America in 1975. The Association’s name was changed in 2002 to the Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America to reflect the diversity of its membership, which includes both independent insurance agents and insurance brokers.

IIABA is a voluntary federation of state associations and local boards, with affiliates in every state and the District of Columbia. Its independent insurance agents and brokers are politically astute and are involved both locally and nationally. They monitor and affect consumer, insurance agent and broker, and small business issues in Washington through IIABA’s active, professional staff on Capitol Hill.

BearWise Landscapers is your source for multiple insurance carriers that underwrite business insurance policies for landscaping and lawn care businesses. Our insurance agents have the ability to offer coverages through a variety of insurance carriers and we strive to further benefit your business through our specialization in the landscaping industry. To receive comparative insurance quotes, please complete our online insurance questionnaire.

After posting a couple of articles about insurance fraud in August, I was emailed a link to this article about insurance fraud on the website of Florida’s Association of Insurance Agents. The article was written by Fred Wharton and he made this comment about the economy and its impact on insurance fraud:

Insurance fraud continues to grow in the United States and is reaching into the hundreds of billions of dollars annually. With America’s sagging economy threatening well into 2009 and beyond, fraud fighters are observing many kinds of insurance schemes spiking as stressed policyholders try to bilk insurers to help bail them out of financial distress.
Insurance fraud normally increases during a troubled economy. The credit crunch, sub-prime meltdown, and general economic distress have led more insureds to seek a bailout through insurance money.

The article continues to discuss a few types of insurance fraud and how it has increased on specific policies. In conclusion, Fred mentions fraud on workers’ compensation insurance and then some of the overall impacts of this crime:

Experts on workers’ compensation premium fraud say declining economic conditions have resulted in more employers falsifying employee classification, understating payrolls or attempting to evade coverage requirements. The Coalition Against Insurance Fraud, reported “a trend towards passing laws making premium fraud a specific crime.” California, Florida, Illinois, New Jersey, New York, and Texas are among the states that have made workers’ compensation premium fraud a specific felony. This is, in part, because of growing attention being paid to the so-called ‘underground economies’ of many states. Premium schemes also will be influenced by how U.S. President Obama deals with the flood of immigrants who fuel the underground economy, the coalition’s Dennis Jay notes. Unabated, illegal immigration could encourage the social and economic conditions that allow premium fraud to thrive, thus immigration policy will need to consider the impact on costly societal problems such as premium fraud.

If you look beyond the high dollar costs and economic decline, you’ll also see honest, hardworking Americans whose lives, businesses, careers, and families are damaged or even ruined by insurance fraud crimes.

● People lose their savings. Trusting citizens are bilked out of thousands of dollars, often their entire life savings, by insurance investment schemes. The elderly are especially vulnerable.

● Health is endangered. People’s health and lives are endangered by swindlers who sell nonexistent health policies or doctors who perform unnecessary medical care to illegally inflate health insurance claims.

● Premiums stay high. Auto and homeowner insurance prices stay high because insurance companies must pass the large costs of insurance fraud to policyholders.

● Consumer goods cost more. Prices of goods at your department or grocery store keep rising when businesses pass higher costs for their health and commercial insurance onto customers.

● Honest businesses lose money. Businesses lose millions in income annually because fraud increases their costs for employee health coverage and business insurance.

● Innocent people are killed and maimed. People die from insurance schemes such as staged auto accidents, life insurance scams, and arson — including children and families. People have been murdered for life insurance benefits.

Government at all levels, federal, state and local, understand these issues and realize that insurance fraud can no longer be looked at as a victimless crime or just the insurance companies’ problem. As such, many states have mandated anti-fraud initiatives and anti-fraud plans to help combat this growing problem. Sixteen states currently require anti-fraud training; nineteen states require insurers to file a fraud plan, which includes tactics to combat fraud.

As economic recovery appears to be a lengthy proposition, industry members must do their part to become familiar with and combat insurance fraud.

At BearWise Landscapers, our goal is to provide practical and in-depth insurance information to landscaping businesses. We believe that by providing services above and beyond the typical insurance agency, that we will earn the trust of landscapers and will establish our insurance program as the expert in the landscaping industry. We believe this approach is the best way to conduct business.

This approach has received the attention of other insurance agencies and we were mentioned in this November article by Insurance News & Views, a weekly publication delivered to independent insurance agencies by the Independent Insurance Agents and Brokers Association. The article, written by Veronica DeVore, described how even though more “personal lines insurance customers [are turning] to the Internet for their insurance needs, small business owners clearly prefer working directly with an agent to purchase workers’ compensation coverage.” Here is a quote that mentions our service of providing information to your landscaping business over this website and specific workers’ compensation information on another website:

While this personal touch is clearly valued among commercial insureds, EMPLOYERS has identified a gradual shift in how customers plan to service and perhaps even purchase policies in the future. The survey reports that the Internet’s role in workers’ compensation purchases will increase from 11% to 17% in the next 12 months, and many respondents plan to go online for information and quotes at their next renewal.

“Agents have to earn their role (as an advisor) by delivering more and more value,” says Welch. “They can do so with Internet sites of their own to help the insured obtain information.”

One agency has done just that by creating a separate Web site only for workers’ compensation needs. Drew Roberts, an account executive at Black Bear Insurance Agency in Longwood, Fla., says that while agents are still at the heart of selling workers’ compensation coverage at his agency, the Web site simplifies the process by answering customer questions in detail and by allowing quotes to be submitted electronically. Roberts adds that busy small business owners like to be able to read about coverage and complete quote forms “at midnight” if they want to, and he and his fellow agents like the time they save by directing customers to the Web site when questions arise. The agency plans to add a blog section to address even more customer concerns in an online format.

“It’s a way for us to provide general information and an introduction (to workers’ compensation coverage),” Roberts says. “We don’t have to answer questions multiple times and we can answer them more thoroughly by using the Web site.”

Our hope is that you continue to find this website informative and practical for your business insurance needs. If you have any insurance related issues for your landscaping business that are not addressed on this website, please contact me with them. I look forward to continually providing a quality insurance service to the landscape industry and appreciate the opportunity that you give us to do that.

Thank you!

As an insurance agent specializing in the landscaping industry, I am often asked: “What types of insurance do I need?”

I think this is a great question and I recommend that you ask yourself and your insurance agent this question periodically as your landscaping business grows and every time your operations change. The purpose of insurance is to finance specific risks in your business. It is also helpful to keep in mind that insurance is a contract and the premium you pay purchases those exact coverages as defined by the insurance policy.

This response does not answer the question and there is not an easy answer to this question. Your insurance limits, types of insurance, and exact coverages, should be customized around the unique exposures of your landscaping business. As a lawn care business with one owner and no employees, this is easier to recommend. But even with these businesses, there is a lot of variety in insurance needs. Some of these businesses may be more comfortable with risk or have low values on their equipment and may not need to carry equipment floater insurance. Some may have one large commercial client and need higher limits of insurance to protect that exposure to loss. The insurance you should carry for your business depends entirely on the specific characteristics and needs of your business.

I leave this open-ended because I encourage you to look at your own insurance needs and analyze if they are properly covered with your insurance policies. Feel free to contact me directly or one of the other insurance agents at BearWise Landscapers if you would like to discuss this issue. We are available not only to offer insurance quotes, but also to be a resource.