Shopping for homeowners insurance

[Irving]

Make sure you can get full replacement cost on your roof (Replacement Cost Value). You want to avoid Actual Cash Value (ACV) and any kind of roof payment schedule if you can. You may not be able to avoid a payment schedule with some companies, but you should be able to have RCV if the roof is new enough.

A 2% wind/hail deductible is effectively the same as having no coverage for your roof at all, in other words, be prepared to pay for an entire roof out of pocket. Similarly, with a 1% wind/hail deductible you can expect to shell out for half of your roof should you need to have it replaced for a covered loss.

Code Upgrade coverage is good to have, plus it's too cheap to not have on your policy. I liken it to having rental on your auto insurance. It's cheap, you don't ever think about it, but when you need, you really need it. It's also known as Law and Ordinance.

Good luck.

[Dave_L]

Thanks for the kind words, guys. Ive been with Allstate for 15+years and would love to run a quote for you. Ill send you a PM.

[Cman]

I had Safeco - horrible company! I now have Acruity for car and house because they were the least expensive I could find, about 2g for two vehicles full coverage and house per year.

[MarkCO]

There are rates, and then there is servicing.

Yeah, if you can get USAA and don't, bonehead move. They have great rates and their service on claims is excellent.

Also realize, what you insure, the value, your driving history, claims history, credit score, profession all affect rates. I have Farmers and have been with them for a long time, but the discounts I get for my degrees, Professional licences, credit score,several policies including umbrella etc. all give me discounts that are deep enough that Amica was not much of a discount and does not have as good servicing.

I have not been impressed with StateFarm nor Allstate from a claims perspective. I still think Chubb is the absolute best coverage and claims, but they are expensive and there are not many of us that have enough assets to even get a quote from them.

[Rumline]

I keep hearing that Amica is at the top of the game but when I got a quote from them last year they acted like I should be kissing their ass for doing me the favor of generating a quote. If they're that big of aholes before they get my money I don't want to find out how they'll be once they do have my money.

[MarkCO]

I keep hearing that Amica is at the top of the game but when I got a quote from them last year they acted like I should be kissing their ass for doing me the favor of generating a quote. If they're that big of aholes before they get my money I don't want to find out how they'll be once they do have my money.

If price is your #1 issue, then yes Amica is generally pretty good. But there are other factors, service, claims, dropping you, etc.

[Gman]

I have not been impressed with StateFarm nor Allstate from a claims perspective.

I think this can be agent dependent. Our Allstate agent has been exemplary (Not Dave L. - sorry, I married into the agent relationship). Called about some water leaks from the roof which was put on by a 'preferred contractor' when we had Farmers (hail claim). Our agent sent someone out to inspect right away. The inspector found that the roofing contractor didn't caulk the gas fireplace vents and roof penetrations. Took care of it, no charge, and no more leaks.

[lex137]

Whatever you do don't buy Liberty Mutual!

[Irving]

Make sure you can get full replacement cost on your roof (Replacement Cost Value). You want to avoid Actual Cash Value (ACV) and any kind of roof payment schedule if you can. You may not be able to avoid a payment schedule with some companies, but you should be able to have RCV if the roof is new enough.

A 2% wind/hail deductible is effectively the same as having no coverage for your roof at all, in other words, be prepared to pay for an entire roof out of pocket. Similarly, with a 1% wind/hail deductible you can expect to shell out for half of your roof should you need to have it replaced for a covered loss.

Code Upgrade coverage is good to have, plus it's too cheap to not have on your policy. I liken it to having rental on your auto insurance. It's cheap, you don't ever think about it, but when you need, you really need it. It's also known as Law and Ordinance.

Good luck.

I was curious about the accuracy of my seat of the pants conjecture about deductibles, so I ran some numbers. This is a very simplified example as I simply copied the main policy limit into the spread sheet and applied a 2% and 5% deductible. Some of these estimate amounts include an additional structure, or more. So keep in mind that a 2% deductible of the dwelling value, will be less painful if you have another structure (i.e. detached garage) that is also a total loss from a catastrophic hail storm. Every estimate amount shown is a complete roof replacement; there are no partial repairs represented. All of these happen to be hail claims, and most of these are the entire roof system (shingles, drip edge, accessories) in addition to elevation damage (gutters, downspouts, windows, paint, siding, etc). Just thought I'd post some actual data to give you an idea of real life numbers, from a recent catastrophe event, in the local market.

[Bailey Guns]

Yeah, if you can get USAA and don't, bonehead move.

That hasn't been our experience at all and we're pretty much an insurer's dream in terms of claims history, risk, education, credit, etc. We used them for homeowner's when we bought this house. Avg rate for the area. Not great but they were convenient. Couldn't wait to get rid of them after first year. Horrible customer service. And even with a multi-policy discount their auto rates were more than double GEICOs without a multi-policy discount. And that's with lower deductibles with GEICO.

Had them for an RV loan, same thing. Well, wasn't so much bad service as it was just terribly incompetent. They pretty much fucked up every thing they did with that loan...lost paperwork, lost extra principal payments...that sort of thing. I took the money out of savings and paid it off just to be rid of them. I did have a good experience with an auto loan thru them. I doubt I'll ever look to USAA again for anything.

If they work for you, that's great. But one size doesn't fit all.