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Chris Lotz, cofounder of Goodcover here. The team and I are around and happy to answer any questions. Would love to hear any feedback too! Particularly around

Chris Lotz, cofounder of Goodcover here. The team and I are around and happy to answer any questions. Would love to hear any feedback too! Particularly around the user flow, and whether our instructions make sense. Thanks!

sfbay 8y ago
Hi Chris, This is a great service for almost 70% of the population who don't know what events are not covered and the fine print gotchas from the insurance companies. This should be a really helpful service, kudos on the idea. The only concern I have here is, privacy. Most of the home owners are not comfortable to upload docs that includes their names or property details (easy to know their net worth) from this. Also, how are you managing data security? Do you have any plans to address these concerns?
- chrisplotz 8y ago
  Thanks! You make a really good point on privacy - insurance is a trust business and managing this right is really important. We delete Dec pages w/in 30 days (we don't need to keep them past giving you the advice), so that's a start and something we don't mention on the site but should. We also never expose user data, or show you what you've uploaded. Unfortunately though to get insurance advice, property details are pretty important, and if you are concerned with your Liability coverage net worth is pretty important for a service to know too. What we don't need are names - actually people could black out that personal info (even address) and it would be fine!
  - nickpsecurity 8y ago
    "(even address)" I thought geography factored into deciding premiums since different areas had different risks of specific events that would lead to an insurance payout. Does what you all are doing simply not need that? Or are you saying that analysis can be left off if they desire for privacy? Edit: Thanks for the info!
    - chrisplotz 8y ago
      Geography is important, but your specific street address isn't required for this tool. And really, most insurance pricing is done at a higher level than street address (zip, or insurer-defined territories) so actually it is one of the last bits of info needed. For rough advice as this gives, we don't need it.
    - ddispaltro 8y ago
      Dan at Goodcover. The later. It's a factor for insurance premiums, because being in an urban landscape vs a wooded area has a massively different fire risk.
- dyim 8y ago
  Man, I bet it's even higher than 70%. I was in the hospital in February, and I asked the nurse how much it would cost to drain a subungual hematoma. Nobody knew! Maybe it would've been free; maybe it would've cost $1,000 - it definitely doesn't feel good to decline a procedure because you have no idea how much it'll cost.
  - chrisplotz 8y ago
    I've seen "haven't read my policy" numbers in the 80s and 90s depending on the survey. And yes - we're property insurance people but know that health can be even crazier. I understand a lot of the times the price for the procedure isn't really decided until they find out who's paying for it.
  - sethammons 8y ago
    While this post thread is fire and casualty insurance, when you look ad medical insurance, it is just insane. I had an appointment at a specialist and I am on a high deductible plan. I called up and asked how much I would be spending. They refused to tell me. I tried this again, and another person refused. "We can't know how much it will cost." So I went in and asked. Same line. "It matters what happens in the appointment and if you have any treatments." "Sure, but what about the base cost assuming nothing else happens?" "We can't say." "Look lady, I'm needing to know if I can afford this. I don't need exacts. I need ballparks. $100? $500? $1000? $5000?" "Oh, i can't imagine it will be that much?" "Which?" "I can't say." I needed the appointment, so I went in blind. Came back out, and they literally couldn't figure out what to charge me. "We don't see a deductible..." Yeah, I am from an HSA and have a high deductible plan." "Um, no change at this time. We will send you an invoice." Turned out to be $50. With such price transparency, we will never fix things in the US. While the problem is not as crazy on property insurance, it is still subject to complexities. Different policies have different exclusions and different riders. You can't just compare apples to apples. Heck, even auto insurance has nuances. Some only pay out if you are driving your own car while others will pay out for any car you happen to be driving.
tgb 8y ago
I was just within the last hour look at renter's insurance, so I appreciate the goal of the company. It doesn't look like you currently give advice for people comparing different offers - is that something you plan to do? Also, I didn't understand your description of "returning any unclaimed premium back to customers, keeping a fee instead". Being not too familiar with insurance, can you give an example of how this would work?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]
- chrisplotz 8y ago
  Thanks - and good luck with your renters insurance search. You're right we don't currently give advice for comparing through the tool - but I've written about it on our blog, and have a even more low tech comparison tool there (google sheet!). https://blog.goodcover.com/save-time-and-buy-home-condo-renter-insurance-with-confidence-98b1e4526f48 https://blog.goodcover.com/save-time-and-buy-home-condo-rent... Hopefully that could help you out in the mean time. Regarding returning unclaimed premium - good question. The way insurers make money is by 1) collecting premiums and holding on to them, generating some interest, and 2) keeping more premium than they need to pay out in losses and expenses, which is called "Underwriting Profit." Typically Home/Renters insurance is written in such a way that a company tries to keep 5-15% of premiums as Underwriting Profit. We think that the conflict over underwriting profit is at the heart of why the insurance experience is bad - there's not much incentive in improving a user experience that you don't want users to use... So we want to give that 5-15% back in the good years where we don't need it to pay claims. So, what you would see is a dividend at the end of the insurance year. It's not going to be much, but it is "putting our money where our mouth is" on our commitment to policyholders. Turns out that's really hard to do legally and financially - mutual insurers would technically do this, but starting one is a hugely capital intensive process. We're on the path, and hope to be able to share more about the process soon!
  - berbec 8y ago
    A question about this "dividend". Obviously, this is a major source of profit for a insurance company, but I imagine is also used to refill reserves after a big payout year. Insurers must have been piling cash away for years after Andrew, Katrina, Sandy etc to recoop payouts. How would this balance with returning money on good years?
secabeen 8y ago
Are there any California HO providers that still offer Guaranteed Replacement? I had it at one point with AAA, but they jacked rates on me, and it got too expensive. I'd like to get it again, but haven't been able to find it.
- chrisplotz 8y ago
  Typically Guaranteed replacement is offered by HNW providers such as PURE, AIG, and Chubb. Travelers might do so too. It's hard to find though, so talking to an insurance broker that can access those specialist markets (i.e. they do not sell online) might be your best shot. Also, most insurers will offer some kind of Extended Replacement Cost which pretty much does the job too. Interesting development though is in CA, insurers are legally required to recommend you a replacement cost coverage amount that is adequate for your place. That probably has a lot to do with the changes you've seen on "guaranteeing" something vs just recommending.
  - secabeen 8y ago
    Yeah, the HNW policies are also stupid expensive. AAA was the only provider for normal people I found that still offered it. Extended replacement cost theoretically does the job, but in coastal california, we're already looking at rebuild costs in the $300+/sqft level. Add in the cost increase from labor shortages, and I could see it spiking significantly above that. (Looking at my policy, I see the Extended Replacement providing 30% more than baseline, and 80% more than baseline for FEMA declared disaster, which I suppose is probably enough. I still prefer reasonably priced Guaranteed replacement, as that pushes all that risk on to the insurer, rather than requiring me to guess what the rebuild cost of my home will be). I did run your automated advice system with my recent policy renewal. Reporting was pretty good, although I was surprised that you consider a $3000 deductible "abnormally high". I don't think it's worth trading money with the insurance company as premiums to cover small stuff like that. Not everyone shares my feelings, though.
    - chrisplotz 8y ago
      Yes, you're right - "abnormal" is a bit in the eye of the beholder. It would have been a relative assessment - a 3k deductible is much more than most people carry (even HNW, an area I've worked in before). On guessing rebuild, in CA you shouldn't have to guess, as it's the insurer's legal requirement to recommend something accurate, and the DOI supports the consumer there. Generally those increases will do the job on like-for-like replacement - the big problem is if your Building limit has not been reviewed for years, as they get out of date. Guaranteed is definitely expensive since it has cost insurers some big claim headaches, so not surprised it's even harder to find now as some insurers are hurting after all the fires.

