Property and Casualty Insurance in Orange County with Eric P. Evans of Chrysalis Insurance Company

Let’s talk about some insurance stuff! Yeah! So right before you actually is a, Dr. Tran, this is a test, look around, see who’s squinting, holding this three feet away and you have a whole list of prospects in this room. I want to tell you about the CIA, what we do, how we compare with the rest of the carriers, because the carriers, the ride with the CIA, Triple A Farmers, State Farm Mercury, they make up the bulk of insurance carriers in the state of California. I’ve been doing this for about two years, and some of you go, ‘I don’t know what he does, he sells insurance, but how does it compare to everybody else who spends millions of dollars in commercials, I don’t know?’ So I wanted to answer that question cause it’s on all your minds.

I want to go over some of the highlights here, you see the Topics, I look at those as important to all of us. Some could care less, some could care more, but it hits the median of those of us in the group. So “Vanishing Deductible”, carriers offer one on your home, what does that mean? They knock off, say, $100 a year as long as you’re claim free. So you think, ‘Gee, I’ve been with this company 20 years, I could have a $0 deductible on that gigantic claim!’ Yes, that’s exactly what that means. Generally your home insurance should be used for major stuff. I had a pipe leak a week ago, I knew how to fix it, sorry Chris, you’re not here, but I can do that, fix it, up in the attic, on my belly, dust, hot, terrible, I lost 5 pounds, but I took care of it.

Called a guy this morning to come over and fix the drywall for $400. I didn’t call the insurance, I knew better. “Water Sewer Backup”, that’s a big deal. We have aging sewer and water pipes, we have cities and counties that aren’t cleaning those out on a regular basis. If we have a major rain that fills our sewer with water, everyone’s flushing their toilets simultaneously, suddenly you’re going, ‘What is that smell coming out of my toilet filling up the sink, the bottom of my house?’ That’s water sewer backup and most carriers exclude that specifically.

State Farm, that lower left box, on the front page, has your coverages on the right, your premium on the right, your exclusions on the left, it will say water sewer backup excluded. You can get it but it’s always excluded. Most agents don’t add it because they don’t think about it, I add it because it’s not an expensive coverage. Triple A doesn’t have it, Farmer it’s optional this year, State farm it’s optional, Mercury it’s no.

Rate Issue Options, what I mean by that, this is a weird year for insurance. Those of you who wanna spend 5 minutes because you can’t sleep at night, this would be an interesting topic. The insurance companies are going broke, they have untold billions in damages from storms, it’s going to be even worse in 2013, so in California, you will see your rates go up, I don’t care how long you’ve been with your carrier, what a great driver you are, how claim-free you are, rates are going up, cause insurance companies are running about 100-200% of their income and when you run in the red and you’re an insurance company, the commissioner says you’ve got to raise your rates because they can’t allow us to be in the red for too long because they have to keep the pool of money to pay claims out with, full, so be aware.

The point of rate issue options, I have multiple carriers so when you say, ‘Oh my gosh, Eric, I added my 16 year old, the rate went up $1500,’ I say, ‘Great, let’s shop it, because I have multiple carriers, I have that flexibility, all the others don’t.’,

All-peril, that’s an important topic because when it comes to home insurance, most of the guys to the right of me, except Farmers that added it this year, they don’t have it. Named-peril policy means if it’s listed, it’s covered. If it’s not, it’s not covered. Really simple. They’ll list the major stuff and if you go through a couple of pages of your policy, and the coverage, you’ll see ‘Covered’, it says ‘Water’, but it has to be a pipe that suddenly breaks, lightning, wind, stuff like that. Weird, quirky little things like the squirrel that got up in your attic because you didn’t trim the trees that Terry told you to trim, they wreak havoc, chew wires and pipes, they’ll exclude that. ‘Oh, you had vermin excluded. Farmers, specifically, excluded, so you’ve got to be aware of that. We write the policies, the majority we have, it’s called Open-Peril policies, so it’s basically the flip side of that. Unless they say it’s excluded, it’s covered, so they’ll exclude earthquake and flood. Everyone does, but that’s a huge difference, and if you see who has that, no one has that. Farmers has an HO3+, the Named Peril, HO5 is the Open Peril, that’s insurance speak, but I write that specifically because I know if I get that call at 3 a.m. I’m not going to sweat and neither is my client. I say, look you’re covered, don’t worry about it, just protect your family and go to a hotel and you’re good.

