E&S Insurance in Tennessee: Classes, Coverage & Quoting Guide
Pathpoint offers 13 Excess and Surplus (E&S) product lines in Tennessee covering 212+ class codes, including Contractors, Monoline Property, and LRO (Lessor's Risk Only). 67.5% of submissions receive an instant, bindable quote, typically in about 118 seconds. The platform partners with 19+ carriers and handles Tennessee's surplus lines compliance automatically, including tax calculation at 5.0% and diligent search documentation. Tennessee has no stamping office, so Pathpoint files everything electronically at bind. Average bound premium across all Tennessee product lines is $3,109.
Key Takeaways
- 13 E&S product lines covering 212+ class codes in Tennessee
- 67.5% of submissions receive instant, bindable quotes in about 118 seconds
- 19+ carrier partners, including Kinsale, Markel, Zurich, The Hartford, and Crum & Forster
- Surplus lines tax of 5.0%, calculated and filed automatically at bind
- Average bound premium of $3,109 across all Tennessee product lines
What E&S product lines can I quote in Tennessee?
Tennessee agents on Pathpoint can currently quote 13 product lines covering 212+ class codes: Contractors (104 class codes), LRO (Lessor's Risk Only, 20), Contractors Excess (57), Vacant Land (2), Vacant Building (3), Retail & Services (20), Restaurants (16), LRO Excess (7), Manufacturing (13), and Churches (1). Contractors leads bind volume by a wide margin, followed by Monoline Property and LRO. These three lines carry strong appetite and account for the bulk of Tennessee's bound business, spanning classes like Remodeling Contractor, apartment buildings, and lessor's risk on bank, office, and mercantile buildings.
Of the 13 product lines, 11 (84.6%) are instant-quotable, meaning Pathpoint returns a bindable quote without manual review. The remaining two, Cyber and Monoline Wind, are referred to Pathpoint's brokerage team for manual placement, with quotes typically returned within about 20.9 hours. Cyber covers classes like financial transactions processing and insurance agencies and brokerages, while Monoline Wind has not produced a bound policy in the trailing 12 months, reflecting an emerging appetite tier as Pathpoint builds out carrier capacity for wind-only risk in Tennessee.
How fast can I get an E&S quote in Tennessee?
67.5% of Tennessee account submissions receive an instant, bindable quote, with a median turnaround of about 118 seconds. That figure is the median rather than the average, since a small number of reopened or resubmitted risks skew the mean turnaround much higher, so 118 seconds reflects what a typical Tennessee submission actually experiences. For that majority of submissions, an agent can submit risk details, receive a quote, bind coverage, and generate policy documents in a single sitting, all without waiting on an underwriter to review the file.
The remaining submissions route to Pathpoint's brokerage team for manual review, with a median turnaround of about 20.9 hours. This mainly affects Cyber and Monoline Wind, the two product lines that aren't instant-quotable in Tennessee, along with any account that needs additional underwriting information before a carrier can commit to terms. Agents use the same submission workflow either way, entering risk details once. The only real difference is turnaround time, since referred risk still moves through quote, bind, and docs on the same platform.
Which carriers are available in Tennessee?
19 distinct carriers produced at least one quote on a Tennessee submission in the trailing 12 months, including Kinsale, Markel, Zurich, The Hartford, and Crum & Forster. Pathpoint's platform evaluates appetite by class code, location, risk size, and loss history, then routes each submission to the carriers most likely to quote it. Where more than one carrier has appetite for a risk, Pathpoint can return multiple quotes so agents can compare terms and pricing before binding.
That carrier panel supports coverage across all 13 Tennessee product lines, from Contractors (104 class codes) down to smaller lines like Churches (1) and Vacant Land (2). That breadth matters most for agents writing outside the highest-volume lines, where a single-carrier market would otherwise leave few options. Multi-carrier quoting means a single Tennessee submission can surface options across several markets rather than one quote from one carrier. Pathpoint continues to add carrier relationships in Tennessee, particularly in lines like Monoline Wind, where appetite is still emerging.
Where is Pathpoint's appetite strongest in Tennessee?
