Tips on buying commercial property insurance

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Tips on buying Commercial Property Insurance in Louisiana

Some tips for getting commercial property insurance include:

  • How much coverage do you need?
  • Don’t under insure or over insurance the property
  • How to determine the replacement cost of the building
  • Get a commercial insurance package proposal
  • Who buys the commercial policy..tenant or building owner?

GET QUOTE

How much coverage do you need for your commercial property?

Most building owners try to lower their insurance costs by lowering the insurance value of the building

This is a mistake

In a commercial property insurance policy the insurance company will have a coinsurance penalty clause usually 80%, 90% or 100%

If the policy has an 80% coinsurance penalty you must insure the building at least 80% of the replacement cost of the building (The replacement cost is the cost of you to hire a contractor to rebuild your property minus the land value)

If not your claim check will be reduced by the % you underinsured the commercial property

example)  You own a building with 2,000 square feet and the cost to rebuild is 220,000 determined by the insurance company replacement cost estimator

Your insurance policy on the commercial building is only 154,000

The building is damaged by fire and the estimate is $55,000 to repair

80% of 220,000 is $176,000 and that is the lowest insured value you can have on your policy

But you have the building insurance value at 70% or $154,000

To determine how much to pay on the claim, the insurer divides the amount of insurance you purchased ($154,000) by the amount you should have purchased (80% of $220,000 or $176,000)

The result is (154,000 divided by 176,000 = .875)

The amount the insurance company would pay on the claim is (.875 x the amount of the estimate (55,000)

The claim check would be $48,125 instead of the total estimate of $55,000

You would lose $6,875 off of the claim check to rebuild your commercial property

Using .875 on larger losses can really add up

55,000 claim you get $48,125 ($6,875 loss)

110,000 claim you get $96,250 ($13,750 loss)

GET QUOTE

Don’t under insure or over insure the property

It is important that you choose the correct coinsurance % value and determine the replacement cost of your building

The insurance company will only pay the replacement cost of the building (the cost to you to hire a contractor to rebuild)

If it cost $250,000 to rebuild your building and you have a policy for $400,000?

you are not going to get a check for $400,000

If it only cost $250,000 to rebuild you are only going to get $250,000 unless you can prove it will cost $400,000

How to determine the replacement cost of the building?

Get an estimate from a commercial builder or contractor

Ask for the copy of the insurance company’s replacement cost estimator

*Here is a free online commercial building estimator click here

*its just a guide or estimate and should not be used as exact replacement costs and cost of building materials fluctuates

Get a commercial insurance package proposal

Often commercial property insurance policies can be through surplus lines insurers and you each coverage you need has to be added to the policy if not you don’t have the coverage

The most common mistake we see is a commercial property policy will have building coverage but not include loss of rental income

You need to purchase a business owner policy (BOP) package policy for your commercial property

This policy includes over 30 additional coverage options such as

  • Loss of Rental Income
  • Equipment breakdown
  • Ordinance or Law including demolition costs
  • Liability up to 10,000,000 

Insurance companies in Louisiana offer a complete package business owner policy to protect your commercial building

Most common question is who buys the commercial property insurance policy in Louisiana?

A very common practice for building owners is a triple net lease

You can get your tenant to pay for the commercial property policy but you can’t get them to buy the commercial policy

You can’t purchase an insurance policy if you don’t own the building

As the owner you buy the commercial property insurance policy and you can invoice your tenant monthly for the insurance costs

GET QUOTE

3 insurance hacks to use now

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Here are 3 Insurance hacks you can use now for car, homeowners and business insurance

Insurance companies have many ways and data points they use to generate a rate for you

I put together 3 things you can do now to lower your rate on car and homeowners insurance and if you are a business owner or have a friend, neighbor or family member that owns a business

 

CAR INSURANCE

One rating factor on car insurance is how many miles do you drive

Most insurance companies provide a discount for less than 12,000 miles

If your policy is rated on over 12,000 annual miles you can ask your agent to change the policy to less than 12,000 miles and see if it generates a refund

The rate savings may be minimal so here is another way to greater savings

 

SAVE UP TO 30%

Every company has a drive tracking program  

You get a discount to try up to 5% and you get an opportunity to save an additional 30% off your current rate

How does it work?

