Desjardins Insurance offers new flood coverage for low-, medium-risk areas

Customers of Desjardins Insurance, The Personal and State Farm Canada who live in low-risk flood areas will now automatically be covered by a new flood endorsement while those in medium-risk areas can choose to purchase an additional premium.

Endorsement 16d will automatically (at no charge) cover customers living in low-risk areas for damage caused by, among other things, an overflowing waterway or dam break, Quebec-based Desjardins General Insurance Group (DGIG) announced Monday.

This low-risk group accounts for 80% of properties insured by the company.

With an extra premium, clients living in medium-risk areas – 15% insure properties in medium-risk areas – can also take advantage of the new coverage, notes a statement from DGIG, Canada’s third largest provider of property and casualty insurance and a subsidiary of Desjardins Group.

Related: Commonwell Mutual Insurance Group offers new flood policy endorsement for Ontario homeowners

The flood endorsement completes the range of optional coverage already offered by the insurer.

These include ground water and sewer back-up (Endorsement 16c), which 85% of its clients have as an endorsement on their home insurance policies; and above ground water (Endorsement 42), which 90% of clients currently have and covers, for example, damage caused by water seeping through the roof.

Related: Flood insurance ‘must be affordable:’ IBAC

“We listened to our customers and designed this coverage with them in mind,” Denis Dubois (pictured below), president and chief operating officer of DGIG, says in the statement.

Denis Dubois, President and Chief Operating Officer of Desjardins General Insurance Group

By having fewer exclusions and being optional for those having to pay for the coverage, Dubois points out that “this gives clients the flexibility to adapt their coverage to suit their needs and their reality.”

With regard to areas having a higher risk of flooding, the insurer reports that a minority of Canadians live in these locations.

“As it stands, they still don’t have access to appropriate insurance coverage,” the statement notes.

“We’re continuing to work with the industry and the federal government to help make it easier for all Canadians living in high-risk areas to get insurance and minimize the number of homes without adequate coverage,” Dubois reports.

Related: Flood Money