Navigating The World Of Insurance with Peter Komperda

In episode 2 of Tru Mentors, Derek Skubisz welcomes his first-ever guest, Peter Komperda from Komperda Insurance Group (KIG), to discuss the ins and outs of insurance policies. Peter shares valuable insights on purchasing policies, understanding coverages, and the importance of proper evaluation when it comes to homeowner’s and renter's insurance.

Tune in for an informative discussion that will empower you to make informed decisions when it comes to insurance. 

TIMESTAMPS

[00:03:36] Homeowners Insurance Coverage Details.

[00:06:16] Real Estate Investors and Actual Cash Value (ACV).

[00:09:36] Understanding Insurance Deductibles.

[00:12:43] Documenting Property Damage for Insurance.

[00:16:17] Water Backup Coverage.

[00:19:42] Renters Insurance Importance.

[00:22:22] Homeowner's Insurance Coverage Insights.

In this episode, Derek Skubisz and Peter Komperda highlight critical aspects that homeowners should consider during the evaluation process. These include evaluating liability coverage, ensuring adequate protection for the home in case of a storm, and understanding coverage for scenarios like windstorms or hail damage. Through a comprehensive evaluation with their insurance agent, homeowners can gain clarity on their policy's coverage levels, deductibles, and any additional endorsements that may be necessary.

Furthermore, Peter emphasizes the importance of reviewing specific coverage types such as replacement cost versus actual cash value for items like roofs. He explains the distinctions between these coverage options and how they can impact the payout in the event of a claim. This detailed evaluation process empowers homeowners to make informed decisions about their insurance coverage, ensuring they are well protected against potential risks.

QUOTES

• “The purchase process is different for a lot of people. Everybody's situation is different. Everybody’s needs for levels of coverage are different. The most important thing, and my piece of advice to every consumer out there and every homeowner out there, is to go through a proper evaluation. Speak to your insurance agent. Tell them about your current situation.” - Peter Komperda
• “If you have an ACV policy, the older the roof, the less money you're going to get in the event of a loss because depreciation is calculated into that.” - Peter Komperda

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

Derek Skubisz

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/derek_skubisz/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Derek-Skubisz/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-skubisz-b015051a3/

Peter Komperda

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peterkomperda/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/peter.komperda

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterkomperda/

WEBSITE

Lifetime Restoration Inc.: https://lifetimerestorationinc.com/

Komperda Insurance Group: https://www.komperdagroup.com/

Contact us at (708) 575 - 4535

Transcript

Welcome to the True Mentors Podcast. This is the ultimate destination for aspiring entrepreneurs and business enthusiasts alike. Join us as we embark on a thrilling journey into the dynamic realm of business, where we unveil awe-inspiring tales of individuals who have conquered formidable challenges to attain extraordinary success. Get ready to be inspired and empowered. And now, here's your host, Derek Skubis. 

Hey guys, welcome to True Mentors Podcast. Today we have a guest. His name is Peter Comperda. He's with KPI Insurance. He started his own agencies. How long ago already, Peter? 

Opened my agency, K-I-G Comperda Insurance Group, January 1st of this year. Excited to get that going. 

Oh, that's pretty recent. Yeah. I thought it was pretty, I thought you already opened that last year. 

No, so I was planning it last year, right? Yeah. Purchased the office, got all that stuff going and opened it up January 1st. 

So how's that been going for you?

Good. Good. Exciting time. Totally different from my previous experience, although it's the same on some level. It's completely different when you're running your own business. There's a lot to learn. There's a lot more that goes into it, but it's exciting. I like it.

Well, yeah, because you get all the difficulties like before you have a whole backup team that's helping you out with a lot of the stuff in here. It's all on you. So you can't really do much. I mean, you could do a lot, but. It's a hard time.

It all falls on me now, right? There's a lot that goes into it before, whether it was policy service or even something as little as payments, processing checks and things like that.

Exactly, yeah. So one thing that I wanted to go over with is how people purchase their policies, right? Because what we run into a lot is homeowners, nobody knows their own policy, right? They just go out there. Everybody knows that they have to go and buy a policy. They need to be insured for home, auto, whatever it is. Now, what is one thing that you see when homeowners or policyholders, when they come in getting a policy, how do they go about that and how can they prevent that with having a proper policy in the future or a new home buyer?

