Mill Wood Park » Home Insurance

Reminders on discounts

admin — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 22:37:15 +0000

There’s a reason why most sites like this talk about discounts as the best way of saving money. It happens to be true but, to take advantage of the discounts safely, you need to think carefully. Let’s start with the most commonly mentioned. All you have to do to make big savings is to increase your deductible. Indeed, the theory is often proved correct that an increase from $500 to $1000 can save you up to 25% of the annual premium. But there are two issues to think about.

Many insurance companies are already increasing the deductible whether you asked for it or not. The reason for this is the rise in the number of claims from bad weather. No matter what your view on global warming or climate change, the last two years have seen record-breaking claims for damage caused by snow, flooding, tornadoes and hurricanes. This year is ending on another unusual note with unexpected snowfall disrupting the northeast in late October, early November. The amount of snow and disruption to more than 2 million homes has broken new records for October for West Virginia through to Maine. All these additional claims mean premium rates will be going up again next year, and the deductibles are being adjusted on a take-it-or-leave-it basis. Don’t be caught out. Before you raise the deductible yourself, find out what your insurer has done. Second, if you do increase the deductible, can you afford to self-insure all the small accidental losses around the home? If not, resist rises in the deductible.

Now on to the other discounts. In the good old days before the internet, people used to rely on the agent to claim all the discounts. These people knew you and your home. They understood the inner working of the insurers. They used to protect you (well, they were supposed to protect you). Now you have moved online, you are the only one who can look out for your own interests. There are a range of monitors and sensors you can fit to your home that will save you money. The details will vary from company to company so, before you spend any money, get a list of the approved devices and cost their installation. Never fit anything unless you can recover the cost in savings within a reasonable period of time. These include central station alarm systems for both unauthorized entry and temperature rises, smoke, water and gas leaks, and so on. Whenever you renovate, ensure your rebuilding cover is increased and that you gain access to the discounts.

Finally, revisit the question of bundling policies together with the same insurer. Almost all companies will give you a discount if you give them more business. So if you have one or two family cars, giving the same company both the auto and homeowners insurance policies can represent at least 10% in savings. This needs quite careful research to confirm. Get as many quotes as possible for individual cover with different companies, and then look at what savings you will get if you bundle with any one of them. Never assume one of your existing companies will give you the best deal. Always shop around and get as many car and homeowners insurance quotes as possible.

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What is guaranteed or extended replacement cost cover?

admin — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 22:30:32 +0000

The problem with insurance is nothing in life is ever completely certain. One day the housing market can be rolling along, everyone certain prices can only ever go up. The next day, we’re pitched into a recession, major banks are in trouble and the housing market has collapsed. Because insurance is based on the concept of good faith, there’s supposed to be give and take on both sides of the relationship. An insurer cannot physically inspect every property it agrees to cover. To some extent, it must always rely on the honesty of the home owner to get proper estimates for the cost of rebuilding. After all, if the owner innocently underinsures, he or she will have to pay the additional costs out of savings. The insurer will not be at risk. If there was fraud, the insurer has the right to cancel the policy and avoid any payment. This protection for the insurer is fairly comprehensive. Hence, to offer better balance, most insurers offer guaranteed or extended replacement cover cover.

The point of this cover is simple. No matter how hard you try, no pre-estimate of the cost of rebuilding is ever absolute. It’s only when you get on the ground and start work you find out what all the problems are going to be. Costs have an unfortunate habit of rising and it’s relatively common for owners to have to sacrifice features of their old home to get the building work finished within budget. But, if you’re prepared to pay about 10% more on the premium rate, you can buy guaranteed cover, i.e. the insurer will pay the actual cost.

Let’s go back to the beginning again. Many insurance policies have a cap, i.e. the insurer places an upper limit on the amount you can claim. This may be a limit for all standard policyholders, or the cap may vary depending on the amount of premium you pay. The only way you can avoid the cap is by buying the extended cover. Why might costs go up significantly more than you expect? Suppose you bought an older home. It was picturesque with a wooden frame and shingles. If you now come to rebuild it, you can find reproducing the traditional building methods are expensive when you face compliance with the current building code. Everything may need to be redesigned including the electrical and plumbing systems. Once you are talking in hundreds of thousands for rebuilding, paying an extra 10% in premium can be very good value to get guaranteed completion.

