What does this mean?

halfpint · #21 03/05/12, 10:29 PM

We have had ours inspected twice, and they did not drop us. But we've had several friends whose insurance was dropped in the last year. A friend of ours who used to be in the insurance business said they are driving by a lot of their houses to see how old the roofs are, and if they look older they are immediately dropping the policies, as older roofs tend to get more hail damage or shingles blown off.

They probably also look for things that might be high risk - ie dogs, pools or trampolines with inadequate fencing, things laying around that could be either fire or accident risks, and might send you a list of some things to repair. In one of our audits a few years ago, one of the blanks in our breaker box had fallen out, and they wanted us to put a new blank in and all we had to do was send a picture via e-mail to the insurance agent when it was replaced.

Dawn

nancy237 · #22 03/05/12, 10:55 PM

Not sure if this is always possible but we put them off & off & off til they quit asking..That was 6 years ago..

thequeensblessing · #23 03/06/12, 08:00 AM

That happened to us as well. After years in this home (we built it 8 years ago), the insurance co. suddenly decided they needed to re-inspect the property. We had a farm liability policy along with our homeowners policy. They asked a lot of questions about our wood stoves (we have 2 of them), our hot tub, our barns and livestock, and all of the stairs in and around our home. The end results were that our insurance premiums were decreased! The reasons were that we had smoke/carbon monoxide detectors and fire extinguishers on each level of the home and in the barn. We had hand rails for all the stairs, inside and outside, we have a locking cover on our hot tub, and we have a fire hydrant within 500 feet of our home.
Now, when the tax assessor came by to check us out, it was a very different story.

TheMartianChick · #24 03/06/12, 08:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MO_cows

Ours has never made an appointment, they do a drive-by and take pictures.

My parents' insurance company did a drive by when I was in high school. I remember that they mailed them a photocopy of the photograph that they took of the house.

The house needed a bit of paint but my parents were holding out for replacing the old siding with cedar the following year. The photo copy made the house look as though it was completely derelict. The insurance company also sent along a letter that implied that the "repairs" needed to be made in order to keep the policy intact. No action was taken and the house was resided in the Spring.

At the time, my mom definitely took it as a threat of cancellation.

honeyrobber · #25 03/06/12, 03:13 PM

My father went through this a few years back. He either had to move the wood pile to a rediculous distance from the house or had to sign a waver on termite damage. He signed the waver. The ponds and such were not a problem but if he had a pool there would have been one. I removed a pool from the back yard of a rental and took the metal to his place(added to the scrap metal pile to be hauled later) and it caused a bit of a hassle. Dad said there is no pool and he would not have one on the phone then when they get there they see the metal parts of a pool. When dad showed them the other metal under it and explained how it showed up they had issue with a "junk" yard being on property. The whole pile fit on the 20 foot trailer after I added more to it before hauling it off. They want to be sure nothing will increase there chance of having to pay out a claim. Metal roof lowers the insurance.

GingerN · #26 03/06/12, 08:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ninny

You can pretty much bet that your premiums will be going up. They don't do that as a courtesy. Insurance co. is looking for any excuse to either cancel or raise rates. Never heard of them lowering rates unless a firehouse moved in next door to you...

.

Guess what. You have heard of it now. I work with an agent and just today, we dropped a guys premium 150.00 because of going out and doing a home review. We do those to make sure that we still have everything insured correctly and get a chance to talk to our clients. We are looking for hazards, too, but also for good things like improvements in security, fire protection etc. We as an industry are not out to get anyone. We really try to help our clients in my office, and every office I have worked in in the last 22 yrs.

I had one client who had been with the prior agent for 25 yrs. He never reviewd the policy. The house was insured for about 57K. It was nearly 3500 sq feet!!! The replacement cost was WAY more than that. Yes, the premium was more, but like I told Miss Ruby, if the house burns down, how much of it do you want built back, cuz at 57K, you might get a kitchen and a bathroom rebuilt. (This was in 2008).

If you pick a good agent, and he has a good staff member, talk to them. Ask questions. If they don't know, have them find out. I love it when my clients come in and talk to me and ask about stuff, because then, at claim time, I know that they are covered correctly, or that they have signed off that they understand the limitations. It is not a mystery, just talk to them.

Now, in the interest of fairness, just about every company I am aware of has had big increases lately, because of the nasty weather we've had over the last couple of years. I hate it, but unfortunately, it has happened. W/the agent looking at it, he is looking to help you.

**Ross** · #27 03/07/12, 08:09 AM

Insurance reviews can change rates and coverage. My agent actually came out and did mine. But you do want good coverage too. I'll never understand why people lie to their agent to get a lower rate, all you're doing is paying for no coverage. A bit like not fixing the rear brakes on your car. You can always shop your policy somewhere else.

texican · #28 03/07/12, 11:42 AM

Well they can't cancel everyone, or they'd be out of business... however, just like any insurance pool, they're always (and they'd be foolish if they didn't) trying to weed out the bad risks.

This is the way insurance has traditionally worked, and why, with health insurance, it's impossible to get coverage, with pre-existing conditions... Alas, the health insurance industry is about to go extinct, with new "care" rules that negate the precepts of insurance.

I sincerely hope that our do gooders will jump onto home, car, and life insurance next.... I have a broken home, I'd like to get fixed up, free, several wrecked out vehicles, and would like to get some life insurance on some dead relatives!

OH Boy · #29 03/07/12, 09:05 PM

I am an insurance underwriter and first off there is no way that the company is targeting you specifically. I suspect that they have had higher than average loss ratios on properties like yours so they are re-underwriting their book of business to make sure of what risks they are exposed to. Possibly they want to get rid of any customers that have wood burning stoves, maybe they are concerned about vicious dogs. Who knows what it is. I wouldnt stress over it. There are plenty of insurance companies out there to get insurance from. Not a bad idea to ask your agent to get competitive quotes from other insurance companies once in a while either. You never know, there might be a better deal available.

grammajudy · #30 03/07/12, 09:41 PM

Our insurance agent comes out every three years and has done that for the last 20 something years. They take pictures, measure, etc. just want to make sure everything is the same. We used to burn wood, but quit doing that when we got to the age we couldn't carry it into the house. We still had the stove, but had the chimney covered. They took a picture of the covered chimney. Guess they had to, didn't really bother me; I just thought it was funny. They always raise our insurance.