Home Insurance

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JOhnH

Touchdown! Greaser!
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I am usually tolerant of businesses raising their prices these past few years. I mostly blame, (uh well, that's a different topic).

But my home insurance has gone from about $1k two years ago to $2,600 last year to $6k this year. So it is time for me to shop around.

Is it best to look for recommendations and solicit individual quotes or are there good, honest brokerages or web sites that will shop for good policies at decent rates?
 
Liberty Mutual just gave my dad a little over 100k. Wasnt necessarily fun getting it...I'm also shopping mine around, but tough to get my unique situation through someone over the phone.

Being in Florida like you are cant be fun when shopping
 
I have USAA for home insurance.

Yes, it has more than doubled in price in the last couple years.

And service has dropped. I will be looking to change this summer unless I get a good explanation for the increase.
 
JOhnH said:
So it is time for me to shop around.
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FYI: May want to start with who is writing new policies in FL by location. Several GOM states have had dozens of insurance companies pull out of the area market or go bankrupt due to the hurricane loses. My policy doubled last year like yours and when I started to look around found I had no other options at a reasonable rate. So hopefully my current policy holder will renew this year and only double it again. If not I hope I can find a policy for $6000.
 
Definitely call around and adjust your coverage limits and deductible to something you’re comfortable with.
 
I had The Hartford (AARP) for home, car and umbrella coverage. I dropped them like a hot rock when they raised the car insurance premium by one-third this year, despite no tickets, claims or accidents, and no change in domicile, cars or drivers. Went with Progressive for everything, equal or better coverage for less premium than I was paying The Hartford before the rate hike.
 
Florida has some unique laws that have caused a lot of insurers to abandon the state. That, combined with a bunch of hurricanes in the last couple years has really jacked up rates. There's been some pretty rampant fraud with roofing - one broken tile resulting in a brand new roof. Assigning benefits to contractors that have lawyers on speed dial to sue the insurance company etc. I had a commercial property policy that got put out to seven or so companies, only three quoted. 250% increase. Some legislation got passed to fix part of it. At the moment the courts are jammed with attys filing suits to get in before the new law takes effect.
 
Zeldman said:
I have USAA for home insurance.

Yes, it has more than doubled in price in the last couple years.

And service has dropped. I will be looking to change this summer unless I get a good explanation for the increase.
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I left USAA after 42 years last spring.

When I bought a new house, USAA took a week to get me a quote and wanted 2.5 times what Allstate wanted. They're outsourcing some of their customers to Chubb now too.

Sad, they used to be a really good company.
 
JOhnH said:
I am usually tolerant of businesses raising their prices these past few years. I mostly blame, (uh well, that's a different topic).

But my home insurance has gone from about $1k two years ago to $2,600 last year to $6k this year. So it is time for me to shop around.

Is it best to look for recommendations and solicit individual quotes or are there good, honest brokerages or web sites that will shop for good policies at decent rates?
Click to expand...

Quit kidding yourself. There is no such thing as a home insurance policy in Florida for a descent price.
 
Try fire insurance for a log home in the Mountains of the Western part of the US. It can be brutal with not a lot of options. We are lucky to be in a zone 4. Anything else would likely be uninsurable. We have freinds that are in zone 7 and 10. they buy really high priced, high risk policies that don't cover anything more than the remaining balance of their mortgage. So they are almost self insured.
 
Let's see, car prices have gone through the roof.

Housing prices are WAY up. Repair costs have done WAY up. Several hurricanes. Texas ice storm.

etc, etc.

Yeap, insurance rates are likely up.

I am with USAA. Minor increases and still great service. I have been a member for almost 43 years.

Oh, and the subscriber rebate and now also senior rebate makes them a lot cheaper than the look initially.

I have not heard of them outsourcing home and car insurance. They do partner with other companies for travel/trip insurance (Travel Insured) and aircraft/aviation (Falcon, I have my renters and airplane insurance through them). In both those cases, the partner has people that JUST deal with USAA customers.
 
Be glad you can get quotes at all -- I'm still trying to get quotes for my parents' temporary condo which they bought 6 months ago. No hurricane damage to it, not in a flood zone, but it's in SW FL, so all bets are off.
 
jbarrass said:
I left USAA after 42 years last spring.

When I bought a new house, USAA took a week to get me a quote and wanted 2.5 times what Allstate wanted. They're outsourcing some of their customers to Chubb now too.

Sad, they used to be a really good company.
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I had the same situation with USAA a few years ago and had to leave them. I understand companies having to raise prices. What I did not understand was why Allstate, Farmers, etc. were all cheaper than USAA. At one time USAA passed along the savings of their preferred risk pool to their customers. Not so much anymore.
 
