Jake Holehouse: Florida Home and Boat Insurance After the Storms

Tom Rowland Podcast — Episode 943: Jake Holehouse

In this episode: two hurricanes within thirteen days on the West Coast of Florida, why 2004 and 2005 were worse for the insurance industry, the $250,000 flood coverage cap, haul-out requirements and boats left on lifts, the media exclusion for cameras on the boat, and the Bahamas and nighttime navigation gaps most boat owners never see — in the exact words spoken.

00:00 · Cold Open

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Jake Holehouse: I'm Jake Holhouse with HH Insurance, and this is the Tom Roland podcast.

02:21 · Helene and Milton: Two Hurricanes in Thirteen Days

Tom Rowland: Alright, Jake. What's up, man? How are you? Doing great. How are you? Well, I'm I'm good. I would imagine that being in the insurance business right now would be, busy, challenging? I don't know. How how would you phrase it? What what is what has it been like to be in the insurance business this fall?

Jake Holehouse: Yeah. You know, it's it's really it's been an interesting hurricane season. Right? We we started out so so small, and and and we all thought that the the national prediction was was gonna be totally incorrect in in terms of hurricanes. And and really, you know, once we got to really September that the season heated up. And and so, you know, we had really two hurricanes within thirteen days hit the the West Coast Of Florida and and really with with Helene hit a lot of states within the Southeast United States. Two totally different types of hurricanes, between hurricane Milton and Helene, just wreaking havoc among, you know, many Floridians, as well as, you know, people in Georgia, North Carolina, and even beyond that. Potentially, I'd say North Carolina got it even worse than what we saw in the state of Florida.

Tom Rowland: I think they got it maybe way worse because, I mean, it's almost like I don't want to make light of it at all because it's worse. It's bad everywhere, but it's almost like Florida's a little bit more set up for it, a little historically, you've seen things like this before, and in North Carolina that was just just seemed to me to be unprecedented. I mean, you have rivers rising a 120 feet and and whole hillsides getting washed out. I mean, I've never seen anything like it. That was a really bad deal.

Jake Holehouse: Yeah, I totally agree with you. I think one thing we've learned in both storms is that, you know, Florida with their insight towards building codes, it's actually really worst. And so, you know, in Florida, any anything built since 2002 has at least met that statewide building code. In Dade and Broward County, anything built since the 1950s has met their county building code. And so we just see a lot more resiliency within Florida compared to the expectations of what I think people thought that could happen in areas like Georgia and North Carolina.

04:29 · The Florida Building Code and What Irma Proved in the Keys

Tom Rowland: What about the, the building code? You mentioned nineteen fifty. Was that a raised building code that everything had to be, every all new construction had to be raised?

Jake Holehouse: Yeah, so great question. So in, so you really have the Florida Building Code and County Building Code. So, prior to 2002, each county had their own building code in Florida. In 2002, the state basically came together and made a building code. So Dade and Broward were really the innovators of their county building codes. And then areas like Collier, Nellis, and those various counties kind of started in the seventies, and then they all came together in 2002. Now from a raising your home standpoint, that is done by FEMA, which is the federal government that writes probably about 90% of flood insurance. And that started, around 01/01/1975, depending on the county. So there's a couple that that lagged behind that. But for the most part, any home built after 1975 does meet the flood elevation code. And you know, it's kind of crazy to think about, right? It's like fifty years ago and so you have fifty years of construction in Florida that at least meets some type of elevation.

Tom Rowland: You know, after Irma, the Florida Keys were hit pretty hard with Irma, and I went down there to help some friends and to to the area that it was impacted, which was Hawks Cay and Duck Key, was was hit really hard. And so we it was, it was very obvious. You would go through a newer house and a newer house, and then there'd be an older house, and then there'd be a newer house, and all the roofs were fine except for the older house, and the roof would be torn off. Yeah. Or but the other houses were were fine, and the newer construction was was holding up. Now I don't think anything can, you know, stop flood water from coming into the house, you know, but but they're definitely it was very, very obvious when you see, you know, the aftermath of a storm soon after that the the newer construction is definitely it definitely works, I mean, to to that extent. I'm sure that that's it that's a part of the insurance coverage. Right? Like, if you if you're trying to insure an older house these days, is that more difficult or or if you have a newer house,

Jake Holehouse: is is that easier? Yeah. It's really interesting. The older homes, if they have newer roofs, they still perform really well. And I think what we saw really when you think about like the 'four-'five hurricane season that really, you know, I'd say worst hurricane season in a back to back format that an area has ever seen. Many of the homes that were damaged did not have the new roofs because that roofing code as a statewide basis went into effect in 2002. And then you really had that stretch from 2005 to 2017 without really having major hurricanes to test it. And in Irma, which was 2017, you saw that many of the homes that had the new roofs did really well from a performance standpoint. It was a lot of like the older tile roofs that really underperformed. Yeah. And then you go really fast forward to this hurricane season and we have seen a significant improvement in terms of how homes are performing. So the newer construction or the newer roof doesn't really take on any, I mean, they'll take some damage, but but relatively speaking, you could still move back into the house, you know, maybe a couple hours after the storm, not a couple months. And, you know, one of the things that we have to think about is as crazy as it sounds, 2002 was twenty two years ago, right? Yeah. So that means pretty much every shingle roof now meets the Florida building code. Probably the majority of tile roofs now meet the Florida building code and a lot of metal roofs do. And so as Florida continues to enforce that Building Code, we continue to see that the Building Code works and that there's significantly less claims of those newer construction type homes. Wow.

08:36 · Why 2004–2005 Was Worse for the Insurance Industry

Tom Rowland: And would you think that the 2004, 2005 season were you in were you couldn't have possibly been in the insurance business in that in that Yeah. Time frame.

Jake Holehouse: Yes. So I was not, but my dad was. And so, so so, my dad had an agency at that point, that he ran. And it was it was a very trying time. So I remember, you know, watching him as a kid to see the stress of it. And so it definitely, you know, shaped a lot of, you know, where we are today within Florida insurance.

Tom Rowland: Well, we got hit. In my own personal house, we got hit really hard in that one. Wilma. So would you think that that would that those two years would be worse than this year as far as claims and damage?

Jake Holehouse: Yes, so absolutely. Really? I see that on a basis of, you know, obviously the claims cost is a lot higher today, but a lot of that's driven by inflation. You know, a roof back in April was significantly less expensive. You also at that point really didn't have a lot of what I'll say, different policy provisions that have been put in. So, like, you know, now there's higher hurricane deductibles in a policy. And so that, you know, kind of lessens the burden to to an insurance carrier. And and so I think a lot of insurance carriers, are significantly more set up for hurricane seasons like what we had this year compared to 04/2005 where where there just wasn't a lot of thought as to, wow, I can't believe we can have this many storms in a back to back type basis that that now really the industry prepares for annually.

Tom Rowland: Really? So as bad as it was this year with hell with Helene and then Milton following in the same area almost, it was still worse for the insurance industry or more damage caused in 2004, 2005.

