The commercial auto insurance market suffered $9.7 billion in underwriting losses from 2012 to 2016—a trend that is likely to continue. Even though premiums are up, so are claims frequency and severity, resulting in losses outpacing premiums.

Profitability in the commercial auto space has become a challenge thanks to macroeconomic trends and disruption in the form of increased frequency, higher costs for damages, outdated technology, distracted and newer drivers, and other factors. It’s increasingly difficult to succeed in this market, and it’s never been more important for agents and insurers to work together.

As significant players in the commercial auto market, agents must develop solid working relationships with commercial auto insurers.

ISO, a Verisk business, recently surveyed a group of independent agents, asking pointed questions about perceived pain points when interacting with insurers—and what they felt they needed from insurers to work more effectively.

Respondents ranked the most important factors as quote accuracy, quote speed and ease of submitting an application. In general, the majority of agents are clamoring for anything insurers can do to reduce manual tasks, eliminate redundant data entry and provide instant and accurate quotes.

According to respondents, insurer quotes are unreliable or only somewhat reliable 41% of the time. And many agents indicated they wait too long for approvals. Such a high frequency of uncertainty can make it more difficult to work in commercial auto. These responses generally convey that agents don’t want to see frequent errors in quotes and don’t want to work with difficult insurers.

In order to keep pace with their competition, most insurers are eager to hear how they can improve the process and work more effectively with agents. In the highly competitive commercial auto marketplace, agents need proactive communication with insurers, too.

Here are five potential considerations for developing better relationships with commercial auto insurers:

1) Provide feedback. Make it detailed, plain and transparent so insurers can use this information as a catalyst for positive change.

2) Document pain points in quote delivery. Use definitive examples so insurers can review them and act to provide better service.

3) Provide concrete examples of how better relationships improve profitability. Offer specific examples of how providing the accurate, timely quotes you require improves the insurer’s bottom line. Provide a true estimate of how much more business they can generate if they improve the quote process.

4) Participate in surveys. When you give insurers strong, accurate feedback, you help improve processes by alerting them to the specific problems and challenges they need to address.

5) Make your voice heard. Join agency councils and other industry groups that have contact with insurers. Discussing important issues and needs directly with insurance industry leaders and industry groups arms them with the data and information they need to improve the working relationship.

Finally, agents can help insurers adopt more efficient means of quickly returning accurate quotes by alerting them to solutions you know will enhance the process. For example, one strong tool to help provide fast and reliable quotes is a proven data prefill product.

A 2014 Verisk study showed that using data prefill tools reduced vehicle identification number data-entry errors by 83% and decreased manual data-entry costs by more than 50%. After entering a business or principal name and address, the tool auto-populates vehicle and owner registration information to support data verification for standard applications. More than 60 fields can be returned, including VIN, year, make, model, gross vehicle weight, base price, license plate and registered owner.

With these types of emerging solutions, insurers can return quality, reliable, speedy quotes. Such solutions contribute to improved profitability in the long run because they identify and price risks more accurately, which not only helps you serve your customers more quickly and efficiently, but also increases volume and profitability.

An insurer’s ability to work well with you will help you both succeed in the commercial auto market. Because there’s plenty of opportunity and competition is fierce, a positive working relationship may be the prerequisite you need to penetrate the commercial auto market, reduce workload, increase speed to market and grow profitably.

Diane Injic is director of commercial auto underwriting at Verisk.