Larry St. John Featured in Independent Agent Magazine
Larry St. John, President of Eclipse Marketing and Insurance Services, was recently featured in Independent Agent Magazine in the article “From the Front Lines: Commercial Auto.”
In the article, Larry details his journey in commercial insurance and his passion for underserved verticals.
“We’ve always focused on business coverages, particularly for underserved business groups and hard-to-place industries. It’s funny how 20 years ago, auto almost just came with the account, but now it’s often the problem child. It’s maybe even the most problematic line for insureds, especially if they have had any claim activity,” he explained.
The commercial insurance market continues to change, and often those changes prove problematic to those customers that need the products most, he noted.
The biggest industry challenge has been and continues to be a hardening market. Prices have increased across all the niches over the past years, and carriers are leaving California or trying to pull back coverage breadth.
“It’s a real wrestling match for nearly every renewal. We expect to work with underwriters for reasonable renewal terms because they are not offered by default. We’ve been fortunate that we’ve kept strong relationships with carriers that have a healthy appetite for non-standard accounts—they’ve picked up the slack where the preferred markets have backed away. Our partnerships there have been worth a lot to those customers that need them.”
However, even through challenges, Larry has been nothing but thankful for the opportunity to work as an independent agent and provide the best and most appropriate tools and coverage to his clients.
About Eclipse
Founded in 1972, the Eclipse Insurance team has been dedicated to understanding the needs of and providing services to underserved industries such as construction, electronic security, and environmental services. Eclipse helps you understand your coverage, plan for growth and avoid or mitigate risk. Call us today to learn more! (800) 530-4448
About the Author
Larry St. John is a 20+ year veteran of insurance and risk management for the construction and electronic security industries.
He can be reached at LStJohn@eclipseinsurance.com