Paul’s Insurance Corner
Helping partners and clients stay informed on property and casualty insurance.
In Brief: Quick Updates
California wildfire losses to reach $40-$45 billion
Use 1 agent for purchasing your commercial insurance
Non-renewals for homeowner insurance on the rise
Commercial Insurance
I will be starting a 5-part series on how to secure a strong and affordable insurance program for your business. Commercial insurance even with the creation of AI and online underwriting still needs to be navigated delicately. I plan to help with that!
PART 1: GO TO THE INSURANCE MARKET WITH 1 AGENT/BROKER.
This is critical—almost all carriers have a “first-in” rule, meaning the agent that submits an application to them first has dibs on the quote. They block all other agents for at least 90 days. The more agents you have going to market for you, the less of a chance you will have at securing the program that is best for your business.
You want your 1 agent to have leverage toward carriers to help keep a competitive edge on the premium. If your agent can’t get multiple quotes—how will they have leverage?
Also, you want to have a strong advisory relationship with your agent. Build trust and you will win in the long run with 1 agent representing you.
Personal Insurance
1) Below are the rate increases for 2023 and 2024 Homeowners insurance for the 10 largest insurers. 2024’s average homeowner insurance increase was ~10.5% across all insurers.
Of note, for the insurers that most aggressively hiked their rates, like Liberty Mutual, you will likely see a rate decrease in 2025.
For those that moderately hiked their rates, you will likely again see a moderate rate hike of 5-10%.
Top 10 homeowner insurer’s 23-24 rate changes.
2) Homeowners could be facing non-renewals from their companies due to several circumstances including: Roof conditions, hazard zones, and credit reports.
With the advent of more complex and automated technologies there are opportunities for mistakes to happen. For example, we recently had an insured receive a nonrenewal notice because the company pulled an inaccurate automated roof report using satellite data. Turns out, the reason the report came back in error was because the roof was being replaced at the moment of the satellite picture being taken.
We handled this with a simple phone call and emails of receipts and pictures of the roof to the underwriter. Please, talk to your agent when if you receive a nonrenewal. Mistakes happen.
Random Insurance Fact