Moments of Truth in Insurance with Bradley Maruyama

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Interview Transcription

ADRIENNE: 
Welcome back, and thanks for listening to the team Lally real estate show, home of the guaranteed sold program, or we’ll buy it. I’m Adrienne and I’m Attilio, and if you have any question, just give us a call at 7999596, or check us out online at Team lally.com

ATTILIO:
now we haven’t played it in a while, but that was a team Lally jingle written by our very written produce, recorded and and sang and sang by our very own Howard Ned. Big shout out to Howard Ned for the team

ADRIENNE: 
Lally. He’s going to be a guest on our show, I think in the next week or so. Yeah. So

ATTILIO:
all right. Speaking of our guest today, he was born and raised in Hawaii, earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, demonstrating his strong connection and ongoing commitment to our local community. As

ADRIENNE: 
the owner of Maruyama and Associates Allstate Insurance, he brings over 20 years of experience helping local families protect what matters most, from home and auto to life and retirement solutions. His personalized approach has made him a trusted resource in our community. Please welcome back our guest, Bradley Maruyama.

ATTILIO: 
Bradley, you know how you know we’ve come a long way with you. How do you know? Because Adrienne can finally pronounce your last name correctly. She was like, Mama Yama, yo, Mama. She’s like, mangling it at the beginning. But she’s come so far. Maru Yama,

BRADLEY:
very, very far. Yeah.

ATTILIO:
So what? What like, what you what you got for us this week? What is how long you been in real estate? Brad, no insurance. I mean, why am I saying real estate that just in my head, I think we’ve been doing business with him so long that I feel like he’s like, just part of our team. He is part of our real estate. Yeah. How long you been insurance?

BRADLEY:
I mean, 20 years on November 1 of this year.

ATTILIO: 
Oh, wow. 20 years, what made you decide to get into real estate in the beginning? Insurance, I keep saying real estate, like, see, I’m like, You’re so embedded. Insurance,

BRADLEY:
well, you know, I, I used to work for a floor covering wholesaler, yeah, so the one of the brands we had was pearl back in the day, yeah, and I used to golf with a lot of property managers and a lot of other flooring contractors. And one day, one of the flooring retailers out there that’s pretty well known took me golfing, and there was a bunch of insurance agents that were there golfing with property managers, and they were older, and they said, Oh, you know, since you’re young, you’re in your mid 20s, you should get into insurance now and start building your business. It’s very tough in the beginning, but you know, after you get established 1520, years from now, yeah, you’re going to be able to sustain renewal. And so I said, Well, that’s something that I probably would want to get into at a young age and take some chances. And I was living at home at the time, so that’s what kind of got me into it, just coaching with property managers and foreign contractors that tied me up with some seasoned insurance agents.

ADRIENNE:
But then Bradley, what why did you decide to get with Allstate of all of the different brands that you had to choose from? What stood out?

BRADLEY:
Yeah, that’s the so I initially interviewed with State Park. And what I really liked about Allstate is that you have ownership in it. So I always wanted to build a business where I could hand down to the next generation. And so that was one of the main reasons I went to all state when it came down to choosing between State Farm and Allstate. But I’ve all I did shadow those people that were golfing. They were brokers. So they represented companies like first insurance, Island insurance, Dietrich, Armen fund, ROI and so forth. But what I think why I went wholesale. State versus a brokerage was that all state has a household name. You know, a lot of people have heard of all state. You know, being 25 years old, people are going to look at me and say, oh, okay, you’re a broker for XYZ brokerage, yeah, but you really don’t have that same backing as something like all states or geicos or state farms, that people here day in, day out, whether they’re coming from California or Washington or they’re in Hawaii. So main reason why I went to do Allstate just because of the household name,

ATTILIO: 
yeah, plus they got, and their marketing is pretty memorable. They got they got that mayhem guy. They got the what the guy, he was like the president in 24 hour, I forgot what? He has a real deep voice. I know he was like, I suppose,

BRADLEY:
yeah, he was in the movie major league. I can’t think

ATTILIO: 
of his, yeah, his real name, but before

BRADLEY:
me, dobu and Major League,

ATTILIO: 
yeah, and yeah, and then the Good Hands, you know, got you covered so, like,

ADRIENNE: 
so with the household name, the marketing, yeah. But then you know what about the products that Allstate can offer? And then also, I know that you have some flexibility, like, when Allstate doesn’t have those products, to kind of go outside and still serve your clients. How does that work?