Yeah, so the purchase process is different for a lot of people, right? Everybody's situation is different. Everybody's need for levels of coverages are different. The most important thing that, and my piece of advice to every consumer out there and every homeowner out there, is to go through a proper evaluation. Speak to your insurance agent. Tell them about your current situation. Are you married? How many cars do you have? What are your assets like? Because when you look at it from a, take a step back and look at it from a whole perspective, a package, a lot of that, the liability aspect is the most important. And then also you want to make sure that your home is properly protected in the event of a storm. What kind of coverage do you have when a major windstorm or hailstorm blows through the neighborhood? Is it replacement cost? Is your roof actual cash value? Is there a tiered system where you only get a certain percentage for depending on how old your roof is, what's your deductible? So stuff like that's very important to review. I take that approach with all my clients. I make sure they understand their coverages, make sure they understand what their deductible is like, make sure they understand what roof coverage they have, whether it's replacement costs or actual cash value, things like that.

So explain to us what is the difference between an ACV policy, RCV policy, and what coverages each have for a homeowner?

Sure. So when talking about ACV, actual cash value, how that's calculated is depreciation is a huge factor.

So you can't get that on a new home though, right? It's always based off of an old home or it doesn't matter.

Well, it doesn't really matter. It all depends on the age of the roof. If you have an ACV policy, the older the roof, the less money you're going to get in the event of a loss because depreciation is calculated into that. Exactly. Another thing that a lot of insurance companies are now including on their policies or offering this as a level of coverage is where depending on the age is how much they'll pay out. So it's not necessarily an ACV policy, it's still replacement costs, but as the roof ages, the amount of percentage that they'll pay to fully replace that decreases.

Yes. So over the time, the older the roof is, the policy decreases of the value. Is that just on the roof or the whole structure of the property? The only roof. So you have all these roofers chasing that stuff down that don't read their policies and they don't know what's going on.

That's right. And that's new. That's been implemented. I want to say I started seeing this about 18, 12 to 18 months ago is when it really started showing up on insurance policies.

Are you seeing a massive shift in the insurance industry of them as in the insurance companies changing their policies up and going more towards the ACV policy instead of the RCV policy or not so?

No, not really. At the end of the day, all these insurance companies, bottom line, they want to make sure their customers are properly protected. Correct. No insurance company is out there to get somebody or to catch them at a high gotcha moment. But that being said, there are options that are available for agents at their disposal to offer to their clients. Because as I said a couple of minutes ago, it all depends on the customer's specific need. Someone may not want replacement costs. For some reason, they may want actual cash value, whether it's from the homes, an older home that they don't care about, could be a rental property, or they want to save as much money as possible. And so the agent puts them in that category of coverage.

So do you see like real estate investors going more with the ACV or no?

Still no, not at least through my agency, because we spend the time to educate customers. And at the end of the day, is saving a couple hundred dollars worth it to, on the back end, lose a couple thousand?

The thing is, on an ACV policy, you're not saving much. You're not. What is it, $200 a year? It very well could be, even less than that. You know, and then when you have like the hailstorm that we just had that ran through, I mean, this was big. the hail storm that just impacted everywhere. We had about, what, 11 tornadoes? So people are saving $200, but right now when they go file a claim, you have an ACV policy, they just pay out for the actual cash value worth of your whatever roof if it got damaged. And in the end, you're not. So on ACV policies, do you see lower deductibles or no? Do deductibles are the same throughout the whole policy, even if you have a RCV, ACV?

Well, so you could change your deductible. A deductible does not have to be the same. You can have a separate deductible by peril, which means by type of loss, or typically, traditionally, how it's structured is you have a separate wind and hail deductible, and then a separate all other perils deductible.

For every policy? Most policies. Most policies. So they always want to separate the roof from the rest of the structure of the property, is what you're saying?

Wind and hail, you'll always see a separate

Yeah. Well, that's the most common story.

That's the most common law for sure. Especially in the Midwest. Yeah.

It always runs through. Now, going back to deductibles, because we run into sometimes people having high deductibles and I know exactly where they want to go with that. It's because what I think they do is they walk into an agency and they go, we want the cheapest policy. Do you see people saying they want the cheapest policy or a do you see them asking for a higher deductible? How do you go about that?

