• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Put in homeowners claim, watch premium increase by 33%

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
I just got done shopping for whole new plans this past month because traveler's jacked up our home insurance premium from $710 last year all the way up to $1150 this year for no reason. no claims ever made, nothing. newer townhome in a center unit too.
no natural disasters in our area either, and we only got some rain and downed branches from sandy.

switched to liberty mutual and now we're paying $650 with a lower deducitble, and better and cheaper auto/umbrella insurance as well. I think the lesson is to go shopping every year for these products as i feel that the companies will just jack up the prices since many people (including myself, my wife actually caught this) will just accept any increases they tack on to your bill because it's a hassle to switch.
 
I don't work on homeowners, and haven't filled out an application in a good 15 years, so I am just assuming they ask about claims history. For all of the errors and omissions and professional liability that I work on, and have worked on, there are questions on the application that ask about claims history for the past 5 years (unless I am working on behalf of a London insurance syndicate - they want 10 years history).
I work on accounts in all 50 states.

Insurance companies are out to make money. Think about how low homeowners premiums are. One big claim and the insurance company may never make that dollar amount up in what they charge you.

If you have a bad experience with your company, shop around.
 
evident said:
I just got done shopping for whole new plans this past month because traveler's jacked up our home insurance premium from $710 last year all the way up to $1150 this year for no reason. no claims ever made, nothing. newer townhome in a center unit too.
no natural disasters in our area either, and we only got some rain and downed branches from sandy.

switched to liberty mutual and now we're paying $650 with a lower deducitble, and better and cheaper auto/umbrella insurance as well. I think the lesson is to go shopping every year for these products as i feel that the companies will just jack up the prices since many people (including myself, my wife actually caught this) will just accept any increases they tack on to your bill because it's a hassle to switch.
Click to expand...

I am just speculating, however this is how is works for the lines of business I have worked in: The company has a bad year in terms of losses. They paid out more than they actuarial planned for. So, they look at said claims, geographically where they took place along with other ratable factors, and then determine they need an X% increase in premiums to maintain certain profitability margins. It's as simple as that. It's not some willy nilly let's increase everyone's premiums and see what we can get away with. There is a very methodical, actuarial approach and reasoning behind it.
So yes, shop around. It's a very regulated industry and if your company, agent, broker treats you like shit, complain to the state insurance commission.
 
Uppsala9496 said:
Insurance companies don't have a shared database for claims. That is false for a variety of reasons.

They do however ask on applications if you have ever had a claim, when it was, how much the damage was, etc. That is how they get the information they need to properly underwrite the submission, not through some magical shared database.
Click to expand...

That's just plain wrong. They do have a shared database, it's called "clue", Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange. When you file a property claim of some sort (or apparently sometimes even if you inquire about filing a claim), that information ends up in the CLUE database, and insurers can reference that information when evaluating your risk profile and underwriting policies.

In fact, if you go to an agent and ask him for a quote, once you give them your name and social etc, they can pull up your profile, including any claims you've made (regardless of whether it was with their company or not). When I went to get my auto policy, the agent pulled up my profile and asked me about a claim I filed a couple of years earlier (when I was with a different insurance company), I had to explain what the claim was about etc before they issued the new policy.
 
On my first house (now a rental) I had a claim for the roof in the first 30 days of owning it and then a water claim for the basement about 2 years later. Policy never went up. Up until the year 6 bill came in I had more in claims than I had paid in. This is with State Farm.

There is some kind of a database because when I got insurance on my current house State Farm asked me about a previous claim that "showed up". But it didn't change my rate.
 
same thing happened to me, filed a claim for lightning damage to my well pump, after my deductible, I got a check for ~$310. My renewal rate went up by $200. luckily, I was able to find another insurer that won't penalize you for claims under $500, so I switched my home insurance to this insurer, and also switched my auto to Liberty Mutual to save another ~$200/yr. My old insurer for both auto and home can go fuk themselves.
 
PokerGuy said:
That's just plain wrong. They do have a shared database, it's called "clue", Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange. When you file a property claim of some sort (or apparently sometimes even if you inquire about filing a claim), that information ends up in the CLUE database, and insurers can reference that information when evaluating your risk profile and underwriting policies.

In fact, if you go to an agent and ask him for a quote, once you give them your name and social etc, they can pull up your profile, including any claims you've made (regardless of whether it was with their company or not). When I went to get my auto policy, the agent pulled up my profile and asked me about a claim I filed a couple of years earlier (when I was with a different insurance company), I had to explain what the claim was about etc before they issued the new policy.
Click to expand...