Most insurance companies now offer an app that will track the movement of your vehicle or you can get a plug in device

What do they track?

  • Acceleration from a complete stop
  • Hard braking
  • Driving after 12 am
  • Miles per day

That’s it

No an insurance company can’t track your speed because they don’t know if you are on an interstate or blowing through a school zone

No they don’t care where you are going

Tracking your daily routine has no underwriting value to an insurance company

Ask your agent or insurance company if they offer a telematics program and each insurance company gives the program a name

Progressive Snapshot

Safeco Right Track

National General SmartDrive

Liberty Mutual Right Track

State Farm Drive Safe and Save

Allstate Drivewise

USAA SafePilot

Geico DriveEasy

 

HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE

You are not locked into a homeowners insurance policy

You can get a re-rate at any time from your current agent

If you have not checked your home insurance in 3-5 years it may be time to request a rate review

Most insurance agents are willing to accommodate you

 

INSURANCE IN ESCROW

I like to call this a forced escrow refund and here is what you can do

Your escrow is based on the cost of insurance for homeowners and flood and your property tax bill

Each year the lender can do an escrow analysis to determine if you have enough or you have too much and they will issue a refund

The cost of insurance going up can cause an escrow shortage

At any time you can get your current homeowners insurance rate reviewed by an insurance agent

If rates have gone down since you purchased your house or your homeowners insurance you can purchase a new policy at a lower rate

The insurance agent would cancel your current home insurance policy that would generate a refund back to you not the mortgage company

The lender would receive an invoice for the new homeowners insurance policy at a lower rate causing a forced escrow re-evaluation

which would result in a lower monthly mortgage payment

This is fastest way to lower your monthly mortgage if you need relief now

 

BUSINESS INSURANCE

You need to understand that business insurance policies are rated on estimated annual payroll or estimated annual gross sales

If your business payroll and sales are greatly reduced here is what you can do

Ask your current agent or insurance company to change the policy to your lower estimated payroll or gross sales

This should lower your monthly bill

Not all insurance companies are willing to do this for you

If they refuse you can get another quote from an insurance company using the new adjusted figures and this should produce a lower rate

 

Most common rating factors on business policies

General Liability or Business Owners policy will use estimated gross sales

Workers Compensation will use estimated payroll

Don’t cancel your policy but consider a reduction in your estimated gross sales and payroll before you consider a cancel request

Most insurance companies will not accept you with no prior insurance or surcharge a rate for not having an active policy

 

Hope this helps during this time of need and if you need to reach out to me with any questions 504.348.3131

Tim D’Angelo owner of FM Agency Group

 

Other Related articles during this time

Are your covered under your car insurance policy if you deliver food or rideshare?

Can you get loss of business income due to a virus?

Car insurance and delivery coverage

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Does your Car insurance cover you if you decide to work in food delivery?

With so many of you, your friends, family or neighbors being sent home with or without pay more than likely you may know someone that is thinking about working for a food delivery business

There was a time when we only had pizza delivery but now you can get items delivered from national and local stores such as CVS, Langenstein’s, Office Depot, Petco, Rouses, Target, Winn Dixie and others by using an app

and the food delivery companies are now hiring such as Instacart, Shipt and Waitr

CVS just released an article of hiring 50,000 workers 

 

Before you sign up and start working you need to know do you even have coverage?

Your personal car insurance policy will exclude food delivery, business use or any type of ride sharing

Get into an accident delivering food for a company “business use” and it is possible you are paying all claims out of pocket unless you purchase the endorsement or add on coverage for your personal auto insurance policy

You need to purchase a Rideshare Insurance Endorsement 

 

What is Rideshare coverage?

