Watch your Home insurance bill

[jerrymrc]

I just got mine and it jumped $260. On top of that they now have an automatic $2500 DED for any wind/hail damage.

Now I did have a claim last year and one thing is I got a $214 discount because of the new roof. I put the claim in as they were going to an actual cash value for any roof over 10 years last year.

Oh well.

[JoeT]

mine went up 20%.... no claims ever

I tried shopping it out and it was still less than other bids

[SideShow Bob]

What companies are y'all with ?

[CareyH]

state farm, mine went up $22 a month. never had a claim. Hell if they are going to play that game I might get a new roof since everyone else in my neighborhood did.

[ray1970]

Cost increases don't surprise me. The $2500 deductible thing for wind/hail damage I find odd.

I would start looking at other insurance companies if I were you.

[jerrymrc]

state farm, mine went up $22 a month. never had a claim. Hell if they are going to play that game I might get a new roof since everyone else in my neighborhood did.

I was in that boat. an older roof that was getting close. When the company (progressive) said they were going to actual cash value I took a good look and it was worse than I thought.

I was with AM FAM but they started screwing me years ago and I had no claims.

[ChunkyMonkey]

Get a umbrella coverage for $150/year and get 30% off your main. I am not an insurance guy, but thats how I got mine down so much. Perhaps Stu can chime in.

[BushMasterBoy]

I left GMAC because home policy was almost half of premium USAA charged. USAA was a little higher on the trucks ($115). Ended up saving about $700 the first year.

USAA requires you be active duty or retired military. I guess military customers are better risks...

[spittoon]

we are just paying for all of the havoc last few years .. Mine went up to , but just think of next year with all of the fires[Rant1]The price will never go down even with 0 clams

[JoeT]

I'm with Met life...they handle my home, 2 daily drivers and umbrella policies.

my specialty car insurance went up $12 a year (for 2 cars)

[Byte Stryke]

I left GMAC because home policy was almost half of premium USAA charged. USAA was a little higher on the trucks ($115). Ended up saving about $700 the first year.

USAA requires you be active duty or Veteran. I guess military customers are better risks...



FTFY

[jerrymrc]

I'm with Met life...they handle my home, 2 daily drivers and umbrella policies.

my specialty car insurance went up $12 a year (for 2 cars)

Mine has been going down for two cars. :) Regular car ins went down last year for the two cars,truck and camper.

[Great-Kazoo]

I'm with Met life...they handle my home, 2 daily drivers and umbrella policies.

my specialty car insurance went up $12 a year (for 2 cars)


Likewise. We have the old MetPak II, Met life doesn't offer it anymore because the umbrella covers[d] everything. That and we have had the same ins broker since 85.

[00tec]

I left GMAC because home policy was almost half of premium USAA charged. USAA was a little higher on the trucks ($115). Ended up saving about $700 the first year.

USAA requires you be active duty or retired military. I guess military customers are better risks...
Or USAA insurance can be obtained by immediate family of members. I can get USAA insurance because my grandfather and my brother were in the military. Since they have USAA,
I am permitted to as well.

[Beprepared]

Allstate, up $800 this year. No one can touch their price. That was before fire season. I still love living in the mountains.

[sniper7]

I'll be watching mine closely. I'm not in the mountains though but I still imagine they will stick it to everyone else to cover their losses.

[Irving]

Mine has been going down for two cars. :) Regular car ins went down last year for the two cars,truck and camper.

Looks like you just answered your own question. Not that you actually asked anything...

[Great-Kazoo]

Allstate, up $800 this year. No one can touch their price. That was before fire season. I still love living in the mountains.


Allstate and state farm has this thing (bundled policy only) where if you acquire 1-2 tickets, you vehicle portion of the policy allows them to cancel you because of traffic infractions.
They can also if not dropping you raise the hell out of your policy. YMMV

[sturn18]

I have been shopping for new insurance for a while now and Allstate's homeowners rates increased by a couple hundred dollars last month. The agent I talked to said it was because of all the fires. My current agent said that the whole industry has been getting hammered the last couple of years, so expect more rate increases soon.

