Insights
2026 Insurance Claims Trends Agents Need to Know Now
Crawford & Company's 2026 predictions point to five shifts to watch – from natural catastrophe recovery to AI underwriting. The claims landscape is shifting in ways that have the potential to directly affect your clients' coverage, costs, and recovery experiences. A recent report from Crawford & Company breaks down what's ahead, and a few of the predictions have real implications for specialty risks. Read on for the top takeaways and how a partner like MiniCo...
The Future of Home Care Is Already Here: Can your clients’ home health care insurance keep up?
At 8 a.m., a caregiver may already be on their second home visit of the day. By noon, they may have navigated three completely different environments, each with its own routines, risks, and expectations. That variability has always been part of home health care, but what’s changed in 2026 is everything surrounding it. For your allied health...
The New Reality for Nonprofit Insurance: How rising demand, donor uncertainty, and emerging nonprofit risks are reshaping what coverage needs to do.
For nonprofit leadership and social services organizations, the pressure feels a bit different lately. While the demand for services is climbing, the resources to meet them are thinning out. These organizations are being pushed to do more, act faster, and provide ironclad proof that they are making a difference. Reports show that 34% of...
The Financial Truth About Hail Impact: Why It’s More Than Just a Roof Problem
You know firsthand that helping clients grasp the full scope of their risk is a constant challenge. While a hailstorm might seem like a minor event, the resulting physical damage and operational downtime can be devastating. Your expertise helps them bridge that gap, turning an underestimated threat into a manageable plan. Hail Impact by the...
Nonprofit D&O Insurance Protection: When Mission-Driven Work Meets Real-World Risk
Nonprofits are built on the idea of service, but that mission doesn’t provide a get-out-of-jail-free card when it comes to legal scrutiny. The statistics are actually quite jarring: nearly 63% of nonprofits face a D&O claim over any given 10-year period. Surprisingly, these organizations see litigation more frequently than their...
Nonprofit Insurance Myths That Can Derail Coverage
There are nearly 1.8 million nonprofit organizations operating across the U.S. today, each built around a mission, but all running on real-world operations, people, and risk. And that’s where things get tricky. While nonprofits are widely respected for what they do, they’re misunderstood when it comes to nonprofit insurance coverage and...
Arborist Insurance Spring Tune-Up: Helping Your Landscaping Clients Look Better to Underwriters
Spring signals go time for landscaping and tree care crews. Equipment comes out of storage, trucks hit the road, and property owners are finally ready to tackle storm cleanup and pruning. For insurance agents, this seasonal rush is also the perfect window for a different kind of tune-up, like helping your clients tighten up their risk profiles...
How Construction Cost Trends Impact Self-Storage Insurance
In 2026, the primary driver behind most property insurance valuation discussions is the shifting cost of construction. We aren't seeing the wild, unpredictable spikes that defined the start of the decade, but the pressure hasn't disappeared. Between labor shortages and fluctuating material prices, underwriters are looking much more closely at how...
Self-Storage Insurance Trends to Watch in 2026
Insurance pricing is moderating, and competition is increasing. Capital remains available, but catastrophe exposures continue to shape underwriting decisions. What does it all mean? To better understand how these forces are impacting commercial self-storage, we spoke with MiniCo’s Vice President of Underwriting, Josh Leykam, about what insurance...
Commercial Self-Storage Insurance Is Critical, But It’s Not the Full Story
Agents who work with storage facility owners understand that commercial self-storage insurance is a must-have protection for their clients. Property, liability, business interruption – they are all essential, obvious coverages that protect the business itself. But there is an additional layer of protection agents may be missing: tenant programs....
Filing a Commercial Property Insurance Claim: 3 Tips From Claims Adjusters
From storm damage and tenant injuries to vandalism and equipment failure, commercial property owners face a wide range of exposures that can trigger a commercial property insurance claim. While strong commercial property risk management practices help reduce risk, claims are an inevitable part of property ownership. When a loss occurs, what a...
Cybersecurity Threats in Self-Storage: Prepare, Prevent, and Protect
When U-Haul International Inc. experienced a break-in involving millions of customers, it wasn’t a failure of locks, cameras, or physical security. Thieves targeted an internal digital tool that quietly exposed sensitive customer information over time. It’s an eye-opening illustration of how cyber risk quietly enters the self-storage...