Life insurance has a similar database, the service is provided by a thrid party vendor called MIB. If you've ever applied for life insurance, your medical info are in their database for all insurers to see.
 
Hecubus28 said:
A lot of the insurance companies report to C.L.U.E do they not?

http://www.lexisnexis.com/risk/solutions/clue-home-seller.aspx
Click to expand...
Why yes they do. I was trying to be the kindler, gentler version of boomerang. When I hear an individual that touts that they're in the insurance business that is clueless, I have a tendency to overreact. I'm trying to curb that impulse.

Ignorance + insurance people pretty much = near rage for me. I have no love for the insurance industry.
 
Had a house fire earlier this year, 25k damage, mostly smoke, some structure. 6 yrs ago we had our roof replaced. I don't get it.. We already pay premiums and have a deductible, how can they raise our premiums when we've been paying into it already for many years without incident, then, at whim, cancel our policy? There should be an insured's bill of rights that says as long as we pay the premiums we agreed to at the beginning and continue to pay them, the insurance company is responsible to pay for any damages. We both take risks here, they hope we won't file, we pay the insurance in case we need to. It's fine if we never have a claim and they keep taking money from us on a monthly basis, but the minute we try to use the insurance we are paying for, they stick it to us. That's just not right.
 
child of wonder said:
Ouch. Right after moving into our current house the sump pump died and we got almost 2 inches of water in the basement.

Total cost to clean, repair, and replace destroyed household items was $17,000. Our premiums have gone up by $360 a year.
Click to expand...

I just got 4 inches of water in my newly finished basement and it only cost me $200 to fix myself.
 
Live and learn. Don't file for small claims. Go with high deductables and self-insure for the little stuff.

If you do have to file for a whopper start shopping for a new provider immediately before the claim(s) make it into the collective database(s).
 
highland145 said:
1st claim?

2 friends had state farm drop the after 2 claims in 18mo.
Click to expand...

SF dropped us due to two water/flooding claims since 2010.
They spent well over 25K between the two and figured that even if no more; they would never recover based on premiums.

Have given me 60 days notice.
 
hell, we should just federalize it...

In any case, are you sure the bump wasn't a matter of replacement cost or some other issue?

With my previous company, Allstate, I had a couple claims and my rates never went up. I left them because when they did go up, and they went up significantly, it was because they said that the underwriters are using GPS coordinates to locate the closest firestation and that my house fell outside a five mile radius. This, of course, was bullshit as the closest fire station was 3 miles from my house and I confirmed they serviced my house. Simple response by me was to move to Liberty Mutual, which has been great.
 
Last edited:
bignateyk said:
I just got 4 inches of water in my newly finished basement and it only cost me $200 to fix myself.
Click to expand...

Where did the water come from to get into the basement? Daughter house came through heavy rains/flooding in CO and leaked in via windows and potentially foundation. Need to have to replace carpeting in a downstairs bedroom

bignateyk said:
I had a pipe burst and flood my basement a couple months ago. Had to rip a few feet of drywall and insulation off and re-do it, but it only cost me a couple hundred dollars in materials. Probably would have cost thousands to hire a professional to fix.
Click to expand...
We had the hot water tank safety valve pop and dump water into the basement (carpeted). All the insurance did was to cover the costs for the carpet drying.
No replacements of anything ($3K )

The second; sewage pipe had shifted and backed up effluent into the basement via a drain pipe in the laundry area. 2-3 " of standing water covering 2/3 basement. Carpet/tile replacement and 1/2 drywall vertically plus bathroom furniture (20K). Grandson had a ball helping the repair crew :biggrin:
 
Last edited:
CPA said:
hell, we should just federalize it...

In any case, are you sure the bump wasn't a matter of replacement cost or some other issue?

With my previous company, Allstate, I had a couple claims and my rates never went up. I left them because when they did go up, and they went up significantly, it was because they said that the underwriters are using GPS coordinates to locate the closest firestation and that my house fell outside a five mile radius. This, of course, was bullshit as the closest fire station was 3 miles from my house and I confirmed they serviced my house. Simple response by me was to move to Liberty Mutual, which has been great.
Click to expand...

I'm not entirely sure as of yet. I will be calling to find out (I still as of yet have to get ahold of somebody to get my alarm added to my policy anyway).

