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Home COFSAB Forum Condo Owners Forum Q&A Any Opinions About Desjardins Insurance?

  • Any Opinions About Desjardins Insurance?

    Posted by Jonathan Klein on November 19, 2022 at 12:50 pm

    Does anyone have an opinion about Desjardins Insurance?

    I am getting a quote from them for our small (12 unit) condominium. I haven’t received the quote back yet but they are a “direct writer” of insurance to condominium corporations (i.e. no broker in the middle) so I am hopeful they will have lower rates than the usual insurance brokers.

    However, I have heard that they might not have the same level of knowledge about condo insurance as brokers do, and have been advised to make sure their insurance policy complies with the condominium property act. So I thought I would ask if anyone here has experience with them.

    Jonathan Klein replied 1 year, 4 months ago 4 Members · 6 Replies
  • 6 Replies
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  • Mark Hambridge

    Member
    November 19, 2022 at 4:30 pm

    Desjardins bought State Farm insurance several years ago; they provide my UNIT insurance. I am very happy with their service. They seem to have a thorough knowledge of an Owner’s and tenant’s insurance needs. I can’t speak to their knowledge of the insurance required by a corporation.

    Please spread the word!
    • Jonathan Klein

      Member
      November 22, 2022 at 9:58 pm

      They confirmed with me that they acquired State Farm. Apparently State Farm had a commercial department with even more experience than their commercial department.

      Please spread the word!
  • Dana Bouwman

    Member
    November 20, 2022 at 2:12 pm

    I used to be a commercial insurance broker.

    When I was the president of my condo we received a quote from Desjardin and I compared it to our incumbent quote. We decided to stay with the incumbent as it is a better policy and our condo was going through a very turbulent time (higher risk for an insurance claim). I think the deciding factor for us to stay with the incumbent instead of switching to Desjardin is because the directors and officers insurance policy with Desjardin wasn’t amazing.

    Every policy is different so you have to compare the quotes to make sure you are comfortable with any exclusions.

    As a board member, you will be fulfilling your fiduciary duty by making sure the insurance policy you go with is compliant with legislation. Once you determine that the polices you are comparing are compliant with legislation you just have to decide if the extra coverages each quote is offering are worth the money.

    Please spread the word!
    • Jonathan Klein

      Member
      November 22, 2022 at 10:20 pm

      Thanks for the information Dana.

      The discussion is probably moot now because their proposal came back much higher than what our current provider has proposed, more than double. That said it looks like their policy covers much more. I would have to go through it in detail to see where the differences are, but it probably isn’t such a valuable use of time since we likely won’t be proceeding with them.

      They did state that it is compliant with legislation, and it appears to be as far as I can tell. So I plan to go back to them next year as well. Hopefully earlier so we have time to drill down with them to try to make their proposal more competitive.

      Please spread the word!
  • Terry Gibson

    Administrator
    November 20, 2022 at 2:41 pm

    We generally try not to talk about specific companies in the FORUM.

    Having said that, I have no experience with Desjardins.

    I believe it is very important to have an insurance agent/broker who is knowledgeable about the intricacies of condo insurance.

    I suspect most agents need to have that kind of support if they are offering condo insurance.

    It never hurts to have more than one quote.

    Please spread the word!
    • Jonathan Klein

      Member
      November 22, 2022 at 10:48 pm

      Hi Terry,

      Is there some liability risk to COFSAB if specific companies are discussed on the forum?

      I believe you are correct. From what I understand Desjardins’ underwriting office prepares the condo corporation proposals and support the agents in this area. But the agent seemed to be quite knowledgeable also and said they prepare condo corporation proposals regularly.

      I understand the number of providers has dwindled in the last 10 years. In fact yesterday Co-operators told me they got out of condo corp insurance in 2013.

      FYI, I tried to find another company that direct writes insurance to condo corporations. I called seven of the common names that provide insurance to individual persons, like Desjardins. None of them did. So I think Desjardins is the only one.

      Please spread the word!

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