Jake Holehouse: Yeah, absolutely. And it's kind of crazy. And I'll say that this comment is a little order specific. But when we think about Florida, a lot of consumers that we've been talking to over the past couple of weeks have said, wow, I'm just so scared for what my rate's going to be next year. Right. And actually just finished a two day meeting with one of our top carriers, and they actually have a rate decrease planned for December. And so the rates in Florida have gotten to that point where they are so high and they are modeled in for a hurricane season like this year. And so this is kind of, I think what I would call a, you know, as expected type hurricane season that the rate is actually already adequate for it. Now, other parts of the country, the Carolinas, Georgia, they still have some inflationary pressures on homeowners and auto insurance rates and things along those lines. But within Florida, the state legislature did, really what many call the most comprehensive, insurance reform in 2022, so right after Hurricane Ian. And as a result of that reform, if we didn't have storms this year, we would be probably talking about a 15% to 20% rate decrease on homeowners insurance.

Tom Rowland: Really?

Jake Holehouse: As a result of the storms, we're still gonna see a moderate rate decrease, like 2% to 5% for a lot of carriers. But, you know, really, I would say that resilience is a word that we're hearing a lot from Floridians from homes, but also from the insurance carriers from a pricing standpoint, after this year.

12:06 · "Will I Even Get Insurance Next Year?" Rates and Fortifying Your House

Tom Rowland: So that that's interesting that that there would be a decrease even after the storms because I was just at dinner the other night with a bunch of guys. We all own houses in Florida and and, you know, the the common thing that everybody was saying was, wow, I don't even know if you're gonna be able to get insurance in Florida. What what do you think about that? I mean, people were I mean, some of them were saying, like, if you can't pay cash for your house, I don't know if you're gonna be able to get it, and that's all from that's why I wanted to have this conversation with you because, like you hear all this, you know, like just regular people that don't know much about the insurance business or the insurance world. That's the way it seems. It's like, but I don't know if that's reality. Like, what what is reality right now?

Jake Holehouse: Yeah. You know, I think that's a that's a great question and that that's a conversation that that we're having with with a lot of our insurers right now. And and I I think I would say it in a couple, avenues. Right? If if you have a 20 year old or older shingle roof, it's hard to get insurance. Or if you have a, you know, a tile roof that's forty and fifty years old or something along those lines, that there is a lot of rate pressure there because in general, we as an industry, know and the insurance carriers know that there will be claims, right? Like it's, we are in Florida and so we expect for there to be claims. Boy, the number one determining factor of that is age of roof. And so if we have newer roofs, we have some fortification done to the house, even things like hurricane shutters or impact glass or anything along those lines, you can really fortify a house to be very survivable from a storm to where, yeah, you might lose your landscaping, but you're not losing your house anymore. And I think that's a lot of what we're seeing post Helene and post Milton. I mean, there are definitely devastating areas to it. Boy, it's the resiliency of that newer construction or that fortified type construction. And so at this point, capital coming into the Florida marketplace of new carriers capital coming into the Florida marketplace of new carriers wanting to come. Now I will say the Florida legislature does not get enough credit for their work to make that happen. If the legislature did not do the reforms that they did in 2022, we would be talking about, can you get insurance? And it would be three to four times more expensive than what it is today. But with those reforms, we're in a very, very healthy market cycle carriers, even with storms, the carriers are still hitting their profit expectations. And so they really bake those type of storms in their model. And so again, we're performing as expected right now. And I think that that's a message that probably isn't getting out to enough people right now. Right. A lot of people are living in that expected reality of can I even afford Florida insurance anymore? And we're really seeing the opposite.

15:05 · Flood Insurance, the NFIP, and the $250,000 Cap

Tom Rowland: That's interesting. So mostly what we've been talking about is is wind and roof, but so much of the damage that that I've seen on social media and and every everywhere else, pictures from my friends and other things, a tremendous amount of flooding, sand, mud, that kind of stuff that that went into people's houses, and there's a lot of different kinds of flooding that, you have to be insured for. Like there's freshwater flooding, and then there's saltwater flooding, then there's wind driven rain. I mean, I don't know what all there is, but like how does somebody know what they should have?

Jake Holehouse: Yeah. So, you know, a couple things. So one, you know, when we talk flooding, that is about 90 to 95% the federal government. And so if you have a policy and it says, you know, right flood insurance or it says Allstate or something along those lines, even though it says that it's in what's called the National Flood Insurance Program or the NFIP, and that's really who underwrites most of the flood program. Now there's a couple challenges within that, and probably the first is, you know, the maximum limit that you can get in that National Flood Insurance Program is $250,000 of coverage. So you have a million dollar house, you can only get $250,000 And that that is a challenge that a lot of people have, especially for the what I'll call like the slab on grade type homes that have been damaged, is having enough coverage there. The second, and this is a really big one, is that flood policy is written by the National Flood Insurance Program. They don't pay loss of use coverage. And this is probably the one that does have me the most worried from a kind of state of resiliency standpoint is that somebody still has their continuing home expenses. Hopefully they can get relief on their mortgage payments, but they may not be able to, and their house is damaged and they still have to, you know, they don't have coverage for a hotel or something like that. If the damage is from flooding. Second side of that is, you know, so how much coverage should I have? Really, you know, what we say is, you know, every house is really in a flood zone. It's just a matter of what risk a flood zone. But, you know, 25% of flood claims happen in non mandatory purchase flood zones. And so if you have an A or a V zone and you have a mortgage, your lender requires you to carry flood coverage. But if you're in a B, C or X, you don't have to carry flood coverage, from a mortgage requirement standpoint. Now, one of the big things that people have kind of pushed back on within flood insurance is the cost of it. And from 1975 and through today, the national flood insurance program has required that you pay that premium in full. So you can't do like monthly payments on there. But starting in January, the NFIP is actually opening up to where somebody can do monthly payments on a flood insurance policy. Really? And so I think that now when you start thinking about it, you know, it's not $600 a year, it's $50 a month. That does add an affordability element in for a lot of consumers, optimistically hoping that that more and more people see what has happened in, you know, non flood zone type areas. And I'd say non flood zone, meaning non non required purchase flood zones, whether that's Florida, Georgia, or the Carolinas that that all got hit on that and can think about carrying that flood coverage at such a low cost.

18:33 · Boat Claims After the Storms and the Audit That Fixed Tom's Policy

Tom Rowland: What kind of boat claims are you seeing after these storms?

Jake Holehouse: Yeah. It's really interesting. Hurricane Ian had a ton of boat climbs. A lot of people didn't do haul outs on their boats. They left them on the lifts and the way that storm hit and where it hit did a ton of boat damage. Thankfully in these two storms, you know, we've seen some, some claims, but I think the good news of Ian is I think it woke a lot of people up as to what can happen to my boat if a hurricane does hit. And so we saw many insurers do haul outs and a lot of policy language now requires a haul out off of the lift and, and at least on a trailer and stored somewhere. And so we've seen some claims, but I would say that the boat claims have actually come in way under my expectation of where I thought they would be based on on the the size and the amount of damage that that the storms have done in areas. Wow.

Tom Rowland: I mean, when we first got hooked up with you guys, the way that we the way that it happened was that we had some insurance that seemed very expensive, and we just did kind of

Jake Holehouse: a kind

Tom Rowland: of an audit. You guys looked at our insurance, and you found all kinds of things that were really wrong. Mhmm. And we were paying for what we thought would cover us everywhere. Are you do you see that regularly that people, like for example, we thought we had coverage in The Bahamas if we took a boat to The Bahamas. We thought we had coverage if we went so far offshore, but we didn't even realize that there was a that there was a limit to how far offshore we could go. We didn't realize that if we just pulled our boat out and just put it somewhere, that wasn't necessarily covered as we thought it was because we didn't have this plan, and you guys really cleaned up our stuff. I mean, it I I sleep a lot better sleep a lot better at night now, but I'm sure that you do that a lot. As it comes to boats, like, what are the what are the mistakes that you you see people making with their insurance or that that they don't even know that they've made it on their insurance until it's too late and they have an incident or something happens and they find out that they're not covered?

