High end co-op insurance companies

PURE for me stayed close to last year - just a small increase.

Chubb has been running high single digit annual percentage increases for me the last several years. I've never made a claim.

PURE increases have been out of control on my weekend house, but like flarf consistent increases year to year on my apartment (in part due to unjustifiable annual increases in coverage).

I have AIG private client, and my premium is only going up 0.5% despite about 5% increase in coverage. I've managed to avoid ever making a claim.

Same experience as flarf with Chubb.

Please allow me to help on this topic. I have been working in the insurance industry my entire career as a strategy consultant, executive, investment banker, angel investor, and also broker. One of my passions is helping people understand insurance since it is a product that is often poorly understood.

I'll try to unpack a number of reasons have increased in NYC recently. Here are 8 macro forces driving rates up in the Property & Casualty industry: 1) 2019 was a horrible year in terms of things like Wildfires and the industry made only 1.6 cents in underwriting profit for every dollar of premium charged. Insurance capital is considered fungible so catastrophes in one part of the country can effect pricing in other parts of the country. 2) Low interest rates do not give much of a lift to the overall returns. 3) There is a lot of excess capital chasing the insurance risks. This is in part to investors looking for new asset classes that are not correlated with the broader capital markets. I.e. insurance risks are considered fortuitous (e.g. acts of god) and are broadly not correlated with economic risks. 4) Carriers continue to leave the NYC market as it is, by far, the most complex market insurance market in the USA. 5) There has been consolidation in the higher end market as Chubb as acquired the ACE and Fireman's fund business. 6) Social inflation has increased dramatically, fueled by the pandemic. This means that courts have recently been siding more often with Plantiffs on insurance claims. 7) The world wide pandemic will have a huge impact on the insurance industry on 2020 for losses to due to Trade Credit, Supply Chain, Business Interruption, etc. 8) New technology is able to better estimate replacement cost valautions for coops & condos in the city to help eliminate premium leakage. This is closely related to a topic of "insurance to value" which aligns the true replacement cost to rebuild a unit with the insurance limit. In the past brokers and consumers often "low-balled" this limit to keep prices down which is now being reversed.

For those reasons (plus other local NYC forces of crime, claims, old buildings / leaky pipes, litigation, etc), all my clients (including myself) are experiencing rate increases in the current environment.

From my perspective, there are now only three realistic choices for NYC coop & condo owners: Chubb (gold standard), National General Premier, and AIG. For those interested in really good coverage that is "Chubb - Like" at a far lower price point, I encourage people to consider National General Premier. However, before you consider this National General Premier product there are some important considerations which I would be happy to review with you.

Please contact me for any questions you may have about insurance. I will help you even if I cannot be your broker. As stated above, my primary motivation is to help you understand your options so you are an informed consumer of insurance. Feel free to check out my company's website below which also have links to my reviews & personal linkedin profile.

Stay safe and be well!

Prana Risk
www.prana-risk.com
info@prana-risk.com
Office Line: 917-438-0984

It's true that insurance prices are rising rapidly nearly everywhere except in auto insurance. For high-value homeowners, there are five main players: Chubb, PURE, AIG Private Client, Cincinnati, and Lloyd's. Lloyd's can only be accessed via a Lloyd's broker, and the coverage is weaker because they are a "non-admitted" insurer. There are also numerous high-value brokers such as Kelly Klee. National General is a New York company that also sometimes writes high-value homes. I use NatGen for when I drive my RV into Mexico. (Just kidding, but apparently they do offer RV cover in Mexico.)

I would think that the overall level of finish in Coop & Condo units being much higher, and therefore replacement cost much higher, would be a factor in higher premiums, if not "rates."

I've been with state farm and the premiums have basically been flat forever but nevertheless i'm thinking of switching to a chubb. if you live in a luxury or near luxury building seems that a boiler plate condo insurance policy may prove inadequate. Only on a high end policy like Chubb did i see specific coverage relating to additions and alterations as explained applies once the materials and appliances aren't standard items in a lowes or home depot. Stinks that the premiums seem to rise far more than the plain vanilla policies

My brother had State Farm, then his house burned down. He had many problems with claims.

Just got the Chubb renewal for my co-op. +29% from last year. No claims, ever.

Only change other than the premium is an automatic 6% bump in additions/alterations and 5% in contents.

Chubb has been trying to gouge people. At my next renewal, I will look for alternatives.

Unfortunately AIG has raised their premiums by double digits last 3 years. From what I have read their other businesses were suffering so needed to raise premiums to offset. I am guessing Chubb is doing the same.

When you say "rates" do you mean "my walls-in rebuild rider went from $13 per thousand per year to $17"?

Or do you mean "my agent took another look at my apartment photos and determined that we need to raise our coverage from $400/sqft to $500/sqft due to the cost of comparable build-outs in the current labor market?"

Typically they adjust both every year. I have found Chubb’s build out cost to be excessive.

I don’t know nothing, but the increase in premiums industry-wide may be driven by industry-wide allocations for COVID-related business interruption claims.

Plus all the damage to store fronts during riots. Also, lower return on float in fixed income investments.

I've been a State Farm customer for 30 years.
They are not always the cheapest but they have been stellar in every and all claims I or anyone in my family has ever had.
Though any personal claims that Ive had were only vehicle related.

Thanks Truth. Will the insure Coop apartments and contents?

State Farm can be super competitive on price in NYC. Only problem is that you must use an agent, and the agent quality is very mixed. Lemonade offers much better service because they don't have agents. The problem with Lemonade it that they aren't rated and have low coverage limits. If your building requires $2 million, you might be out of luck with them.

Thank you.

300 -Yes of course on contents , and they use their condominium policy for co-ops.
(I probably should have a lawyer read the actual policy and see if there are any problems for using this on a co-op)
Of course like any insurance company, the higher your valuing your contents and coverage, the more premium they want.

Im surprised to hear what happened to Stache's brother and his claim.
My parents some 25 years ago lived just off the Long Isl Expressway and endured a long period of earth shaking pounding when they installed new better flowing exits and sound barriers from the expressway. The house had several visible cracks on the walls and they received a substantial settlement from their own policy at State Farm.

BTW , Florida residents are seeing a doubling of their premiums.

sorry I misread that last night , double digit hikes not double
It seemed possible to me with the likely increased hurricane cycles and risk of rising seas in the next decade.

Travelers (via Gotham Brokerage, a frequently helpful contributor over on BrickUnderground) has real co-op insurance with competitive rates. Much better service so far (knock on wood) than any of the apps.

In Florida, doubling is right. Fortunately the Florida real estate market is benefitting from New Yorkers fleeing our high taxes, so a few thousand dollars of additional insurance expense is a rounding error for New Yorkers.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-insurance-florida-idUSKBN2AC111