Two types of business use…Rideshare or Delivery

VEHICLE USED FOR RIDESHARE
The transportation (for compensation) of goods or people through Uber, Lyft or other drive-for-hire services

 

TIP: If the business uses an app and does not have a physical location this is the endorsement you need

 

VEHICLE USED FOR DELIVERY

The pick-up or delivery of goods (newspapers, pizza, other food/items, etc.), or the transportation of people (limousine, taxi, etc.)

TIP: If you work for a company that does not use an app (uber, lyft, instacart, waitr) and they have a physical location in your city

 

RIDESHARE ENDORSEMENT vs COMMERCIAL AUTO POLICY

An example here is the local poboy restaurant now wants to offer lunch delivery and they send the employee out in their own car to make a delivery

The restaurant owner would need hired and non owned auto insurance to protect their business from an auto insurance claim and the employee driver would need a commercial auto insurance policy as the add on coverage on a personal auto policy would provide no coverage

 

Here are a few companies that offer the add on coverage to your personal auto policy

Allstate

Geico

Progressive

State Farm

These companies can offer an add on endorsement to your personal auto policy which can range from 5%-25% a month increase

 

loss of business income due to virus

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Does your insurance policy provide loss of business income due to the coronavirus?

At this time you can not buy insurance protection for the threat of a virus but does your current policy give you coverage?

I had a recent call from a restaurant owner asking if customers no longer go out to dinner due to the spread of the coronavirus would he have any loss of business income to help sustain his business

The business owners policy (BOP) like any insurance policy has policy exclusions

The one event that triggers loss of business income is the property must sustain property damage

A virus does not cause property damage

The first exclusion is the CP 01 40 07 06 Exclusion of loss due to virus or bacteria

click here to read the policy exclusion form BP 06 01 01 07

What about civil authority prohibited access to your business?

Once again this coverage was intended to give you coverage if you could no longer gain access to your property due to damage to another property sustaining damage

an example is a building fire up the street and the entire block is closed for days

business income form CP00300402

What can you do now?

If the virus affects your community and people are advised to stay inside you can make a claim under your business owners policy to let the insurance company investigate the claim and more than likely issue a denial letter

Keep your denial letter on file in case the government provides small business assistance as a result of the virus

They will probably require a denial letter from your insurance company to release funds

Hopefully it will not come to this but small business owners are going to be affected and at this time your insurance policy more than likely is not going to provide loss of business income due to this virus outbreak

Homeowners Insurance coverage options you need

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When I’m talking to a New Orleans homeowners insurance resident and I’m reviewing their current coverage on their policy I often see missing coverage options that are important

A homeowners insurance policy does not cover everything but the insurance company does offer add on options you many not know about

Most insurance companies writing in Louisiana will use an HO-3 policy form but this policy does include all the coverage you need

You must add on or endorse the policy to get the coverage to protect your home and your bank account

GET QUOTE 

Here is a review of the most common endorsements available on a New Orleans homeowners insurance policy

 

Animal Liability Endorsement

Equipment Breakdown Enhancement

Personal Injury

Water Back up and Sump Discharge

Personal Property Replacement Cost

Service Line Endorsement

Refrigerated property

Mandatory Evacuation

The cost of a homeowners insurance policy with the endorsements above could be the difference of $100 additional per year

 

ANIMAL LIABILITY 

Even if you don’t have a dog at this time, you should consider adding this endorsement.

The usual cost is $50 a year.

This endorsement will add usually a sublimit of coverage starting at 25,000 towards a defense of an alleged dog bite claim on your property.

Most dog owners believe “my dog would never bite anyone”.

Just remember this is not dog bite liability only

Your dog could get excited and jump on someone and cause an injury too

 

GOLF CART ENDORSEMENT

Obviously if you don’t own one or intend to own one this may be an easy decision but just remember if you do buy one, check with your agent to make sure its covered.