Jake Holehouse: Yeah. You know, it's unfortunately something that we run into a lot. And to write an insurance policy in the state of Florida, you can go get a customer service license and about a two day course and you can start writing policies. And that's really what we see is, is that, you know, for, for myself and, and, you know, a lot of our team here, you know, we set out and wanted a career in insurance. And so we really think about it differently. And so, you know, myself and Landon, we both have what's called the CPCU, which is the highest designation within insurance. And so we really think about insurance about like, how do I, how do I really understand this person? And the other side is, you know, we're boaters here, right? Like we're out on the water. We own boats, and we really understand that if somebody calls in a quote request for a 36 foot boat, that and they're in Miami, they are probably going to go to The Bahamas. But if you don't ask that question, do I have coverage for The Bahamas? It's not automatically included in the policy. Another big thing that we see within policies is that they have a haul out requirement in the policy language and an insured didn't know that they have a haul out requirement. And if that happens and a storm hits and you didn't execute your whole lot requirement, you have no insurance coverage for that.

22:02 · Named Storms, Haul-Out Requirements, and Boats Left on Lifts

Tom Rowland: So what you're saying is like if there's a name storm, any name storm, like it could be a tropical storm, doesn't even have to be a hurricane or does it have to be a hurricane?

Jake Holehouse: So each policy reads on its own language, but, you know, most of them would say that if you're seventy two hours, out from basically a hurricane watcher warning issued for your area, that you have to execute a haul out on that boat. Or if it does get damaged from wind or floodwaters, there's no coverage.

Tom Rowland: No coverage. So a sailboat could get blown off its mooring and crash into your boat on the lift, you're not and there would be no coverage for that?

Jake Holehouse: If your policy has a whole lot requirement and you don't follow

Tom Rowland: it, that's absolutely correct. And so, man, that's something for a lot of people to think about. But are there other policies that do allow for it to stay on the lift?

Jake Holehouse: Yeah. Yeah. I think a lot of it depends on the value of the boat and where the boat is. And so the higher the value, the more stringent that requirement becomes. If the boat's under $350,000 in value, it's pretty easy to do to not have to move it. But I would say really once you start crossing that $350 threshold, it depends on the carrier and it depends on the underwriting requirements. And part of it depends on what somebody wants to pay. And so, you know, we just did a boat in, Key West. That was a 43 foot Freeman. And on that one, the guy said, I do not want to haul it out. And there's a carrier that will do it at that price. Right. And so if, if he, you know, it really depends on where somebody wants their premium to be. And typically there is an option for it.

Tom Rowland: Well, that's what I was going to say. Like, in Key West, there's not really a lot of places that you could put a 43 foot boat. Yeah. And certainly not while everyone else is scrambling. I would imagine that you would have to already have that set up, and there are these I have seen those, like, on Instagram. I saw this one thing, and it was talking about, I guess you get a membership to this place or whatever, and and they take your boat, they come pick it up, and they take it to like an airplane hangar, and it's in there for hurricane, you know, but you would know that you have that place reserved. Right? Like in Key West, everybody's scrambling to get their boat out of the water. There's not room for, I mean, a 43 foot boat on a trailer is a massive thing. It is a massive thing. It's like a bigger than a tractor trailer. I mean, it's a massive thing. What, are you gonna just park that on the side of the road? Like, you gotta have a place to park it, and and I don't even know that there's a lot of marinas that are capable of finding something inside where you could put that boat if all the racks are taken, right? You would need to have a rack or something, but

Jake Holehouse: Yeah, it definitely adds a layer of complication on there. Now, one thing that's really good news is, in most policies, if you pay somebody to haul it out, up to a certain limit, the policy will actually pay 50% of the cost to do that. And so that's something that a lot of insureds, you know, take advantage of. And so those have been many of the, you know, Milton and Helene claims has been not necessarily damage to my boat, but but reimbursement for my haul out, so that the carrier actually encourages people to do that, you know, for them.

Tom Rowland: Now when it has a haul out policy, does it does it require that you take it, like, so far inland or like especially like in The Keys? Like if you're in Key West, does your haul out policy require that you take it inland? Because inland in Key West, it's four miles wide and one mile long, right? Or vice versa. So where do

Jake Holehouse: you take it? So and that's where I think it gets back to really understanding the policy language and seeing how it's written. And so just as an example, there's a group and we do a ton of business with them as well. And it's, called, you know, Charter Lakes and, and they, they write policies and in their policy language, it says, you know, either an approved plan or 25 miles inland. Well, if you don't have your approved plan, that means 25 miles inland. So if you're in Key West, that means you got to find a way to get it into Homestead. Wow. And so that that's, that's in their policies. All their policies just say, you know, on the heart. And so you can leave it, you know, at a marina and, you know, put it on jacks or put it on a trailer or anything along those lines. And that's where that intricacy of understanding the policy language really comes in and then being able to help, an insured find the right hurricane plan that realistically fits them. Wow.

26:44 · Growing Up in the Family Business, Florida State, and Tony Robbins

Tom Rowland: How'd you learn so much about insurance?

Jake Holehouse: You know, so they, they say insurance is like the mafia, right? So once the family is in, you can't get out. So grew up in the business.

Tom Rowland: I don't know. My dad was in the insurance business and I got out. I never got in. You know, I never got in. That was the thing. Well, he sold his business, so I think I'm out. Yeah. But, I do know what it's like to grow up in the insurance around the insurance business. Like, you were talking about your dad, you know, you could see the stress and stuff like that, man. I remember those times when when there would be a lot of claims or something, and he's like, boy, this is tough. I mean, you gotta deal with a lot of loss, and but but on the other hand, it was very rewarding when he could go out there and hand somebody a check right away. Like, no. Like, here it is. There's there's your money. So anyway, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you. How did you learn so much about insurance?

Jake Holehouse: Yeah. So, so I grew up in the business, you know, with with my dad and, so in high school, one of my jobs was to go take pictures of every house that we insured and had to, you know, go submit it to underwriting. And then, after that it was scanning every file into the computer so we could go paperless. Yes. And then went to, Florida state and did a bachelor's and master's degree in insurance. Came back, worked for my dad and he sold the agency in 2015 to a bank. And, you know, going from that entrepreneurial culture of 20 people to 20,000 people, I learned I'm an entrepreneur. And so I actually went to the carrier side for two years and really understood it at a different level of working on that risk bearing side of it. And then in 2018, I came and started this insurance agency and we started with three of us and we've grown, to over 40 today. Wow. And, you know, probably one of the coolest parts of doing that is actually, employee number one started as, you know, the the front desk girl answering the phone and she actually now is our operations manager and runs the ship. And, so it's really just been an awesome time and really helping and ensure policy by policy with just finding the right coverage for them.

Tom Rowland: So with all of that, like in your dad's business, even as an intern kind of level, studying insurance in college, getting your master's degree, then going to a giant corporation, insurance corporation, then on the carrier side, what where did you learn the most that you apply today?