Stepping outside the scope of the homeowners insurance policy, some insurers are now offering Home Value Protection policies to safeguard against a fall in the resale value of your property. In reality, this is slightly closer to a bet than most insurance policies and you need to read the terms carefully. Most have a high deductible if you claim during the first two years. Since most experts believe the housing market will begin to pick up again within the next two years, you may conclude such policies are not good value for money. Nevertheless, the next time you’re reviewing your insurance portfolio, it may be interesting to get additional quotes for Home Value Protection when you get your homeowners insurance quotes.

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Insurance cover

admin — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 14:09:56 +0000

Ever since the Japanese earthquake and following tsunami hit our television screens, there’s been slightly more interest in whether earthquake cover is needed in the US. In other words, there’s a temporary outbreak of paranoia, worrying whether such a disaster could ever happen here. For a few months, people will get quotes and talk to insurance agents about the cost of cover, and then interest will all slowly die down again. Even in the US states at risk, less than 10% of the population carries earthquake cover.

Given that California sits on a major fault line, this may seem surprising. But, when asked why cover is refused, most people come up with an entirely rational reply. If there’s a “big one”, this would not simply cause one home to fall down. This would open cracks in the ground and damage all the major infrastructure of roads, bridges, the cabling and piping that brings essential services to an area, and so. There could not be any rebuilding of individual homes until access was restored and the basic services were reconnected. When you look at the deficits being run by many of the at-risk states, there would be serious delays in accessing federal funds and then commissioning the necessary works. So having earthquake insurance on the homes is not going to be much use for months or, indeed years. In some areas where there are landslides or sections of the land fall into the sea, it might never be possible to rebuild on the same sites. This is not to say pessimism is the right approach. Since earthquake damage is usually excluded from the standard policy, you should ask for quotes and decide whether the cover on offer is affordable.

As an incentive for you to review your cover, there’s a major earthquake drill called ShakeOut due to be held. This will give the 9 million people living in the areas covered by the drill a chance to consider how severe the damage might be to their particular area. People at work, at school and at home will be invited to think about where the safest places are in each location. That way, if there’s a quake, everyone knows where to drop, cover and hold on. All schools, business and families should have a disaster preparedness plan.

From the insurance industry’s point of view, this is the time to discuss insurance with both individual home owners and businesses. Records show businesses carry even less insurance than homeowners. Given the levels of loss to both the buildings, stock-in-trade and earnings following a quake, this failure to insure is surprising. The scenario for the drill assumes a 7.8 earthquake along the San Andreas Fault. Even if homeowners and businesses continue their reluctance to insure, they can at least be alerted to the need to plan a response.

Home insurance is all about assessing risk. The US Geological Survey has reported 877 earthquakes on American soil in the seven days up to October 26. Fortunately, most of them were low intensity but, sooner or later, there will be a more damaging quake. Scientists have no way of predicting where this “big one” will hit. So when you ask for home insurance quotes including earthquake cover, ask yourself how lucky you feel.

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Make sure your home is properly protected

admin — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 13:42:38 +0000

Most people have the good sense to make sure that they are financially protected with home insurance cover in place. The right home insurance plan provides us with peace of mind as well as financial protection in the event of a range of unexpected events that can affect our homes or our possessions within the home.

However, some people make the mistake of taking out a home insurance plan that is suited to their needs and then simply renewing it year after year without actually working out whether their needs are still the same as they were when they first took the plan out. A lot can change over the course of a few years and you may find that your insurance requirements have altered, but if you are still taking out the same cover year in year out your insurance will not reflect your changing needs.