Self-Storage Lien Sales: What Agents Need to Know to Protect Their Clients
Delinquent tenants are a fact of life for self-storage businesses. A small number of delinquencies will eventually result in a lien sale, wherein the facility auctions the contents of the delinquent tenant’s storage unit. If you work with accounts in this industry, it’s important for you and your client to understand the risks that come with lien...
Why Specialized Self-Storage Insurance Deserves a Closer Look From Agents
It’s resilient. It’s adaptable. And it could be a key opportunity for you as an agent. While the industry has matured and competition has intensified, demand for self-storage holds steady. Take a look at these self-storage industry trends to learn why you might want to investigate the opportunities for building your book of business. 1. A Large,...
Cyber Risk Trends Reshaping Nonprofit Risk Management in 2026
If mission-driven organizations make up a significant portion of your book of business, listen up. Cyber risk trends in 2026 are forcing nonprofit leaders to confront the difficult reality that they’re no longer peripheral targets. They are now central to the cybercrime economy. When you think about why, it makes sense. There’s valuable donor...
Insuring Self-Storage Conversions: What Agents Should Know
Self-storage conversions are having a moment. If you work with clients planning portfolio expansion, the latest Inside Self-Storage (ISS) article, “Self-Storage Conversion Projects: Benefits, Options and Key Considerations for Success,” is well worth your time. The piece breaks down why conversions are becoming a go-to strategy, where the hidden...
The New Reality: Why Nonprofit Insurance is About to Get Complicated in 2026
Let’s be honest: If you’re waiting for one single, massive trend to define nonprofit organization insurance in 2026, you won’t find it. The real challenge is the perfect storm brewing. Nonprofits have always had risk. That’s a given. But the speed and weight of these challenges? That’s new. Agents who figure this out early, before budgets are...
2026 Commercial Property Insurance Outlook: What Agents Need to Know
The market is finally stabilizing, but CAT exposure and risk mitigation still define which accounts win the best terms. If you’ve been placing commercial property since 2020, you’ve lived through commercial insurance trends like relentless rate pressure, shrinking capacity, and constant conversations about deductibles, exclusions, and what’s no...
Common Injuries in Landscaping: What Agents Should Know
Landscape contractors face the risk of serious injuries and falls on even small-scale projects. Insurance agents who understand these risks can help their clients protect their crews and their bottom line. Sun, soil, and sweat. Pretty basic, right? While landscaping might sound like one of the more straight-forward trades, the numbers tell a...
Job Hazard Analysis for Artisan Contractors
When your artisan contractor clients show they can identify, control, and document job hazards, they protect their crews and improve their insurance profile. A small flooring crew shows up to a commercial renovation job before dawn. The site looks clear, but within the first hour, a worker slips on leftover adhesive. By lunch, another tweaks a...
Risk Management for Flooring Contractors: Why Safety Pays Off
Flooring contractors may work on solid ground, but their risks run deep. Here’s how proactive safety and risk management can protect crews, reduce claims, and lower insurance premiums. Flooring contractors are part of the artisan trades shaping every new build and renovation, from hardwood and tile installations to commercial carpet and...
Flood Evacuation Planning
Ensure the safety of your employees and customers by developing a flood evacuation plan for your business that includes the following: Conditions that will activate the plan Specific evacuation procedures Maps of evacuation routes Procedures for accounting for all personnel Emergency functions with staff assignments Emergency equipment Don’t...
Driving in Flood Conditions
If you need to drive in flood conditions, be mindful of the risks and take the necessary precautions. According to the National Weather Service, almost half of all flash flood fatalities occur in vehicles, so it is important to be prepared. Six inches of standing water can stall some cars. One foot of water can float a vehicle. Two feet of moving...
Surviving a Wildfire
According to the National Interagency Fire Center, federal wildfire suppression costs range from $1-2 billion annually. Here are some tips to help you survive during a wildfire. Call 9-1-1 to report a fire. Don't assume that someone else has reported it. Monitor the Emergency Alert System (EAS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration...
Fire Prevention Tips for Customers
Educate your tenants and customers about fire prevention to help reduce risk at your property.3 Ways to Educate Customers About Fire Prevention Signage: Post signs around the property to remind customers that smoking, candles, and open flame are prohibited. Monthly Bills: Add a fire prevention tip or other safety reminder to each monthly bill or...
Creating Defensible Space for Wildfires
Defensible space is a zone in which vegetation, debris, and other combustible fuels have been cleared, minimized, or treated with the goal of slowing the spread of fire to and between buildings. Here are tips from the Department of Homeland Security's website www.Ready.gov.6 Tips for Creating Defensible Space Choose fire-resistant materials for...
