EverGuard COVID-19 Announcements Will Be Posted And Updated Here

EverGuard Insurance Services

Due to the current outbreak of the COVID-19 virus, our company is taking proactive measures to protect our staff and the continuity of our business operations. Most of our employees are working remotely to maximize “social distancing” and reduce the risk of widespread infection in our home office.

For the avoidance of any confusion, please understand that EverGuard is open for business and operating at full capacity to serve you and your hospitality clients. These measures are proactive and in place to ensure continuity so that we can maintain our best-in-industry service on an uninterrupted basis. We remain fully committed to the highest service standards while ensuring the safety and security of our employees, clients and vendors during this unusual time. 

Claims information:  Regarding coverage under an insured’s First Mercury/Crum & Forster policy for any claim(s) related to or caused by Covid-19.

Your client’s policy may contain certain policy forms to consider, including but not limited to:

Form CP 01 40 07 06 – Exclusion of Loss Due to Virus or Bacteria. This is a standard, mandatory form on all First Mercury/Crum & Forster policies that have first party property coverage. A property claim for  first party losses to an insured’s business as a result of Covid-19, whether it be reduction in sales, complete closure of the business, or any other potential first party property loss, could be impacted by the CP 01 40 07 06 form.

Please read the form in its entirety.  EverGuard recommends that every claim be submitted and formally reviewed by the carrier so it can be evaluated on its own merit. 

Form CG 21 32 05 09, Communicable Disease Exclusion. Another potential type of claim would result from bodily injury or property damage to a third party (example: patron alleges they contracted the virus while at an insured location).  This form MAY be included in the insured’s policy. Whether the policy contains form CG 21 32 05 09 or not, we strongly recommend any liability claim presented to the insured be submitted to the carrier timely so it can be formally investigated and evaluated by the carrier.

Please note, EverGuard Insurance Services, Inc. has no claims authority whatsoever, and is not offering a coverage opinion or determination, only the carrier has the authority to evaluate claims. 

Please submit all claims or potential claims via email to Maria Wolfe at EverGuard, mwolfe@everguardins.com

New business:  We are open for business and ready to support/service our brokers and insureds with our full range of coverages; property, GL & Ll. We will continue to write property coverage within our package policies for new business submissions.  

HNOA: To support our insureds that are restricted to delivery and pick up service during this critical shut down phase we will consider their request to add HNOA coverage to the policy.

Premium payment terms: EverGuard will honor any state DOI order related to premium payment grace periods.

ACH Premium payment is now requested: To ensure timely and accurate application of premium payments, we are requesting that all payments to EverGuard be transmitted through electronic channels, such as ACH or wire transfer. Please contact our accounting department for more information. 

Additionally, we highly encourage you to provide EverGuard with appropriate ACH instructions for your financial institution so that we can remit return premiums and commission payments to you on the most timely basis. Physical paper checks will be issued and mailed by EverGuard on a once-monthly basis, whereas we can return premiums and pay commissions by ACH on a more frequent schedule.  

In order to continue to provide the best services to our customers, please continue to reach out through our dedicated channels for any inquiries that you may have.

Policy Support and Underwriting:

EverGuard Support: support@everguardins.com

Billing and General Accounting:

EverGuard Accounting: accounting@everguardins.com

General Concerns or Emergencies: 

Tom Gillingham: tom.gillingham@everguardins.com

John Mahoney: john.mahoney@everguardins.com

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation during this time.

futureWork and EverGuard

With restaurants, bars and taverns making plans to reopen and resume operations amid the COVID-19 pandemic, EverGuard Insurance Services is pleased to offer our policyholders a unique solution to enhance customer and employee safety in this new environment. EverGuard has entered a partnership with futureWork, an innovative company that provides an easy-to-use smartphone app to screen for COVID-19 in the workforce, including temperature checks and symptom assessment and review.

For a limited time, EverGuard policyholders are eligible to enjoy a one-month free trial of futureWork by clicking and signing up here: https://www.altumai.com/ever-guard

The futureWork platform is about capturing the data that surrounds every worker to identify risk and provide awareness, communication, and engagement to keep the individual worker safe and healthy. futureWork is a smartphone-based application that tracks several worker health and safety metrics, including temperature and symptom screening. Many states are requiring hospitality businesses to check employee temperature as a condition of reopening, and futureWork provides a tool to track and manage that data. Additionally, futureWork provides a marketing toolkit to help EverGuard’s policyholders differentiate themselves from their competition by highlighting safety and screening practices as customers come out from lockdowns in search of safe businesses to visit.

To learn more about EverGuard’s partnership with futureWork, and to take advantage of the one-month free trial available to our policyholders, click here now: https://www.altumai.com/ever-guard

Welcome to our new EverGuard Agent Portal

How to use our new agent portal:

Please make sure you are using the agent portal in a modern browser such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Edge. Our agent portal does not support Internet Explorer.