Some policies offer this endorsement but had some requirements in order to pay in claims

“The golf cart must be used in a gated community”

or

“The golf cart is covered if used in a neighborhood or community with a golf course”

Most homeowners policies exclude coverage because you can buy a stand alone Golf Cart policy that will cover liability and property coverage and the policy usually begins at $150 for year

Agent Tim Tip: Don’t depend on your homeowners policy to give you the coverage you need if you are driving a Golf Cart around your neighborhood

 

ORDINANCE OR LAW COVERAGE

Usually a percentage 10%, 25% or 30%, this endorsement will cover any improvements to the repairs to your house after a claim because of a building code requirement that was not in force when the house was built.

ex) If your house was built in 1985 and you have a claim today, its safe to say you would have to rebuild your house to the new building code enforcement.

When the house was built were hurricane straps required on the roof?

Are they required today?

If so, the estimate would not include the cost of installing roof straps because your house did not have any but the new code in Jefferson Parish or Orleans Parish may require you to do so.

Check with a local contractor and ask if the building codes in your Parish have changed since your house was built.

Most New Orleans homeowners insurance policies include a % such as 10% of the insured dwelling limit to be used for this type of issue in the HO-3 Special Form policy.

 

EQUIPMENT BREAKDOWN

Most often this is the endorsement that gives coverage for the complete breakdown of your a/c unit or appliances but will exclude for wear and tear

If you have a home warranty policy you would be covered for wear and tear

The mechanical breakdown of the equipment in your house is usually subject to a special deductible.

Most often $100-$500 and there is a sublimit of damages

Could be a limit of around $50,000 of damage

The cost of this endorsement could be as low as $20

 

PERSONAL INJURY

This coverage can add protection against any alleged Libel or Slander claims.

This coverage is needed more today with the popularity of social media.

People say or type the craziest things on social media these days.

Do you know what your child is typing on Facebook?

If a claim is brought against you for something that was said (slander) or written (libel) about another person your personal injury coverage would apply

Without this endorsement or coverage you would be left paying for your claim defense out of your own pocket

Some home policies have a sublimit such as $25,000, so check your policy.

Most insurance companies like UPC insurance company will add personal injury as the same limit as your current liability limit for as low as $50

to see a list of Insurance Companies writing in New Orleans click here

WATER BACKUP COVERAGE

This endorsement is coverage for direct physical loss, not caused by negligence of any “insured” to property covered under Section I of the policy by water or water-borne material which

Backs up through sewers or drains on the “residence premises”

Overflows or is discharged from a sump, sump pump or related equipment, even if such overflow or discharge results from mechanical breakdown

Coverage does not apply to direct physical loss of the sump pump or related equipment which is caused by mechanical breakdown

The claim may be subject to a special deductible starting at $250 on some home insurance policies

What about an accidental water claim such as (caused by negligence)

  • overflow of a toilet
  • overflow of a bathtub
  • frozen busted pipe resulting in water damage

These type of accidental claims are covered under the home insurance policy as water damage and are not subject to a Water Back Up Endorsement because the water issue did not originate through sewers, drains or discharges from sump, sump pumps and related equipment.

Common claim is the sewer line under the slab will collapse and water can no longer leave your home and it backs up into your bathroom or kitchen

The resulting water damage would be covered by the water backup endorsement and amount of damage could be limited to $5,000 to $25,000

Check your New Orleans homeowners insurance policy for the limit 

SERVICE LINE ENDORSEMENT

This coverage will actually replace the sewer line plumbing under your slab to the street

Without this coverage you would be left paying for the replacement of the sewer line to the plumber

Most customers believe the sewer line running from the street to under their house is the responsibility of the parish but it’s not 

This endorsement can provide up to $10,000 of coverage and it covers tree root intrusions and corrosion which would normally be excluded under a homeowners insurance policy

PERSONAL PROPERTY REPLACEMENT COST

There are two options offered to you on your contents or personal property.

  • Replacement Cost
  • Actual Cash Value

Replacement Cost allows you to replace the damaged item of like kind or quality.