Some people may find that due to changes in their lives and their homes they require a higher level of financial protection or a more comprehensive home insurance policy than they originally took out. For example, when you first took out home insurance you may have been living alone with little by way of valuable possessions in the home. However, since taking out the plan you may have moved a partner in who has valuable jewellery or electrical gadgets in the home, which may not be covered by your plan.

Likewise, you may find that your insurance needs have actually reduced since you first took out the home insurance plan, which means that you may be paying more than you need to. Using the same analogy as above, you may have originally taken out the cover when you were living with a partner who had expensive possessions in the home. However, since taking out the cover you may have split with your partner and many of these costly possessions may have gone, which means that you may not require such a high level of contents cover.

There are other changes and factors that can affect the need to change your level of insurance cover. For example, most of us receive gifts for birthdays and Christmas and you may have been lucky enough to receive something that is quite valuable, which is now in your home but was not there when you took out your cover. You would therefore need to make sure that your home insurance cover is still adequate as otherwise you could be in for a shock in the event that something happens to treasured possessions that are not covered under your current plan.

The good news is that if you find that your insurance needs have changed that you need to alter or switch your home insurance plan you can do this quickly and easily by either contacting your insurance provider to advise them of any changes in circumstances or by looking online for a more suitable policy and provider to reflect your changing requirements. By making sure that you regularly assess your home insurance needs and requirements you can make sure that you have continual peace of mind rather than paying out for a plan that is no longer suited to your needs.

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Should You Pay Hurricane Deductibles Post-Irene?

admin — Sun, 02 Oct 2011 16:27:32 +0000

In the wake of damage caused by hurricane/tropical storm Irene, many are left wondering how they will pay their deductible and what their claims will be like. For those lucky enough to escape the storm, many are rightly concerned with the possibility that the next one might strike their home. What will happen? If you have hurricane coverage, your insurer will take care of you, but you might have to pay a special deductible.

Hurricane Deductibles Versus Normal Deductibles

In places where hurricanes hit regularly, such as Florida, Georgia, and pretty much the entire Atlantic coastline, Gulf coastline, and New England, insurance companies do not charge a normal deductible. Instead, they charge a hurricane deductible.

The difference is that, rather than the flat amount you pay with a standard deductible, you pay a percentage of the market value of your home. So, if your home is worth $300 thousand and your hurricane deductible is 2 percent, you pay $6 thousand. This is almost always more than a standard deductible, such as $750.

Companies do this to save themselves thousands of dollars per home in claims, since they often have to pay to fix thousands of homes per hurricane.

Unless you live right on the coastline, in which case your deductible may be very high, hurricane deductibles rarely stray from the one to five percent range.

All states and districts subject to hurricane deductibles are:
The South and Southwest
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia
The North and Northeast
Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island
Other
Hawaii, Washington, D.C.

Will Victims of Irene Have to Pay Hurricane Deductibles?

Hurricane Irene is tricky case, since it was not a hurricane the whole time. Before it hit New York and New Jersey, as well as Vermont and other more northern areas, Irene was downgraded from hurricane to tropical storm. While you might think this would be a straightforward case of nobody having to pay hurricane deductibles, the reality is different.

In New York and New Jersey, state regulators have declared that homeowners should not have to pay hurricane deductibles. So far, several insurers have come out and said that is the case and that they will not be charging more than the standard deductibles. However, other states have been less clear.

In Connecticut, for instance, hurricane deductibles are regulated a bit differently. Firstly, they are only allowed on coastline properties. If you live across the street from the shore, you shouldn’t have to pay a percentage – just the flat rate. Everyone with hurricane deductibles probably will have to pay them. Ah, you protest, “but it wasn’t a hurricane!” True, but hurricane deductibles in Connecticut can be triggered by even just a hurricane warning. Ultimately, because of the grey area, it will be up to home insurance providers which deductibles to charge.

Vermonters can at least take some solace from the fact that they do not have deductibles on their hurricane coverage.

If you haven’t gotten hurricane coverage on your home insurance yet, there is no better time than now. Climatologists predict that hurricanes will be getter worse, more frequent, and be going farther inland. Prepare your home insurance now.

