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Put in homeowners claim, watch premium increase by 33%

SunnyD

SunnyD

Belgian Waffler
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.
 
To each his own, but I consider homeowner's insurance for catastrophic coverage. I have a 2500 deductible. We had a leaking shower right after we bought our place (walk-in tile shower, concrete encased plumbing) that cost 4K to re-do. I still didn't get insurance involved. I'd probably call them at 6K or so, maybe not even then.
 
Well, I had the entire roof replaced under insurance (wind and hail). That was like $9K claim. It was the only homeowner claim in a about a decade and the agent encouraged me to file it. My premium didn't go up.

I don't think I would have filed a claim on a $1300 repair. Then again my deductible is higher ($1K). Maybe the short period of ownership+policy with the low deductible in a situation of a $1300 claim pegs you as a frequent flyer. Not saying you are, but saying maybe that is how they are looking at you. Pick your battles.

BTW, a month later the house across the street got struck by lightning for the second time. Twelve homes on the street including mine suffered damage. No way I was going to file a claim for $1-2K damages. I predicted I'd have been in your shoes.
 
I cringe when I hear people talk about turning such and such in on their insurance. You've really got to think it through. Unfortunately, they all share a master database and when you get quotes, they're all going to know about your claim and they're all going to know why you're price shopping.

Honor among thieves? Not so much.
 
boomerang said:
I cringe when I hear people talk about turning such and such in on their insurance. You've really got to think it through. Unfortunately, they all share a master database and when you get quotes, they're all going to know about your claim and they're all going to know why you're price shopping.

Honor among thieves? Not so much.
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And to think that that's what insurance is for. Fixing/replacing your stuff.
 
I think I need to review my policy. What kind of rates are you all paying for what amount of coverage? I realize it's region dependent, but I think my policy is pretty expensive.
 
highland145 said:
And to think that that's what insurance is for. Fixing/replacing your stuff.
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It's an industry that could use some oversight. But having said that, the insurance industry is very deeply embedded in our economy. It's an area where ham-handed intervention (which our government is famous for) could really have some deleterious results.

First world problems...
 
joshsquall said:
I think I need to review my policy. What kind of rates are you all paying for what amount of coverage? I realize it's region dependent, but I think my policy is pretty expensive.
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Dwelling + extension $183K
Personal Prop $125K
Liability $300K

$694/yr

Premium deductions:
Home/auto discount $311
Claim record $223
Holy crap...so I could be paying $1228/yr
 
joshsquall said:
I think I need to review my policy. What kind of rates are you all paying for what amount of coverage? I realize it's region dependent, but I think my policy is pretty expensive.
Click to expand...
More than region dependent I'd say.

Size of home, its construction, age of roof, additional structures, riders for collectibles or firearms, living in a flood plain, etc., etc. I doubt you'd get any information here that would be of any use. I'd say you'd be better off to talk the neighbors.
 
boomerang said:
It's an industry that could use some oversight. But having said that, the insurance industry is very deeply embedded in our economy. It's an area where ham-handed intervention (which our government is famous for) could really have some deleterious results.

First world problems...
Click to expand...
Aren't those synonymous?

😛
 
highland145 said:
Dwelling + extension $183K
Personal Prop $125K
Liability $300K

$694/yr

Premium deductions:
Home/auto discount $311
Claim record $223
Holy crap...so I could be paying $1228/yr
Click to expand...

Ah, I have considerably more coverage than that and my premium is $766/yr. I also have home/auto and no claims. So maybe home owners insurance just costs more than I think it should.
 
RossMAN said:
Which insurance company? PM me if you want waffle lovin' or I mean the insurance company name.
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Liberty Mutual.

boomerang said:
I cringe when I hear people talk about turning such and such in on their insurance. You've really got to think it through. Unfortunately, they all share a master database and when you get quotes, they're all going to know about your claim and they're all going to know why you're price shopping.

Honor among thieves? Not so much.
Click to expand...

To be fair, I was actually expecting a much higher bill between the roof and the water damage. At least 2x+. As usual, it ended up being a matter of "if I knew then what I know now".

Still, there's absolutely no reason to jack the rate that much when that claim has already been quite literally paid for multiple times over.
 
joshsquall said:
Ah, I have considerably more coverage than that and my premium is $766/yr. I also have home/auto and no claims. So maybe home owners insurance just costs more than I think it should.
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Move to SC, our housing is cheap (property tax too) compared to the rest of the country.
 
flyboy84 said:
To each his own, but I consider homeowner's insurance for catastrophic coverage. I have a 2500 deductible. We had a leaking shower right after we bought our place (walk-in tile shower, concrete encased plumbing) that cost 4K to re-do. I still didn't get insurance involved. I'd probably call them at 6K or so, maybe not even then.
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This. I have a $10000 deductible on mine. Then again, I'm pretty handy and fix anything but the most catastrophic things myself.