So if you had a 5 year old 46” Samsung TV,

you could go out and purchase another 46” Samsung TV.

Actual Cash Value is Replacement Cost minus Depreciation

So if you had a 5 year old 46” Samsung TV,

the claims adjuster would deduct 5 years of depreciation from the replacement cost of a 46” Samsung TV.

Ex) 5 years of depreciation at $50/year = $250 deducted or depreciated

Replacement Cost is $500 for a new tv minus $250 depreciation,

You would receive a check for $250.

REFRIGERATED PROPERTY

Not all insurance companies offer this coverage but if there is loss of power and you lose all your contents in your refrigerator or freezer this endorsement would pay for the replacement

The limit can go up to $500 and the cost can be as low as $10

MANDATORY EVACUATION

This coverage will kick in if the parish orders a mandatory hurricane evacuation and you must leave New Orleans

You would be reimbursed for your hotel room up to the limit of either $1,000 or $1,500

Damage to your home does not have to apply in order to receive reimbursement if you purchased this coverage

 

So what’s this all about?

New Orleans Homeowners Insurance policies do not cover everything.

If they did you would receive one piece of paper from the insurance company when you purchased a new policy and that would be a receipt.

Instead you receive a thick policy full of exclusions and a description of what is not covered.

It is important you do an annual review of your homeowners insurance policy and coverage options

When you purchase your policy it is possible that some of the coverage options listed above were not offered but now they are are

Call your agent and ask or give us a call and we can do a price protection review 504.348.3131 or complete our quick form below

Service Line coverage: the coverage you need but probably don’t have

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Does your New Orleans homeowners insurance policy have service line coverage?

The answer is probably not

Most homeowners don't know they are responsible for the sewer line that runs from the street under their property and into their house

In New Orleans over time these sewer lines will collapse due to corrosion, tree root intrusion or land subsidence (settling or sinking)

Common Sewer Line Problems

  • Broken or cracked sewer line
  • Pipe bursting
  • Tree root intrusion
  • Collapsed sewer line
  • Main sewer line clogged
  • Drain repair needed

When this happens the water can't run into or from your house and the water backs up into your home

Now your policy should have water backup coverage to cover the damage inside your home from the water and most policies do but its the Service Line endorsement most homeowners insurance policies don't have

This endorsement will replace the sewer line plumbing pipe

Without the endorsement you would be responsible for paying the plumber to excavate your front yard and replace the pipe and the homeowners insurance company would pay for all the water damage inside your home

Now you can buy the coverage you need to pay for replacement of the pipe itself which can cost as much as $3500 to start

What is the cost of sewer line repair?

"The average cost to repair a main sewer line is $3,818 with most homeowners spending between $2,250 and $5,750. A full sewer line replacement ranges from $8,000 to $30,000, or $50 to $200 per linear foot, depending on the length and width of sewer pipe needed"..read full article here

​

How much is the Service Line Endorsement?

Most New Orleans homeowners insurance companies charge $25 to add this coverage


How much coverage does this endorsement provide?

Most companies will provide up to $10,000

Why this endorsement is important?

The standard exclusions in a homeowners insurance policy will not cover wear and tear or corrosion because the damage was not a result of a sudden and accidental event

You would get replacement coverage for corrosion, wear and tear, tree root intrusion, collapse

You also get excavation costs included too

​Here is a sample pdf of the insurance policy language  


Which insurance companies in New Orleans offer the service line endorsement?

Gulf States Insurance

Capitol Preferred CPIC

Southern Fidelity SFIC

Centauri National

UPC

What's this all about?