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4 Surprises Homeowners Insurance Doesn’t Cover

admin — Thu, 22 Sep 2011 17:50:42 +0000

Even if you read your policy very careful, you might still be surprised these 10 things are not covered.

#1: Currency

Some people think keeping money under their mattress is safer than keeping it in a bank. At least money in banks are insured! If you have cash lying around, under the mattress, or even in a safe or lock box, it will probably not be reimbursed under the terms of your homeowners or renters insurance.

#2: Water Damage from Backups and Floods

Unless you have flood insurance, nowadays insurance companies won’t cover water damage caused by flooding or storms.

What most policies do cover burst pipes and damage from accidents or non-flood disasters.
Don’t expect sewage backups or other pipe backups to be covered standard though. What you need is “sewer backup coverage”.

#3: Trampolines

Depending on your state, you might not get coverage for your trampoline. Obviously, no trampoline repairs, but the bigger concern is your liability from injuries incurred during trampoline use. Over 100 thousand injuries happen each year due to trampolines.

In some places and with some companies, you might be disqualified from getting any property liability coverage at all if you put in a trampoline. And don’t think about not telling your insurer, because they can void your whole contract if they learn about it.

You should also be concerned about the damage to your home or others that a trampoline can cause if it is blown away in a storm. At the very least, bolt it down.

#4: Much Ado about Pools

While screened pool enclosures are great for making sure you can use your pool whenever, free from bugs and other things that might drift in, they are also super expensive, vulnerable, and usually uninsured. This is especially true in coastal states in the South, where enclosures and tropical storms are both common. Enclosures are extremely vulnerable to hurricanes and high winds, when objects flying through the air can crash into them and cause thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars in damage. Don’t even bother with the claim, because they are not going to pay it.

Don’t have a fence or “cage” around your pool? Make sure you check your state law, because many states require them. Many insurers do as well, if you want them to cover liability. If a person should drown in your pool, as thousands of children do each year, you could be charged with criminal neglect; most homeowners insurance providers will not help you without a fence.

Water slides and diving boards are really joys for children, but absolute nightmares for homeowners insurance providers. That’s why many home insurance companies will not provide liability coverage for pools with either, and some won’t even offer you a policy at all if you have a slide or board.

#5: Pit Bulls and Other “Aggressive Breeds”

In no way is it scientifically proven that certain breeds of dog are more dangerous than others, but that won’t stop insurance companies from denying you liability coverage. Because of statistics, certain breeds might not be offered coverage.

Dogs categorized as high-risk breeds include:

Pit bulls
Akitas
Chow chows
German shepherds
Wolf hybrids
Doberman pinschers
Presas

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Homeowners insurance and natural disasters

admin — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 10:38:14 +0000

Over the last week, the international headlines have been dominated by the disaster in Japan. First came the earthquake registering 9.0 on the Richter Scale. This makes it one of the most severe earthquakes since accurate record-keeping began. Then came the tsunami. With only minutes, there was no evacuation. Instead, a wall of water some thirty feet high, swept everything in its path to destruction. Now we watch as Japan struggles with a nuclear disaster in one of its major power stations. At times like this, our hearts go out to the survivors. It’s one of the worst tragedies in a developed economy for the last ten years. But this is not just a time to reflect on how fragile the Earth is and how easily our civilization can be disrupted. We must also look to home and review the preparations we have made should there be local problems.

The West coast sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire and, at some point, there may be a major quake affecting California. We should wonder whether the nuclear power plants in the areas most at risk will fare better than those in Japan. Southern California proudly boasts the design for the San Onofre Plant will survive a 7.0 quake. As a word of explanation, every change in a whole number, say from 7.0 to 8.0 means the quake is ten times as strong. It would not hurt to look carefully at the safety issues at all plants close to areas at risk of a quake.

