HUB International vs The Hartford

HUB International Limited describes itself as a full-service insurance broker and financial-services firm. Its website terms say HUB’s subsidiaries are licensed as insurance brokers or agents in various U.S. states and Canadian provinces. The reviewed product pages market brokerage of policies issued by insurers, not HUB as a risk-bearing carrier for those policies. ^4,5,9

HUB’s About Us timeline states that in 2022 it acquired Insureon for digital delivery of small-business commercial insurance. Insureon and TechInsurance say they are part of HUB; Insureon says it operates as a division of Specialty Program Group LLC, doing business as SPG Insurance Solutions. TechInsurance describes itself as part of Insureon rather than as a separate HUB retail office. ^{4,34,35,36,37}

The Hartford is the brand of The Hartford Insurance Group, Inc., a financial holding company whose subsidiaries underwrite property-and-casualty insurance, employee benefits and other financial products. Independent agents and brokers, and Hartford employees who sell insurance, distribute those products. The brand is not itself the insurer on a policy. ^42,63,59,45

HUB’s San Francisco Mission Street office says its brokers work across commercial lines, personal lines and high-net-worth, and employee benefits, and names Bay Area industries including technology, venture capital, healthcare and life sciences, real estate and construction. The same page says the team helps startups navigate risk. That is office marketing, not a published eligibility list. ^1,2

HUB’s technology-company page addresses fast-growing startups and established software, hardware or digital-media businesses. It lists a technology-specific mix that includes professional liability/technology E&O, cyber, D&O and other management liability, transactional/warranty insurance, workers’ compensation, employee benefits and key-person coverages. The page also claims more than 5,000 technology companies currently insured; that figure is company-reported and was not independently counted here. ¹⁰

HUB’s contact page says it supports small businesses through partner Insureon and directs companies with 50 employees or fewer or under $5 million in annual revenue to start with an online quote. Larger or other commercial needs are directed to HUB commercial-insurance teams or a local office search. Those thresholds are HUB’s routing rules, not a regulatory definition of small business. ⁸

The Hartford markets small-business insurance to SaaS companies, software startups, cloud and IT consulting firms, and other small businesses, and separately sells midsize/large commercial and employer benefits products. ^39,40,62,61

On hubinternational.com, commercial buyers are asked to contact a broker, connect with a specialist, or use Contact Us. Small-commercial inquiries meeting HUB’s stated size tests go to Insureon for an online quote. Product pages such as general liability, D&O, cyber and workers’ compensation use “Contact Us” or “Connect With a Broker” rather than an on-site bind flow. Privacy policy language refers to automation for insurance quoting, without documenting a public HUB retail e-commerce checkout for mid-market programs. ^{8,11,12,13,10,6}

The Hartford says eligible small-business buyers can get a free quote online in minutes or by phone, and can also buy through independent agents. Its public quote-and-buy portal shows steps from Basics through Payment and Confirmation. It also says buyers can purchase without an agent. Commercial auto for small businesses is not currently offered on that online path and may be quoted through a local agency or Tivly. Management-liability pages direct buyers to find a local agent. ^{40,39,46,45,55,57}

HUB publishes dedicated business-insurance product pages for, among other lines, general liability, commercial property, workers’ compensation, business owners policies, commercial auto (including hired and non-owned exposures and trucking), cyber, directors and officers, professional liability/E&O, crime, fiduciary liability, kidnap and ransom, surety bonds, medical malpractice, marine/inland marine and cargo, boiler and machinery/equipment breakdown, and mergers-and-acquisitions representations-and-warranties insurance. Its casualty page also lists product liability, umbrella and excess, and product-recall as program elements. Employee-benefits brokerage is marketed separately. Actual policy forms, limits and eligibility are not set by those marketing pages. ^{9,11,19,17,18,20,13,12,14,15,21,22,23,24,25,28,29,26,27,30,16}

For technology companies, HUB lists professional liability/technology E&O, cyber, a patent package described as property, auto, liability and umbrella, international placements, cargo/stock throughput, property/builders risk, pollution liability, management liability including D&O, employment-practices liability, fiduciary liability, transactional/warranty insurance, crime, workers’ compensation, employee benefits, key-person life and disability, retirement solutions, and kidnap and ransom. ¹⁰

Documented Hartford offerings for businesses include a business owner’s policy (general liability, commercial property and business income), stand-alone general liability and commercial property, workers’ compensation, cyber (including BOP data-breach add-ons, CyberChoice First Response and FailSafe Technology E&O), miscellaneous professional liability, employment practices liability, commercial auto and hired/non-owned auto, management-liability packages (Private Choice Premier: directors and officers, EPL, fiduciary, crime, kidnap and ransom), commercial umbrella, employee benefits, and inland marine for midsize and large accounts. Actual forms, limits and availability vary by product, state and underwriting. ^{39,47,51,52,53,54,55,56,57,59,62,61}

The Hartford’s employment-practices page states there is no built-in EPL coverage in California, Minnesota, North Dakota or New York, and that the EPL program described on that page does not apply to EPL coverage written in California. Coverages also vary by state and class. ⁵⁴

HUB says it has 700+ offices and 21,000+ employees across North America, with corporate headquarters in Chicago. It publishes a California office directory that includes two San Francisco addresses (201 Mission Street and 44 Montgomery Street). An office location is evidence of a local brokerage presence, not of admitted-product availability, surplus-lines use, or that a given coverage can be bound for a California-domiciled company. ^4,3,1,2

HUB’s terms say subsidiaries are licensed as brokers or agents in various U.S. states, without naming the California entity for the San Francisco offices. Insureon publishes California license 0L09546 for Specialty Program Group LLC, dba SPG Insurance Solutions; that is Insureon’s disclosure, not an independent California Department of Insurance confirmation. The current license status of SPG and the producer for a HUB San Francisco engagement remain independently unverified. Confirm which entity will appear on the policy and any surplus-lines filing. ^5,1,35,38

The Hartford states that products are not available in all states or for all businesses, and that listing a writing company as authorized to transact insurance does not guarantee that coverage will be offered. Workers’ compensation pages also say that in some states coverage can be bought only from a state-run program, not from a private insurer such as The Hartford. ^40,42,50,47

The Hartford operates a California small-business insurance page that lists BOP, general liability, workers’ compensation, commercial auto, commercial property and professional liability and says California buyers can get a quote online or by phone. Hartford Fire Insurance Company is independently listed by the California Department of Insurance as an authorized property-and-casualty insurer (NAIC 19682). Those facts do not identify which affiliate would issue a particular California policy or whether a given SaaS risk will be accepted. ^41,66,42