Also, price is always on the consumer's mind. And I'm not going to sit here and say it's not an important thing to consider when buying an insurance policy, because it definitely is. And the marketplace is competitive enough. There's enough insurance companies out there to create a competitive market, right? So price is important, but it shouldn't be the deciding factor on who you're going to go with. If you're going to get quotes from five different agencies or five different companies, don't always go with the lowest bidder, find out why that person's the lowest bidder. Is it an ACV policy like you and I have been talking about? Are they given the highest deductible out of all the other agencies? Maybe they're the best price and the best coverage. Sometimes you're lucky and that happens, but it's not usually always the case. So very important to consider what your deductible is, what kind of coverage, is it replacement cost? Is it ACV? Those are the most important things.

So a lot of people don't know what a deductible is. And this part right here is going to help you massively. And when I go sign people up for roofs, explain to us what a deductible is and who is responsible for the deductible. Yeah. I just want to make it clear.

Yeah, I'll clear it up real good. So actually, it's a two part question and there's two different answers, too. So most basic, what is a deductible? Your deductible is the portion of the loss that you pay as the insured when you file a claim. Exactly. The other part that sometimes people get confused about or what they don't know about is when they see a percentage based deductible policy. And so they'll see half a percent, one percent, some cases even two percent deductible. They're buying the policy. They don't think to ask the question, what does that mean? One percent deductible. Sometimes customers assume one percent of the deductible. I'm only going to have to pay one percent of the claim. Fine. I'll take it. That's good. 1% deductible actually means 1% of the replacement cost of your policy. So if you have a house that's insured for $500,000 and you have a 1% deductible. That's a $5,000 deductible. You got it.

Yeah. And they don't notice that.

Sometimes people don't know.

Now is your policy, if you go into percentage deductible, are your premiums lower?

Typically, yes. The higher the deductible that you choose, the lower the premium.

Awesome. Now, going back to that question, who is responsible for paying a deductible when there's a loss for wind, hail, fire, flood? The homeowner, the insured. Correct. And now, How do you, have you ever had anybody as in a homeowner give you a call that they don't want to pay the deductible or no, you don't get that case? No, I don't get that. It's just towards the contractors.

No, it's all those will pay your deductible.

Right. It's funny because I see no on Facebook. This was actually in Texas. Somebody was advertising with a yard sign. Free roof inspections will pay your deductible. Yeah, that's what I mean. How much? It's a lot of trouble that people could get for covering a deductible, right?

I'm not a lawyer. It seems like it's something that that could turn into a legal issue. They probably could get in trouble for it.

Another thing is a policy is basically a contract, an agreement with a homeowner and the insurance company that it works in both favors. You as the homeowner, you're going to do what's right while the insurance insures your property. So if wind, hail comes through your house, you as the homeowner, your job is to get a contractor, protect the property, document everything, and then file the claim. And then your responsibility is paying the deductible. A lot of people don't understand how you file a claim because right now the industry is big of people door knocking and going after the claims. So they just get the contractor to do everything for them. What I always tell my customers is always make sure when a storm goes through, I just had this. I texted a lot of my customers. When you get a storm, take pictures of everything that's going on. When the tornado is happening, the hail, the size of the hail, bring it inside the house. Don't go out there when the tornado is happening, you know. But once everything is done, get it. There's your documentation because sometimes on these maps that we have, it won't report the strength of the tornado or the size of the hail. So then the insurance companies will fight you to it. Like, I have one right now, it was in Sugar Grove. All the trees are down. And it's not showing there's anything that happened there. you know, on the map. So how are you? I mean, yeah, the insurance company, it varies. Some adjusters could be like, well, I don't know, that was the tree old, you know, try to go about it. Another thing is he has videos, he has pictures. What's saving a lot of people is ring cameras. Really massive. I had a few claims paid because on the ring camera, the homeowner saved the video of the hail happening. Wow. There was nothing on the map. Yeah. You know what I mean? There was another one in Florida or something, they were doing a claim and it was actually not on the contract or the site, the other side. The engineer or somebody said something, yeah, don't worry about it. It's hail, but we're not going to cover it. And the ring camera caught that. I mean, it's just so funny because you don't even realize it, but everything's right there. And it's like right now with all the cameras that we have, you know, anything could get you. But that's really awesome. Is there anything that you want to mention to homeowners, especially the new people, the young generation buying a home? How do they go about buying proper coverage for their house? Because I have friends from high school and stuff, and They reach out to me and they're just like, hey, we're buying a house, but we don't know anything what we need to get from an insurance side. You know, I know that I send everybody towards you and I will always will recommend people towards you. But what would you say for people if they are watching this on YouTube or something? How should they approach their agent on a policy that will cover them fully?