Jake Holehouse: Yeah, you know, I think it's probably an accumulation of all of it, right? You know, it kind of, you know, I went to Florida state, you know, actually wanting to, to major in entrepreneurship, not insurance. And I went in and had a lot of college credits already from high school. And I took an insurance class and I was like, wow, I know like 80% of this. This is definitely going to be the easiest major and I could become an entrepreneur and do it anyway. So I really, you know, kind of went down the path at that point. But I think, you know, really probably those couple years, you know, after college, there was this, this crazy thing in in 2013. It was called the Bigger Waters Act, and it made everybody's flood insurance go from 2,000 to $20,000 a year and really dug in. And at the time, I was like 21 or 22, and I was on the news almost every night talking about flood insurance. And I really just like learned that, hey, just become an expert and and you can do really well. And and from then on, it's really just been a a passion of, you know, helping people and and working really within, you know, segments that that we also love. And that's really, you know, how we got into to the marine insurance expertise and and side of it is that we, you know, we boat and we fish and we love being out on the water. And so it really got to combine, you know, the insurance side with with that, of of being able to to do something different.

Tom Rowland: That's really cool, and especially the entrepreneurship. A lot of schools have that entrepreneurship. I know that they had that at Montana State where my boys went, and they were interested in that. It's kind of funny that a school would have a degree in entrepreneurship because it just seems like entrepreneurship is, like, gritty, and nobody knows anything, and you just try a lot of things, and and, I mean, that's that's what that's what I've done.

Jake Holehouse: Yeah. It's

Tom Rowland: like but I'm I'm sure that, like, if I had somebody that could have told me, like, well, this is what you do, like, these things to get a business started, that would have been a lot easier.

Jake Holehouse: Yeah.

Tom Rowland: I mean, a lot easier than just making you know, it's all trial by fire and mo and it's mostly fire.

Jake Holehouse: Yeah. So it's, I think it's, is that a Tony Robbins seminar? And as he said, you're right, the key to an entrepreneur is being the most certain person in the most uncertain times. That's that trial by fire of just, you know, just having the belief and the confidence that you can get through it and be able to find a way to create a business and just, you know, serve people's needs and that they'll keep coming back.

Tom Rowland: What Tony Robbins seminar did you go to?

Jake Holehouse: So I am a, you know, I think my wife calls Tony Robbins my man crush. So I've pretty much done most of his programs. Really? Yeah, it's, you know, it's just, it's been an amazing experience of just kind of, you know, I didn't start the business, you know, doing it, but then you, you kind of, you know, I'd say you, you get, you hit those plateaus where you just kind of start getting comfortable and you say like, all right, like how do I push myself to the next level? And I think that those are the seminars that have really helped shape me to, you know, continue to elevate our standards and continue to, to push harder as to where we can take this.

Tom Rowland: Tell you what, man, I've done a lot of those courses too, and it is solid, solid stuff, and if anybody's listening to this and they don't know about those kind of things, it is like I don't I don't even know how to it it's a it's a combination of of motivating you and inspiring you and and helping you understand that you can do certain things, but then also real techniques of how to get them done. Absolutely. And I mean, if you if you get one of those things in a period of your life where you are, you really need to do something, like make a change, for me it was like when when we when I realized that I was gonna be a dad, I did that personal power too, and that one was that one was on TV. It was on TV all the time, all the time, and I was like, you know, I don't know if this is hokey or not, but everything that they're saying on that commercial, I need that in my life right now, and I just went ahead and I just bought it. And I listened to that. I used to run and listened to that, and man, I swear it changed everything.

Jake Holehouse: Everything. But it's, it's funny you say that I'm actually, I have the app and I'm trying to do a program. And I'm actually doing personal power right now. And it's a, it's it's really just, you know, so much of, you know, as I think Tony says, right? It's, you know, the success is 80% psychology, 20% skill. Yeah. And you can be the most skilled person, but if you can't take action, nothing happens. And so it's being able to take action when it's not easy and getting outside of that comfort zone. And yeah, I think one of the, one of the quotes that I remember from, I forgot which seminar it was, but it's, you know, tell me five things you're proud of that came easy the first time you did it. Right? Everything we do, you know, take takes getting out of our comfort zone and it's not easy. But those are the most rewarding. And so it's about, you know, continuously pushing yourself to to, you know, where you really want to be.

Tom Rowland: And I've learned so much from him and even, you know, other other resources in his in his company, coaching resources and other things like that. But, what a what an incredible, resource for anybody that's looking to elevate their their life. I mean, you know, a lot of people will be like, Tony Robbins, like some kinda guru kinda they don't know. They haven't they haven't dug into to his stuff, and it's it's super solid. Don't you know, it's out there and you can you can have it and, it can elevate your life too. Absolutely. So when you, is it hard to get an insurance company started?

35:14 · Starting an Insurance Agency vs. Starting a Fishing Business

Jake Holehouse: Yeah. You know, it's definitely, not easy. Right? And and so Well, I mean, there's legal

Tom Rowland: there's that like, for me to start a fishing company, right? Like, I gotta get my captain's license. I gotta get a business license. Other than that, you're pretty much on your I mean, whatever. Like, you know, but I would imagine that in the insurance business, there's a lot more licensing and there's a lot more legal kind of things that you would need to start, and I'm sure that in college you already learned that as you're as you have a master's degree in in insurance and entrepreneurship, you would already know what what hoops you need to jump through. But Yeah,

Jake Holehouse: you know, it's interesting, it's actually about it's not that much different than starting a fishing business in terms of, you know, you have to get your, within the state of Florida and within most states, Florida calls it a two twenty license and that's kind of like a general property and casualty license. And the nice thing is it's actually reciprocal to most states. And so, you know, one thing is with insurance, it's all regulated at the state state level, not at the federal level when we talk property and casualty insurance. And then, as a two twenty, you can apply and get your agent's license, which really just requires a location. And once you have that, you can do that. And that's really where the hard part comes in. And that is now you have to find carrier partners that trust you, that you know what you're doing to be able to go write business on their behalf. And so you know, us as an insurance agency, we're really the sales arm of the carrier. Mhmm. But then at the same time, we're the field underwriter to find the right customers for them. And then we're also the really the customer's advocate on the front and back end of the policy as to the front end is, you know, being able to talk to the customer and hear what their need is. And so, you know, somebody that calls in for a quote on a Viking is very different than somebody that calls in for a quote on a Yellowfin. Mhmm. And so being able to to hear that and then also on the back end of, you know, if they have a claim and they need help with that claim, being able to jump in and talk to that claims adjuster, and kind of be able to get it going on that end. And so, you know, for starting the agency, honestly, what was very lucky that, that, you know, the relationships that my dad had at his agency, all wanted to jump back on and be able to restart the agency again. And so that's really where we were able to get a lot of the success as it's as much success in your marketplace as anything.

37:53 · Insuring Charter Captains and the Media Exclusion Gray Area

Tom Rowland: That's cool. So walk me through, like, I mean, you guys write a ton of boat stuff and that's how we got with you is just reviewing our policy. Walk me through, like, somebody that calls you up for how do you ensure that you're getting ensure? That was how do you make sure that you're giving them the right coverage, selling them the right coverage so that they are covered for whatever? I mean, how what's the what's your what's your process? Because, obviously, it wasn't done when we when we got our first policy. We did not go through enough questions or whatever to to know that if we take it to The Bahamas, we're not covered. If we, you know, if we just store it in the lot in the back of our our office, that it might not be covered. I don't know. So walk me through, like you said, a Viking is different than a Yellowfin. Like, how do you know that? How do you know that you're giving the right coverage?