BRADLEY:
Yeah. So although we’re a proprietary company, so meaning we mainly sell Allstate products. What all state product management was able to identify is that if we cannot write it, so let’s just say Allstate doesn’t want to write tenant occupied all states give us two or three other options to offer clients that all state may not want to be in. But it’s just very helpful, because if we can write it, we can outsource it, and still be that servicing agent for that that insured. So I it is a really cool asset thinking with life insurance. You know, we used to have a whole state life product, but what they realized is that, why not use life insurance companies that specialized in life insurance, like Don Hancock and Prudential and protective? So what they did was they understood that same concept with the life insurance side, and said, Well, we’re not that strong with life insurance. So why don’t we allow our agents to use companies that do well with life insurance? So very similar, just like commercial, let’s talk even about commercial, they realize that they didn’t have the commercial business mastered, the pricing, the product so what they did was they did away with our commercial line all state debt, and they allowed us to write companies like first insurance, Highline insurance, travelers in Philadelphia. So we do have five or six other commercial carriers we can use. Yeah, we write progressive Commercial Auto Insurance stuff. Wow. So it is something that we they did identify. We’re not good at commercial, so let’s give it to the companies that do better with commercial. Nice.

ADRIENNE: 
So like you’re talking about all the different things that all state outsources. What is the, I guess the specialty that Allstate is really good at, and that’s their, you know, that’s the target.

BRADLEY:
Oh, good question. Okay, so right now, in fact, I was just speaking to some realtors, and some of them are even telling some buyers, you know, it’s not a good time to buy insurance is an issue. And I said, Oh, you gotta, you gotta. Let’s, let’s, let’s take a step back. A lot of brokers, they’re running into some issues because they’re, they’re real estate brokers. They’re running into some issues because they’re only reaching out to certain insurance agents. Yeah. And one of the knockout questions is, when was the roof free done? And a knockout question is, is, if the roof is 12 years or older, lot of companies are not renting those homes. So with that said, All states homeowners policy, we don’t have a specific age of roof. That will be a knockout question. Yeah, we send out a third party inspector, and they look to see if there’s shingles missing or if there’s granules missing. So it’s not so specific towards the age of the roof, where a lot of people are running into problems electrical. That’s another problem that a lot of people are running into. As long as it’s updated, we don’t have an issue. We’re not looking for a specific date, because, let’s just say you bought the house five years ago, and now you’re getting dropped by a XYZ company and you can’t furnish when the electrical is redone, whether it will. Was in 1982 or 1998 most people don’t know that, but so the benefit to us is in our process, as long as it’s updated, inspector looks at it, it’s not nothing to we’re going to be able to go ahead and write that policy. So I would say that question is, I think our homeowners product is priced very well. We’re a lot more flexible in the underwriting. So if you are in the buyer or seller’s market, you know these, please notify an Allstate agent, because this is where our sweet spot is written. Yeah, only auto insurance, and

ADRIENNE: 
we introduce all of our clients as soon as they obviously, as soon as they open escrow, we’re making an introduction, but our agents are trained to reach out to Bradley and his team just to help, you know, make sure that we’re, you know, on top of things. In case it’s unusual kind of home. We don’t want to be surprised with the very high insurance quote, right?

BRADLEY:
Yeah, you know, with that said, so it’s very, very important to reach out to us, like you folks, early on in a process. Because there was a property, I went out to look at it because this realtor said, man, like clients having a hard time. I said, this is why, like, geeky I looked at I went personally to the house. The roof is good, the electrical was updated, the plumbing was updated. And I was like, why aren’t they having a hard time, come to find out? Because they said they even had a hard time with all states, come to find out they had a loss last year. No so also pulling a loss history could be a knockout question, right? But going back to what you and what Adrienne were saying just 10 minutes ago, the power of us being at all state is even if we right at all state because there’s a claim, or it’s too close to the water, or the roof is old, we do have markets that can write these policies. So if you’re a realtor and you’re stuck and you’re gonna fall out of escrow, make sure you give us a call. Yeah.

ADRIENNE: 
And I would say call Bradley. Don’t call this any all state agent, because you guys are not all created equal. Yeah. And let’s you know, maybe you can share with the listeners what, what is the moment of truth. Brad, what

ATTILIO: 
is the moment of truth?

