FAQs
About Our FAQs
Below you will find some of the commonly asked questions we recieve. We encourage you to read through them and if you have a question that we have not answered below, we are always willing to have a discussion to help answer those questions.
Do your policies comply with upcoming liquor liability laws in South Carolina?
Yes. Specifically, the new requirements that establish liability coverage with at least 50% of aggregate limit as per occurrence limit. All of our liquor liability policies come with exactly $1,000,000 aggregate limits and $500,000 per occurrence limits.
Is this insurance the same as the policies we have had in the past?
Yes and no. We are not a traditional insurance company; we are a captive insurance company. What that means is that we are an insurance company that “self-insures” members of our group.
Captive insurance companies are unique because they can have a much more industry specific underwriting standard than a typical traditional insurance carrier may have. Unlike traditional insurance carriers, our company is owned by it’s covered insureds.
Are captives allowed to write liquor liability insurance?
Yes. You can read the full legislation regarding captive insurance and liquor liability
Do you cover all states?
No. our focus is on responsible growth which is a driving factor behind our availability. Currently our program is only open to locations in South Carolina, North Carolina and Georgia.
We are very conscious of making sure we are not sacrificing underwriting standards for the sake of growth. In the future we may open up to additional states but only at a time when we feel comfortable with our ability to accurately assess risk.
Can I purchase a policy from my current agent?
No. You can only purchase through The Edmund Andrew Company. We believe that in order to keep with our overall goal of providing pricing stability to the hospitality industry, we need to have control over the entire process. Introducing third-party agents/brokers is not something we believe helps us achieve that goal as it adds an additional “uncertainty” to the product.
Third-Party agents have a primary goal of selling to increase agency revenue. We have a primary goal of creating a stable product.
Do you allow pool tables?
Yes. We accept pools tables for our policies, however we are very particular about the type of atmosphere that comes with those pool tables.
We are very conscious of that atmosphere and have some guidelines for pool table use that we prefer. For example, tables rented by the hour not per game.
Do you allow live music?
Yes. We believe this one of the fundamental misunderstandings with current traditional insurance markets. Most markets are moving this one characteristic to an automatic decline. We believe that not all live music/entertainment is the same and that the atmosphere you create by offering live music should be the driving underwriting force. We put a much bigger emphasis on types of music, crowd sizes, crowd demographics and hours of entertainment.
I am automatically declined if I have had a previous claim?
No. Unlike traditional carriers we do not automatically decline you if you have a had a previous claim. Instead we are very interested in the circumstances surrounding that claim and what caused the claim to begin with. What are interested in what safeguards have been implemented since the claim and/or what policies have been enacted. Is this claim likely to occur again or was it really a “one-off.”
Why would you need a P/L and Balance Sheet?
We are very interested in who we are getting into business with. Remember you are more than a policy holder with us, you are also an owner. We want to make sure that any business that we insure is on the “up-and-up” and is likely to be a successful business. We have seen it time and time again, when businesses struggle financially, they are more likely to participate in risky behavior/business practices. Our primary goal is always focused on protecting our current policy holders/shareholders.
Can my policy be non-renewed?
Yes. we continually review our policyholder business practices. This is an ongoing process. If a policy holder changes business practices or operations to include riskier or “out of appetite” behavior, we do reserve the right to non-renew that policy.
