I just want to respond with a comment/experience with AIM. We signed up with them two years ago and they seemed great. I recommended them to other schools in the area. Their prices are lower and their coverage is better than what we had before with a local agency.
However, we got a phone call about a month ago from AIM saying our insurance had lapsed in February because we hadn't paid the bill. I was absolutely floored - I have a copy of an email I sent out to our board last September (2004) showing that I called AIM and they told me we were paid through December 2005. I sort the mail in the office and we NEVER received a payment due notice. They claim they send out second and third notices, but we never even received one. I checked the address on their records and it was correct. Needless to say we paid up immediately, but it was frustrating because 1) I was given false information and 2) they never even let us know we were cancelled. Thank goodness we didn't try and file a claim during that time. Also, they had no good excuse why this happened to us other than they must have looked up the wrong group and given me the wrong renewal date.
We will stick with them for our insurance but just be careful in your dealings and make sure you get everything in writing.
Wait--are you saying that your VP thinks that because you are incorporated you don't need insurance? That's definitely not true. (Think about all the corporations in America today--if corporations didn't need insurance, you wouldn't have the huge insurance companies we have.) Incorporating protects individuals from liability, but the corporation will still have liability. Our school district requires all parent groups--incorporated or not--to carry general liability insurance in order to be able to use school property for any activities.
I can't believe anyone from AIM or Nuccio would have led your VP to think that insurance was unnecessary if you were incorporated. There had to have been some kind of misunderstanding.
I would definitely recommend calling AIM
AIM website
at (800)876-4044. They insure more parent groups than any other company so they are able to offer the best combination of great pricing and comprehensive coverage.
You need to be careful to not just look at price with insurance policies because quite often you are not comparing apples to apples.
We have been partnering with AIM (our PTO Today Plus members get substantial discounts on policies) for the past four years and have only heard great things about their policies and their customer service.
Go to the "bonus tools" section of this website, then look for the section marked "resource links." Under there is a link for "parent group insurance" that will help you out. There seem to be pretty much two big insurance brokers that deal with parent group insurance--AIM, which is the site that the PTO Today link takes you to, and RV Nuccio, who you can find at www.rvnuccio.com. Both sites have descriptions of policies and pricing information. You can get coverage from other agents, but probably won't find as good a deal.
I think you'll find that most people at least have $1m general liability policy, and add on a fidelity bond. Less common might be directors and officers liability, and property coverage (only needed if you own something, like popcorn machines and movie projectors).