Check your current homeowners insurance policy and if this coverage is not listed on your policy declarations page under endorsements you don't have this coverage

It is an endorsement and must be purchased or added on the policy as a line item

If you would like a quote from one of the companies listed above that offers this inexpensive but very important coverage just complete the quick form below

UPC insurance company is a top pick in 2020 

They are the 18th ranked insurance company writing homeowners insurance in the United States.  

to learn more about UPC click here

REQUEST A HOME INSURANCE QUOTE BELOW FROM

FM AGENCY GROUP

FM Agency Group

Helping Louisiana with insurance since 2001. Homeowners, car, rental property, flood and personal umbrella. Get the protection you need for the value you want. 504.348.3131

Agent Tim

To read more articles like this one get the insurance advice you need to make the decision to protect what you have in the event of a financially devastating event.  View more articles here

how strong is your homeowners insurance company

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How strong is your homeowners insurance company?

You need to know if another hurricane is going to hit New Orleans will your insurance company still be in business?

No one really knows the answer to that question but before we review the ratings from Demotech you need to first understand insurance companies buy insurance too

Its called Reinsurance

Most insurance companies can not pay all claims out of their bank account

They purchase insurance just like us and have a deductible

Their deductible is the responsibility to pay all claims up to a limit

The limit could be 1,000,000

Once the losses exceed their deductible (1,000,000) they make a claim with their reinsurance company and the reinsurance company pays the remaining claims

The Louisiana Department of Insurance will review an application for a new homeowners insurance company and they have a reinsurance requirement so they monitor the financial stability of the insurance companies that are admitted to write new policies in Louisiana

Admitted Insurance Companies

You want to make sure you are with an admitted insurance company in Louisiana because all admitted insurance companies are protected up to 500,000 per house from LIGA Louisiana Insurance Guaranty Association

They protect you from insolvency of an admitted insurance company

A surplus lines insurance company will offer no protection from insolvency (out of business)


How can you check to see the financial stability of your homeowners insurance company?

You can use Demotech, a financial stability rating agency of insurance companies

Demotech will rate regional and specialty insurance companies

Here are the 2019 Demotech chart of net admitted assets from 14 insurance companies writing new homeowners insurance policies in New Orleans

If you have a New Orleans homeowners insurance policy this is a good indication of the financial size of your insurance company

Please note some of the companies just started writing in New Orleans so they may not have the amount of net admitted assets of some of the others but does not indicate in any way they are not a good choice for homeowners insurance


insurance company

net admitted assets

UPC

$1,036,045,180

SOUTHERN FIDELITY INS CO

$206,051,403

CAPITOL PREFERRED INS CO

$193,168,882

LIGHTHOUSE 

$139,908,866

SAFEPOINT

$130,223,322

CENTAURI

$107,571,734

MAISON

$115,220,213

GULFSTREAM

$101,763,073

ALLIED TRUST

$75,829,361

BANKERS SPECIALTY

$51,835,945

ACCESS HOME INS

$38.226.865

UPC insurance company is top of the list for the end of 2019 in net admitted assets

They are the 18th ranked insurance company writing homeowners insurance in the United States.  

to learn more about UPC click here

REQUEST A HOME INSURANCE QUOTE BELOW FROM

FM AGENCY GROUP

The ratings of the companies listed above are A rated Exceptional from Demotech and each year they are reaffirmed

The website to do your own research is here DEMOTECH 

FM Agency Group

Helping Louisiana with insurance since 2001. Homeowners, car, rental property, flood and personal umbrella. Get the protection you need for the value you want. 504.348.3131

Agent Tim

To read more articles like this one get the insurance advice you need to make the decision to protect what you have in the event of a financially devastating event.  View more articles here

How to determine the insured value on a homeowners insurance policy

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If you own a home in New Orleans not many homeowners know how much insurance they need on their homeowners insurance policy

There really are four different values to use on your policy and three of them are wrong

There is

  • Market Value
  • Loan Value
  • Appraisal Value
  • Replacement Cost

Market Value is the value of your home including land value and it is usually the listing price if you were to put your home on the market

This value will fluctuate with the current interest rate and recent home sales in your neighborhood

Loan Value is the amount you owe on your mortgage

Mortgage companies and banks don’t understand the insured value

They only want the coverage for the amount of the loan and don’t understand you can’t insure land because… well after a fire, hurricane or tornado…the land is still there