Nine of Tennessee's 13 product lines carry Pathpoint's strongest, or "high," appetite tier, defined as an account-level quote rate of 60% or more: Contractors, LRO, Vacant Land, Retail & Services, Cyber, Restaurants, LRO Excess, Manufacturing, and Churches. Contractors and LRO anchor this tier with account quote rates of 88.2% and 86.7%, the two highest in the state. These lines see the highest bind rates and the most competitive pricing, since carrier appetite and underwriting rules line up closely with the risks Tennessee agents are actually submitting.
Three lines sit in the "active" mid-tier, with account quote rates between 30% and 60%: Monoline Property, Contractors Excess, and Vacant Building. These still bind regularly. They see more declines or requests for additional information before a carrier commits. Monoline Wind is Tennessee's only "emerging" line, with no bound policies in the trailing 12 months. Pathpoint is actively building out carrier capacity there, and agents can still submit Monoline Wind risk today. It routes as referred rather than instant, not declined.
What are the surplus lines requirements in Tennessee?
Tennessee's surplus lines premium tax is 5.0%, applied automatically at checkout on every bound policy. Tennessee has no stamping office, so there's no separate office filing step for agents to manage. Pathpoint files all required surplus lines documentation electronically as part of binding, so agents don't need to file anything themselves after the quote is bound. The 5.0% is calculated on top of the base premium the carrier quotes, so agents can present a clean, all-in number to the insured instead of running a separate tax calculation.
Tennessee requires a diligent search for surplus lines placement on risks that aren't otherwise exempt, confirming that admitted markets were considered before placing coverage in the surplus lines market. Pathpoint documents this automatically as part of every submission, so agents aren't tracking declinations or search criteria by hand. Tennessee follows the home state filing method under the Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act (NRRA), meaning tax and compliance for a multi-state risk are handled through the insured's home state rather than filed separately in every state where the risk has exposure.
- Surplus Lines Tax
- 5.0%
- Stamping Office
- None
- Diligent Search
- Required for non-exempt risks
- Filing Method
- Home state
How does quoting E&S on Pathpoint work in Tennessee?
Quoting E&S in Tennessee on Pathpoint follows four steps: submit the risk information, get routed to carriers for a quote, bind the policy, and receive documents. 67.5% of submissions get a quote in the first step in about 118 seconds. At bind, Pathpoint automatically applies Tennessee's 5.0% surplus lines tax and handles all required documentation electronically, since Tennessee has no stamping office to file through. Referred submissions, mainly Cyber and Monoline Wind, follow the same four steps but take a median of about 20.9 hours to reach a quote.
Agents don't need a surplus lines license to quote or bind through Pathpoint in Tennessee. Pathpoint acts as the broker of record on the surplus lines side, handling carrier relationships, filings, and tax remittance directly. This works the same way a retail agent already partners with any wholesale broker, applied here to the surplus lines side of the transaction. Agents earn a standard retail commission on bound business. There's no cost to create a Pathpoint account or to submit risk for quoting, since cost only shows up as commission on what actually binds.
What does E&S insurance cost in Tennessee?
Average bound premium across all Tennessee product lines is $3,109, based on 309 bound policies in the trailing 12 months. Premium varies significantly by product line: Contractors averages $2,316 with a typical range of $753 to $2,941, Monoline Property averages $5,904 with a typical range of $1,870 to $6,729, and LRO averages $3,839 with a typical range of $921 to $5,432. Actual premium for any risk depends on class, limits, location, and loss history.
E&S premiums generally run higher than admitted market pricing because surplus lines carriers are taking on risk that admitted carriers have already declined or priced out of appetite. Tennessee's carrier panel of 19+ markets keeps that pricing competitive by giving Pathpoint room to shop a submission across multiple carriers rather than accepting a single quote. Exact pricing is only available at the quote stage for a specific risk, and there's no obligation to bind once a quote comes back.
There's no cost to create a Pathpoint account, and no fee for submitting or quoting risk in Tennessee. Pathpoint earns a standard retail commission on bound business, the same as any other broker relationship. Tennessee's 5.0% surplus lines tax is applied automatically at checkout and passed through to the insured as part of the total premium, so agents never need to calculate or track it separately. Agents also don't have to walk the insured through a separate tax line item, since it's already built into the total the platform shows at bind.