Protective Insurance Company and 5Star Specialty Programs are expanding their strategic partnership in the Public Auto market. Effective immediately 5Star will be Protective’s sole distribution source for its commercial auto insurance offering in the Public Auto (Charter/School Bus & Limo) segment.

Protective has partnered with 5Star since 2016 to offer commercial auto insurance for Public Auto customers operating with 1-25 units. Going forward 5Star will assume all of Protective’s distribution services within the Public Auto market. 5Star’s experience and expertise in this market will provide significant value to Protective’s customers and distribution partners.

“We are very excited to expand our existing strategic partnership with 5Star,” Jay Nichols, Interim CEO and Chairman of the Board of Protective Insurance Company said. “We have been very impressed with their ability to produce profitable business and integrate with our internal processes and systems. 5Star’s long track record within this complex risk class is impressive and will help us improve our offering while providing value to our customers.”

Dave Tooley, President of 5Star Specialty Programs a CRC Group Company said, “We’ve built a strong partnership with Protective over the past several years and we’re looking forward to further growing our relationship with such a great company. We’re thrilled Protective selected our organization to be their exclusive Public Auto distributor. Our expertise in the public auto sector, in addition to the best-in-class service we provide on each account, will be instrumental in successfully growing our relationship.”

Over the next twelve months, Protective will be transitioning its retail produced book of Public Auto business to 5Star. This process will include an in-depth review of the existing book of business, specifically examining rate adequacy and volatility of the segment.

5Star and Protective have more than 35 years of combined experience in the Public Auto space and remain committed to providing best-in-class products and services for their customers.