Anyone has experience with CBIZ?

Question

As you know, most insurance policies exclude STR. VRBO pushes for CBIZ and Airbnb says we got your back for up to $1M. Even for those of us who prefer airbnb, since STR is banned in most policies, I suspect as soon as the main insurer sees a claim with a tenant involved they play the exclusion card. That's why I am considering changing to CBIZ to have a better coverage for liabilities as well as loss of income. Their quote is not cheap but the coverage seems really thorough to me. But the problem with any insurance company is how they treat you when you have a claim. So my question for the community is: Has anyone had an experience of a claim with CBIZ? If so how did it go? What's their reputation?

Evan Kilbourne · Answer

I currently use CBIZ for insurance on my 1BR 1BA Condo. Relatively pricey yes, but worth it IMO. You get both personal and commercial liability through their plans, income protection, the works. I haven't had a claim with them (and I never hope to) so I can't speak to how well their claims process is.

Kevin Lefeuvre · Answer

Thank you @James Carlson, @Dexter Crawford, @Sean Walton.

Dexter Crawford · Answer

@Kevin Lefeuvre, I've used CBIZ.  They are pricey, but overall worth it if you are doing rentals shorter than 30 nights.  I've filed a claim with them also. Overall, they are pretty good as well. I believe my claim was paid out within a weeks time.

However, I was paying approx $1700/year for coverage of my single family home, with an income protection of $125/day. I fax/emailed my policy over to my State Farm agent, and they were able to match the policy at $650/year. As a landlord, State Farm has a rental income/property/commercial insurance policy.  The policy covers property damage, income protection, and liability in the event someone gets hurt on the property and tries to sue. Coverage is also in my company's name.

CBIZ's affiliation and integration with HomeAway/VRBO will lead you to believe they are the industry leader and are providing a product that is unique and hard to beat.  This just isn't the case. My agent was appalled that even with me being business savvy, that I didn't even think to look for a better price. I was so convinced that CBIZ offered a product that was unique to our industry.  I even actually have my State Farm agent get on the phone with my CBIZ agent and like that compare notes. On ever "perk" that CBIZ highlighted, my State Farm agent showed where they offer the same thing at a 3rd of the cost.

James Carlson · Answer

Hey @Kevin Lefeuvre. I used to host at a couple different properties and used CBIZ. VRBO pushes for them because CBIZ and VRBO parent company, HomeAway, are partnered up. Don't let that deter you. They offer a good product. I don't hear great things about Airbnb's $1M back-up plan. It's secondary, so you have to make a claim on your primary carrier's policy first.

You might also look at Slice.co. They're a startup with a different model. While CBIZ offers a traditional monthly payment, year-long like coverage, Slice is on-demand coverage. Fill out their information, and then every time you need it, you just text/email/call/etc. to let them know it's on. I think it's $5-7/day, and at least according to their modeling, you would have to host something like more than 270 days a year before it would be more expensive than a year-long policy.

Kevin Lefeuvre · Answer

@Myka Artis I did the same. I guess we both received VRBO's email blast :) They replied fast and actually replied to my questions within 24 hours as well. Before moving to them, I posted here to get some feedback.@Evan Kilbourne thanks for the feedback. Yeah, that's the problem with the insurance companies. It's easy to pay them, but getting paid has always been a different story with some of them. They are good at finding "exclusions" in the policy when you file a claim.

Villy Ellinger · Answer

I have CBIZ on my short term rentals just for commercial liability. You can ask them to "strip" the rest of the coverage and get it through a regular insurance company. A regular hazard policy will still cover your property for wind damage, fire, etc. just not for commercial liability. I get regular H06 policies (condo hazard insurance) and pay the premium for the fact that it is a short-term rental through a regular insurance. I just pay the commercial liability through CBIZ. My policy is about $770 a year for "each occurrence" $1M and total aggregate $2M. That includes a "terrorism rider" which is $100. I just don't want to have any claim excluded because the definition for terrorism can be very broad. I am trying to find out info on anyone who has actually had a claim with CBIZ though and would love to know how it worked out.

Tim V. · Answer

Another company to check out is Proper Insurance. Cbiz had the first insurance policy that was written specifically for vacation rentals, and then some employees of Cbiz left and started Proper. The cbiz policy is underwritten but Tudor and Proper is underwritten by Lloyds of London. From what I've gathered both are very well written policies (and essentially identical). I personally like that both include very high liability coverage should the guest be injured on your property, as well as loss of business income in the case of a incident.

I have a policy with Proper Insurance in San Francisco. The property is both my full time residence, and has an in-law unit that is a full time short term rental. For my next purchase cbiz is coming in with much lower quotes on the premium, so I will likely use them. I've never had a claim with Proper, so take my advice with a grain of salt, but I have called my agent on more than one occasion and have found them to be very knowledgeable.

Sara Abernethy · Answer

@Dexter Crawford = I'm surprised that State Farm allows short term rentals!  I had a lot of trouble getting covered for that piece.  My long-term rentals have "landlord policies" on them, which cover rental income, but from what I learned, I couldn't get a "regular" insurance company to cover short-term rental loss.

Anyone has experience with CBIZ?

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