Insurance for Cabin?

[greenacresusa]

Hi, a good question. We had a cedar cabin (12x16) with a nice porch and metal roof built and then moved onto our property that we will retire to in 9 years. We love it but we can't get insurance on it. We have no electric or water in it. And it is only 20 feet uphill from our pond. But insurance companies don't want to insure it or they want a fortune!! You would think that without electric to short out or water pipes to freeze it would be cheaper to insure. Any ideas? Thanks!

[agmantoo]

I would just put the premium in a savings account and be my own insurer. The risk is minimal and the replacement costs could soon be saved for a 192 sq. ft. building.

[logbuilder]

I'm going to assume you have checked with multiple insurance companies. If not, do it so you know that you are getting competitive quotes.

I think what you are really asking is why are the quotes so high. Lets look at it from the perspective of the companies you are asking to insure it. First, Since you have no electricity or water, I would guess that it is not in a place where a fire department would be close enough to put out a fire before it burned down. Second, it is a place that is not your primary residence so it will be vacant often. Who would protect it when you are gone. Third, if you did have a fire, without water, how would you put it out (assuming you were there). You mentioned the pond being 20 feet away. Are you suggesting your fire fighting plan would be to get buckets of water from the pond to fight a fire? Fourth, without electricity, how do you heat? Wood stove? Fifth, you won't be there all the time. What about vandalism?

If you really believe that there is a low chance of fire or any other type of damage, why do you really think you need insurance? Now if you are thinking you need it solely for liability purposes, that is another thing.

[Mike in Ohio]

I would agree with agmantoo. We do not insure our cabin (12x16). If you consider any sort of deductible and the value of a small cabin it makes more sense to self-insure.

Mike

[Ramblin Wreck]

I agree with agmantoo.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

ask about liability only if the only thing they are issuring is if one of your guests get hurt then there should be little risk.

[Mike in Ohio]

Greencountypete is correct. We do have liability insurance for the farm.

[greenacresusa]

Thanks, all good points. We have checked with many insurance companies including the one we have our home through. And to answer about the pond, where we are now the fire companies use the ponds around here for the pumpers. Most farms with ponds have a fireplug sign on the road by their farms noting that there is a pond there to be used for pumping water and it makes a big price difference in the insurance premiums if you have one.

Good idea about putting the money aside for self insurance but we have about $5500-$6000 tied up in the cabin and since we're moving there in about 9 years we would need to save $600 - $700 a year. And if something happened to it in the next couple years there is no way we'll have close to the $5-$6K saved up.

We had thought about selling the cabin and putting in an RV trailer. The insurance companies will ensure that!!

We'll gather more facts and see where we go from there.

Thanks again for the ideas.