I hate insurance!

[Dave_L]

Average house premium is around 1500/year lets say. That person has a hail claim for 20k. Assuming no other claims, the insurance company has to retain that person for 13 years to break even on that policy now. Home insurance is a horrible, horrible business. I know it's frustrating to see rate hikes but paying $1500 a year to potentially get a 6 figure pay out is pretty fair.

[Dave_L]

Won't hurt to give Dave a call ( P-303-688-1966). He's on the forum, pro gun, and very helpful. Gave me insight on how roofs are handled now, was not pressured to switch, was not the cheapest, but did still have me a lot of money. I don't have to pay my entire premium to get the cheaper rate, i was able to add my guns and camera gear to a separate rider policy.

Thanks for the plug, Simon. I'm glad we were able to handle your insurance needs.

For others, I'm happy to run quotes for anyone looking. It doesn't hurt to check the rates and worst case, you know you have the best rate possible.

[Ronin13]

Average house premium is around 1500/year lets say. That person has a hail claim for 20k. Assuming no other claims, the insurance company has to retain that person for 13 years to break even on that policy now. Home insurance is a horrible, horrible business. I know it's frustrating to see rate hikes but paying $1500 a year to potentially get a 6 figure pay out is pretty fair.

We tell customers all the time- "You have had a policy with us for 5 years, at about $2,000 per year- you've paid in $10,000 in those 5 years, and now you have a roof claim that pays out at 2x what you've paid in... congrats, you're winning in the insurance game." Yes, the business sucks, especially when most companies are operating at a loss (we have a pretty good loss ratio for Travelers agencies in this territory, but most don't)- but insurance is a necessity, as you know, Dave.

[jerrymrc]

Back from the dead. I mentioned a year ago that my home ins went up 55%. Well this year they tried to soften the blow by only raising it 15%. The new policy was going to be $2100 I switched to USAA and it is back to $1200. Same on most coverages but a little less on contents but I was OK with that.

After the discounts I am going to switch my cars as well. Overall between the 3 it looks like I will save about $900 per year on them. The third one is the policy on firearms so for right now I am happy. Doing a refi as well. Old loan = $740 New loan payoff date 2 months later is $650

[Irving]

Be careful of your contents coverage. We've been seeing more and more people not having enough to cover their stuff in large losses.

[KevDen2005]

Back from the dead. I mentioned a year ago that my home ins went up 55%. Well this year they tried to soften the blow by only raising it 15%. The new policy was going to be $2100 I switched to USAA and it is back to $1200. Same on most coverages but a little less on contents but I was OK with that.

After the discounts I am going to switch my cars as well. Overall between the 3 it looks like I will save about $900 per year on them. The third one is the policy on firearms so for right now I am happy. Doing a refi as well. Old loan = $740 New loan payoff date 2 months later is $650

Love USAA. Thanks to my wife's poor driving record I was forced to leave the insurance company I had been with for my entire life. USAA brought me in and saved me a ton.

[jerrymrc]

Be careful of your contents coverage. We've been seeing more and more people not having enough to cover their stuff in large losses.

I do understand but some of the things that one might try and insure is just not worth the replacement cost. The wife and me are not fashion types, the furniture I added up is $15K at AFW. The vintage audio stuff they are not going to give me anything for so in the end I look at risk VS cost.

Very proactive at mitigation and training. The hardest for me in a total loss would be some books and the Albums. I never left Vinyl but replacing 1700 records at the current $7-10 each is just not something I worry about. If there gone they are gone.

I live in a $125K house. Dwelling is $245K and contents is $115K. My old policy upped the Wind/Hail ded to $2500 last year and my new one is $2K. My old other perils was $1500 and my new one is $2k. Just not the person to call if the wind ripped the screen door off (happened twice)

[hollohas]

My home insurance is skyrocking too but mostly because the home values in the area are going through the roof. The comps in my neighborhood have increased 30% this year...each recent sale has been tens of thousands over list. Not sure who that's good for. People say that's good for sellers but only if you're moving to some other state. If you sell now because the market is good and want to move across town then you just have to buy some other house that's way too dang high....but I digress...

Why does my home insurance cover like $10k on "rugs" but only $2k for precious metals or something that actually has some value? It will cover freaking rugs with the the standard premium but I have to add extended coverage for guns? WTF??

[Irving]

I do understand but some of the things that one might try and insure is just not worth the replacement cost. The wife and me are not fashion types, the furniture I added up is $15K at AFW. The vintage audio stuff they are not going to give me anything for so in the end I look at risk VS cost.

Sounds like you are realistic about things, which is refreshing. Antique audio equipment and vinyls would be tough.

Why does my home insurance cover like $10k on "rugs" but only $2k for precious metals or something that actually has some value? It will cover freaking rugs with the the standard premium but I have to add extended coverage for guns? WTF??

I kind of wondered that myself when I was reading through a policy recently. "Rugs" are expensive, but I have to wonder just how common nice rugs are.

[Bailey Guns]

Bringing this back up because I just got my renewal. 55% increase. I did have my roof claim 2 years ago but that was it. $1169 to $1814. And my part of the health ins is now $450 per month.

I had something similar happen with State Farm about 6 years ago. I was 48 and I'd been with SF since I started driving at 16. I had two homes and several cars insured with them at the time. I had NEVER had a claim of any sort. Nothing.

Got my renewal for the homeowner's insurance and premium went up just shy of 78%. Called the agent who told me that SF's operating costs had gone up 78%, thus the increase. Total BS. And, she never even offered to look at the policy to see if there was anything she could do to save us a little on the premiums. I started calling around and found rates about 30% cheaper than SF was before the increase on homeowner's, about 20% less on auto at Country Financial. Called SF and cancelled everything.

Homeowner's goes up a little every year but it's still reasonable. I still keep a 94 F350 insured with them to get a multi-policy discount. Switched car insurance to GEICO...for some reason they're almost 1/2 of what anyone else wants.

Finding a company to insure a log home is getting harder every year. Allstate wanted me to remove all combustible material in a 300' radius from my home...grass (the natural grasses), bushes, brush, trees, etc. 300 freakin' feet. I'd have to cut down probably 1000 trees to do that and haul in maybe a couple hundred thousand yards of stone for landscaping.