Association Insurance - Community Association Underwriters of America

Has anyone's HOA used this company for insurance?

http://www.cauinsure.com/

We are looking for a good insurance company for our very small HOA... 71 Lots - A Park, and a bunch of open areas...

We are not responsible for the roads or sidewalks (city maintained).... Have no employees... have no buildings...

When we took over the HOA from the Declarant turns out he had no insurance for the association.

Paul

Hi Paul,
Yes, our HOA uses CAU. We have had no major claims so no experience with that. I will say though, that our agent keeps the Board informed of state requirements and what the Board needs to comply. In addition, our agent has come to our meetings, after working hours, to address the homeowners as to what the community insurance covers and what kinds of coverage each homeowner should buy. CAU in our state does not sell individual homeowner policies, so there was no sales pitch.
Good Luck!

Paul,

As your finding out, there are not that many companies that provide policies to Associations.

Since you are indicating that many are providing varied amounts (probably based on their policy options) the Association should identify what amounts are needed and solicit bids based on those amounts. If the policy provides other coverage, great. The concern is that it meets your needs.

Typically you need the following (as a minimum):

Liability insurance - even for small communities, lending institutions are looking for at least $1 million in coverage. If you have a lot of amenities, you may want more. In addition to the roads we are responsible for my Association only has two small playgrounds and a bus stop shelter so we carry just the $1 million coverage.

Crime Insurance/Fidelity Bond - minimum requirements are set by VA § 55-514.2. Deposit of funds; fidelity bond. and your governing documents. My associations governing documents require less that VA § 55-514.2, therefore, we ignore the documents and use VA law as our minimum. If this hasn't been an issue in the past, you should be able to stay with the minimum requirements.

D&O Insurance - The amount needed will depend on how many legal actions are brought by your membership is as this insurance covers legal action initiated by the membership not legal action initiated by the Association. We have had no legal actions brought against us and we carry a $1 million policy for D&O.

Hope this helps,

Tim