Zander Life Insurance Review
Zander Insurance is one of the oldest independent life insurance agencies in America, dating all the way back to the 1920s.
Independent life insurance agencies are nothing new. But Zander Insurance has taken its business to the next level.
They offer their services online to a nationwide market.
No matter where you live, you’ll be able to obtain life insurance from Zander Insurance.
As an insurance agency, they offer access to policies provided by a large number of companies.
That will give you the advantage of getting life insurance quotes from multiple providers by completing a single application.
You’ll then be able to select the provider with the lowest premium.
About Zander Life Insurance
Zander Insurance is based in Nashville, Tennessee, and has been in business since 1925.
The company is 49% employee-owned, which means when you deal with company staff, you’ll be dealing with the owners.
The company provides multiple insurance policy types. These include life insurance, disability, auto, health, homeowners, and long-term care insurance.
They also provide business insurance.
Zander Insurance is an independent agency that does not offer its own insurance products.
Instead, it offers insurance products provided by major life insurance companies. Providers include:
Zander Insurance is a favorite of the personal-finance and insurance guru Dave Ramsey.
He frequently recommends the company and is extensively quoted on the Zander Insurance website.
Zander Life Insurance Ratings
The company is not rated by major insurance rating services, like A.M. Best, since it isn’t a direct insurance provider.
But it does have a Better Business Bureau rating of A+, which is the highest rating the BBB has.
The agency has accredited the company since 2004.
Life Insurance Products Offered
On the life insurance front, Zander Insurance offers only term coverage.
Cash value policies, like whole life and the various universal life products, are not available.
Specifically, term policies are available in terms ranging from 10 years to as long as 30 years.
Policy death benefits range from a low of $50,000 to as high as $10 million.
When you complete an online application through the site, you’ll receive quotes from multiple participating providers.
You can then choose the policy that will work best for you.
Life Insurance Riders Offered
Each insurance company participating on the Zander Insurance website will likely offer its own menu of term life insurance riders.
But the company recommends only child term riders.
These are riders that extend life insurance coverage to your dependent children.
For example, let’s say you have a $500,000 policy on your own life. If so, you can also add smaller policies for your children. You might add $25,000 or $50,000 to each child.
You can add a child rider as soon as a child is born. And it will remain in force until the child reaches age 21, 23, or 25 (depending on the company issuing the policy).
No other policy riders are described on the website. And Dave Ramsey is even quoted on the site as recommending against all riders except child riders.
Ramsey suggests that riders are designed primarily to increase the premium. And thus, increase the revenue to the insurance company and agent of the policy.
Eligibility and Application Process
The Zander Insurance website isn’t entirely clear on eligibility requirements. For example, there’s no indication of what the specific health qualifications are.
It doesn’t indicate exclusions for certain chronic health conditions, or even age ranges.
How to Get Quotes
To get quotes, you’ll need to provide the following information:
Date of birth
Gender
Health
Indicate if you used tobacco or nicotine in the past 12 months
Health Questionnaire
The health questions are particularly vague. You’ll have the option to enter one of four categories: preferred plus, preferred, standard plus, and standard.
Those are insurance industry terms that won’t be familiar to the average consumer.
There is a link just below the question that provides instructional information on the requirements for each classification.
For example, a classification of preferred plus will be evidenced by the following:
Blood pressure under 135/85
Cholesterol/HDL ratio under 5.0 (which will need to be determined by a medical exam, unless you’ve had your cholesterol readings checked in the recent past)
Cholesterol under 220
Tobacco use, not in the past five years
A preferred plus rating will also exclude any previous episodes of cancer, except certain types of skin cancer, as well as no diagnosis of (or death from) heart disease in either parent before age 60.
There’s also some limitation if one or more parent was either diagnosed with cancer or died from the disease before the age of 60.
In completing the application, you’ll need to be very careful which of the four health classifications you list yourself as.
If you describe yourself as preferred plus, when you would be better classified as standard plus, any insurance quotes you receive will be inaccurate.
Medical Exam
The company you make a formal application with will do an investigation of your true medical condition. They may even require a medical exam.
So the final premium may be significantly higher than any quotes you receive.
Speaking of medical exams, there’s no indication on the site if they offer no medical exam coverage.
Meanwhile, it’s quite possible Zander Insurance is designed primarily for those who are in average or better health.
That means if your health is below standard, you may need to look for coverage elsewhere.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
Zander is an online life insurance marketplace. So it will offer you an opportunity to get multiple quotes. This may result in getting the lowest life insurance premium.
A single, simple online application is consumer-friendly and will get you the quotes you’re looking for.
Zander Insurance provides various types of insurance, including auto, health, disability, long-term care, and business insurance. It may represent an opportunity to bundle coverage with your life insurance policy, for additional savings.
Zander Insurance has the highest rating possible with the Better Business Bureau.
Cons:
Zander Insurance provides only term life insurance policies. Whole life, universal life, or any other type of cash value or investment type life insurance are not offered. You’ll need to look elsewhere for those.
The platform itself does not encourage adding riders to customize your policy. It’s not clear if that’s a limitation observed by participating insurance companies, but if so, it will be a significant limitation.
The online application indicates only preferred plus, preferred, standard plus, and standard. There seems to be no accommodation for applicants who may be unable to qualify for a standard classification or better.
You’ll ultimately be dealing with the life insurance company you choose to provide your policy. Zander Insurance acts only as an intermediary.
FAQs
1. Is Zander Insurance any good?
Since it functions primarily as an online insurance marketplace, Zander Insurance is an option worth considering for consumers who are shopping for the best rate.
Since you can get quotes from multiple companies on the same platform, you’ll be able to compare those quotes, side-by-side.
In that way, the primary benefit of Zander Insurance is getting the cheapest life insurance possible.
However, when it comes to life insurance, that’s not necessarily the best strategy.
You may be looking for a more customized life insurance policy, particularly one that may include multiple riders. If so, you’ll likely be better shopping for coverage elsewhere.
2. Where is Zander Insurance located?
Zander Insurance is located in Nashville, Tennessee area. This is conveniently the same general area where Dave Ramsey is located.
3. Is Zander Insurance a broker?
The company describes itself only as an insurance agency. Though the website doesn’t specifically indicate as much, Zander Insurance is almost certainly an insurance broker.
Since the company promotes the services of dozens of insurance companies, it would generally need to have broker status.
Zander Insurance can be reached in any of the following ways:
Toll-free phone, at (800)356 – 4282
By email, at info@zanderins.com
Through the website
It’s important to remember that Zander Insurance is only an insurance agency. And not a direct provider of life insurance products.
So you’ll ultimately be dealing with the company you select to provide your coverage. Zander Insurance acts only as an introduction service.
They may provide a certain amount of information to help you through the formal application process. But most support is likely to come from the direct provider.
Is Zander Life Insurance Best For You?
As noted earlier, Zander Insurance will work best for consumers who are shopping for the lowest-cost life insurance.
Zander is a good choice to start your search for a basic term life insurance policy without any of the features commonly offered in the industry.
However, if you’re looking for specialized coverage, particularly a policy that will offer the full range of insurance riders, it’s likely you’ll need to shop elsewhere.
