A client who had been insured by a well known carrier recently asked if there wasn’t “any other carrier out there” that could also offer broad coverage for his large home “that didn’t charge an arm and a leg”. I explained that his carrier’s rates reflected their overall loss experience, and reminded him of a claim that he had many years ago and how happy he was with the outcome. Pressing his point, he asked if there were any carriers that had “better loss experience” so that they were able to price their coverage at a lower cost. Enter a new carrier I’ve written about frequently here – Pure High Net Worth.
This excerpt is form a recent professional journal assessing the marketplace for high valued home insurance summarizes the opportunity: “However, there is some competition out there for these big players. For instance, a relatively new company from Florida called Privilege Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange (PURE) is making a big splash on the East Coast right now. PURE offers similar features to Chartis and Chubb, and is very open to coastal properties where others are more restrictive in coastal areas.”
When my client reviewed the terms of Pure’s offer, he asked how the costs could be appreciably lower given the very similar coverage. I explained that because Pure was just beginning to add new risks, they had not yet experienced many losses, adding that Pure’s risk selection process relies heavily on credit scoring, which they believe will help attract policyholders who better manage their finances and their homes. The client shared that he regards this as a de-facto “sale” on home insurance, and told me I should explain it in such terms to others.
Well —– although insurance carriers do not have “sales”, it is fair to observe that new carriers entering the marketplace without the burden of prior losses and who also carefully select the risks they insure are able to price their policies at rates that can give the impression they are on “sale”. For those who find the idea of a “sale on insurance” appealing, please contact me to examine an offer from Pure. Meanwhile, as an independent risk advisor, my advice on “who the best carrier is” remains unchanged: it is whichever carrier best meets that particular client’s specific protection needs.
