I closed a small business around 1984 or 85 for the same reason. No
claims and the annual premiums went up by a factor of 10. It was bad
enough that there was a class action suit against the insurance industry
(or maybe saying a collection of insurance companies would be more
accurate). If you look back to that time you will notice an economic
down turn. Sound familiar? It seems that when times are good the
insurance companies make their money from investments and when times are
bad the make their money from premiums. Note that the rates seldom go down.

The class action lawsuit? I didn't know anything about it or that I was
part of it until the settlement notices went out. The settlement
included some fines that went somewhere, required the insurance company
to fund educational effort to see that such a thing didn't happen again,
and obviously included something for the lawyers. The small businesses
that were hurt got absolutely nothing. Not even an offer of insurance
for a reasonable price.

I've come to believe that insurance isn't about mitigating my risk. It
is about making money for the insurance companies.

Dave