Jake Holehouse: Yeah, you know, I think a lot of it is every insurer is different. And so I really view our role as to giving them options and allowing them to make their own choices on it. Right? And so, for some insureds, they want lowest deductible, highest coverage, and for others, they want highest deductible, lowest coverage, and then you have the 80% in the middle. And that is, you know, I kind of want to be down the middle as to what I'm looking for. So we really start with, you know, talking to an insured and understanding, you know, the boat. A big driver of it is, you know, the purchase price and then the prior experience and how do you want to use it. And so, you know, just as an example, you know, there's a charter exclusion and all personal marine policies. And so if somebody just buys a boat and then they decide to start chartering and six months later, there's not coverage there. And so I think it's just really asking questions to them and hearing from them, you know, what they want to use the boat for, and then being able to give them options as to, hey, here's what it costs to insure it to do this, this, and this, and then allow them to decide, hey, it's actually too expensive to do this or it's, you know, or I want to do this instead. And so then it really kind of goes back and forth of crafting. And then once we finish that, then we, you know, deliver the policy to them as as to, you know, what they request And so I think it's just, you know, I would say the, the number one, you know, variable is, or really top, top three variables would be operator experience, would be, you know, purchase price and, length of the boat. And if we throw a fourth in there would be speed of the boat. And once you understand those four things that really, you know, helps you start driving that conversation as to how to serve that insured.

Tom Rowland: What about, like, if somebody calls you up, like this is probably the we got fishing guides of all, shapes and sizes that are listening to this right now, certainly plenty of offshore guys, but I would think that the vast majority would be something in either, you know, between a skiff and a 36. Mhmm. And a lot of those people are gonna, like, land in a bay boat. Right. So you got somebody that calls you up and they have a $150,000 bay boat, like a yellowfin with a 400 Mercury on it or something like that, and it could be 200, you know, I mean, depending on how it's set up, you know, it's going to be between 100 and 200, and they're planning on chartering it. What, what are the important things to think about when, when you have that and they're living in a hurricane zone?

Jake Holehouse: Yeah. That, that, that's really our typical charter captain insured. Right? And, and so I think for a lot of it, it's understanding, are you going to do anything beyond chartering? And so what most don't realize is that I would say 99% of charter policies exclude, in water activity. So are we also doing sandbar trips and we bring a snorkel set and do we want to carry insurance on that or do we want to self insure for that? You know, unfortunately, I would say a lot of people make the election of self insurance on there. Another one would be, you know, mini season charters or something along those lines and, and, you know, understanding the risks that can go into that. And then it's, you know, Hey, are you running the boat yourself or do you have other captains that are going to operate it as well? And so what most don't know is that, you know, in pretty much any boat over 350,000 in value on the personal side or any commercial charter policy, there's a named operator provision. And so if you don't add your captains specifically on that policy, there's no coverage while they're operating that boat. And so we really try to take somebody through that analysis and find the right policy, you know, format for them, and really be able to give them the choice as to, you know, how to, how to properly ensure that vote.

Tom Rowland: I have heard about a media exclusion. Like if you have a if you have cameras on the boat for whatever reason, and in our in our case, that's very, very important. But just say, you know, a charter a typical charter captain needs to, and I don't even know what that camera provision would be. Is that an iPhone? Is that what is that? Because every charter captain now needs to be taking pictures, needs to be having video for Instagram, for YouTube, for whatever, and if it's popular, they're gonna continue to do it more. They're They're probably going to upgrade their camera, but it's probably going to start with a with an iPhone. Like, what does that where does that land on the media exclusion?

Jake Holehouse: Yeah. So there's really, a couple of sides to that one, right? So the first and this is, you know, we had another person with a TV show that doesn't charter, but they have a show. And in the policy that they had previously before they came to us, it had a total business use exclusion and they considered filming for profit of your TV show business use. And so any time they were out filming, there was no coverage and 80% of the time they were using their boat, they were filming, right?

Tom Rowland: Yeah.

Jake Holehouse: On the commercial side, you run into two issues. So one is there can be the media exclusion on there, which is really, I would say, the way to think about that is, you know, if a, like if a film crew comes out with you or you have somebody like dedicated to the camera, that's really when you're starting to kick into that that media exclusion. The Yeah.

Tom Rowland: How do you know how do you know that though? Because that is like a real gray area, and that seems like that seems like a place where you could get denied coverage because if they if they look at they're like, hey, you got a YouTube channel, you're getting hundreds of thousands of views on this YouTube channel. You're telling me you don't have a cameraman? Like, who did this? You're in you're catching the fish and somebody's filming you with an iPhone or with something else, like, couldn't that be considered a a media crew?

Jake Holehouse: Absolutely. Couldn't be. And the second and the word you just used there, crew. Right. And so that's the other thing we have to think about. And this goes for both media as well as other captains or mates working on a boat is there's a crew exclusion. And so we have to actually specifically add crew coverage anytime a captain uses a mate or uses somebody that's going to be filming or anything along those lines. And so, yeah, that's definitely that's where that intricate policy discussion comes from as to you're really working with somebody to understand what they're doing on it and then being able to price that risk accordingly.

Tom Rowland: So that's what that's what you guys do. Absolutely. That you're gonna if somebody comes to you, you're gonna ask them all these questions. You're gonna make sure that there's media or no media. You're gonna make sure that, like, what are you going to do in a hurricane? And like, what kind of questions would you ask about a hurricane?

Jake Holehouse: Yeah. You know, I think, you know, from a hurricane standpoint, it's really, you know, hey, what's your plan if a hurricane comes? And, you know, and if we have a plan to trailer it, where do we want to trailer the boat to? Or we have an agreement with a marina. And, you know, I think for a lot of insurance, they don't, they don't know what their plan is yet. And that's something that we also do is we'll talk them through. Hey, if this is your plan, this is what your rate is. And if this is your plan, this is what your rate is. So what

46:24 · Hurricane Plans, Coverage Territory, Lightning Strikes, and Stolen Lower Units

Tom Rowland: would you give me two examples of like, if this is your plan, like, what would the first one be?

Jake Holehouse: So if your plan is to leave the boat in the water, you know, this is where your rate would come in compared to if your plan is to, you know, put the boat on a trailer, are you going to haul it to your house? So to use an example in The Keys, are we going to haul it to a house in Islamorada? Or do we have a place in Homestead that we're going to try to haul it to? Two different risks and two different rates that that would go on there. Another one could be, I plan to leave it on my lift and let's just say this is a you know, Naples type example. So I plan to leave a boat on my lift in Naples. Okay. Do you plan to put it on a trailer if a hurricane comes? Do you want to hire a service to put it on a trailer for you and get to 50% reimbursement? Or do you want to, just leave it there and either face a higher deductible or a higher rate on the policy? And that's where really we try to walk an insured through various options as to how to come up with you know, what fits you because everybody has a different level of risk tolerance and everybody else has a different level of time tolerance. For some it's, no matter what, I don't want to haul it. And for others, it's, you know, we see in a lot of cases, right, people care more about their boat than their house, and so they'll do whatever it takes to protect the boat.

Tom Rowland: Tell me this, I bet you I bet you we were not covered for this. Charter captains chartering the boat all the time, but then we're also fishing in professional redfish tournaments, and we're trailering the boat all the way to Texas and fishing over there, and then I bet you on the road we weren't covered, and I bet we were outside of our coverage zone somehow.

Jake Holehouse: I don't know. Absolutely. Like, if great question.