sfbay 8y ago

Hi Chris, This is a great service for almost 70% of the population who don't know what events are not covered and the fine print gotchas from the insurance companies. This should be a really helpful service, kudos on the idea. The only concern I have here is, privacy. Most of the home owners are not comfortable to upload docs that includes their names or property details (easy to know their net worth) from this. Also, how are you managing data security? Do you have any plans to address these concerns?

chrisplotz 8y ago
Thanks! You make a really good point on privacy - insurance is a trust business and managing this right is really important. We delete Dec pages w/in 30 days (we don't need to keep them past giving you the advice), so that's a start and something we don't mention on the site but should. We also never expose user data, or show you what you've uploaded. Unfortunately though to get insurance advice, property details are pretty important, and if you are concerned with your Liability coverage net worth is pretty important for a service to know too. What we don't need are names - actually people could black out that personal info (even address) and it would be fine!
- nickpsecurity 8y ago
  "(even address)" I thought geography factored into deciding premiums since different areas had different risks of specific events that would lead to an insurance payout. Does what you all are doing simply not need that? Or are you saying that analysis can be left off if they desire for privacy? Edit: Thanks for the info!
  - chrisplotz 8y ago
    Geography is important, but your specific street address isn't required for this tool. And really, most insurance pricing is done at a higher level than street address (zip, or insurer-defined territories) so actually it is one of the last bits of info needed. For rough advice as this gives, we don't need it.
  - ddispaltro 8y ago
    Dan at Goodcover. The later. It's a factor for insurance premiums, because being in an urban landscape vs a wooded area has a massively different fire risk.
dyim 8y ago
Man, I bet it's even higher than 70%. I was in the hospital in February, and I asked the nurse how much it would cost to drain a subungual hematoma. Nobody knew! Maybe it would've been free; maybe it would've cost $1,000 - it definitely doesn't feel good to decline a procedure because you have no idea how much it'll cost.
- chrisplotz 8y ago
  I've seen "haven't read my policy" numbers in the 80s and 90s depending on the survey. And yes - we're property insurance people but know that health can be even crazier. I understand a lot of the times the price for the procedure isn't really decided until they find out who's paying for it.
- sethammons 8y ago
  While this post thread is fire and casualty insurance, when you look ad medical insurance, it is just insane. I had an appointment at a specialist and I am on a high deductible plan. I called up and asked how much I would be spending. They refused to tell me. I tried this again, and another person refused. "We can't know how much it will cost." So I went in and asked. Same line. "It matters what happens in the appointment and if you have any treatments." "Sure, but what about the base cost assuming nothing else happens?" "We can't say." "Look lady, I'm needing to know if I can afford this. I don't need exacts. I need ballparks. $100? $500? $1000? $5000?" "Oh, i can't imagine it will be that much?" "Which?" "I can't say." I needed the appointment, so I went in blind. Came back out, and they literally couldn't figure out what to charge me. "We don't see a deductible..." Yeah, I am from an HSA and have a high deductible plan." "Um, no change at this time. We will send you an invoice." Turned out to be $50. With such price transparency, we will never fix things in the US. While the problem is not as crazy on property insurance, it is still subject to complexities. Different policies have different exclusions and different riders. You can't just compare apples to apples. Heck, even auto insurance has nuances. Some only pay out if you are driving your own car while others will pay out for any car you happen to be driving.