Another big deal is Personal Injury. If you have kids, your friend has kids, or grandkids, and they’re in that 12-year range or college age, and they’re using that computer out of your home and your IP Address and you don’t have Personal Injury, you’re asking for trouble and huge, huge problems, because these days, kids get idle, and they do funny little things like setting up a new Facebook account for that girl that stole their boyfriend to “get her” and it happens all the time. Not only is it illegal, but it’s bullying, and you hear about it all the time, it’s a hot topic even suicides left and right, with these teenagers that don’t know how to handle their emotions and jump in front of trains and off buildings, all this crazy awful stuff. But guess what? If that comes to roost in your home, you’re in big, big trouble. But Personal Injury covers you, and protects you, so if you have insurance, maybe $300-$500,000 in coverage on your liability with a million dollar umbrella, you don’t have to stress over that family that’s distressed over their deceased child or emotionally wrecked child who’s in counseling for years, it’s a real fact, I’m not overselling it, spend some time googling it, it’s a big deal. Most people don’t have it. Look at the coverage on the right. Triple A doesn’t have it, Farmer’s it’s optional, State Farm it’s optional, Mercury doesn’t offer it. So its optional and unfortunately they don’t put it on there. A lot of agents these days, especially if they’ve been around 30, 40 years, they get lazy, and unless you know about this stuff, and say, I want Personal Injury, they’re not going to include it.

ID Theft, fastest growing crime in this country, if your policy doesn’t cover it, you’re going to get burned. You can spend $240 per person with Life Lock or add $25,000 in coverage with most policies I sell. No one offers it, Farmers does on a regular basis and it’s optional with State Farm.

Jewelry, I had a question the other day, one of my clients lost a tennis bracelet. Well, is it a Tiffany bracelet or a JC Penney bracelet? I don’t know. Her policy covers $5000 limit, jewelry $5000 per item, most policies it’s less than that. Mercury’s is $1500 per item, $5000 in coverage. One of my policies is Allied with a checkpoint you go up to $10,000 per item in coverage without a floater.

Quickly go through monthly fees, I’ve got a $0 monthly fee thing. And I’m going to brush through the auto because it’s covered up top, but most of you folks, gosh, does your carrier have lifetime on repairs, 800 customer service, yes, I have companies that do that and some even better than that. At the bottom, it’s what I offer, the personalized stuff, auto, home, condo, renters, toys, business, big buildings, little buildings, apartment buildings, investment properties, fleets of vehicles, workers compensation, etc. I’ve got it and I cover it. You don’t see life insurance and health insurance, I don’t do that stuff because I want to focus on my core of what I’m good at, which is property casualty.

Flood insurance? Are we not obligated to buy from the California Flood District thing?

Flood is all done through FEMA, they’re the big underwriting guys in the sky.

I pay a separate policy for flood insurance, can I get coverage from you?

It would be the same rate, no rate differential, unless you’re fathered into the flood zone you’re in. Some parts of Fountain Valley have flood zones that have changed over the years. Your neighbor is in a flood zone, you’re not, etc.

EPLI? It’s key because Employment Practices Liability Insurance, a lot of policies will add $100,000 without underwriting. It’s key because employees will say they’re emotionally distraught from having to work through lunch. It’s very employment related, if you’ve ever had an employment issue, it’s key to have because the average settlement is $20-$30,000 and can go up from there.

Insurance Agents Orange County

Eric Evans - Insurance Agent Orange County handling Property & Casualty Insurance

Eric donates a lot of his time to AYSO – refereeing soccer, Boy Scouts of America – Assistant Scoutmaster, and his church – playing guitar, bass, singing, and just making noise in general.

Chrysalis Insurance Company 2701 Harbor Blvd. E-2 42 Costa Mesa, CA 92626 Bus: 714-464-8080 Cell: 949-633-5501 Fax: 949-271-5002 www.ciaforinsurance.com cthomas@ciapro.net