[Bailey Guns]

I had State Farm for everything for over 30 years. They raised my HO premium almost 40% about 6 or 7 years ago...never had a claim.

I'm now with Country Financial for home and cars. Best rates and service I've ever found. Their rates for motorcycles are high, though...with Geico for that.

[BuffCyclist]

Just got Homeowners Insurance with Armed Forces Insurance in February, they beat USAA's price by about $180 (and that is with higher coverages). However, I insure all 3 of our cars with USAA.

My Dad has been with AFI since 1974 when he first got to the USAFA, and has never changed homeowners insurance since then. He is the type of person to change companies every year for a $10 savings.

[jerrymrc]

I had State Farm for everything for over 30 years. They raised my HO premium almost 40% about 6 or 7 years ago...never had a claim.


AM-FAM did that some years ago when they went to credit scores. Since mine is good I could not understand.

Seems they used everyone in the household to include the kids that did not live there anymore.

[Ronin13]

we are just paying for all of the havoc last few years .. Mine went up to , but just think of next year with all of the fires[Rant1]The price will never go down even with 0 clams

Yes and no... Last year was in the $50Billion range, these fires are barely breaking $2B at current estimates... I don't expect to see rates increase as much as they did this year. We had Travelers take an almost 30% increase, but they pushed for going away from mono-line policies (Home only) and are doing away with $500 deductible. Everyone is having to increase rates, go with higher deductibles, and try to bundle... on top of that, a lot of companies give pretty nice discounts for having an alarm- we saw one customer's ins go down $200/year for an alarm.


Allstate, up $800 this year. No one can touch their price. That was before fire season. I still love living in the mountains.
Not true... Chubb can blow Allstate's prices out of the water, but they don't like to write for anything below $600,000 Coverage A.

[jerrymrc]

and are doing away with $500 deductible. Everyone is having to increase rates, go with higher deductibles, and try to bundle...

Already did that. Went from 250 to 500 to 1000 in 2008-2010 to keep it the same. Changed company's in 2010 to keep it at 800. went up $120 in 2011 and also that is when they were changing roof valuations so put in a claim before the change. I was going to hold off but it was legit.

Did the black box on the cars and got 30% discount but even with no tickets, accidents it looks like the cars may jump because of the hail storms even though we did not have a claim.

It just seemed like in years gone by doing good by not having claims, tickets, accidents would make your rates go down and that does not seem to be the case anymore.

[Ronin13]

Already did that. Went from 250 to 500 to 1000 in 2008-2010 to keep it the same. Changed company's in 2010 to keep it at 800. went up $120 in 2011 and also that is when they were changing roof valuations so put in a claim before the change. I was going to hold off but it was legit.

Did the black box on the cars and got 30% discount but even with no tickets, accidents it looks like the cars may jump because of the hail storms even though we did not have a claim.

It just seemed like in years gone by doing good by not having claims, tickets, accidents would make your rates go down and that does not seem to be the case anymore.

I'll just say this: Katrina, Joplin, hail... these past few years haven't exactly been too great. Insurance companies have to make money too, and if they don't raise rates they start operating in the red.

[Snowman78]

^+1, I am a insurance adjuster and worked all the storms, WE PAY A LOT IN CLAIMS.

[SSChameleon]

When shopping the home insurance be sure to get a copy of the policy and not just the dec page. I have had three clients who thought they were saving $400+ per year untill they realized the new policy did not cover water loss (such as from broken pipes or a faulty dishwasher) and capped the loss of use amount to $2,500 per month.

[mevshooter]

Hmmm... I take out a loan, I pay the interest, I get no slack.

I pay insurance company for a policy I rarely ever use, they have to pay money out when someone gets in an accident, I'm supposed to feel sorry for them?

Yeah, I don't think so.

Insurance companies are like stock brokers. They reap major rewards, billions of dollars, with a questionable amount of regard for the "little guy" and then come crying to the public at large when something crashes.

[Tooth]

With that said, I do love USAA.