1.   Navigate to https://www.everguardins.com/for-agents

2.   Click login. If you do not have credentials click first-time user and fill out your first application. Your login credentials will be sent after your first submission.

3.   Login with your credentials.

4.   Click the Tavern/Bar/Restaurant Application dashboard shortcut

5.   Fill out application. You can save finished pages by clicking save or next at the bottom of the page.

6.   Once you click submit on the final page, your application will be submitted to us. You will see a message confirming that your submission was received. You will also receive an email with a copy of your submitted application for your records.

If you have any questions or are having any issues with the portal please contact our IT department at 206-957-6560 or IT@everguardins.com.

EverGuard's Exclusive Program Goes Live

September 15, 2014

EverGuard Insurance Services is pleased to announce the official launch of our exclusive hospitality insurance program with First Mercury Insurance Company, A.M. Best rated A (Excellent) XIII.  Effective immediately, all new business quoted by EverGuard will be placed with First Mercury, along with any renewal business not yet quoted.  Existing policies and quotations issued on Western World paper will be honored until their natural expiration.  There will be no interruption to coverage or service for any insureds as a result of this transition.

EverGuard’s agents and insureds will continue to enjoy the same excellent, uninterrupted service that has made EverGuard a leading program administrator in the hospitality industry for over 40 years.  In addition, this exclusive EverGuard program offers:

·         Comprehensive package coverage, including general liability, liquor liability, assault and battery, property and crime

·         Broad appetite for hospitality risks, including restaurants, bars, sports bars, taverns, brewpubs, wine bars, comedy clubs, fraternal organizations and adult entertainment.

·         Competitive rates

·         In-house loss control services and risk mitigation tools

·         Premium finance options with down payments starting at 15% and continuous bill options

·         Ability to offer excess liability limits up to $10,000,000

There is nothing new your agency needs to do in order to access this exclusive program, and your commission will remain unchanged.  Please continue to submit your new and renewal business to EverGuard as usual.

For more information or to seek an agency appointment, please contact EverGuard Insurance Services: www.everguardins.com, 1900 W. Nickerson St., Suite 300, Seattle, WA, 98119, (800) 326-8514.

Our Incident Reporting Form: gather information and facts before a claim gets filed against you.

We're pleased to provide you with a convenient Incident Reporting Form, designed to help gather and retain relevant information quickly when you or one of your employees become aware of an accident or injury to one of your patrons. With over 40 years of experience insuring restaurants, bars and taverns, we know the importance of being pro-active in gathering initial information quickly and documenting facts accurately before a claim may be filed against you. You can download the form as well as these instructions here.

Completing and submitting an Incident Reporting Form does not mean that a formal claim has been opened or filed against you. It does, however, allow your insurance company to determine if a more complete and thorough investigation is needed. This is especially important in cases where you and your employees feel that you have done nothing wrong.

However, months or even years could pass between the actual incident and the time that a formal claim is made against you, and the insurance company may not be able to obtain key evidence that may have been available at the time of the incident. How you and your employees react immediately following an incident, regardless of fault, can make all of the difference.

Please follow the basic steps listed below any time you become aware of an injury or a situation occurs that you believe could lead to a claim, regardless of fault:

1. Document all incidents that you become aware of, even if they do not occur on your premises, such as a traffic accident occurring after a patron has left your establishment, or a slip and fall in a public parking lot outside of your establishment.
2. Complete the Incident Reporting Form and submit to your insurance agent as soon as possible. This is also a requirement of the insurance policy.
3. Gather and preserve all relevant physical evidence, witness statements, video recordings and photographs.
4. Treat all injured or upset patrons with courtesy and respect, but never admit to wrongdoing for the incident, or take responsibility or reveal other information.
5. Do not attempt to settle an injury or grievance with a direct cash payment. This often encourages litigation and suggests guilt on your part. It is also in direct violation of the insurance policy without the insurance companies consent.
6. If a serious injury occurs in the evening, over the weekend, or on a holiday, and you are unable to reach your insurance agent for any reason, you can receive 24 hour emergency assistance at 1-888-847-8600. Please have your policy number available when you call.

Our primary objective is to protect you, our insured, but we need your cooperation. Understanding the importance of timely and thoroughly documenting all incidents, however trivial they may seem at the time, is critical to saving you time and money should a formal claim be presented at a later date.

Tips On Tap: News You Can Use

Welcome to Tips On Tap, a blog with helpful info on how to prevent or minimize losses in your bar and tavern business. We'll cover issues such as slip-and-falls, kitchen fires, or those "friendly disagreements" between patrons that turn, well, not-so-friendly. 

Have a story to share, or a tip to pass along? Let us know, and we'll post it here!