Valley Forge Captive Advisors (VFCA) is more than just another broker looking to help you lower your insurance costs. Our goal is to guide you through the exploration of insuring your business through a group captive insurance program. VFCA’s involvement starts with determining whether a group captive is the right fit for your business and, if so, which captive makes the most sense (As discussed further in my previous blog Not All Group Captives Are the Same).
Once you become a member of a captive, our job is just beginning, we take pride in making sure you understand the ins and outs of what you joined. Below are 5 important VFCA differences:
1. Our Analysis Starts Before Joining
Before joining a group captive, one of the ways we help businesses evaluate a potential change is by looking at what their results would have been if they had joined five years ago. This analysis uses your company’s loss history and premiums to compare how they would have performed within the captive. This determines the total net cost and educates members to see what they can anticipate from a group captive.
2. We Don’t Just Tell You About the Captive, We Attend the Meetings.
Joining a group captive means becoming an owner of an insurance company. That comes with responsibilities that are different from simply purchasing an insurance policy. VFCA Business Insurance Executives make sure our members are educated on captives and attend board meetings alongside them. While we are integrated with your organization on all insurance policies, we believe it is important to understand the inner workings of your captive and how that affects your bottom line. You are not spending every day thinking about loss reserves, underwriting results, claims development, or captive operations; we are.
3. Risk Control is Essential, So We Are Right By Your Side
The same approach applies to claims. We attend claims meetings and risk control workshops to help make sure that the employees responsible for handling claims and implementing safety programs understand the role they play in captive performance. For a captive member, claims can have a direct impact on the company’s results and the results of the group. By being available during those important meetings, we ensure everyone is on the same page.
4. Full-Service Brokerage with a Captive Focus
While our captive expertise is a major part of what we do, we are a full-service insurance broker. Our clients rely on us for their day-to-day insurance needs and to make sure that contract requirements are met, renewals are negotiated effectively, and certificates of insurance are provided timely. That is why our role is bigger than simply presenting a renewal. We want to help you understand how your insurance program works to alleviate risk, how your captive program operates, and how the two work together.
5. We Stay Involved
A group captive is a long-term commitment. We believe your broker should be involved for the long term as well. From evaluating whether a captive is the right fit, to reviewing the numbers before you join, to helping you understand the documents, attending board meetings, participating in risk control workshops, and sitting in on claims meetings, VFCA stays involved throughout the process.
We are experts and focus in the captive space every day. Our clients run their businesses every day. Our job is to bring the captive knowledge and experience to the table so business owners can focus on running their companies while still understanding the insurance company they own. Your current broker may tell you that they can provide a captive insurance quote; reach out to VFCA today to Experience, Experience!