Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Company
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This appetite summary is only a guide. Confirm eligibility, submission requirements, restrictions, and binding authority directly with the carrier or underwriter before relying on it.
Carrier appetite summary
Hyundai Marine & Fire Insurance Company (US Branch) writes homeowners and stand‑alone hurricane coverage in Hawaii via the Hawaiian Hurricane Group (HHG). The publicly available material is marketing/structural and does not publish a full risk‑class matrix, but it provides useful operational guidance on how risks are evaluated and priced. Preferred / target business: - Residential homes in Hawaii (owner‑occupied and other residential uses as allowed by program filings) seeking either a hurricane policy or a companion homeowners policy. The homeowners product launched in spring 2022 and is explicitly positioned as a companion to HHG’s hurricane coverage for Hawaii properties only. - Dwellings with strong structural and wind‑mitigation features. HHG uses its proprietary FURA (Feature Underwriting Rating Approach) which prices primarily on physical features such as foundation type, roof type, and documented improvements/alterations instead of simply age of home. Properties with upgraded roofs, windows, and installed wind‑mitigation devices (e.g., hurricane clips) can receive significant credits and are singled out as desirable risks. - Older or single‑wall construction homes that have been remodeled or retrofitted and that otherwise struggle to fit into standard mainland‑style forms. HHG emphasizes that its contracts are custom‑built for Hawaii’s housing stock and specifically mentions single‑wall and older homes as an intended niche, with policy language and Ordinance or Law treatment adjusted to local realities. Risk and rating approach: - FURA (Feature Underwriting Rating Approach) drives both hurricane and homeowners pricing. Underwriters and raters focus on structure features—foundation, roof type, window/roof replacements, and wind‑mitigation devices—rather than simply the year built. This is designed to reward risk‑improvement work on older dwellings and to align pricing with actual wind/hurricane resilience rather than age alone. - Homes with documented wind‑mitigation improvements, such as hurricane clips, new hurricane‑resistant roofs, or upgraded windows, can qualify for “substantial premium savings & credits,” and HHG actively encourages these improvements, effectively using underwriting to incentivize mitigation. Coverage architecture / notable coverage features: - Hurricane product: A stand‑alone hurricane policy custom‑built for Hawaiian meteorological conditions, intended to provide “enhanced coverage at a superior price” relative to traditional hurricane products. HHG notes product design reflects local ocean temperatures and typical storm tracks around Hawaii rather than mainland hurricane zones. - Homeowners product: Companion homeowners policy for non‑hurricane perils and broader property coverage, custom‑built for Hawaii and launched in spring 2022. It is marketed as “utterly different” from standard mainland forms, with flexible limit and deductible configuration so insureds don’t have to buy coverage types/limits they do not need. - Ordinance or Law: Both the hurricane and homeowners products emphasize mitigation of the typical Ordinance or Law exclusion in Hawaii. HHG states that, when the homeowners policy is written with Replacement Cost, Ordinance & Law exposure is mitigated without a separate surcharge, and the hurricane product “automatically mitigates” the Ordinance or Law exclusion so that costs to bring the home up to code following a loss are included. This is positioned as a key differentiator given many older single‑wall homes and post‑loss code‑upgrade requirements in Hawaii. Restricted or declined classes (implied): - No explicit declined‑risk list is published on the public product pages. However, the heavy emphasis on feature‑based underwriting and mitigation credits implies that: - Poorly maintained structures without adequate wind‑resistance or that fail to meet basic insurability standards may be surcharged or declined. - Properties that cannot meet minimum structural or underwriting standards even with feature‑based pricing (e.g., severely sub‑code or compromised structures) are unlikely to be written. - Any other specific prohibited classes, construction types, or occupancy types must be confirmed in the filed underwriting guide or via the underwriter, as they are not detailed on the public site. Geographic appetite: - Programs are custom‑built for and limited to the Hawaiian Islands; all marketing language is “made for the Hawaiian Islands” and references Hawaii‑specific construction types and meteorological patterns only. There is no indication that these homeowners or hurricane products are offered outside Hawaii. Submission / producer notes (public‑facing): - Distribution is via local agents and brokers—HHG directs customers and prospects to “Find an Agent” and manages service, claims intake, and billing through its own portal. - Underwriting relies on detailed structural information at submission to properly apply the FURA model. Submissions that include recent improvements (roof replacement, window upgrades, hurricane clips, etc.) should highlight those features to capture credits. - Financial security messaging emphasizes that Hyundai Marine & Fire (US Branch) is rated “A” by AM Best and is the paper behind the HHG products, reinforcing suitability for lenders and mortgage requirements. Operational takeaways for brokers: - Treat this as a Hawaii‑only property market for homeowners and hurricane, with a distinct underwriting lens that can be more accommodating to older or single‑wall homes that have been improved. - For best pricing, gather detailed feature‑level data (foundation, roof, mitigation features, date and type of upgrades) and emphasize any wind‑mitigation improvements in your submission. - Expect enhanced Ordinance & Law treatment relative to many competing markets, but confirm exact wording and limits in the issued quote/binder, especially for older or single‑wall dwellings. - Where a standard admitted homeowners carrier writes non‑wind but restricts or sublimits hurricane, HHG + Hyundai Marine & Fire can often fill the hurricane and/or companion HO need, subject to their internal eligibility rules and local filings, which are not fully published on the marketing pages.