Writing a DP-3 for a Homeowner??

[willywalk]

Question for any seasoned professional insurance agents.....
I have a client who insists she wants to pay for Dwelling Fire Policy but she is going to be occupying the property. I adviced her that what she needs is a homeowners policy. She refuses to purchase the homeowners policy and said she was going to go to Farmers because they will write the fire policy as a owner-occupied property. Am I misssing something... Is there carriers that will allow me to write dwelling fire policies when the insured lives in the property? If so, who? I am not sure how to proceed with this prospect. Any suggestions.....Thank you all for you input..

 

[NCAgent]

Question for any seasoned professional insurance agents.....
I have a client who insists she wants to pay for Dwelling Fire Policy but she is going to be occupying the property. I adviced her that what she needs is a homeowners policy. She refuses to purchase the homeowners policy and said she was going to go to Farmers because they will write the fire policy as a owner-occupied property. Am I misssing something... Is there carriers that will allow me to write dwelling fire policies when the insured lives in the property? If so, who? I am not sure how to proceed with this prospect. Any suggestions.....Thank you all for you input..

Is there any reason WHY she requested it? Where did she get this idea from?

You can write a DP-3 but usually they are lacking things like liability, med pay, loss of use, other structures, etc. (though some companies offer these things on there) or even some kinds of perils. You can't really add on extra endorsements like water backup, identity theft, etc.

It is a very dry, bare basic policy. It is there for homes that are rental properties or cannot qualify for an HO3 or HO5. You have no room to customize and some things you take for granted have to be endorsed onto the policy (liability) or might not even be offered at all.

Again, WHY does she want this DP3? Why is she so insistent? She won't get extra endorsements and the price of a DP3 for a home will probably be around the price of an HO3 anyway...

 

[Guest]

You could open yourseld WIDE open for an E&O claim if something happens and you had the ability to issue a HO3 instead.....

Let me guess, you are a new agent.....say............Less than 6 months?

You have to learn, you cant and wont write everything or everybody.

 

[NCAgent]

Chances are she has a minimum liability auto policy, too, that is a lapse-o-matic that she balks if the price changes despite a claim.

I hate stereotyping but this is shouting for one...

 

[djs]

Many carriers will let you write an owner occupied DP-3 policy. But this is one of those things that just because you can doesn't mean you should.

When you endorse a DP-3 with the required coverages, it is usually more expensive than a similar HO-3 policy and doesn't cover as much stuff. In fact, usually its more expensive before you endorse all the stuff on.

I have seen clients that were very financially cash strapped that needed to satisfy the lienholder, use a DP policy stripped to the bones, just to get them through a very rough patch. Usually its a desperation play, but hey, I can't argue when they truly can't pay the bill. Just have them sign off on it.

Yes, most Farmers agents will do anything to write a policy.

Dan

 

[FL P&C Broker]

We have a couple companies in Florida that will write a DP3 that is owner occupied. The only time we have done it is if there is no prior. Most of our companies won't write HO3's without prior. They will write a DP3 with a lapse.

 

[joshb]

We will occasionally write owner occupied DP's usually only with individuals that only carry coverage to satisfy the lienholder and wouldn't carry insurance otherwise. We don't write very many. Although, we come across them A LOT in competition.

 

[FEX Quotes]

Actually Farmers DF-3 is almost a complete HO-3. The significant difference is the DF-3 excludes theft.

For some folks, the savings can make a big difference. In urban markets the price difference is quite significant

 

[Colorado Newbie]

Wouldn't an HO-10 be more of a better fit for her needs than a DP-3?

 

[rlubnau]

I would strongly advise against it. However, if you have a client sign a document stating that the differences between the DP3 and the Homeowner policy has been explained to them, and is spelt out in Black & White, then I would consider it. Make sure that if you do this, the client is well aware of what they are getting and they have signed off on it. I bet when you present such a document to the client they will back pedal and won't take the DP3.

The Farmers DP3 does not have replacement cost on the contents. That is a huge difference between a HO Policy and a DP3. I have seen many a Farmers Agent use the DP3 as a HO policy, and when the client has a claim the agent is nowhere to be found.