Tom Rowland: So there are plenty of people that do that either either recreational anglers that take their boat to all these different places and fish or charter guides that take their boat somewhere and either on vacation or for a tournament or something like that and they're trailering the boat, what do we need to be worried about there?

Jake Holehouse: Yes, that's really looking at your coverage territory. And there's a couple of things to think about on a coverage territory. So one is states covered as and you're absolutely correct that many Florida based policies aren't going to cover all the way to Texas unless specifically added and advised to go all the way to Texas. The second, again, that's kind of similar to that is how far offshore do you plan to bring that boat? So whether it's, you know, the wreck angler or the charter captain, there's a basically offshore guideline that gets added in there. And so if somebody plans to bring it, you know, 100 miles offshore, if they have a standard progressive policy, progressive only covers to 100 miles or I'm sorry, to 75 miles. And so that guy then gets excluded for coverage. So there's one, the coverage territory of like where you are state wise, but then there's also the how far offshore do you want to go, coverage territory. And that's that's really all that that we have to think about when we look at that policy.

Tom Rowland: What about lightning? Yeah, Lightning's

Jake Holehouse: a big one. So most policies do cover lightning strikes, but most policies have gone to increased deductibles for Lightning. And so it used to be, you know, like a like a standard flat deductible in a policy. And for the most case, and each policy is different, but for the most case, it's a 10% deductible and it's not 10% of claims, 10% of boat value. So on a $400,000 boat, that's a $40,000 deductible on there.

Tom Rowland: That's the most you can get?

Jake Holehouse: So from a deductible standpoint Oh,

Tom Rowland: from a deductible standpoint, that's the deductible. Okay.

Jake Holehouse: Correct. And so but the boat would then be covered after the deductible. Another one that we're seeing that that same thing applies to is theft. So especially in Southeast Florida, we have a lot of theft of electronics and lower units. Right. So a lot of policies have gone to a 10% theft deductible as well. And when you think about the inverse effect of that as to the price of boats has also gone way up. So those deductibles have gotten pretty large because what used to be a $300,000 boat is now a $600,000 And so now you're talking a $60,000 deductible for lightning or theft in the typical policy.

Tom Rowland: So if you get your lower units stolen, it's obviously not going to be $60,000 you're just on the hook for that.

Jake Holehouse: In most policies right now,

Tom Rowland: in most cases. And what could you do to prevent that or to insure yourself for that?

Jake Holehouse: So part of that is looking at your policy and seeing what the deductible is. And then the second that an underwriter is going to want to say is, what have you done to start preventing theft? So a lot of, you know, people have put cameras on their boats. Others have put, you know, like, the different theft deterrent systems that sends a notification to your phone. And so if you have a really good theft plan, a lot of underwriters want to look at it. But the challenge has been if there's not a theft plan in place, those are the deductibles that are starting to come back from the market.

Tom Rowland: What about when you're trailering your boat? And like one of the things that we talked about before was if you're trailering your boat, you stop at a hotel and you spend the night, or you're in a fishing tournament and you're you're in a different place and you're you're you're you're stopped for the night, there was something about unhooking your boat versus keeping it hooked to the trailer to the truck. What do you need, what do we need to have for that to be covered for theft, for damage, I mean a boat, another truck could come through there and smash your boat while you're while you're out at dinner, I don't know. Anything could happen.

Jake Holehouse: Yeah. So, you know, that's where each policy is going to be a little different depending on the language that the underwriter comes back with. You know, in most cases that there is coverage that applies there. But it might be that they get hit on that higher theft deductible if items get get stolen off of the boat. And another one is, you know, if you let's just say you're storing your your rods and reels on there. While you're in that transit, if you don't have what's called personal effects coverage, which is item basically think of that as items that move on and off the boat. So if you think about the price of some of these electric reels, that gets expensive really fast. And unless you have enough personal effects coverage compared to the price of fishing equipment today, there can definitely be some coverage gaps that get formed into policies.

Tom Rowland: So, but you can unhook your boat at at a at a hotel for most policies?

Jake Holehouse: So I would say check your policy and review that with your agent because each policy would be different. So, I would say tough to give advice within that one just because the policy can be different on there.

Tom Rowland: Well, I mean, there's certain hotels that you go to and there's no room to to park while you're hooked up. You have to you have to unhook and your boat's just sitting there. Somebody could just hook up to it and take off with it. I've always thought that's even if you have like a, you know, a couple couple lock thing, you could easily get it stolen right there.

Jake Holehouse: Yeah. Probably even has the keys in it. Yeah, exactly. And that's where I would say just, just checking with your your agent that that writes your policy and telling them what your plan of of transit is so that they can confirm, you know, whether or not you have something to be concerned about.

54:09 · Policy Reviews, Endorsements, and Why Half the Milton Claims Closed Without Payment

Tom Rowland: So that's that's where, like, that's where somebody if they're considering changing their insurance or considering, like, they hear all this whole conversation that we're talking about. It's like, man, I don't know. I don't know what I have, and then you start reading through it, and it's all insurance language. You're like, I don't know. I mean, is that what we did with you guys is just say, we don't know. We feel like because of some things that we've learned lately that we may not be covered for the things that we think we're covered for. Can you look at this? I mean, does that do

Jake Holehouse: you do that a lot? Absolutely. That's really where 99% of our customers start. And so, you know, what we're going to ask for is a copy of the current declaration pages. We don't really care what somebody's paying, you know, and so if somebody blacks it out, it doesn't matter to us. What we want to understand are what coverage do you have? What are your deductibles and what are your endorsements? Because even if a policy says it's covered in one place, it can endorse that coverage off leaner in the policy.

Tom Rowland: So when you say endorsement for somebody that doesn't know a lot about insurance, like that goes right over like that's that seems like something that goes right over somebody's head because they don't understand what that term is in an insurance term. So explain endorsement. Yes. So think of an endorsement

Jake Holehouse: as like a modification to the base, right? And so most policies start as let's call it this 20 page document and they end up at 45. And so the endorsements change those initial 20 pages. So, as an example, we had an insured and they, they had a theft in Jacksonville. And so they boats at a marina, marina gets hit, all of the garments stolen off of the boat. And so they pull the claim in and they started by looking at their policy and in the base policy language, it said you have a $250 electronic seduct tool. So they call the claim in and they think they've got coverage about a $600,000 boat. About page 30, it has a theft endorsement, and that endorsement is really, really important because it modifies that $250 deductible to a 10% deductible, which now equals $60,000 So that insured went from I think I have coverage on these two Garmin screens to I really don't have any coverage on these garments because at the price of the garments compared to my deductible, there's no coverage. Right. And the word endorsement is strange because that sounds like it would allow for

Tom Rowland: something else. Like, I'm endorsing this, but it's almost exactly the opposite. It's saying that this is an exception almost.

Jake Holehouse: Yeah. So, you know, it can do either. Right? And so in one sense, in that theft example, it takes it away. But in another sense, Bahamas is not covered in a base policy. And so that endorsement can then add The Bahamas coverage onto the policy. And so it's really the endorsement is a modification of that base. And that's where I would say it's, if not, it's always more important to understand your endorsements than your base policy because they can do so much to change it.

Tom Rowland: So one of the things that I've heard from some people is that, many of the claims from Milton have been denied. Why is that? Do you know? Yeah.

