A.M. Best Rating Service: The Credibility of Insurance Companies

Best’s Credit Rating (BCR)
When it comes to knowing whether or not an insurance company is going to be a reliable fit for your needs the first thing to verify is the company’s Best’s Credit Rating (BCR). This is an objective judgment regarding the insurer’s creditworthiness. The BCR is essentially a grade given based on quantitative and qualitative evaluations of the insurer’s balance sheet, operating performance, and business profile. There are various credit and independent rating options, including:

• Best’s Financial Strength Ratings (FSR) – This rating is an opinion provided on a specific insurer’s financial strengths and their ability to meet current insurance policy and contract obligations.
• Best’s Issuer Credit Rating (ICR) – This rating is an opinion of an entity’s ability to meet ongoing financial obligations that can be issued on a long or short-term basis.
• Best’s Issue Credit Rating (IR) – This rating is an opinion on the credit quality assigned to issues that determines how likely they are to meet the terms of obligation and can be issued on a long or short-term basis.
• Best’s National Scale Rating (NSR) – This rating is based on a measurement of creditworthiness in a specific jurisdiction that is issued on a long-term basis.
• Preliminary Credit Assessment (PCA) – This is an independent opinion based on the general credit strengths/weaknesses of an issuer, security, obligor, business plans, and term sheets.
• Rating Assessment Service (RAS) – This is a rating solicited by non-rated entities that provides an opinion of a company’s rating prospects based on their financial statements and other financial information.
• Rating Evaluation Service (RES) – This is a rating solicited by rated entities that provides an opinion on the impact of hypothetical scenarios based on financial projections and other financial information.
• Financial Size Category (FSC) – This a grading scale designed to provide an indicator on the size of a company in terms of its statutory surplus and related accounts.

Choosing the Right Partner
For example, if you are searching for an insurance carrier to cover your commercial vehicles then it is crucial to look at their BCR. By looking at the ratings above it will give you a much better understanding of a company’s legitimacy when it comes to covering vehicles such as cabs, limos, ambulances, and trucks. BCR’s also allow you to get an in-depth understanding of how well different coverage options will be. For instance, Auto Liability, General Liability, Work Comp, Occupational Injury, and Collision Insurance.

Based on BCR, American Business Insurance Services is a great option when looking for commercial vehicle coverage. They are a small insurance carrier that has been around since 1984 and know how to cater to their partner’s needs. They are one of the largest commercial transportation insurance providers in the country with thousands of customers and over 40,000 vehicles insured. Now that you have a much better understanding of what goes into a BCR your options for choosing a potential insurance carrier should be much more clear.

ABI can help you find a carrier, request a quote now and mention BCR when you speak with your agent.