BRADLEY:
Yeah. So the moment of truth is, you know when, when you’re in that bind and you’re in a claim, you know, is your agent gonna go to bat for you? Are they gonna hand hold you to the Yeah, claims process? As many of you out there, number one, don’t know insurance as well as someone like her office, yeah, and so you’re not going to know what to tell the adjuster or what to tell the other party’s adjuster. So the moment of truth is, you know, having to work with our office where we’re going to handhold you and walk you through that process so you don’t feel like you’re all alone and trying to navigate getting your car or house fixed, just because it’s a very stressful time. Yeah, you know, there was an instance with Adrienne and atilio where, even with me hand holding, we had, we ran into a roadblock with our own adjusters. And, you know, I had to do all my research to speak to the adjuster of why this should have been covered. Yeah. You know, since then, we built a really strong bond of trust where they know that I want to do whatever I can do to make sure that they’re taken care

ATTILIO:
of. Yeah.

ADRIENNE: 
And then Bradley share with the listeners too. I mean, obviously we’ve had, unfortunately, we’ve had a couple of moment of truth with you, and you’ve always been there, right there for us. But just one story that really stands out is, you know, say, when these things happen, there’s not like, oh well, it’s Christmas morning. So you know that, you know we can’t be dealing with these emergencies. I know that you I mean, it’s even on holidays you have gone out to help clients. Maybe you can just share that story real quick with the Listen,

ATTILIO: 
yes, that would be a good one. Yeah,

BRADLEY:
yeah, that was that building in salt Street. Regardless of what building it was, there was a single, single variant, and there was a flood in her unit, and it was Christmas morning, and she didn’t know what to do. She had a young child, and she was like, What do I do? What do I do? I you know, no one’s calling me back. Water mitigation companies aren’t calling me back. So that Christmas morning, I went down there. She didn’t want to touch the floor because she didn’t want to compromise the claim not being covered. But, yeah, I went down there. I pulled up parts of the floor, put fans, until we got a mitigation company to answer yeah the next day, on a 26 and, you know, most I would recommend don’t touch, you know, not touching a floor until professionals get there. But yeah, in this case, this lady was panicking. She didn’t know. Where the shutoff valve was, and she didn’t want more than mildew to grow around her young child. So I did go down there Christmas morning and make sure that we calmed her down, and we set up a hotel for her to stay at. And she was, she was happy client for

ATTILIO:
nice and

ADRIENNE: 
that’s the moment of truth. That’s the moment of truth. Yes,

ATTILIO:
you know they have one in the in the every couple goes through the moment of truth. Bradley, will you like to hear the moment of truth? Yes, let’s hear it. Okay, when your wife turns to you and says, Do I look fat in this dress? That is the moment of truth. That’s

ADRIENNE: 
a different moment of truth than what Bradley just described to Leo. And

ATTILIO: 
by the way, there’s no insurance for that. Answer,

BRADLEY:
zero insurance. Zero insurance. You know, you know, since we’re on clean, yeah, I always think about this, because this is what do you call it? It’s a, it’s a, it’s an urban legend, but a lot of end users or insurers, they think that us, the agent pays out on these claims. You know, Oh, you don’t want me to file the claim, because it’s going to come out of your pocket. Well, I want everyone to know that it’s the carrier that pays for the claims. Us as agents, we have, it doesn’t affect us in any shape or form. So sometimes we may advise you, oh, you know, atilia, don’t file this yellow claim because

ATTILIO: 
deductible premium going up or

BRADLEY:
getting dropped and not being able to get insurance. Yeah, you know, so there’s some risk involved. Yeah, we try to do our best to advise you on how to handle it. Yeah, if your agents doing that, it’s not because we deter, we’re deterring you from finding a plane, but we’re trying to look out for

ATTILIO:
your business. Yeah, it’s nothing to do with Bradley going Vegas this weekend, and he needs to, you know, parley the Raiders. Yeah, that’s nothing to do with it. But anyway,

ADRIENNE: 
that’s a good tip, because I mean people, I mean it’s a myth, right? They don’t really understand how it all works.

ATTILIO:
And he barely can be honest. You’re like, I don’t want that much money. I’ll cover off.

ADRIENNE: 
So we are, we are coming, unfortunately, we are coming to the end, yes, but we do look forward every week, Bradley, to your real estate, your tips of the week.

ATTILIO:
Yeah, stop that. He’s so embedded in our team. That’s why I always think he’s just part

ADRIENNE: 
of our team. And we appreciate you. We appreciate you so much. Thank you so much. All right, thanks, Bradley, you’re the best. All right, Bradley Maruyama, Allstate Insurance. He’s the expert. We trust. You can find him on that resource tab on Team lally.com and we have some really fun videos of him throughout the years. He’s been an expert with us for

ATTILIO:
all of us aging, all of Adrienne’s different hairstyles over the years, too. All right.

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