...

Actually, now I'm even more confused since I'm looking at the policy renewal and ALL of the discounts as listed last year still apply (including claims free discount?). So they just jacked up my rate for the hell of it (yeah right).
 
Uppsala9496 said:
I am just speculating, however this is how is works for the lines of business I have worked in: The company has a bad year in terms of losses. They paid out more than they actuarial planned for. So, they look at said claims, geographically where they took place along with other ratable factors, and then determine they need an X% increase in premiums to maintain certain profitability margins. It's as simple as that. It's not some willy nilly let's increase everyone's premiums and see what we can get away with. There is a very methodical, actuarial approach and reasoning behind it.
So yes, shop around. It's a very regulated industry and if your company, agent, broker treats you like shit, complain to the state insurance commission.
Click to expand...

Travelers claims to be one of the insurance companies that were heavily impacted by sandy, so what you stated is probably accurate.
 
boomerang said:
Why yes they do. I was trying to be the kindler, gentler version of boomerang. When I hear an individual that touts that they're in the insurance business that is clueless, I have a tendency to overreact. I'm trying to curb that impulse.

Ignorance + insurance people pretty much = near rage for me. I have no love for the insurance industry.
Click to expand...
As I mentioned, I don't work property (only errors and omissions and professional liability). I do stand correct on their being a database that insurance companies can subscribe to for property and vehicle coverage. In the casualty lines I work, something like this doesn't exist. An application asks if there has been a loss in the past 5 years and that is my only way of knowing. At year 6 it's no longer necessary for me to be told.
 
Uppsala9496 said:
As I mentioned, I don't work property (only errors and omissions and professional liability). I do stand correct on their being a database that insurance companies can subscribe to for property and vehicle coverage. In the casualty lines I work, something like this doesn't exist. An application asks if there has been a loss in the past 5 years and that is my only way of knowing. At year 6 it's no longer necessary for me to be told.
Click to expand...


The database they use can also see if claims have ever been filled on your property before you lived there as well. Apparently this database saw that my neighbor's house had a break-in about 7 years ago and they used their homeowners insurance to cover it.

and theres also a database for auto insurance as well.
 
SunnyD said:
Had some minor wind damage rip off a section of shingles this past spring which ended up causing some water to leak onto one of the bedroom ceilings. Well, this is what homeowners insurance is for, right?

The claim total after everything was said and done was probably around $1300. Minus the $500 deductible, I get a check for $800. I know it's a fairly small bill, but still.

Fast forward to today... policy renewal comes in and my premium gets jacked up by $300. I can see maybe $20 or $30, but seriously?

I swear insurance has got to be the biggest scam industry there is. Time to go shopping.
Click to expand...

Oh hi, you must be new here.

Our home insurance rates get jacked up to 2x the previous price out of random. We have never made a single claim. This year it went up by $100.

Get used to it. They are hoping you are simply too lazy to change to a competitor for free $ 9 times out of 10. I simply suggest you prepare to shop around every time.
 
I kinda thought this way, but actually had my old (and now current...again) insurance agent confirm for me.

The only way to save money is to change companies every few years. You get the new signup discounted rates on the new one, and then 6 months later you'll get awesome retention rates from your previous one. Switch back. Wait until they start jumping again. And then repeat.

It's a pain in the ass. But it's only way to not continuing to take it in the ass with the incremental increases year after for not filing a single claim.
 
vi edit said:
I kinda thought this way, but actually had my old (and now current...again) insurance agent confirm for me.

The only way to save money is to change companies every few years. You get the new signup discounted rates on the new one, and then 6 months later you'll get awesome retention rates from your previous one. Switch back. Wait until they start jumping again. And then repeat.

It's a pain in the ass. But it's only way to not continuing to take it in the ass with the incremental increases year after for not filing a single claim.
Click to expand...

I haven't found that to be the case. I get quotes from other companies every few years and have yet to find one that is lower than what I pay with State Farm. I have all kinds of discounts with State Farm for Auto/Home/Umbrella and they never seem to raise my rates. Then again, all my policies are really high deductible.
 
Codewiz said:
Depends on where you live in SC. Live near the coast and it isn't cheap....
Click to expand...
True (location, location) and the amount of industry in the county matters. I paid $554.00 city and county tax on the house for 2012. We do have vehicle tax unlike some other states. Bro in law lives above White Plains, NY and pays $12K in property tax on his house (2500 sqft).😱
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top