It's a great question. I actually had this scenario come up today, working with a young couple recently engaged, buying a condo. So very new to them. And they actually asked me that same question. You know, they said, We're new to this, what can we expect? What's your process like? How does the insurance policy work? So I was able to walk them through all of that and explain it and answer all the questions that they had. My suggestion to young individuals, young families purchasing their first biggest investment, because the house is a huge investment, right? And when it comes to insurance, You know, don't get stuck in the, I'll just go online, I'll run a few quotes, get the cheapest option. A lot of that stuff is algorithm driven and it gives you the lowest cost, but not necessarily the best coverage. And then you'll find out the hard way when something does happen. So, first things first, speak to an agent. Whether it's myself, someone on my team, or someone in their community, someone that their family has used for years, talk to that person. Get to know a little bit about them, get to know a little bit about the companies that they represent, and then dive into the coverages. Make sure you understand the proper dwelling coverage, proper personal property coverage, proper liability coverage, extra endorsements, water backup coverage, that's huge. So that's something that doesn't come standard on a home insurance policy.

What is a water backup coverage?

Water backup coverage is coverage, particularly for your basement in the event of water damage as a result of a sump pump failure or your drains in the basement backing up. So if that happens, you suffer that loss and you don't have your policy endorsed with water backup coverage or refer to a sewer drain coverage. It's not going to be covered. So it's going to be a claim that's denied. This is it is an additional cost. It is an additional coverage, but it's an important discussion to have with your

So that's something you have to add on and ask your agent. Usually policies don't come with it.

It's something your agent should tell your customer about.

Going back to what, because you keep mentioning couples that are getting married or married. How come you keep saying that? Does that change the way you buy a policy or anything?

I think it just changes the way you look at coverages and things, right? Because when I mentioned family and I mentioned kids, there's also an aspect of life insurance. That's something that we do as well. There's an aspect of car insurance. They probably have more than one vehicle. So if they have more than one vehicle, they're out on the road every single day, what do their assets look like? What do their finances look like? Do they have the proper liability coverage? We help everyone, not just married couples. So if you're a single person out there, a man or a woman, we'll help you find the right coverage too. And you definitely do need the proper liability coverage also.

Now, going back to having kids, how should parents insure their kids for when they get, when they're 16, you get your license when you're 16. Should they add them onto their own policy or get them a separate policy? How do you see that going?

So it all depends on what vehicle they're driving and who that vehicle is registered to. Usually when you have a 16 year old brand new licensed person, they're not out there buying their own car, driving one of their parents cars. So at that point, very important to make sure they're added to their insurance policy, especially in today's time, because the insurance industry is changing faster than ever, not only with pricing, but also on how companies are looking at claims payouts.

Um, how do you see that going?

I've seen it's getting tighter for sure. Restrictions are getting tougher. It's getting tighter when it comes to claims payouts. Things are looked at, um, under a microscope much heavier than years before.

Is it for home auto or both?

Everything, everything, price increases on everything. Um, stricter underwriting on everything.

Do you think that's happening because there's much more claims and the claims industry is becoming so much popular or is it because it's just because of the market that we're living in right now and the prices are increasing?

It's actually all of that. So it's it's it's it's rapid massive inflation. It's a huge loss ratios that these companies are going through. Yeah. And yeah, I mean, the cost of everything is going through.

Another thing is there's so many people driving now. You know, like the minute a kid is, I know 15 year olds already having cars and they're brand new cars. They have their permit and they already have a car. Yeah. Dude, I was like 17, 18 when I bought my first car.

You can finance it. No money.

It's so much easier to get a car now. And without a car, it's just, it was like being without a phone back in the day.

It's a much different world.

Yeah. Now it's with the car. So that's what they're seeing now. What about for renters insurance, people renting homes that don't own it? Do you think that's something renters should be getting or it's not necessarily or it depends how much valuables they have?