Closer to home, we should take out our own insurance policies. Remember, the wording used by insurers is very precise. If it says something clearly, that is all it says. There is nothing more. Do not make the mistake of assuming the words will include everything you hope. So, for example, a reference to wind damage may cover the fall of a tree on to your home, but not a tornado that lifts off your roof. Sadly, tornadoes are rather specific events and more common in particular parts of America. They are always dealt with as a special endorsement. So what is included? In most policies, you are covered for accidental damage to contents, and damage to contents and structure by fire. You will be able to replace much of what has been taken in a burglary and “ordinary” wind damage is usually included. But after that, you are into formal additions to the policy.

Almost all homeowners insurance companies exclude earthquake damage and, because of the problems of geology in other areas, there are strict limits on damage caused by mudslides, landslides, sink holes, and the like. Flooding is now most often a matter for the Federal government. Even there, problems will arise if the cause of water arriving in quantity is a tsunami.

Once you read through all the exceptions and limitations, you will realize how thin your cover is. Now is the time to get homeowners insurance quotes to see how much it will cost to fill in some of the holes. Unfortunately some cover is expensive and you may not think it economic. But you should at least be well enough informed to make good decisions.

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Homeowners insurance and discounts

admin — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 18:41:29 +0000

Insurance is a rather simple form of gambling. The insurance company offers odds on the different ways you might suffer a loss. You can place a bet and, if you suffer the loss in the predicted way, you claim your “winnings”. Well, that’s changing the words around to make you think, but the spirit of this is correct. It all comes down to the ability of the insurer to predict how many people will lose money and how much they will lose. The total amount plus a margin to cover administrative costs and provide a profit, is then divided among the policyholders as the premium. So why should the insurer give you a discount? The answer comes down to those predictions. If you do something to change the odds on you losing money, the insurer rewards you.

Take something as simple as a fire alarm. They cost very little to install and maintain. Yet, if smoke is detected early, you can either put out the fire before it has a chance to take hold, or you call in help before your home burns to the ground. So a small investment earns a big reward. Now add in another fire-related variable. Did you have the good sense to buy a home close to the fire department? If so, your rate will be lower than for the people who decided to live somewhere off the beaten track. Even if they have early warning from an alarm, it still takes too long for a tender to arrive. Now what about the cause of the fire? Old homes have bad wiring that often causes fires. Get a certified electrician to make your home safe and you earn a discount. Similarly, new pipes don’t leak and properly maintained furnaces don’t catch fire as often.

Now think about the structure. The web site run by your local Insurance Commissioner will have details of the recommended technical specifications for roofing and other materials that will earn a discount if you upgrade your home. Homes of straw blow down when the wolf storm blows. Better to build your home of bricks with a sturdy roof.

As to where your home is located, having the money to buy into a gated community can give you a big saving. All that additional security is a deterrent to thieves. If there are no gates but an active community watch, you still make savings. Put the other way round, living in a community with the wrong ZIP code condemns you to higher rates because the risk of home invasions and vandalism are higher.

No claims discounts are coming into play. The longer you go without making a claim, the bigger the savings passed on to you. So, when you add all these up, it may not entitle you to cheap homeowners insurance, but it certainly becomes more affordable. Bundle the policy with auto insurance and that improves the savings. So shop around and get as many homeowners insurance quotes as possible. Then you can balance loyalty against those tempting initial offers to change to another insurer.

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Home insurance and those winter perils

admin — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 13:31:16 +0000

Somewhere lurking away in one of those Christmas carol CDs is a happy chorus along the lines of , “Winter is a coming in, so loudly sing tra la. . .” or hey-nonny-nos to that effect. It’s all supposed to reassure you that all this white stuff falling out of the sky is great Christmas decoration and there’s nothing to worry about as those icicles form on the power lines. Ah, if only t’were so. The weight of snow on your roof can find any weakness. Come the thaw and melt water can seep through into lofts, bring down ceilings. That’s assuming the ice hasn’t burst your pipe before the thaw. All this good cheer should reinforce the basic message that a little prevention will keep you warm and the house secure.

