Canadian Companies with US Operations

For Canadian companies with a US exposure, Cool Insurance has a long-standing tradition of providing unparalleled business insurance and risk management services for Canadian brokers and companies who need assistance with U.S. insurance placements.

We act as your strategic partner to place all types of insurance coverage, in all states, and guide you through any unique insurance issues you may face.

Cool can handle everything from Workers Compensation to Risk Management, Employee Benefits to Liability and more. We can even help evaluate potential mergers and acquisitions for your clients.

Plus, given our excellent relationships with a wide range of global carriers, we can help any size company – from the largest, publicly traded Canadian companies to small start-up businesses – get the broadest coverage available at the most competitive premiums.

Protect your U.S. business exposure by taking advantage of Cool’s buying power and on-staff safety consultants.

Canadian companies selling their goods or services in the U.S. face some very special  business insurance and risk management exposures. Many times, these companies start with only a limited "exposure" in the U.S. marketplace. Inevitably, however, there is an increase in activity as sales and interest grow. A prudent business plan should therefore include a well-thought-out Canadian Companies insurance and risk management strategy.

The first step in this process is to decide if you want to set up a separate U.S. insurance program in the beginning, or wait until a later date. Similarly, you must understand exactly what your existing Canadian insurance policies will and will not cover for the work you perform in the U.S. Almost all small business insurance policies have territorial limits and many have restrictions for operations outside of Canada. This is especially true for product and general liability insurance.

Next, it is critical to know what mandatory insurance coverages you must have in place for the state in which you will be operating. This process is quite simple as long as it is done with adequate lead time. These mandatory coverages include Workers Compensation, Automobile Liability and various Disability coverages.

Clearly, no single insurance and risk management plan will address all of these issues for every Canadian company. The process of establishing a budget and a plan for the insurance program is fairly straight forward — the key is to know your goals and work with professionals who will maximize your coverage while minimizing your costs.

At the most recent annual conference held by the Canadian Construction Association, one speaker stated, "the opportunities for growth in the U.S. are outstanding... I have my strategic partner in the U.S. and we're making money." A good insurance program will ensure you continued success in the U.S. marketplace.

Sample of Canadian Companies Insurance Placement for operating in the U.S.

The following list gives an indication of some of the placements we have recently made for the U.S. subsidiaries of Canadian companies.

1. A specialty contracting company had limited operations in several states. The existing Workers' Compensation coverage was written through the various state fund plans which created the dual problems of no discounts and poor service (from the state plans.) We placed all the (10) state plans by combining them into one "voluntary" plan which gave premium discounts, a safety dividend, and paid commission which is shared with the Canadian brokers.
   
2. A Canadian company which set up operations in the Mid-west needed coverage for its manufacturing and distribution operations in several states. We were able to write a Workers' Compensation and Automobile policy for this company as it was setting up operations. Eventually we had the policies endorsed to include all states as the company expanded operations across the U.S., thus taking advantage of a fleet discount for the automobiles, as well as a dividend bearing plan for the Workers' Compensation.
   
3. A Canadian wholesale distributing company who had been doing business in California for several years suddenly found its Canadian insurer unwilling to provide earthquake coverage for its locations in California. We were able to negotiate a DIC policy for just the California locations, with an A rated insurance carrier for very reasonable terms.
   
4. A Canadian manufacturer purchased a property on a "mildly contaminated" property in the Northeast. They were encouraged to purchase this location due to the drastically reduced price of real estate which has undergone pollution remediation. Their Canadian liability insurance carrier refused to cover this site for liability, therefore, we wrote a Package policy on this location and included pollution liability insurance which ended up costing less than $5,000 for a $1,000,000 limit (for the pollution coverage.)
   
5. A Canadian technology company set up operations in Texas and Florida for sales to the U.S. and Latin America. We wrote a Worldwide Workers' Compensation policy since the employees were both Canadian nationals working under a visa as well as U.S. citizens traveling abroad.