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Our Summary

This Hartford review considers key factors in the buying process to help you determine if it is the right company for you. This carrier has a diverse industry appetite, serving some of the most common and difficult industries you might work in. As a small business insurance specialist, policyholders can feel confident that their insurance provider has a good understanding of their business and the risks posed in it. 

Company Overview

Hartford’s history is long-standing in insurance. The company was founded in 1810 selling fire insurance but quickly grew just 15 years later to underwrite a policy for Yale University. If you’re looking for a company that can handle risks, both big and small, Hartford is a great option. After all, they helped insure the Hoover Dam and the Golden Gate Bridge construction. And while they have had their hand in business insurance from their early years, this carrier was the first to have a dedicated small business insurance service center that was started in 1983. Hartford continues to innovate in the industry. 

Geographic Representation

Hartford insures businesses in 47 states and Washington D.C. Hartford business insurance does not serve Alaska, Hawaii, and New Jersey. 

Lines of Coverage

The Hartford doesn’t underwrite every type of insurance out there, but what it does do it does well. You can count on Hartford to handle the five most commonly needed insurance policies. 

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

• General Liability: Protection for third-party claims where you might be responsible for someone’s injuries or property damage. 
• Professional Liability: Protection for claims made against your professional services saying that you gave inaccurate advice or did something professionally incorrect.
• Business Owners Policy (BOP): A combination policy of general liability and commercial property insurance reducing gaps in insurance. 
• Workers’ Compensation: Pays medical bills and lost wages for employees who are hurt while working. 
• Commercial Auto: Needed for vehicles used for business purposes. You can combine liability coverage with comprehensive and collision coverage for the most protection.

Top Industries Served

Every insurance company has what is known as an “appetite” for business. This appetite describes the willingness of that carrier to underwrite policies for certain industries. The bigger an insurance carrier’s appetite, the more likely you are to see competitive rates since that carrier has made a point of wanting to write that business and understand the risks involved. 

Unlike many carriers, The Hartford has a pretty varied appetite across a few different industries. This includes Main Street companies such as attorneys and financial advisors, as well as construction and retail. A lot of carriers shy away from the risks of construction, but The Hartford has specifically created policies to cater to service contractors and general contractors in the industry. 

In their medium appetite are policies directed toward the manufacturing and healthcare industries. It can be a good idea to shop around for quotes if you are in either of these industries as the specifics of your business will affect your quote. 

Premium Costs

The premium of a policy will depend on a lot of factors. Insurance companies will consider the location of the business, its revenues, and total property owned along with the industry the business served. While baseline policies are as low as $250 annually with The Hartford, you may see higher prices if you choose higher liability limits or have more business property to insure. 

Underwriting Process

You can start a quote online or call The Hartford for a quote. Applications include basic information about your company that includes your address, what you do, and the value of your business contents. In the underwriting process, The Hartford considers previous claims that may affect your policy.

You can get a quote in as little as 10 minutes. Simple policies can be bound in as little as 30 minutes, with more complex business scenarios taking 48 to 72 hours to underwrite. 

AM Best Ratings

An AM Best rating can tell you a lot about the strength of an insurance company. Good AM Best ratings suggest that an insurance company has demonstrated the financial strength to maintain its financial obligations should an influx of claims arise. 

As of July 29, 2021, AM Best affirmed The Hartford with an A+ rating. This is the second-highest rating that a company can earn and shows that AM Best feels that The Hartford is able to meet its obligations. 

Complaint Index

The National Association of Insurance Commissioners (NAIC) maintains a database of all consumer complaints made against insurance companies. It takes this data and runs it against the market share that each insurer has. This is called a complaint index.

The national average complaint index is set at 1.0 with scores lower than this representing a more favorable complaint score. 

The NAIC complaint index for The Hartford is as follows: 

• Commercial Liability: 8.49 (based on 2 complaints)
• Commercial Property: 64.49 (based on 1 complaint)
• Commercial Auto: 0.94

Based on this data, The Hartford does very well with commercial auto policies but has some work to do when it comes to customer satisfaction for commercial liability and property policies. 

Reputation

When looking at online reviews, one would expect to see the negative reviews pop up as it is common for those who are upset to hit the review sites more so than those who are happy. The Hartford has 49 reviews on Trustpilot with 86% of them being five-star reviews. Only six percent are one-star reviews suggesting that most people are happy with The Hartford’s service. 

Most of the reviews are regarding car insurance and not necessarily pertinent to business insurance.

Concluding Thoughts

The Hartford is eager to write a lot of small business insurance as indicated by their varied appetite and huge small business marketing campaign. It makes sense to get a quote from them to see if you can get the coverage that you need for a great price. While the AM Best rating is strong, we’d like to see them clean up the complaint index, even though those scores are really only reflecting a few complaints. 

Learn more about The Hartford

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.