Informed agents are selling record numbers of CEA policies to California residents.
Thanks to informed agents like you—who have been reaching out to your customers with information about earthquake risk, details about improved CEA coverage and deductible options, and CEA’s more flexible policies—the number of Californians who are protected with earthquake insurance is dramatically increasing.
CEA arrived at the million-policy milestone in December 2017 after unprecedented policy sales in 2016 and 2017. CEA’s average annual policy growth between 2005 and 2015 was about 6,700 policies. But in 2016, CEA added more than 52,000 policies. And to date this year, CEA is up more than 75,000 policies, bringing its total policy count to 1,006,927—the highest in CEA’s history.
More households than ever before are taking advantage of CEA’s flexible coverage choices:
- More CEA policyholders are taking advantage of CEA’s wide-ranging deductible options;
- More CEA policyholders are buying a higher limit on their loss-of-use coverage, which has no deductible and helps cover costs to live and eat outside the home when it is no longer habitable after a damaging earthquake;
- More CEA policyholders are retrofitting their older houses and receiving a hazard reduction discount on their CEA premium for a code-compliant retrofit; and
- More renters, condo-unit owners and mobilehome owners are now purchasing CEA policies.
Recent natural disasters in California and elsewhere also may have prompted Californians to buy CEA policies. CEA-policy purchases often spike after significant natural disasters, but these more sustained 2016 and 2017 gains suggest Californians now are taking action: September’s policy-count gain more than doubled that of any previous month.
These disasters have been devastating. Our hearts go out to the people affected, who are just beginning their recovery.
But clearly Californians have paid close attention to the tragedy that has come with those events, and are now deciding to be better financially prepared for California’s next big earthquake.
It’s never too late to gather more earthquake insurance information to share and discuss with your policyholders. It’s likely you’re already trained and ready with the help of CEA’s free agent training. But make sure you also sign up for the Marketing Value Program (MVP), which offers free marketing and sales support to trained agents. You—and your policyholders—will be glad you did.
Finally, if you would like a training refresher, or want to learn more about local earthquake risk or CEA’s new flexible policy options, Contact Us to arrange a time for me to come visit you and your fellow agents in person.
Thank you for your continued help as we move forward with our mission to encourage and support effective action to reduce the risk of earthquake damage and loss for all Californians.
Glenn Pomeroy
CEA Chief Executive Officer