Local Chapter Insurance

[ASTalumna06]

As someone who works as a commercial insurance underwriter, I can tell you that you may be SOL. In other words, yes, those premiums seem reasonable for the limits being requested. For $5M to $10M, you're looking at a General Liability policy at $1M per occurrence/$2M aggregate limits, plus an Umbrella policy for the additional limits. And yes, each of those policies will run you thousands of dollars a year.

And coverage for fraternities and sororities is very specialized and seen as a higher risk. You're only going to find so many brokers and carriers across the country that will even consider writing such a risk, let alone writing it for only one chapter of a local organization with no formal oversight.

For example, my company wouldn't provide liability coverage for a local, one-off donut shop for $3,000, but we would consider providing coverage for a chain of Dunkin Donuts for $500,000. And each DD location would end up at a lower rate and paying less overall than the local shop, simply due to the spread of risk.

But even a local donut shop could find coverage because they're not so specialized or an obscure risk. They may pay a relatively higher premium, but their operations are still mostly predictable, sales are auditable, and safety features can be analyzed. A sorority or fraternity is a whole different animal.