Absolutely. Bottom line doesn't matter if you have a lot of valuables or not. If you're renting, you need renters insurance. It's a very affordable coverage. People are oftentimes surprised on how affordable it is. And the reason that they need it is God forbid something happens. I've experienced before people with a fire, people with water damage, slip and fall, liability claims. That's all, you know, you're renting, you're on that lease, you sign the document, you're responsible for what happens in there.

So let's say that they rent out an apartment and it goes into flames or water or whatever the loss is. If the owner of the apartment files the claim, will they cover the tenant's valuables or no, they don't cover any of it? They won't. Because it's not under a policy and they don't own it, right?

The landlord doesn't own anything.

Correct. Yeah. Now, when you were talking about a slip and fall, who was responsible for that, the landlord or the tenant?

In that situation, it all depends. Who was the person that fell? Where did they fall? Why did they fall? All that stuff's taken into consideration. You know, I will say if it's in a common area, it's probably on the landlord. If it's within the unit, it's probably on the tenant. But every situation is different.

Correct. Yeah. And then,

Well, because each state has different type of losses. Like over here, we get a lot of tornadoes and hail. And I don't know, are you familiar with any other states of insurance, like fire claims or anything or no? Because where I'm going with this question is when, because it's not good to be overinsured. It's not good to be underinsured. You want to be in the middle, correct? Absolutely. How do you, how do you choose that? Do you, as the insurance agent, That's where you interview the person because when a homeowner comes in, you basically interview them, right? It's like an interview for a job. So you want to see what valuables they have and how much are you the one who decides that how much they should get or it's mostly falls on the homeowner that's purchasing the policy and you let them decide.

So it all depends on what type of policy. Usually in cases of a renter with renter's insurance, that's a conversation we have with the customer on how much valuables they have. And we make a determination based off of that to see what amount of personal property coverage to give them. Now, when it comes to a homeowner, the homeowner doesn't know how much their house should be insured for. Quite frankly, maybe the agent doesn't even know either. but every insurance company uses a replacement cost calculator, and this is a great tool used by insurance companies that calculates how much that home should be insured for. Things that are taken into consideration, the square footage, the construction style of the home, the construction material of the home, even the year built is taken into consideration when it comes to that. So the system then shoots out a number. We believe that this home will cost this amount of money to replace, and that's generally what we go

And then into that, that's where you add a backup, the water coverage and all of that, where it's already generated in there. And then you take it out or write it on.

No, the water backups and endorsements. So that's something that we would have to add on there. When it comes to other coverages on a homeowner's insurance policy, you have your personal property coverage. Typically, that's always a percentage of the replacement cost of the policy. 50%, 75%, every company is different. And you can always, you can adjust it to by levels of coverage. Liability, that's something that the agent has the discretion to adjust. You know, does it make sense to go with a standard liability limit?

Does most homeowners carry?

Does this person need an extra level?

Something like that. That's really good. Well, that's about it with all the questions. How can people find you?

You can contact us at our office phone number, 708-575-4535, or email us at office at compurtagroup.com, our website, www.compurtagroup.com. pleasure.

So what about you have Facebook, Instagram, social media?

I do. I do. So Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn.

On Facebook you have KPI insurance? K-I-G. K-I-G. I keep saying K-I-P. I don't know. Oh, my buddy has a restoration company, KPI. Oh, okay. That's where I kept on seeing it. Awesome. Well, I have a gift for you for coming over here. Oh, you're the man. Yeah, here's a hat. We just got some hats in. Awesome. Here's a bottle with a lanyard. Oh, awesome. Yeah. Thank you so much for coming. Guys, thank you so much for listening. Tune in for you guys to get more information and get guests like Peter on here. Make sure you like, subscribe, share it with your friends, your church groups, wherever you guys go. Make sure everybody knows us just so you guys get more information. We try to bring in the guests best guests in here to educate you guys like right here. This was a phenomenal show to educate you guys about insurance policies, how to buy policies. So for any new homeowners, now you go buy a policy. You could tune in and listen to us. Thank you so much for listening.

Thanks, Eric. Appreciate it.

Thanks so much for tuning into this episode of True Mentors. We sure do appreciate it. If you haven't done so already, make sure you're subscribed to the show wherever you consume podcasts. This way you'll get updates as new episodes become available. And if you feel so inclined, please leave us a review. It is how the show grows and how new people find the show. Until next time, friends.