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Best for construction industry companies seeking a reasonably priced business owners policy

Best for construction industry companies seeking a reasonably priced business owners policy

Liberty Mutual Insurance Review

This Liberty Mutual insurance review looks at policy types, industries served, and more to give you a sense of whether it is the right fit for you. Liberty Mutual serves a lot of industries but has a particularly large appetite for those in the construction industry. It offers the main types of commercial insurance needed by small-to-mid-sized businesses with a top-notch claims department. 

Company Overview

In 2020, Liberty Mutual was the sixth-largest provider of property and casualty insurance in the world and the fourth-largest when it comes to commercial lines in the U.S. The insurance carrier was founded in 1912, bringing more than a century of experience to its policyholders. Liberty Mutual touts its expertise with industry specialization, becoming experts in the risks presented by the industries that they cover. It is a mutual company, meaning its policyholders are owners and this is a driving principle in decisions and new innovative solutions. 

Geographic Representation

Liberty Mutual has a wide footprint across the country. It serves all 50 states plus the District of Columbia with property and casualty coverage.

Lines of Coverage

Liberty Mutual is well known for its auto and home insurance. When it comes to commercial lines of coverage, it offers these five main types of policies a business owner will need. 

The types of commercial insurance policies that you can get with Liberty Mutual include:

  • General Liability: Pays claims where you are responsible for (or accused of causing) injuries or property damage to a third party
  • Professional Liability: Covers claims stating that you gave errant advice or didn’t perform our job to professional standards. 
  • Business Owners Policy (BOP): Combines general liability with commercial property for a comprehensive commercial insurance policy. 
  • Workers’ Compensation: Pays medical expenses and lost wages to employees who are hurt on the job.
  • Commercial Auto: Covers vehicles used for business purposes. Starts with liability protection and can also include comprehensive and collision coverage. 

Top Industries Served

Insurance companies have industries that they prefer to underwrite business for. This is called their appetite and when they have a strong appetite for a particular industry, business owners in that industry often see more competitive pricing. 

Liberty Mutual has a strong appetite for the construction industry. This includes businesses such as independent service contractors (electricians, plumbers, carpenters, and masons). Those in retail, main street offices, and manufacturing enjoy competitive pricing as well with Liberty Mutual showing a moderate appetite for these industries. 

In addition, they also underwrite business in transportation, healthcare, and agriculture. Businesses in these categories may want to shop around to get a sense for how insurance quotes may vary across different insurance providers based on the specific risk factors of their business and the expertise of the agency.

Premium Costs

Policy premiums are contingent on the industry that you are in, your revenues, sometimes payroll, and property owned. Of course, choosing higher liability limits will also affect pricing by increasing it. Liberty Mutual’s baseline policy for both general liability and a BOP starts at $250.

Underwriting Process

To get a commercial insurance policy from Liberty Mutual, you’ll need to contact an independent agent or broker like Tivly to provide a quote. The application will include details about your business such as location, industry served, and size. We’ll also review your claims history when taking the application. Once the application is complete, Liberty Mutual may take up to 48 hours or longer to underwrite the policy. This is the time that the insurance carrier is doing its due diligence on your company. Once approved, the policy is issued and protection starts. 

AM Best Ratings

AM Best is the most widely used third-party rating system for insurance carriers. A good rating from AM Best suggests that a company is solvent and capable of handling its claims appropriately.

AM Best gives Liberty Mutual Group an A. This is the third-highest rating a company can receive from AM Best. The outlook for Liberty Mutual’s rating remains stable. 

While not every insurance carrier is rated by Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, Liberty Mutual is. Moody’s currently gives the carrier an A2 rating which is the sixth-highest achievable. Standard & Poor’s currently gives them an A which is also the sixth-highest rating. Both ratings suggest that there may be elements presenting financial susceptibility with the carrier. 

Complaint Index

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) conducts an annual review of complaints about insurance companies and issues a complaint index. This index provides insights as to whether or not a company has more or fewer complaints than expected for its market share. The average index score is 1.0 with scores above this suggesting the company has more complaints than expected. Scores below 1.0 mean the company has fewer complaints than expected. 

The NAIC Complaint Index for Liberty Mutual is as follows: 

  • Commercial Liability: 1.53
  • Commercial Property: 1.96
  • Commercial Auto: 0.50

Liberty Mutual performs better when it comes to commercial auto insurance but has some complaint issues regarding liability insurance and commercial property coverage. Most claims have to deal with claim delays and unsatisfactory settlements on claims. 

Reputation

Online reviews are a mixed bag of ratings and comments on both personal and commercial lines of insurance. On Trustpilot, Liberty Mutual does not fare well with its 78 reviews with only 4% being five-star ratings and 90% being one-star ratings. Upset customers complained about claims practices that undercut what the loss really was. 

And while Liberty Mutual has an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, it fielded over 1,090 complaints. To their credit, Liberty Mutual addresses each complaint and seems to want to rectify the situation where possible. 

Concluding Thoughts

Liberty Mutual is a major player in the commercial insurance space. Not only does it underwrite a lot of policies being one of the largest insurers for business insurance, but it also tackles a difficult industry. Many carriers shy away from the risks found in the construction industry, but this is actually Liberty Mutual’s strength. Business owners can rest assured that Liberty Mutual will protect them against their biggest claim losses. 

Learn more about Liberty Mutual

Methodology

CommericalInsurance.net employs its own independent research to come up with the details for reviews. We do this so that you can have as many insights as possible about a company so that you can make the best decision for your commercial insurance. We take into consideration the company’s history and where they serve. We want to highlight the appetite that a company has as this suggests where business owners can get the most competitive rates. Where possible, we include premium data. From there, we take into account formal complaints, and financial strength ratings along with public reviews painting a broad picture of the company’s reputation.