Jake Holehouse: So, you know, what we're seeing from a lot of our carriers is about 50% of the claims have been closed at this point and a lot are closed without payment. And that's because you have two deductibles on your policy. So you have a non hurricane deductible and a hurricane deductible, and that hurricane deductible is a percentage of your coverage. And so, if you think about a $500,000 house with a 5% deductible, that is a $25,000 deductible and a couple of trees down going to fall below that deductible. So things that maybe used to be covered in a policy are now basically kind of kicked out by the deductible.

Tom Rowland: Wow. And so how would someone know, you know, ahead of time when they're getting insured that that's the case? I mean, is it I mean, most people just don't know that that's a question that they even need to be asking. Other people that have been through a few storms and they've seen how this all works, they've learned the hard way that these are questions that they need to ask. But somebody that's moving down to Florida, first time homeowner in Florida, first time homeowner period, they don't know to ask these questions.

Jake Holehouse: Yeah, I think the challenge on there is that, most people see the percentage and they think it's a percentage of their claim. And so they're fine in a five or a 10. Fortunately, it's a percentage of your coverage amount, not of your claim. And so, you know, and traditionally in coastal markets, the lowest deductible you can get is 2%. And so on that same $500,000 house, if the wind blows, it's going to be at least a $10,000 deductible. But that's where you really want to take a look at that declaration page, hopefully before the hurricane and before hurricane season, and see if you want to drop those deductibles down lower.

Tom Rowland: Well, I think that the the the definite advice I would have is to find an agent that knows a lot about insurance like you

Jake Holehouse: do that

Tom Rowland: also you can trust. Absolutely. And that is I mean, that and and and some people, I don't know, they've never had that before. Yeah. Like, they've never had an insurance agent that is actually asking them the questions that are really, really important, and I would think, like, just watching my dad go through the insurance business like you did with your dad, what I mean, what's your worst nightmare as an insurance agent? That you sell somebody a policy and it doesn't cover what they thought they would cover, and it was your mistake somehow?

Jake Holehouse: I would agree with that, and I think that it's really, you know, I think the challenge that comes out is that, you know, you've got to do your best job to educate the customer and, and, you know, and unfortunately what can happen, and I would say this happens more on the homeowner side that than the boat insurance side is that they get pushed for like their their loan ratios to get the cheapest policy because they have to qualify for that loan. And then that's the customer that has the claim. And a lot of times it's, it's the person that can least afford to have the claim that has the big claims. And those are

Tom Rowland: the tough ones. Yeah. So if you find that person like you guys, like you could just they what would somebody do if they wanted to check out, have you check out their policy? Like what's the what's the protocol? Yeah. Yeah.

Jake Holehouse: So typically, you know, they'll, you know, call or email us or fill out like our website form, for us to get ahold of them. And then, you know, where we're going to start is, hey, do you have a copy of your current declaration page? And that's the page that kind of summarizes the coverage and the endorsements on it. And then from there, you know, we're not going to look at the really the pricing on it. What we're going to look at is what's covered, what's not covered, and what what maybe should be covered. And then we'll go out to market. And so, you know, we work with over 50 different carriers and we'll get a quote from all 50 and see what fits for that insured. And then we deliver back a set of options, typically three to five options on there and say, hey, these are your basically your variables. And our job is to present the options and then be able to take the answer from the insured as to, you know, hey, this is what fits my level of risk tolerance and my pricing tolerance. And then we go ahead and, you know, work on getting coverage in place from there for them. But it's honest, it's a pretty easy process. You know, if it takes more than ten minutes of their time, it's kind of a problem. But we see, you know, savings in the, in the thousands and thousands of dollars, by just kind of taking ten minutes to look and understand. And, you know, we, we really see a lot on the auto insurance side. You know, we've seen so many insurance that bought it online. They have no idea what they bought online and then they have the claim. They're like, what do you mean it's not covered? And again, our job is to show them the options and then craft it based on what they selected. So

1:02:28 · The Big Three Gaps: The Bahamas, Offshore Limits, and Nighttime Navigation

Tom Rowland: on some of these things that we've talked about, like, what do you think, like as far as boating insurance goes, what do you think that the most common thing that people think that they're insured for and they're actually not? What do you think that is?

Jake Holehouse: Yeah, you know, I'll kind of hit three on there. So one is The Bahamas. If it's not specifically added, it's not covered. Another one is offshore limitations of being able to stretch beyond the 75 miles depending on the carrier, and some carriers are down to twenty and twenty five miles. The third one is, you know, on a on a loss, do I have total boat replacement? Do I have agreed value or do I have actual cash value? And that's a really big definition difference, right? And so on actual cash value, which is the standard unless you endorse it up, that pays the depreciated valuation of a boat. Right? And so they're going to basically charge off the useful life that's been used on there. On agreed value, it gives you a set amount basically without depreciation on there. And then if it's a new boat purchase, some carriers offer that, you know, especially what we saw in like 2021, right, where the price of boats just escalated really fast, they offer like a 20% rider over the purchase price to get a new boat if it's damaged within the first two years of life of that boat. And so that's something that we've seen a lot of. And, you know, just as an example with jet skis, if it's over a year old, you can only get actual cash value coverage. And then with the various boats, it depends on the age of the boat and the value that you're insuring it for. But that can be a stinger for some insureds as to what that word actual cash value means. Wow. And then what about, how do you know about haulouts? Yeah. So that's where you want to read your policy and see if you have that haulout. And that's something where if you have a question and you don't see the answer immediately, definitely that's something that our office can help you with and be able to advise on there, because it kind of gets put in page 30 of that policy as to what your haulout requirement is. And so unless you know what your haulout requirement is, that's one that can definitely hurt upon a claim.

Tom Rowland: Wow. Man, I'll tell you what, I learned a bunch about, insurance. Mostly, like, it's not always about, you know, getting the cheapest insurance. I mean, there is a time, you know, when you're you basically can't afford a boat, like when you're getting into being a fishing guide. You can't afford a boat, basically, so you're getting you maybe spend a lot of money on a boat, and then you have to have a certain amount of insurance to be able to operate, to be able to go pick up customers at the at the marina or whatever, and they have to be named an additional insured and all these things, and and basically, it's already tough. You're young, you're you're you're trying to get the cheapest insurance that you can possibly do to allow you to work at this place. You're not really thinking about what happens if something goes wrong because you're too young and you don't have enough experience yet to understand what the importance is, and then there's another part of your life where you're like, I feel like we're not insured for a lot of things that could happen storms, someone falling off the boat, like all of these different things that could go very bad. So now it's like I'm not looking for the cheapest insurance anymore. I'm looking for the proper insurance, the coverage that if something goes wrong, I'm covered. Right? Like, that's a whole different those are two totally different places in your in your life, and I'm sure that you see both of

Jake Holehouse: those. Yeah. You know, I think for us, it's finding the balance of value, right? And what's value in an insurance policy? It's the combination of coverage and rates. And so fitting the coverage and finding the best rate for that coverage. And I think one of the scary things is in Florida, you have to have auto insurance to drive a car. Now you don't have much right at state minimum standards, but you are not required legally to have boat insurance to register a boat. And so one of the claims that we can see is somebody gets hit by an uninsured boater and unless you have uninsured boaters coverage, the damage, the, you know, injury that that boater causes to you may not be covered. And so, you know, within Florida, boat insurance is very, very needed. And, and, you know, unfortunately, we even run into a lot of charter captains that don't know if they have insurance because if they don't know, they don't actually have it. And again, you're not required by your license to have insurance, but you are legally liable for any damage that happens. And so those can turn into large claims and no coverage on there potentially.