Pre-Wildfire Mitigation
According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an average of 70,000 wildfires are set ablaze across the United States each year. Lightning can trigger burns, but they are frequently initiated by humans through intentional or unintentional means. Property owners can help mitigate potential wildfire losses, but some don’t take these...
First Aid for Heat Exhaustion
First aid actions for heat-related illness: Call a supervisor or co-worker for help. If no one is available, call 911. Have someone stay with the person until emergency medical personnel arrive. Move the person to an area that is air conditioned or shaded. Remove the person’s outer clothing. Fan the person and mist them with water. Apply ice bags...
Know the Signs of Heat-Related Illness
Working outdoors in the summer months can mean coping with hot, humid weather conditions. It is important for you and your facility managers to understand the symptoms of heat exhaustion and heat stroke to help prevent these dangerous, and possibly deadly, situations. Symptoms of heat exhaustion: Headache, dizziness, or faintingWeakness and wet...
Watch Out for Heat Stress
In many parts of the country, the summer months mean high heat and high humidity – a combination that can be a serious health hazard for you and your facility managers who have to work outside. Here are some tips for avoiding heat stress and heat-related illness: Wear light-colored, loose-fitting clothing made of breathable fabric.Drink small...
Here Comes the Sun
During the warm-weather months, it's important to take precautions to protect yourself and your employees from the hazards of sun exposure while working outside. Ultraviolet (UV) radiation in sunlight causes premature skin aging, wrinkles, cataracts, and skin cancer. Remember: there are no safe UV rays or suntans. Here are a few ways to stay safe...
Employment Practices Complaints
High-profile cases involving employee claims of sexual harassment, discrimination, and wrongful termination by their employers make headlines on a regular basis. Self-storage businesses are not impervious to this type of trouble. In today’s litigious environment, all employers would be wise to consider employment practices liability coverage to...
Employment Practices Liability Coverage
No business is immune to the possibility of employment practices complaints, which most commonly involve complaints of sexual harassment, discrimination, and wrongful termination. With this in mind, it is important to discuss employment practices liability coverage with your insurance agent. Employment practices liability coverage may be...
Fireworks Safety
In the weeks surrounding the July 4th holiday, an average of 180 people per day wind up in the emergency room due to fireworks-related injuries according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Fireworks are synonymous with Independence Day celebrations. But in the midst of the festivities, it can be easy to overlook the fact that...
Pest Control
The last thing your tenants want to discover is evidence of damage to their valuable stored items as a result of insects, rodents, or other pests. Your facility risk management plan should include a monthly pest control prevention program that includes regular inspections and treatment. Hiring a licensed, insured pest control vendor to perform...
Maintaining Gates and Elevators
Gates, gate operators, and elevators are some of the most frequently used features at a self-storage facility. Now that spring is on the way, it's a good time to inspect these systems and make any necessary repairs. This action ensures that these systems are operating at peak efficiently while helping to minimize the potential for costly property...
Spring Roof Inspection and Maintenance
As you plan ahead for the busy summer rental season, one of the first tasks to address is a thorough roof inspection. Roofs and gutters can take a beating during the winter months, and it is important to address any issues before a problem escalates into a leak causing costly damage to the facility or tenants' stored items. Be sure to inspect the...
Hurricane Emergency Plan
With the 2022 hurricane season underway, it is critical that you be prepared. The first step is to create an emergency preparedness plan, a basic requirement for all businesses regardless of location. Once the plan has been developed, it is important to communicate it to your managers and employees. Training – Provide ongoing training for your...
Hurricane Season Forecast
June 1st marks the official start of the Atlantic hurricane season. This year's extended-range forecast by Colorado State University research scientist Dr. Philip Klotzbach anticipates above-normal activity. His forecast for the 2022 Atlantic hurricane season predicts 19 named storms including 9 hurricanes with 4 classified as major hurricanes...
Downed Power Line Safety
Downed power lines can be deadly. They can energize the ground for up to 35 feet (or more in wet conditions). The Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) recommends that downed power lines should always be assumed to be live to reduce the risk of severe injury or fatality. Here are...
Electrical Safety and Hurricanes
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June to November, and severe storms can strike across the country at any time. The storm preparation checklist for your self-storage facility should include electrical safety considerations. The Electrical Safety Foundation International (ESFI) offers recommendations for before, during, and after a...
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