Appraisal value is completed by an appraiser to determine market value of properties just like yours

All three of these values should not be used to determine the insured value limit on your New Orleans homeowners insurance policy

The correct value is called Replacement Cost or Insured Value

The Replacement Cost is the amount for you to hire a contractor to rebuild your home minus the value of the land

It is usually determined by a cost per square foot figure

Some brick homes could be replaced for $125 – $150 price per square foot

If you have a 2500 square foot home and a contractor says new home construction costs are $140/sq ft your 2500 square foot home would cost $350,000 to rebuild

 

Some Common questions we get about the insured value on a New Orleans homeowners insurance policy limit

 

1. Why do I have to insure my house for that much? My home is worth much less.

 

It has nothing to do with the value of your home in the current real estate market

You can find a 1100 square foot home in the Irish Channel of New Orleans sell for $350,000 and you can find the same 1100 square foot home in another neighborhood in Kenner La 70065 sell for $150,000

The insured value is based off the Replacement Cost (cost to hire a contractor minus land value)

 

2. I only owe 75,000 on my mortgage. Can I just write a policy for 75,000?

 

No.  The replacement cost of your home has nothing to do with your loan balance. 

It is the cost to rebuild your home based on the total square feet of your house

And you can’t under insure a house because of the co-insurance penalty.

If you have a 3000 square foot two story home and you only want to write a policy for 150,000 it could be determined that you are under-insuring the home at 50%

300,000 replacement cost and you only want 150,000

that is 50% of the replacement cost so if there is a claim you would be penalized 50% deduction off the claim check

example) House burns down and you want a check for 150,000 but since you under-insured the property by 50% the insurance company would deduct 50% off of 150,000 and give you a check for $75,000

You would not be able to rebuild a 3000 square foot home for $75,000

If you would like a professional review of your insured value on your New Orleans homeowners policy to make sure you are not under-insured or over-insured you can give me a call Tim D’Angelo at 504.348.3131 or complete our quick for below

It’s raining lawsuits in New Orleans do you have an umbrella?

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If you own a car, house, boat or rental property in New Orleans you need a personal umbrella policy

You don’t have to be a millionaire to be sued like one in this city

A customer walked into our office recently to ask to increase their uninsured motorists coverage on their car because they only had 25,000

She recently was hit in the rear by the driver of the other car and he had 50,000 of liability and it was not enough

She had back surgery before the accident but now her back is worse and she may need surgery again

That driver hit the wrong person

 

Although a car accident is the greatest risk to your financial assets it can happen at your house or on your boat or at your rental property

You can’t prevent accidents but you can use insurance to protect you from a devastating event you may not financially recover from

The one policy an attorney, a financial advisor and the insurance agent all purchased….

It is the personal umbrella policy and it starts at $300 a year

 

Get a Quote on a Personal Umbrella policy

GET QUOTE

 

For most New Orleans homeowners insurance customers we recommend 300,000 of liability on their homeowners insurance policy but some insurance companies writing will offer 500,000 of liability insurance for as low as an additional $50 a year on your policy

Check your policy and if your insurance company offers 500,000 request the endorsement now

 

Liability insurance is the amount your policy pays for bodily injury or property damage to others you are legally liability for

  • slip, trip and fall
  • at fault car accident
  • fire at your house damages the neighbor’s house
  • you tenant’s friend slips in the kitchen 

 

To qualify for a personal umbrella policy in New Orleans you must have these liability limits 

250,000 Car insurance

300,000 New Orleans homeowners insurance

300,000 boat insurance

300,000 landlord rental property insurance

If you would like a quote on a New Orleans personal umbrella policy just complete the quick form and a licensed insurance advisor with FM Agency Group will contact you

Get a Quote on a Personal Umbrella policy

GET QUOTE

2020 List of Homeowners Insurance Companies writing in New Orleans La

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The list of homeowners insurance companies writing in New Orleans La is still growing each year