1:07:22 · Liability: The Coverage That Matters More Than the Hull

Tom Rowland: Sometimes it seems like you're insuring a boat for damage, theft, sinking, you know, things like that damage. But what about like physical, liability coverage? Like if someone were to get hurt, if someone were to fall off the boat and and get struck by the propeller, I don't know whatever could possibly happen. How do you know if you have that coverage?

Jake Holehouse: Yeah. So that one to me is in many ways, more important than the physical damage, right? Because you can look at the physical damage and you can say, Hey, I'm okay taking on X amount of risk. I know what my deductible is. On a liability claim, you don't know what your debt, you know, you don't know what your maximum potential loss is. That's really up to a judge and a jury. And so that's typically, it's what's called Part A of the coverage. And, and so, you know, it'll be within the policy. Typically starts at like $100,000 in coverage and then goes up to $1,000,000 in coverage. And then if somebody wants more coverage than that, there's what's called an umbrella policy that they can purchase and it gives them, you know, excess limits beyond that. But that's a great question and it's one that I think probably doesn't get talked about enough as to what the downsides are if you don't have at least a minimum of the right liability coverage.

Tom Rowland: Yeah. I mean, especially for a charter captain. Yeah. Like you got some, you got different people on the boat every single day.

Jake Holehouse: Absolutely. A lot

Tom Rowland: of things could happen. You need to make sure that you're covered for that.

Jake Holehouse: And boats move and they're wet and they're slippery and you have waves and things like that. And so, you know injury happens and it's just making sure that you're protected for that that injury if

1:09:02 · Wrap-Up: Boat Dealers, a 100-Boat Save, and How to Reach HH Insurance

Tom Rowland: it happens to a passenger. Wow. Alright, cool man. Well, I learned a lot probably, more than I I don't know, more than I expected. I really I really didn't I had a few questions, and you answered way more. I mean, I think you probably know more about insurance than I mean, god, I think you might know more about insurance than my dad, and he was in the business for he's still in the business. He's 86 years old. He's still he's still he still goes to the office. That's amazing. Yeah. I mean, it but insurance is a is a business like that where, you know, I don't know what he would do if he didn't go to the office because he has been he's had these customers for so long, and he goes and talks to them, drinks coffee, talks to them, checks out what's going on, and just stays in touch. And it's been really good for him to continue to do that as he's gotten older, where I've seen other people retire and and just go downhill. Yeah. You know, but the insurance business has been really good for him.

Jake Holehouse: It's it's really an amazing business where you really you just get so passionate for your customer, Right? And, you know, really, you know, we really do have a passion for the success of our customers. And so we love hearing stories like that. And, you know, we, you know, it's just, it's amazing to see that that passion get fueled as to, you know the care that that you know insurance agents you know like your dad like ourselves and and like so many in our industry really have for for making sure the customer is taken care of.

Tom Rowland: Yeah, but other people, they're just like just like in fishing guides, there are some real great ones that that treat being a fishing guide like a like a work of art. Like it is it is pure professionalism. They're trying to get better every single day. They treat their people wonderfully, and then there's other people that aren't doing that. Not very good, and I think that there's definitely that in the insurance world. Absolutely. People that are super passionate about it like yourself and trying to get better at it every single day and serve their their customers the way that they that they deserve to be, and then there's other people that are like, I'm selling insurance now. I don't know. Maybe I'll do it again next year. I don't know. Yeah. That's not I don't know. You want to be with you. Yeah. Well, it's,

Jake Holehouse: you know, it's, it's, it's for me, you know, I don't really work. Right. I just, I get to do what I'm passionate about every day. And I think that that's really, you know, what our team is. And then, so, you know, Landon who runs our, our, you know, Marine team, he's got the same drive and passion to him where, you know, he's he's equally passionate about insurance as he is fishing and boating. And so, you know, that's where we we really have fun by by merging those passions together.

Tom Rowland: That's super cool, man. I don't know if there would be a better testimonial, than that. Like, somebody that's gonna spend the time with you to understand what it is that you do and then find the best policy for you to make sure that you're covered and make sure that before you sign that and pay it, that you actually know what you're covered for and what you're declining. Like I think that's really important is like, okay so this cost this much, and you're saying you're not gonna go more than 25 miles off, so if you go 26 miles off and something happens you're not covered. You understand that right? Like, that's that's not something that has been really in the in the process of getting insurance for me in the last twenty years. Absolutely. My dad my dad can't write this insurance, so I never could write this I I never could go through my dad to to get this insurance. Now I would pass the stuff by him and say, what do you think about this? But he also doesn't know the charter business, so he doesn't understand exactly I mean, you know, he's a good insurance agent, but for what he does. Yeah. And and what you guys do is focus on the marine, but you also do the, you know, everything, right?

Jake Holehouse: Yeah. So we're really, you know, full service insurance agency, so we do, you know, personal lines, homeowners, flood, auto, the boat side. And then on the commercial side, we also specialize in, you know, marine artists and contractors. So your fiberglass repair guy, your electronics guy, your boat manufacturer, your marinas, anything along those lines. We we have a team that specializes really just in writing, marine insurance clients, on the, you know, commercial side as well.

Tom Rowland: So manufacturers like boat factories,

Jake Holehouse: boat? Absolutely. Like boat dealerships, you know, we've we've had quite a few stories of dealers not understanding what was or wasn't covered in their policies, and being able to help them, you know, get the right coverage from place.

Tom Rowland: That seems like a be a big insurance policy for a place that has tons of boats sitting. Yeah. Especially in an in a hurricane zone.

Jake Holehouse: Correct. That's again, you know, making those hurricane plans, but you know, we had one where you know, we just wrote them and they had an exclusion in their policy where if a tropical storm warning or watch was issued for their county, they didn't move all of their inventory out of that county. They had no coverage.

Tom Rowland: They had

Jake Holehouse: And inventory of over a 100 boats. And it said five days before. Well, how often have you seen a hurricane start at one place and move to another? And so we got them, you know, new policy that said, hey, you can leave it here, but you just need to do these precautions to leave it on your lot. And so, you know, it's really taking, taking the time. And again, they were with an agency that didn't understand the marine side of it. And so they just sent them a premium and, and, and they paid their bill every, every year expecting that coverage was there until they realized what wasn't covered.

Tom Rowland: Wow. Well, I hope they realized that before there was an incident.

Jake Holehouse: Thankfully, they did. So thankfully, we've got them, you know, steered in the right direction now.

Tom Rowland: See, in that situation, then then you're like a hero. Right? That's got to be pretty rewarding. But anyway, if somebody wants to, if somebody wants to check you out, send you the policy like we outlined, what would they do?

Jake Holehouse: Yeah. So if somebody wants to give us a call, best phone number is (727) 498-5551, or to email us. It's pretty easy. It's just sales,Sales,@H8INSgroup.com.

Tom Rowland: Okay. And and that's where they fill out the the there you said there was a form on on your website, right? Yeah.

Jake Holehouse: It is also our website is, hhinsgroup.com. And if you go on there, there's, get a quote button and you can fill out a form. And then, we'll start working on it and give you a call and and just kinda, you know, talk to you and understand what you're looking for and and see how we can help. Alright.

Tom Rowland: Well, they can probably help by either saving you a lot of money or making sure that you got the right coverage. That's been my experience. So cool. Jake, thanks, man. I appreciate it, and, we'll do it again. Sounds great.

Jake Holehouse: Great to

Tom Rowland: talk to you. Alright. Thanks. See you.