Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies business insurance

Overview

Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies, usually just GUARD, is the Berkshire Hathaway unit that writes small and mid-sized commercial accounts through agents. It is based in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, and issues policies through five companies: AmGUARD, AZGUARD, EastGUARD, NorGUARD and WestGUARD Insurance Company. The site lists about 5,000 independent agents and brokers as its sales force, and Berkshire's 2025 annual report says GUARD also sells through wholesale brokers and MGAs.

GUARD does not carry its own NAIC market share rank here. Its premiums roll into the Berkshire Hathaway group, which ranked No. 4 among U.S. business insurers in 2025. Inside that group GUARD sits in the Berkshire Hathaway Primary Group alongside BHSI, BHHC, MedPro, USLI, RSUI and its online sister biBERK. The difference between the last two matters to buyers: biBERK sells direct to the business owner, while GUARD sells only through an agent.

Workers' compensation is the core line. CEO Adam Edelstein, appointed to the NCCI Holdings board in May 2026, called comp "a flagship line for GUARD." The rest of the shelf is the package a main-street business needs: a business owner's policy, commercial auto, general liability with inland marine, and umbrella.

GUARD has been shrinking deliberately. Berkshire reported that GUARD's written premiums fell 16.3% in 2024 and another 32.6% in 2025, after decisions starting in 2023 to exit unprofitable lines and tighten underwriting. The cuts hit personal lines, BOPs and workers' comp. Berkshire listed 993 GUARD employees in its 2025 annual report.

History

GUARD dates from 1983 and grew up in northeastern Pennsylvania as a writer of small commercial and workers' comp business. By 2012 it was owned by Israel's Clal Insurance through Clal U.S. Holdings, with Sy Foguel as president and CEO.

National Indemnity Company, Berkshire's main property-casualty subsidiary, completed its purchase of GUARD Insurance Group in late October 2012. Clal reported a price of $221 million, and National Indemnity also took on a $48 million loan. GUARD described itself at the time as a specialist in small to medium-sized commercial property and casualty accounts. Renamed Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies, it expanded nationally over the following decade and bought its Wilkes-Barre office building in 2017.

The most recent chapter is retrenchment. From 2023 GUARD cut lines and classes that were not making money. Its current product list is commercial only. In June 2026 it went the other direction in one niche, launching a digital quote-to-bind general liability and inland marine product for artisan contractors in Arizona, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota and Pennsylvania, with more states planned.

Business insurance products

GUARD's commercial shelf, as listed on its site in October 2026:

• Workers' compensation and employers liability, with pay-as-you-go and payroll self-reporting billing that the company says needs little or no down payment and carries no installment fees. Premium discounts are offered for drug-free workplace and formal safety programs. Group dividend plans exist for automotive, restaurant and retail or wholesale food businesses, and individual dividend plans for larger accounts.
• Businessowner's policy for property and liability on small, eligible risks.
• Commercial auto.
• General liability with inland marine, including the artisan contractor product: GL with companion inland marine for tools and equipment, plus optional errors and omissions and hired and non-owned auto.
• Commercial umbrella and excess over GUARD's primary policies.
• New York statutory disability and paid family leave, written through AmGUARD for New York employers.

Berkshire's annual report also says GUARD writes some excess and surplus lines business, and its about page mentions E&S. It does not sell standalone cyber, D&O, EPLI or surety as advertised products.

Who it insures

The industry pages point to the classic small-commercial book: artisan contractors, auto service and repair shops, habitational risks such as apartments, hotels and motels, professional offices, Restaurant insurance, retail and grocery stores, and service businesses. The comp page names the same classes. These are main-street accounts, typically with a few to a few dozen employees, where workers' comp is the biggest premium.

The operating map shows all 50 states and D.C., but not every product is filed everywhere. Ask the agent which GUARD company and which forms apply in your state. Given the 2024 and 2025 premium cuts, a class or a state that GUARD wrote a few years ago may now be closed, and a renewal is not guaranteed.

How to buy

Through an agent. GUARD does not quote business owners directly; its site has a "Find a GUARD Agent" tool, and agents rate and bind through GUARD's online agency portal. If you want a Berkshire-backed policy without an agent, that is what biBERK is for. Comparing the two quotes is reasonable, because they are different companies with different forms and appetites.

Once insured, policyholders use the Policyholder Service Center or the BHGUARD mobile app to issue certificates of insurance, pull loss runs, make payments, review claims and read policy documents. Comp policyholders on pay-as-you-go report payroll through those self-service tools, and the year-end premium audit still applies.

Claims

New claims go to 888-639-2567 (888-NEW-CLMS), to [email protected], or online through the report-a-claim form; most coverages can also be reported through the Policyholder Service Center. The claims mailing address is P.O. Box 1368, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18703-1368. New York disability claims use separate forms.

For workers' comp, GUARD advertises 24/7 reporting with nurse triage, preferred provider panels, a physician look-up and a return-to-work program. It hired a new head of workers' comp claims in 2026. Loss control resources include training videos, ergonomic evaluations and OSHA compliance help.

Financial strength and ratings

On August 12, 2026, AM Best affirmed the A+ (Superior) financial strength rating and "aa-" long-term issuer credit ratings of the GUARD member companies, with a stable outlook. That is one notch below the A++ (Superior) that AM Best assigns to Berkshire's major insurers such as National Indemnity and BHSI. The underlying capital behind GUARD is Berkshire's, which reported about $333 billion of U.S. statutory surplus across its insurers at the end of 2025.

GUARD's own numbers are not published separately; Berkshire discloses only percentage changes. The two years of steep premium declines and Berkshire's comment that GUARD's expense ratio rose with lower volume are the signals to watch. We found no J.D. Power small commercial ranking for GUARD.

Strengths and weaknesses

GUARD gives agents a Berkshire-owned market for small commercial comp and package business, with decent self-service tools for the insured. The trade-off is an insurer that has been cutting business hard, so appetite can change from one renewal to the next.

• Strengths: A+ (Superior) from AM Best, affirmed August 2026, and ultimate ownership by Berkshire Hathaway; a comp-first shelf with pay-as-you-go billing, dividend plans for certain classes, nurse triage and return-to-work; self-service certificates, loss runs and payments through a portal and app; a new digital quote-to-bind GL and inland marine product for artisan contractors.
• Weaknesses: Written premiums fell 16.3% in 2024 and 32.6% in 2025 as GUARD exited lines and tightened underwriting, including in BOPs and workers' comp; sold only through agents, with no direct quote; rated A+ rather than the A++ held by larger Berkshire units; no standalone cyber, management liability or surety.

How to contact Berkshire Hathaway GUARD Insurance Companies