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New insurer caters PUREly to Florida’s wealthiest residents

Florida’s wealthy residents have a new personal lines insurer promising to save them money on premiums.

The company will sell property/casualty insurance for high value homes, cars, jewelry, art, and personal excess liability coverage. It will offer windstorm deductibles from 2 percent to 25 percent and is interested in high net worth families with more cars than drivers.

Ross Buchmueller, president and chief executive officer of PURE Risk Management, in Plantation, Fla., announced the launch of Privilege Underwriters Reciprocal Exchange (PURE), which will be dedicated exclusively to the high net worth market.

“Most of our current and prospective members previously insured their high valued homes with Citizens, unregulated surplus lines carriers or insurance companies that do not typically focus on high value properties,” Buchmueller said. “In almost all cases, our members were paying thousands of dollars a year more for home insurance than they will with PURE. PURE is differentiated by its ability to provide select members with high-quality coverage and personalized service at significantly lower costs.”

Buchmueller is a former executive with AIG Private Client Group.

Citizens is the state’s property insurer of last resort for those unable to obtain coverage in the private market.

PURE will offer windstorm and optional excess flood coverage for Florida homes insured for greater than $1 million that are built to the standards of the latest building codes. It will also provide private fleet auto insurance, including agreed value settlements for total losses, and insurance for jewelry and art.

Its personal excess liability coverage has limits ranging from $5 million to $10 million.

According to its announcement, PURE’s offerings will also include: windstorm deductibles that range from 2 percent to 25 percent of the homes’ rebuilding costs; jewelry insurance premiums at almost half the cost other insurers charge; and competitive auto insurance for households that have more cars than drivers

PURE will be owned by its policyholders. Members will pay a one-time surplus contribution equal to 50 percent of their first-year premiums for their high-value homeowners insurance policies, and 20 percent of their first-year premiums for their private fleet auto, jewelry and art and personal excess liability policies.

The one-time surplus contributions, along with a surplus note and a reinsurance program, form the basis of PURE’s financial strength. At the end of every year, PURE will subtract losses and expenses from all collected premiums and return these savings to policyholders as either dividends or credits to the subscribers’ savings accounts (SSA).

As a reciprocal insurer, the SSA accounts belong to the individual members, yet will be available to PURE as surplus. The company hopes to provide memberships in 2007 for approximately 2,500 homeowners and to limit the number of memberships it provides in each county.

More on the company can be found at www.purehnw.com.