When you’re working in a fast-paced environment, it’s easy to get sidetracked and even harder to get back to the task at hand. One way to ensure we stay on the more efficient path is having a complete submission. Your time is extremely valuable, as is ours. Spending time on quality submissions is a no brainer; however, putting time into something knowing it’s going nowhere is a waste of time for all parties involved. In a perfect world, we would expect to have the following information up front to start the submission life cycle:

• Completed application
• Currently valued loss runs
• MVRs for all drivers
• Last 4 quarters of IFTA reports
• Target pricing
• Brief narrative/background of submission

While we love chatting with our agency partners, we are committed to providing you with an effective, efficient experience. If all submission items are received up front, this would help us provide you with the most accurate quote and would also limit the back-and-forth correspondence. Most of the items listed above include ratable metrics that are premium bearing. Without one of these items, pricing could be off, and again, prolongs the submission life cycle. We don’t want to waste your valuable time by asking additional questions that could have been answered on the application.

Two other items that are typically missed on applications are “Dates of Hire” and “Years of Experience” for all drivers. They may seem like small pieces of irrelevant information, however both are premium bearing metrics which most, if not all, of our markets use to determine pricing. To break it down, companies with veteran drivers tend to be higher quality as they know the rules of the road, have more experience, and are more likely to adhere to company driving/safety guidelines. Knowing these items up front can allow us to determine market availability quickly. Not enough experience? Quick decline. High driver turnover? Quick decline. These items can be discussed if not up to par but knowing these up front puts us in a better position to WIN.

MVRs (motor vehicle reports) are also crucial to providing the most accurate quote. MVRs provide underwriters with an operator’s driving history, typically including driver information, license type, violations, accidents, etc. All of which can be premium bearing. Knowing this history allows us to move quickly and can also help us determine market availability. Certain violations can lead to automatic declines. If we know up front, we can provide a quick declination to help you move on.

Another item often missed is target pricing. What is the insured currently paying and what would they like to be paying? While it’s easy to quickly complete an application and submit for a quote, knowing where desired pricing sits is crucial and can help us determine if we can be competitive. Obviously, if we know for a fact that we cannot be competitive in certain instances, we don’t want to prolong the submission life cycle if we don’t have to. Providing a “quick death” can save us both time. We all want to win, but a quick death allows us to focus more on the submissions worth spending time on as opposed to ones we know will lead to a dead end.

Quoting for-hire trucking risks can be very exciting. As mentioned above, your time is valuable, as is ours. We want to help you win! To do that, providing us with a complete submission puts us in the best position to win. If you ever have any questions as to why certain items are important or wish to discuss a risk prior to sending a complete submission, please feel free to reach out to the Transportation Department within Arlington/Roe. With our knowledge and experience, we can keep you and our truckers moving in the right direction.

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