WisBusiness: Insurance co. aims for Wisconsin churchgoers

By Brian E. Clark
WisBusiness.com

Are church-going folk a better risk?

Jim Wallace, CEO of the GuideOne Mutual Insurance Co. thinks so, though he doesn’t have any actuarial tables to back up his “gut feeling.”

But a lack of statistics didn’t stop him from launching FaithGuard, an auto and auto and homeowners policy his company offers in 19 states and is now promoting in Wisconsin. It waives insurance deductibles – at no extra charge – for accidents that happen while driving to or from a service.

It also provides extra coverage for stolen religious materials or music instruments used in a church, synagogue, mosque or other place of prayer. Another popular feature of the policy is GuideOne’s pledge to continue tithing donations if a covered driver is disabled in an auto accident.

“Other than anecdotal evidence, I can’t prove that they are less likely to make claims,” said Wallace, whose company got its start insuring church buildings. It now covers some 43,000 religious structures in the country, which Wallace said makes it one of the two largest church insurers in the U.S.

“But we believe they are generally better risks because of their lifestyles,” he said. “We thought they have unmet needs and we wanted to step in to meet them.”

Homeowners who insure with FaithGuard can also have their medical limits waived, he said, if attendees at a bible study group or other religious activities slips and falls in their house.

Ron Perkins, a GuideOne agent in Sun Prairie, said the policy has been well received by both existing customers who have added it and new policyholders.

“We’ve always been a small company working with niche markets,” he said. “We’ve never advertised muchand this has gotten us a lot of positive publicity,” he said.

“I think it’s a great idea. We’ve always identified with churches and got our start insuring teetotalers and branched out to insure churches,” he said. “Then Jim Wallace got to thinking about how we could reach out and help people in the pews.”

Perkins said one pastor decided to insure with GuardOne because of its benefits, even though it was a little more expensive than his existing policy.

And he said one client had his $500 deductible waived when his car suffered severe body damage during a heavy hail storm.

“The car was in the church parking lot,” Perkins said. “That was all we needed to know.”

Wallace, who is active in his Iowa church, said GuideOne does not care how a person worships.

“If it’s organized, most likely we will cover it,” he said. “At the end of the day, the final acid test is the Internal Revenue Service. But the benefit of the doubt goes to the policy holder.”

Wallace said he thinks Wisconsin is good territory for FaithGuard because the state is slightly more religious than the nation as a whole. According to Barna Research,
46 percent of Badger State residents are regular churchgoers, while the national number is 43 percent.

To date, nearly three-quarters of the 550-plus auto policyholders and two-thirds of its nearly 500 home policyholders have FaithGuard. Around the country, nearly half of the the company’s 131,000 home and auto policy holders have added the endorsement.

He said the GuardOne will do a large direct mailing to members of religious organizations across the state. It also is putting up banner ads aimed at Wisconsinites on at least 10 faith-oriented Web sites, including www.thefish.comand and www.christianjobs.com.

Currently, the company sells the policy primarily in the Midwest and the Southeast, he said.

Will the GuardOne go nationwide with FaithGuard?

“We may,” he said. “There are more than 92 million churchgoers in the country who might be interested. That’s a big number.”