Program spotlight: Residential Earthquake insurance
If your clients live anywhere along the West Coast, chances are they’ve felt the ground suddenly lurch beneath their feet, windows shake violently, and items fly off shelves, crashing to the ground—all of which leave them more than a little shaky themselves. Fortunately, you can help your insureds stay on solid ground with Arrowhead’s residential and small commercial earthquake insurance policies.
View our Earthquake Hub for more articles on how to prepare for and what to do during and after a quake.
How Arrowhead’s Residential Earthquake insurance helps your clients stand firm when things get shaky
In addition to dropping and covering during a quake, anyone living in an earthquake zone should seriously consider earthquake coverage for their home or business.
Related: Why your West Coast homeowners need Arrowhead’s Residential Earthquake Insurance
Vice President of Residential Earthquake Angie Keus broke down the top three reasons why insurance agents should opt for earthquake coverage with Arrowhead:
1. A broad range of risks. “We’re able to take on certain risk types that other carriers just don’t have the pricing factors to provide,” she explained. “On the personal lines side, we can write a wide range of personal dwellings, ranging from small condo units or bungalows to multi-million-dollar mansions for up to a total insured value of $15 million.
“For small commercial earthquake insurance, we target apartment buildings, condo buildings, office buildings and smaller strip malls. The per-building max coverage limit is $9 million, with deductibles as low as five percent. We can now write tenant policies to cover an investor’s property & business income exposure,” said Keus.
2. A variety of coverage options. “Our ‘sweet spot’ consists of clients that want better earthquake coverage. Whether it’s a policy that has less sub-limiting coverage restrictions, or a client that is concerned about a carrier’s longevity and financial strength, we have competitively priced options for both scenarios,” she said.
“We’ve written enough celebrity homes that we could run one of those ‘tour of the stars’ homes’ tour buses and not repeat any homes on a tour in one week,” quipped Steve Goebel, business development manager for Residential and Small Commercial Earthquake.
3. Ease of use. “On the personal lines side, quotes are processed super quickly with a no-money-down option. We also offer a two-day turn around on commercial quotes, extremely fast compared to a week or more from our competition, which can mean the difference between binding a risk or losing out to a current renewal,” Goebel added.
Advice for Residential Earthquake insurance producers
“If you are writing the home/dwelling/condo policy, an earthquake quote can be done in two minutes because you already have all the info needed. It just makes sense to add an earthquake quote for every property you insure as new business,” explained Keus.
“This allows you to have one more policy with your insured, increasing retention. The more policies they have with you, the less likely they are to switch agents/brokers. Earthquake policies have a retention percentage rate that is 80 percent on average. They rarely require any maintenance. They’re a ‘one and done’ type policy. Simply write it and forget about it, since it just keeps renewing itself, adding revenue to your agency year after year with no additional time investment on your part.”
Related: Help your commercial clients protect business property from earthquake damage
Common Residential Earthquake coverage questions
Does the client have to pay the deductible in order for coverage to take place?
No, in most cases the deductible will simply be subtracted from the claims settlement amount.
Does an EQ (earthquake) policy cover a tsunami?
No, the insured would need a flood policy to cover tsunamis.
Does and EQ policy cover a landslide?
No, in general the EQ policy does not cover landslides. The one exception is if a landslide was directly triggered by a covered EQ event.
Can I write a tenant EQ policy for a renter?
On the Personal lines side, no. Our EQ policies can only be written for the property owner(s). On the Small Commercial side, yes. We can write a Small Commercial Earthquake policy for a business that is renting/leasing their building space.
Can I write a rental unit (condo or dwelling)?
Yes, in this case loss of use coverage would be loss of rents.
Can producers fax in an Acord application for quotes?
No, all quotes are to be submitted online through ArrowheadExchange.com.
Do I automatically have access to Arrowhead’s EQ products if I have another one of Arrowhead’s products?
Not necessarily. Arrowhead’s products require separate appointments. If you do not have access to our EQ products, you can get started here.
Learn more about our Earthquake program and its wide range of products to fit every property owner’s needs and budget.