There was a time after Hurricane Katrina when maybe one insurance company was writing new homeowners insurance policies

but now the list is still growing…one good hurricane and this will change the trend

 

Insurance companies make money on homeowners insurance in New Orleans when the wind doesn’t blow

 

The current environment in New Orleans is still profitable to insurance companies from other states, mostly Florida, to enter the New Orleans Homeowners insurance market

Some insurance companies have unsustainable low rates in an attempt to grow their policy count 

This is a gamble that could pay off for you because if you get a policy that is below market rate and the wind doesn’t blow and the insurance company maintains their low rates for a few years….your savings could add up in the thousands $$$

If you go with an insurance company for an extremely low rate on New Orleans homeowners insurance and a hurricane strikes after year one you could be dropped or sustain a massive rate increase and be sent to the Louisiana Citizens Fair Plan because no other insurance companies are writing after a major weather event

 

Request a New Orleans Home Insurance Quote Proposal

GET QUOTE

 

Here is an example from the Louisiana Department of Insurance website 

2020 List of New Orleans Homeowners Insurance companies writing new policies in Louisiana

New $400K Home
Coverage Level: Dwelling is less than 1-year-old with brick veneer construction, 2800 square feet, $400,000 building coverage, $200,000 contents coverage, 2% hurricane deductible/$500 all other peril deductible, clean claims history, 710 credit score, no wind mitigation features beyond the Louisiana building code requirements for homes built after January 2007, and no multiline discount.

Access Home Ins Co (Preferred) $5472 

Access Home Ins Co (Standard) $6870 

Allied Trust Ins Co $2043

Allstate Indemnity Co $8175 

Allstate Ins Co $8941 

Allstate Vehicle and Property Ins Co $4741 

American National General Ins Co $9318 

Americas Ins Co $3728 

Anchor Specialty Ins Co $4211 

Armed Forces Ins Exchange $2364 

ASI Lloyds $2464 

Bankers Specialty Ins Co $3,479

Bankers Specialty Ins Co $4712 

Centauri National Ins Co (Elite-A program) $2716 

Centauri National Ins Co (Elite-C program) $2687

Centauri National Ins Co (Preferred program) $4377 

Centauri Specialty Ins Co $4377 

Encompass Indemnity Co $9256 

Encompass Ins Co of America $5230 

Encompass Property and Casualty Co $8305 

Excalibur National Ins Co $4812

Family Security Ins Co $3973

Federated National Ins Co $2547 

Gulf States Ins Co $2926

Gulfstream Property & Casualty Ins Co $7146 

Gulfstream Select Ins Co $7146 

Homesite Ins Co $5459 

Horace Mann Ins Co $5030 

La Citizens Property Ins Corp $7614

La Farm Bureau Casualty Ins Co $8833 

La Farm Bureau Mutual Ins Co $7362 

Liberty Ins Corporation $9436 

Liberty Mutual Fire Ins Co $6620 

Liberty Personal Ins Co $9436 

Lighthouse Property Ins Corp (Beacon) $3511 

Lighthouse Property Ins Corp (Standard) $5193 

Maison Ins Co $4447 

Metropolitan Prop and Cas Ins Co $2891 

Occidental Fire & Casualty of N.C. $3119

Progressive Property Ins Co $2464 

Safeco Ins Co of Oregon $6086 

Safepoint Ins $3546 

Service Ins Co $2495 

Southern Fidelity Ins Co $2355 

Spinnaker Ins Co $3569 

State Farm Fire & Casualty Co $3432 

The Automobile Ins Co of Hartford $6693 

The Travelers Indem Co of America $6477 

United Fire & Indemnity $7855 

United Property & Casualty $2322 

United Services Automobile Association $4029 

Unitrin Auto & Home Ins Co $4222 

Unitrin Safeguard Ins Co $1857 

USAA Casualty Ins Co $4033 

USAA General Indemnity Co $4366 

 

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New Orleans La homeowners insurance guide