tgb 8y ago

I was just within the last hour look at renter's insurance, so I appreciate the goal of the company. It doesn't look like you currently give advice for people comparing different offers - is that something you plan to do? Also, I didn't understand your description of "returning any unclaimed premium back to customers, keeping a fee instead". Being not too familiar with insurance, can you give an example of how this would work?

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]
chrisplotz 8y ago
Thanks - and good luck with your renters insurance search. You're right we don't currently give advice for comparing through the tool - but I've written about it on our blog, and have a even more low tech comparison tool there (google sheet!). https://blog.goodcover.com/save-time-and-buy-home-condo-renter-insurance-with-confidence-98b1e4526f48 https://blog.goodcover.com/save-time-and-buy-home-condo-rent... Hopefully that could help you out in the mean time. Regarding returning unclaimed premium - good question. The way insurers make money is by 1) collecting premiums and holding on to them, generating some interest, and 2) keeping more premium than they need to pay out in losses and expenses, which is called "Underwriting Profit." Typically Home/Renters insurance is written in such a way that a company tries to keep 5-15% of premiums as Underwriting Profit. We think that the conflict over underwriting profit is at the heart of why the insurance experience is bad - there's not much incentive in improving a user experience that you don't want users to use... So we want to give that 5-15% back in the good years where we don't need it to pay claims. So, what you would see is a dividend at the end of the insurance year. It's not going to be much, but it is "putting our money where our mouth is" on our commitment to policyholders. Turns out that's really hard to do legally and financially - mutual insurers would technically do this, but starting one is a hugely capital intensive process. We're on the path, and hope to be able to share more about the process soon!
- berbec 8y ago
  A question about this "dividend". Obviously, this is a major source of profit for a insurance company, but I imagine is also used to refill reserves after a big payout year. Insurers must have been piling cash away for years after Andrew, Katrina, Sandy etc to recoop payouts. How would this balance with returning money on good years?

secabeen 8y ago

Are there any California HO providers that still offer Guaranteed Replacement? I had it at one point with AAA, but they jacked rates on me, and it got too expensive. I'd like to get it again, but haven't been able to find it.

chrisplotz 8y ago
Typically Guaranteed replacement is offered by HNW providers such as PURE, AIG, and Chubb. Travelers might do so too. It's hard to find though, so talking to an insurance broker that can access those specialist markets (i.e. they do not sell online) might be your best shot. Also, most insurers will offer some kind of Extended Replacement Cost which pretty much does the job too. Interesting development though is in CA, insurers are legally required to recommend you a replacement cost coverage amount that is adequate for your place. That probably has a lot to do with the changes you've seen on "guaranteeing" something vs just recommending.
- secabeen 8y ago
  Yeah, the HNW policies are also stupid expensive. AAA was the only provider for normal people I found that still offered it. Extended replacement cost theoretically does the job, but in coastal california, we're already looking at rebuild costs in the $300+/sqft level. Add in the cost increase from labor shortages, and I could see it spiking significantly above that. (Looking at my policy, I see the Extended Replacement providing 30% more than baseline, and 80% more than baseline for FEMA declared disaster, which I suppose is probably enough. I still prefer reasonably priced Guaranteed replacement, as that pushes all that risk on to the insurer, rather than requiring me to guess what the rebuild cost of my home will be). I did run your automated advice system with my recent policy renewal. Reporting was pretty good, although I was surprised that you consider a $3000 deductible "abnormally high". I don't think it's worth trading money with the insurance company as premiums to cover small stuff like that. Not everyone shares my feelings, though.
  - chrisplotz 8y ago
    Yes, you're right - "abnormal" is a bit in the eye of the beholder. It would have been a relative assessment - a 3k deductible is much more than most people carry (even HNW, an area I've worked in before). On guessing rebuild, in CA you shouldn't have to guess, as it's the insurer's legal requirement to recommend something accurate, and the DOI supports the consumer there. Generally those increases will do the job on like-for-like replacement - the big problem is if your Building limit has not been reviewed for years, as they get out of date. Guaranteed is definitely expensive since it has cost insurers some big claim headaches, so not surprised it's even harder to find now as some insurers are hurting after all the fires.