Next Insurance recently launched professional liability coverage targeted to its small business client base. The Hanover Insurance Group now offers watercraft insurance. Selective Insurance Company of America is working with some of its agency partners to notify customers about potentially dangerous recalls affecting their vehicles and personal safety.

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Digital carrier startup Next Insurance has launched professional liability coverage, a product available entirely online.

The company is currently offering professional liability coverage to architects, engineers, real estate agents and insurance agents, among other classes of business. Business owners can select the level of protection and limit that’s right for them according to their desired level of risk and budget.

Next, which focuses on small business clients, said that it now supports over 1,000 classes of business across the country including contracting, construction, consulting, fitness, cleaning, beauty, therapy, entertainment, education and more. As of the end of 2017, Next served just 18 classes of businesses.

The launch of professional liability coverage follows what Next said has been a period of significant growth. In its 2018 Annual Report, Next Insurance reported that it had achieved a written premium run-rate of over $44 million, covered over 40,000 businesses and expanded its core liability product offering to 48 states.

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The Hanover Insurance Group has expanded its personal lines insurance coverage to include a new watercraft insurance offering.

As part of the new offering, The Hanover’s watercraft product will offer:

• A broadened range of coverage for watercraft, including motorboats and sailboats between $3,000 to $300,000.
• Flexible coverage offerings, limits and loss settlement options to help customize a policy to a customer’s needs.
• Unique coverages like fishing equipment, towing assistance and pet injury protection included in the base offering with the option for increased limits.
• Ease of quoting directly in the company’s TAP Sales platform with the ability to prefill customer account information.

In addition, the new watercraft product provides coverage for accidents and losses on lakes, rivers, inland waters and oceans up to 50 miles off the coast of the U.S., its territories and Canada, with the option to extend up to 100 miles from the coastline, the company said.

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Selective Insurance Company of America is working with its “ivy league” independent insurance agency partners to notify customers about potentially dangerous recalls affecting their vehicles and personal safety.

The company said it is doing this through proactive notifications using its new Recall Alert System.

Specifically, Selective will send out selective emails alerts, in partnership with each customer’s agent, to commercial or personal auto customers whose vehicle make, model and model year match a recall issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Each alert includes a link to the NHTSA website so customers can see any open recalls that specifically affect their vehicle. Additionally, Selective said it is maintaining a product and vehicle recall website page.

Selective said its system helps reach all current owners of insured vehicles with open recalls, bridging the gap from manufacturers who frequently do not have accurate contact information after a vehicle is sold privately. As part of its safety management services, Selective’s new Recall Alert System can easily identify and alert current owners of recalled vehicles within a week that the recall is added to the NHTSA system.

Sources: Next Insurance, The Hanover Insurance Group, Selective Insurance Company of America.