New home insurer offers 20% refund for clean slate
Puerto Rico Home Insurance co-founders Luis F. López-Córdova and Javier Cortés-Gónzalez.
Following the success achieved with auto accident insurance firm Point Guard, the founding trio of entrepreneurs are now launching Puerto Rico Home Insurance, offering the only local home insurance policy that reimburses consumers 20 percent of their annual premium if they have no claims during the coverage year.
The new firm entailed an investment of more than $500,000 and the creation of 15 new direct jobs this year, said Luis F. López-Córdova, president of Puerto Rico Home Insurance. The executive, along with Javier Cortés-González and Luis Miranda-Bobonis are heading this new venture.
“Our work is very similar to what we did with Point Guard in the area of compulsory insurance. We need to educate people by telling them that they have the right to choose the insurer they want for their home policy, which is paid through the mortgage payments,” López-Córdova said. Then, we present our advantage, which is that Puerto Rico Home Insurance reimburses them 20 percent if they have no claims, and the payment remains the same way with their mortgage lender.”
The terms of the new insurance policy establish that if the client does not file claims for fire, hurricane, earthquake or other risks that the bank requires protection for, the customer will receive a refund of 20 percent of the premium paid every year. This refund will be in the form of a check at the end of each year when there are no claims.
For customers, this process is transparent as they do not have to take any additional steps and the cost of the policy remains the same as they currently have with their bank because they are regulated by the Office of the Insurance Commissioner of Puerto Rico. The customer only has to appoint Puerto Rico Home Insurance as their insurance provider and company staff will take care of processing the change with the mortgage lender.
Puerto Rico Home Insurance offers the insurance policy through partner Antilles Insurance, said Cortés-González.
“We’re very pleased to have Antilles Insurance as partners. Besides being one of the strongest insurers in Puerto Rico, it is a local company. I think the most important thing to move the economy of Puerto Rico is by doing business with local companies,” he said.
Switching to Puerto Rico Home Insurance can be done by filling an application online, where customers will also find a calculator to determine the amount of the reimbursement they would get based on the value of their property.