The calculation and deductible of insurance, annoying…
 
I have USAA for home, auto and umbrella. Based on the responses here, I will plan to call AllState to get a quote for everything with them. See what the numbers come out to.

My Umbrella specifically does not cover Aviation. Has anybody had any luck with any carrier allowing aviation activities to fall within the scope of an Umbrella liability policy?
 
jbarrass said:
I left USAA after 42 years last spring.

When I bought a new house, USAA took a week to get me a quote and wanted 2.5 times what Allstate wanted. They're outsourcing some of their customers to Chubb now too.

Sad, they used to be a really good company.
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USAA outsources to Chubb on high value houses generally over 1.5 million. A week for a quote on a house is normal if the insurance company is doing it correctly. Longer if it’s a high end custom home. I recently had my house insured and USAA offered the best deal. They also offered coverage through Chubb. Chubb is a very high end company with Cadillac coverage. As an example most companies pay you to rebuild your house. Chubb just cuts you a check. What you do after that and if and how you rebuild is up to you.
 
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Archer Jack said:
I had the same situation with USAA a few years ago and had to leave them. I understand companies having to raise prices. What I did not understand was why Allstate, Farmers, etc. were all cheaper than USAA. At one time USAA passed along the savings of their preferred risk pool to their customers. Not so much anymore.
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Keep in mind anytime you switch companies they likely will beat your current estimate. Your rates will go up in the following years. You also need to be very careful to make sure you have the same coverage. Minor changes in wording and coverage can result in large premium swings. USAA on homeowners insurance does not play word games. Your coverage will be solid. USAA also generates substantial rebates if you are a long term customer. 2 rebates a year if over 65.
One other thing. If you are seeing large insurance increases outside of Florida take a look at your credit score. It may have dropped and it’s becoming a bigger and bigger factor in insurance rates.
 
AirHare said:
Be glad you can get quotes at all -- I'm still trying to get quotes for my parents' temporary condo which they bought 6 months ago. No hurricane damage to it, not in a flood zone, but it's in SW FL, so all bets are off.
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Another major hurricane in FL in the next 3 years and getting any insurance will be an issue. Having your customers outside of FL subsidize FL rates is not a solution. Another factor maybe equal to the storm issue in Florida is fraud. Florida is the king state when it comes to insurance fraud. Next time your neighbor is getting his 15 year old roof replaced for free thank him for your next premium increase.
 
Archer Jack said:
I had the same situation with USAA a few years ago and had to leave them. I understand companies having to raise prices. What I did not understand was why Allstate, Farmers, etc. were all cheaper than USAA. At one time USAA passed along the savings of their preferred risk pool to their customers. Not so much anymore.
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USAA does, so many your are in a higher price risk pool.

Plus, with USAA I get a good bit of my premium back as a subscriber saving bonus and now a senior bonus. So real cost is a lot lower than the bill shows.
 
Been with USAA for generations. Grandfather was a retired Air Force Officer, dad was a retired Army Officer, and I’m now a retired Army Officer. They’re rates have increased, and their service - which used to be their saving grace - can only be described as pathetic. I used to say everything with a $-sign next to it was with USAA. Not so much anymore.

More to the OP’s point, I did actually have a homeowner’s claim with USAA 9 years ago. It was an excruciatingly painful process that took over 2 months for them to make good on the claim. That experience taught me a very valuable lesson: homeowners insurance is not to protect the homeowner / property; it’s simply there to protect the lender / lien holder of the mortgage.
 
kep5niner said:
I did actually have a homeowner’s claim with USAA 9 years ago. It was an excruciatingly painful process that took over 2 months for them to make good on the claim.
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On the flip side, I had a Fire Insurance claim with USAA on a house that was being rented out and in which I was not residing. The payout amount, the timeframes and the entire process was amazing. I could not possibly have been happier with all of that. This was a few years back maybe in the 2019 time period more or less.

But. lol. I might still call Allstate just to see how the premiums compare for everything that I currently have with USAA.
 
I had a claim on my home insurance years ago, it was handled quickly and with little fuss. Maybe another boring flyover state thing.
 
My Dad had a basement flood. Called USAA, immediate response, no hassle. They moved out all the contents and then repaired all the damage, and returned everything
 
Aside from those in hurricane/wildfire territory, I wonder how much premiums are increasing due to the rapid inflation in replacement costs? New construction costs in our area went from $150-$200 sq ft pre-COVID to $300-350 sq foot today. Just received our annual property assessment from the county, and it alone went up 20% this year.
 
The absolute best homeowner's company I ever had was Safeco. Premiums were reasonable, the contract was clear and plain language and when a tenant started a fire that caused extensive damage, it was settled promptly and fairly. Sadly, they don't insure farm properties, or I'd still be with them today.
 
My idea with home insurance is carry a high deductible & only call them if you have a major claim. The small stuff I don’t deal with them.
 
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