Delos Insurance Solutions, which uses wildfire science and satellite imagery expertise to solve homeowners’ wildfire insurance availability issues, today announced it will offer wildfire insurance to more California policyholders with vacant properties. Delos is expanding its coverage availability through a new partnership with certain underwriters at Lloyd’s of London. Delos is one of a select number of Lloyd’s coverholders in the United States, which are authorized to place business into the world’s oldest insurance marketplace.
The U.S. Census Bureau’s definition of vacant homes includes unoccupied secondary homes and rentals, abandoned or foreclosed homes, and investment properties. The California Association of Realtors estimated in 2022 that approximately 1.2 million units, consisting of apartments and single-family homes, are vacant throughout the state.
To fulfill its commitment to bring insurance coverage to a broader range of California homeowners, Delos works closely with its committed carrier partners to dramatically expand insurance options for homeowners struggling to find coverage.
“The Lloyd’s underwriters we are working with have established successful books of vacant home business in California, and we are excited to partner with them to use their strong market foundation to safely grow the business,” said Delos CEO and Co-Founder Kevin Stein. “With this product and the partnership with Lloyd’s underwriters, we can help homeowners fill the coverage gap that exists between their traditional homeowner’s policy and their vacancy status. We are committed to creating insurance products that will help more homeowners in California, who may otherwise go uninsured, find insurance coverage.”
Delos vertically integrates its wildfire science expertise and data from its suite of wildfire models into its underwriting and portfolio management. Its patent-pending technology empowers the company to pinpoint properties in “stressed” areas – which traditional insurers avoid due to potential wildfire concerns – that do not pose a high risk of loss. Delos has been very successful at recognizing low risk areas within stressed regions, and has never non-renewed a home for wildfire exposure.
Delos’ platform aggregates and analyzes exposure and concentration data to quantify a home’s actual wildfire risk. It is enabled by a proprietary geospatial AI algorithm and more than 200 data layer inputs, such as detailed weather and wind data, drought and precipitation history, and multi-level overlays of amount, type, and health of vegetation.
As a specialist managing general agent, authorized to underwrite on behalf of insurance companies, Delos can update its predictive wildfire model’s data set with new information within six weeks. This allows the team to adapt and react to new evolutions in wildfire peril and remain profitable even as climate change amplifies catastrophe risks.
About Delos Insurance Solutions
Delos Insurance Solutions uses cutting-edge technology to offer insurance protection to homeowners in communities abandoned by other insurers because of wildfire risk. Founded in San Francisco in 2017 by aerospace engineers, Delos uses satellite imagery and artificial intelligence to identify insurable homes within territories deemed too risky by the rest of the insurance market. Delos is a managing general agent (MGA) offering policies on behalf of insurers rated “A” (Excellent) by AM Best. For more information, visit getdelos.com.