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

I’m going to talk about the macro- versus the micro- approach for something that should be very important to you; especially when it comes to your number one investment in your life whether it’s diamonds or a house. This information will apply to you whether you rent or own. So, I’m going to go through this I’ve got a lot to cover. We are going to talk about the difference between the home owner’s writers in the country ( Triple A, Allstate, Farmer’s and State Farm) versus what you can get. We’ll go through these topics.

I.D. Theft is like the number one crime in America; growing, and growing, and growing. In fact, it hits about 8 million victims per year. It is about a 50 billion dollar a year crime. If you have one of the aforementioned companies (with the exception of Farmer’s) you have zero coverage. Every carrier I represent, except two, offer some form of coverage on I.D. theft.

Water and Sewage Back-up Coverage; What is this? This is specifically excluded in every aforementioned policy. If a massive storm comes and your toilets and showers don’t drain to the main drain in the middle of the street, that your city maintains regularly, suddenly you have raw sewage back-up in your homes. All of the big aforementioned companies exclude this. The only exception is that recently Farmer’s created a $250 add-on you can do with your policy for this coverage. This doesn’t happen very often but when it does happen it is very expensive because essentially your house becomes a hazardous waste area.

Named Peril versus Open Peril. What does this mean? All of the Big Four offer what is called Named Peril Policies. This means that only those coverage’s that are named are covered, Back in the day, Farmer’s would name four major things that they would cover; fire, wind, theft and water (only if a pipe breaks.) That’s pretty much what everybody covers; named peril only. What is the other thing? Open Peril means that everything is covered unless they specifically say it is not covered. Typically what is not covered? Earthquake and flood. Basically if you have what is known as an H.O. 3, a named peril policy, this means whatever is on there is covered. I represent over 10 carriers and all except one offer Comprehensive Peril policies. This is very, very important.

Personal Injury. This is important here in 2012. Most of you have Renter’s policy, Condo policy, Homeowner’s policy, even business policy. This means you have a personal liability if someone trips on your property. Your kid runs someone over on the sidewalk with there bicycle, you’re playing tennis on your property and you break your partner’s nose and they want to sue you, those bodily types of injury are usually covered. Personal injury though, that is not always covered. In fact, there is only one company I’m aware of that actually extends that on to the Homeowner’s policy or Renter’s policy. Where Personal Injury kicks in is that non-bodily injury side. It’s the “Hey, Bruce. You broke my nose playing tennis and I’m a model. It’s crooked now and I’m going to sue you for all of the future income I’m not going to earn. I hope your policy covers it. Have a nice day.” That’s Personal Injury.
Also, when your 13-year-old thinks it’s cute to tell Johnny Jones he has cooties and stinks all the time and Johnny goes and walks in front of a train because he’s depressed; now we’ve got some problems. This type of thing is happening more and more these days. It is very sad but that’s where the Personal Injury kicks in. The family sues you because your kid did something bad; this is what the Personal injury coverage is for. This is a big deal and your policy should cover that. Like I said, only one of the Big Four offer it. It is optional, if you are a Farmer’s guy, you’ve got to look in the coverage’s, right at the top it asks yes or no for Personal Injury. It is very clear. That’s an option.

Building Ordinance; What’s that? This has to do with building codes. City Council people are always busy changing codes. For example, how many panes of glass you should have in your window, what kind of wood should be in your attic, what kind of wires should go through your walls, etc. Sometimes, copper is the “pipe of the day,” sometimes it’s plastic; they are always changing codes. So, if your garage burns down and you have a one-story home, and it takes out your living room, that portion of the house has to be built and brought up to 2012 standards. That includes fire sprinklers. So, if you’ve never appraised those you’ll find that they are very expensive. So, if your policy has a measly 10% added to the dwelling coverage, then you may be coming out of pocket. All of those homes that burned a couple of years ago in San Bernadino and Rancho Bernardo, a lot of them had wimpy coverage’s and they paid out of pocket.

There was a big issue with all of these lawsuits with the insurance companies that they had under-insured policies. Generally, with me, if the home is more than 10 years old, I’ll stick 25% on there, if it’s more than 20 years old, I’ll put 50 % on there. Why? Because you deserve it and you need to have adequate rebuilding costs. You’re thinking, “All of these coverage’s, this must be costing me an arm and a leg!” No! Those of you who I’ve quoted know that the opposite is true. There is tremendous savings by shopping your Homeowners Insurance and wrapping it in a package. I’m blown away still. It’s been eighteen months since I’ve been doing this with all of these carriers and I’m still blown away by all of these options that I can bring to my clients. It’s amazing. I’m saving people anywhere from 10 to 40 percent; Ten percent if you’re not insured very well, forty percent if you’re insured perfectly. Also, I’m bringing all of these other coverage’s to you. It’s sort of like going to the drive-thru to get your chicken versus someone serving it to you and wiping off your mouth for you. It’s sort of a Full-service vs. Self-service. That’s the difference. You know where to go; CIA.pro. You don’t have to be paying all this extra money and you shouldn’t be without any of these coverage’s. Any questions?

Do any of these policies come with mold damage coverage these days?

Mold damage is specifically excluded. I do have policies that cover it though. It is very limited though; generally about 5 to 10 thousand dollars in mold. The biggie for condo owners that have an attached wall is your liability for your neighbor’s wall if your water claim causes mold in their place. If you own a condo and have no condo coverage you are messing with danger.

Dog bites?

Dog bites are included unless you have an exclusion on your policy. You have to check your policy.

Flood Insurance?

Flood insurance covers—there’s a difference between milkshake and chocolate milk. They will cover milkshake consistency mud, however they will not cover chocolate milk/ muddy water. That’s from the flood people.

 

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