Welcome to Bruce Gendelman Insurance Services - Gendelman Insurance In Local News

That's their policy

By STEPHANIE MURPHY, Daily News Business and Real Estate Writer

For island-based insurers, protection services cover baubles to butlers.

Sunday, April 20, 2003 - Imagine that a TV spot about Harley Earl interrupts Beethoven's reverie, and the composer decides to come back to make us some great music in the ballroom of a landmarked Mizner mansion in Palm Beach - during hurricane season.

If some enterprising souls buy the musical score, where might they look for an insurance policy with the teeth to cover replacement costs? That is: the cost to re-create the immortal trebles and clefs on watermarked parchment; to rebuild the mansion after the storm; to ensure the guests' security on the premises; to compensate for a ruined El Greco; and to cover the butler's medical bills when he's knocked into the piano.

Insurance for mere mortals is one thing. It's quite another for people who own and wish to insure estate residences, fine art and jewelry, premium wines, luxury cars, racehorses, yachts, airplanes and domestic staff - with both major medical and workers' compensation.

In Palm Beach, they might go to Bruce Gendelman Insurance Services, 340 Royal Poinciana Way, a brokerage that has offices in Miami, Chicago and Milwaukee. Bruce Gendelman, 48, of Palm Beach, founded the company in 1981, and his son, Joseph Gendelman, 24, works in its Miami office. The company's 22 employees focus on concierge-style services for select clientele.

Bruce Gendelman said his firm's strengths are threefold: the technical ability to correctly assess a client's risks; knowledge of the top insurance products and the ability to place clients with those providers; and 24/7 concierge service. He represents AIG Private Client Group (American International Group), which writes about $5 billion worldwide in personal lines.

" I'm an attorney, so I deal in the minutia of contracts. The best contract at the best rate. I saved a woman $24,000 a year in premiums and got her better coverage," Gendelman said. "I live on the island year-round. When a client signs up, they get my home phone number."

'A natural choice'

Gendelman received an honors degree in economics and his law degree from the University of Wisconsin. He is licensed to practice law in Florida and Wisconsin. For four years after college, Gendelman worked for his father at the former Century Hardware, a 500-employee wholesale business founded by his grandfather.

" Insurance was a natural choice for me because my best friend's father was in it. The thing I liked best about insurance was to meet clients, understand their risks and arrive at the ideal. I put myself in their place and ask, 'How would I want this asset protected?'" said Gendelman, who founded his company in Milwaukee after working for a friend's firm for a year.

He and his wife, Lori Kohl Gendelman, visited her parents in Palm Beach for several years and moved here four years ago.

Creating a niche

His firm has clients on the island and in Manalapan, as well as in areas ranging from Vero Beach to Miami and Naples. The firm's niche is personal lines of property and casualty insurance and risk management services for high net-worth clients: homeowner policies on multiple residences; policies for adjacent beach houses or other structures; contents coverage to insure possessions such as jewelry, antiques, expensive furnishings, and art and wine collections; policies for cars, yachts and airplanes; and personal liability, workers' compensation and kidnap/ransom/extortion insurance.

" There are usually low limits or no coverage for some of these on a traditional homeowners' policy. Fine art and jewelry should be listed at the real replacement cost. We have an art consultant who helps assess value and knows if a painting has appreciated," Gendelman said. "Everyone needs all of these; it's just a matter of what the limit is. Workmen's comp is unique for a personal staff, but it protects the employer and the employee."

Personal liability policies are useful for people who sit on the boards of nonprofit organizations, because even if the organization has a policy for directors, there may be gaps in coverage, he said.

In Palm Beach, there's a big difference between replacement cost for a new residence and replacement cost for a landmarked mansion.

" On a new house, it's easy to estimate. But what limit do you set on a Mizner? A $15 million purchase doesn't equal $15 million in coverage. But if the building and its contents were gone, what would it cost to rebuild it?" he said.

Priceless possessions

Many of his clients don't have mortgages, but they do have priceless possessions, and the firm can provide coverage for collections up to $1 billion - "we haven't hit that yet" - and personal liability coverage up to $300 million. Many have deductibles of $25,000 to $50,000.

When writing a policy, he uses digital photos and blueprints as part of the package. To calculate the replacement cost for a $100,000 marble fireplace, the estimates would include travel to Italy to find the materials and labor to re-create it, he said.

Gendelman's competitors in Palm Beach include the Claude D. Reese Agency, which has done business on the island for several decades, and Marsh Private Client Services, a division of Marsh McClennan, the world's largest insurance brokerage. The division has had an island presence for more than 15 years, and is a broker for high-net-worth individuals, said sales executive Mark Montgomery.

" People here have some very valuable collections that are exposed. We do [risk management] for fine arts, blood stock [racehorses] and millions in wines. We broker the insurance contracts between the individuals and the companies. We'll go to the insurance industry and find out what suits them," Montgomery said. "An agent represents one company; a broker represents the universe."

Tis the season

Business is brisk for all firms this time of year, as hurricane season approaches, Montgomery said.

" The vast majority on the island have extra flood coverage, though some oceanfront homes are in real low-risk zones because they're on high land," Montgomery said.

Flood insurance gets complicated in Palm Beach because limits on federal government insurance are low compared with property valuation: $250,000 per dwelling and $100,000 on contents.

" Flood insurance is usually written wrong. Rising water is usually excluded. That's a real threat in Palm Beach, though it seldom happens. Those limits won't go far in Palm Beach, but we can provide coverage for the full limit on the home," Gendelman said. Similarly, there's a significant difference in wind coverage offered by Citizens Property Insurance Co. - the quasi-public, state-run entity - and policies through private carriers.

When it comes to insurance, the industry is full of generic policies that touch on the highlights but miss the point of a prized possession, Gendelman said.

" Ours is the most deluxe, he said. You spill red wine on a white carpet, most companies won't cover that. We do."

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