For consumers, the choices on the homeowners insurance market are various – often times depending solely on the preference and experience that they have had in the past from a particular insurance carrier. Maybe their parents were always insured by a certain company and they have just followed along with the same loyalty. Perhaps they were steered to a brand because of  an advertising pitch that they saw during a football game.

When it comes to insuring “high valued” homes – and for this discussion we will categorize high value as homes with a market value upwards of $750,000 – there are certainly companies that have coverages that are more suited for this type of risk. Many insurance companies tend to “run” when the values reach this level. It is out of their comfort zone and they realize that vanilla, basic coverages will probably not match the desires, needs, and expectations that come with owning such a valuable home.

At FPR, we represent three companies (ACE, Chubb, and Fireman’s Fund) that specialize in insuring the affluent homeowner. The policy language of these companies offer the extra bells and whistles that a standard homeowner form will fail to do. They also offer in- home appraisal services, personal risk management advice, and superior claims service. These insurance carriers can also get very creative when it comes to crafting a policy that is “outside the box” and meets your specific desires as far as coverage is concerned.

If you live in a high valued home or you are purchasing one, contact us – no matter where you live in the country – and we can provide you with a detailed quote.  Our carriers don’t run of get nervous when your home values reach higher limits – it is what they specialize in.

A trend is developing in the high valued  homeowners insurance market that may be a good option for insurance consumers and save agents headaches at the same time. Many times, clients do not wish to insure their homes for the full “replacement cost” of what it would cost to rebuild it in the event of a total loss.

For instance, a customer with a home that has a value of 10 million dollars (replacement) might come to the conclusion that they only want to insure it for 6 or 7 million- with their logic being that they would “never build it back the same way again” if they had to do so in a total oss occurred. By “capping” their coverage and limiting it to a specific amount they are in a sense self insuring their risk – the difference being the true replacement cost of the home minus their capped amount that they choose. The headache saving process for agent lies in the fact that generally insurance carriers demand that homes be insured for 100% of their replacement value. When a customer does not want to do this then options can be limited if the agent does not know where to turn.

Premiums can be drastically reduced using this “capped” method but another option that is available is to focus on selecting a larger than normal deductible on the risk. Typically, most insurance companies in the high home value market offer deductibles that stop at $50,000 per incident. Under specialty programs that are currently offered by several of our carriers, deductibles can reach 1 million dollars. These policies are not common in the marketplace and are only offered in company’s excess and surplus lines markets – which we at FPR have access to.

If you are in the market for purchasing a homeowners policy for a residence in the multi million dollar range and this type of approach intrigues you, contact us at FPR and we can get you a quotation through one of our carriers specializing in these types of risks – it does not matter where you live. Currently two of our carriers, Fireman’s Fund and ACE, offer variations of this type of insurance that could be a fit for your needs.

Interesting tidbit from GMAC Auto Insurance today:

“According to the 7th Annual GMAC Insurance National Drivers Test, this year men had a test score that was slightly higher than 80%. That is significantly higher than females, who averaged just above 74%. What is more telling is that 27.2% of the women who took the test, failed. Compare that to the 13.6% of men who failed the National Drivers Test and we get a real sense of who knows the rules of the road better when it comes to men vs. women.”

If you would like for our agency to quote your auto insurance, please contact us - we’ll take a look at your current program (if you are a guy or a gal) and will be happy to perform an insurance review for all of your coverages – personal and commerical. Give us a try at Fridrich, Pinson & Rothberg.