There have been numerous recent headlines regarding vehicle accidents with extraordinary large claim payouts that reach well into the tens of millions of dollars. The majority of these accidents involved large trucks/tractors, however a few have been caused by private passenger automobiles, particularly from the “hired and non-owned” exposure, where employees are either renting a vehicle or using a private vehicle on company business.
In looking further into these recent large events, some common factors/trends come to mind:
As reported by recent statistics:
As these large events continue to rise, it has caused some concern in the insurance marketplace by the reduction in available risk bearing capacity or reconsidering the product offering for automobile/truck liability. Insureds with large fleets are actively involved in trying to mitigate these exposures by investing capital and resources in safety and driver training programs, more vigorous driver selection reviews, fleet maintenance, and having a robust claims management approach.
At Old Republic Risk Management, our unbundled approach to claims and loss control allows our insureds to determine which claims protocol is best for them and which safety programs fit their goals and budgets. We are dedicated to managing these risks for the long run and are willing to provide solutions from an underwriting and claims perspective as we continue to see rise in these unfortunate circumstances.