For those who rough it out in the countryside, you should have stockpiled wood and coal to keep the heating system going, or have filled up the tank with oil or propane for the furnace. Keeping the fires burning during the worst of the cold prevents the build up of ice in any of the pipes. A maintenance check of the furnace makes sure it will fire up when you need it and burn efficiently. And you did remember to check the ducts and change the filters? And you are sure the outside tank won’t leak? All those fire hazards to think about when you open the furnace and sparks fly out. Heating systems are wonderful so long as they work as designed. Let a little air into them and you get problems. That’s where those annoying little keys come in. A few minutes work to bleed out the air gives you hot radiators in every room.

As to the roof, there’s no substitute for a quick survey of the roof trusses, checking the tarpaper for holes and that the shingles have not shifted out of place. If you can access the roof during the winter, being able to knock the snow off before it builds up too much keeps the danger at risk. Can you remove the snow without bringing down the guttering and downspouts? If so, and you live in the city, remember to warn anyone approaching on the sidewalk that a small avalanche is on its way. Then there are all those windows and doors. You don’t want to burn dollars only to find all the heat passing out through the ceilings, walls and windows while raging drafts keep your ankles cool.

Perhaps we should put this another way. You could go through a checklist like this and avoid making a claim on your homeowners insurance during the winter or when the spring comes and you find all the doors swollen and jammed shut. Or you could make yourself really popular with your claims adjuster and find the next home insurance quote comes in with a bring increase in premium. Yes, the insurer really does prefer you to care for your property and punishes you if you wake surprised to find it winter inside as well as out.

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Hurricanes are Dangerous for Home Insurance Rates

admin — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 13:22:00 +0000

Have you ever tried to predict a hurricane? Ever watched the meteorologists on television try? It’s frustrating at best and completely insanely impossible at worst.

Yet insurance providers have to try. Otherwise, they wouldn’t know how much to charge for hurricane insurance.

Insurance Companies Use Computer Models to Try to Predict Hurricanes

In order to try to get a useable number so that they can decide 1) if they should provide you with hurricane coverage, and 2) how much they should charge you for hurricane coverage, insurers use extremely complex computer models. These models feed off of scientifically gathered data about weather systems, climate patterns, and ocean currents.
Since literally trillions of dollars are riding on it, you’d bet these computer models would be pretty accurate, huh?

You’d be wrong.

Computer models are almost never accurate

There are several problems with the way insurers do things:

The data fed into the computer is incomplete and inaccurate
Scientists only have 50 years of history to use
The models are best at spitting out a range, not a single number
Insurers are not objective when choosing models

Insurers are concerned about 1 thing only: profit. They need a single number, not a range. When they are deciding on a model to choose, insurers tend to choose the model that gives them the highest number. Why? The higher the number, the higher the premiums they charge you, and the higher their profits are.

Garbage In, Gospel Out

This whole thing has become a kind of crisis because of something called the “garbage in, gospel out” attitude.

Insurers feed the computer models with bad data, and they put their complete trust in the number that comes out. It’s a recipe for financial disaster.

Who ends up paying for it? The insurance executives? Of course not. It’s you, the consumer.

To make it worse, 90% of insurance companies use the same 3 computer models. This means that the consequences are widespread and deep-seeded.

Why don’t state governments regulate this better?

Offshore ownership is the answer. The company that gives you your hurricane insurance policy does not actually own the risk. They sell it to a company operating outside of the United States. This makes it impossible for states to regulate your hurricane insurance effectively.

On top of that, most hurricane states tend to be governed by conservative politicians. They generally aren’t very strong on insurance industry regulation. This is especially true in Florida, where only one official has any say over how hurricane insurance is regulated.

These offshore firms play a big part in determining the prices.

Hurricanes are just the start

Across the US, so called “catastrophe models” like this are being used for new home insurance factors:

human greed
government failings
tampering

The biggest problem is that there are no good alternatives to using these computer models. That’s why they are also used for:

Tornados
Tsunamis
Earthquakes

How you can save on Hurricane Insurance

To get your home insurance premiums down, make sure your home is hurricane-proof. Install storm glass and reinforce weak areas of the house.
Better yet, move away from coastal areas where hurricane coverage for home insurance is so expensive.