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.
 
SunnyD said:
To be fair, I was actually expecting a much higher bill between the roof and the water damage. At least 2x+. As usual, it ended up being a matter of "if I knew then what I know now".

Still, there's absolutely no reason to jack the rate that much when that claim has already been quite literally paid for multiple times over.
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We got broken into maybe fifteen years ago. The sum total of the items stolen and the damage to the front door was just over $3K. The insurance guy was absolutely freaking out. I mean he was having a meltdown. It's a long story but the end result is that I learned my lesson on that one.

I found somebody to replace the door at one tenth the cost of their preferred repair guy (who BTW was so drunk when he came to do the estimate that he could barely stand). I also had receipts for about 90% of the items that were stolen and that really pissed him off that I actually had those. I could go on and on. I have zero love for insurance companies. Zero.
 
boomerang said:
We got broken into maybe fifteen years ago. The sum total of the items stolen and the damage to the front door was just over $3K. The insurance guy was absolutely freaking out. I mean he was having a meltdown. It's a long story but the end result is that I learned my lesson on that one.

I found somebody to replace the door at one tenth the cost of their preferred repair guy (who BTW was so drunk when he came to do the estimate that he could barely stand). I also had receipts for about 90% of the items that were stolen and that really pissed him off that I actually had those. I could go on and on. I have zero love for insurance companies. Zero.
Click to expand...

I have little love for Liberty Mutual at this point regardless.

While I do like the amount of coverage they've afforded me, and my initial contact when I was shopping for insurance was great - the agent stayed on the phone with me and presented multiple options, sent several email quotes with/without car insurance options, etc., all the while State Farm and Allstate couldn't be bothered to give me a quote at all or one until weeks AFTER I closed on my house.

The claims process was painful at best getting in touch with the adjuster. That and I have tried probably a dozen times and left half a dozen messages for my agent so that I could get my policy updated to reflect that I now have an alarm system over the last TWO MONTHS. None of those calls have been returned either.

This is pretty much icing on the cake for me.

If at the time I had the ability to get up on the roof and take care of it myself properly, I would have. But I didn't even know what to expect.
 
boomerang said:
I cringe when I hear people talk about turning such and such in on their insurance. You've really got to think it through. Unfortunately, they all share a master database and when you get quotes, they're all going to know about your claim and they're all going to know why you're price shopping.

Honor among thieves? Not so much.
Click to expand...

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.

I do work in the insurance industry (underwrite various lines of errors and omissions insurance, primarily for law firms).

And for the record, I have had 2 homeowners claims filed and did experience a healthy premium increase. In the end, I am still ahead on what they paid versus my premiums and deductibles paid.
 
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.
 
SunnyD said:
I have little love for Liberty Mutual at this point regardless.

While I do like the amount of coverage they've afforded me, and my initial contact when I was shopping for insurance was great - the agent stayed on the phone with me and presented multiple options, sent several email quotes with/without car insurance options, etc., all the while State Farm and Allstate couldn't be bothered to give me a quote at all or one until weeks AFTER I closed on my house.

The claims process was painful at best getting in touch with the adjuster. That and I have tried probably a dozen times and left half a dozen messages for my agent so that I could get my policy updated to reflect that I now have an alarm system over the last TWO MONTHS. None of those calls have been returned either.

This is pretty much icing on the cake for me.

If at the time I had the ability to get up on the roof and take care of it myself properly, I would have. But I didn't even know what to expect.
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If your insurance agent sucks and won't return your calls, get a new one. It's a very competitive business. Hell, call another Liberty Mutual insurance agent. They would be more than happy to take your business since they get paid on commission. Your current agent figures he has been paid already and is focusing on new accounts, not current. Not a smart business model for him, but not everyone is smart.

You are not required to keep the same agent even with the same company. Call the next one on the list, explain that you are unhappy with your current agent and why and ask them to become the broker of record for you. Very simple process. It's a service industry, so find the best service.
 
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Uppsala9496 said:
Insurance companies don't have a shared database for claims. That is false for a variety of reasons.
Click to expand...
I've not been asked if I've had a claim for about the last 15 or 20 years. Is this something that would vary from state to state? They're not asking here. They either don't care, or they know the information is available to them.
 
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