Home insurance inspections

[socca]

The first year I purchased home insurance, there was no inspection by the underwriter AFAIK. The second year, the inspector walked around the house but didn't go inside (the underwriter complained about the empty pool, an issue since resolved). This year, the inspector also poked around inside my house, which I find a tad intrusive.

What's the standard practice in your area (if there is one)?

 

[KM]

We've been homeowners for 35 years.....4 houses. We never had an inspection by any home insurer (and we've had a few) until a couple years ago when we switched to Amica. They told me they would be coming out and doing a "walk-around" at both houses (we now own a rental). They sent us a short list of recommended "improvements" - none were mandatory - but they all made sense to us so we completed them. We've never seen them again after that first year.

 

[DrRoy]

5 houses over 32 years, all with State Farm. Never had an inspection.

 

[REWahoo]

45+ years of home ownership and never had an insurance inspection.

 

[travelover]

Just once with Amica. Guy came out to verify the place was not a burned out hulk, then asked to see the service panel to verify that it had breakers not fuses.

Surly little snot.

 

[braumeister]

45+ years of home ownership and never had an insurance inspection.

Same here.
Once, a couple of homes ago, an insurance rep drove past to get a glimpse of the house but that was the most I've ever heard of.

 

[Just_Steve]

A friend of mine had a job for a company that got calls from almost all insurance companies, his job was to do drive by photography so don't be so sure your house has never been checked out.

 

[Out of Steam]

Once had the insurance agent come out to take exterior pictures. Also remember once getting a business card left by someone from the insurance company.

 

[JoeWras]

State Farm: nothing (except yearly prices raises)

Amica: inspection via Google. Not kidding, really! She looked at the streetview picture and overhead to verify footprint and approximate condition.

A friend at w*rk signed up with Amica and got the same quick walk around and fuse panel inspection. He passed.

 

[NW-Bound]

45+ years of home ownership and never had an insurance inspection.

I am younger, but with two homes so have a total of 49 home-years of ownership. Never had an inspection.

Once, they called about the high-country boondocks home, and asked about the distance to the closest fire station. Answer: 3 miles. And that was that.

 

[Texas Proud]

One of the things that you have to think about with the people who say 'no inspection'.... do they really know?

IOW, someone could drive by and check out the house... and you would never know it was 'inspected'....

I know that a house can be inspected without your knowledge as the property tax guy did it with my old house... I was protesting and went before the board... they brought out the inspection to show me how big my house was... I said 'well, I only have a second floor for half the house so you have my house too big'.... the assessor said that did not make a difference but the board disagreed.... however, they 'recommended' that they send someone to come in the house... he did a bad job as he thought that my 'attic' (it was a walk in attic) was a room, but never opened the door .... made him go back upstairs to fix his error...


As for me, no known inspection.... however, my sister has had one and she agreed to let them inside... actually got a lower quote....

 

[mamadogmamacat]

35+ years of home ownership, in CT, TX and GA. Drive by inspections were common in all three states. Never had any requests for interior access.

 

[Fedup]

I have AAA and last year they started poking around and then raised rates on us.

 

[Lakewood90712]

When we bought this place some 30 years ago , the Allstate agent did a drive by , and questioned the age of the roof. That was the extent of underwriting on a new customer.

Last year, Allstate sent a letter saying they contracted with a company to inspect our place . Never saw anyone. Maybe they look at google earth and look at claims ( none).

I would expect more of this loss control / tighter underwriting in the future.

 

[Dash man]

USAA had an inspector request to walk through our home last year, the first time ever. They offered a few suggestions and my bill went up about $350 per year. Apparently the materials to rebuild were the reason since we've upgraded things all by the way.

 

[rdy2go]

Home inspections vary by company and the age and value of your home. Some companies feel that it is a waste of money due to the low quality of the inspections they tend to get from the inspection companies. When I was an underwriter many years ago we would get photos of homes where the trees in the photo were blurred because the "inspector" didn't slow down enough to get a good clear photo. Then the inspector would go to the courthouse and pay a dollar for a diagram of the house to avoid having to get out of the car, meet the homeowner, mad dog, neighbor, etc..

An expensive home may be inspected inside and out to verify size, construction quality and any hazards like a pool, trampoline, pets (could be a dog, python, horse, lion, who knows!). These inspections can be very helpful to the homeowner in the event of a claim since the inspection will document that the paneling in the library is imported zebrawood from Tanzania or whatever, marble from Verona, etc. and not just locally sourced common materials. If your home burns, this would be really helpful when it comes time to settle a claim. A common home doesn't need this type of inspection, but a high value home benefits from a complete and thorough inspection.

I have seen inspections of the wrong home on the wrong street, photos of a frame house when the right home was brick, etc. Sometimes the inspections are done to verify that a swimming pool doesn't have a diving board or a trampoline has been removed as claimed by the local agent. A quick drive-by can be all that is needed to spot a run-down dump or verify that a home is desirable to insure and appears to be well maintained.

 

[45th Birthday]

An expensive home may be inspected inside and out to verify size, construction quality and any hazards like a pool, trampoline, pets (could be a dog, python, horse, lion, who knows!). These inspections can be very helpful to the homeowner in the event of a claim since the inspection will document that the paneling in the library is imported zebrawood from Tanzania or whatever, marble from Verona, etc. and not just locally sourced common materials. If your home burns, this would be really helpful when it comes time to settle a claim. A common home doesn't need this type of inspection, but a high value home benefits from a complete and thorough inspection.

When we were with Chubb, both our houses were inspected for mostly this reason. They sent a bound book with the results, almost like an appraisal. Don't recall any changes in limits/premium as a result. Current company PURE hired an outside firm to review hurricane code compliance of our coastal condo. They also required us to send pictures of certain loss control items for which we receive discounts (water flow valves, alarms, safes, etc.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

We have had Amica for several years, never an inspection (house built in '78). My Dad also has had Amica for several years and no inspections until last year when a contractor came through and did a pretty lengthy inspection (built in '73). They didn't have any recommendations and there was no significant increase in the premium.

Both houses are here in Georgia.

 

[MichaelB]

Here in Florida there is an effort underway by home insurance companies to limit how much they pay in damages. They claim that in many cases, homes damaged by flood or storm were already in a deteriorated state, so claim amounts should be limited to the cost to restore to the previous, deteriorated state. This is a big deal here, some of the insurers have already modified the policy language to reinforce this. One reason this is public is because the lead insurer is Citizens, the state run insurer of last resort, and the initiative has some support from elected officials.

Our flood policy insurer just sent an inspector, unannounced, and the insurer has not yet complied with my request for a copy of the assessment.

 

[Walt34]

In 35+ years of home ownership no insurance rep ever asked to go inside. I'd expect that they'd at least do a drive-by photo to make sure the place actually existed or as Travelover said make sure it isn't burned down.

 

[jazz4cash]

Good topic. I've never had an inspection AFAIK but I just got renewal docs from Nationwide and they added a note about limiting payment for damages resulting from conditions that they identified as known risks. I assumed a dead tree or something like that. I never thought about the need for an inspection to identify these conditions so I guess I need to read my paperwork again. With the rate of premium increases I have no problem with an exterior inspection. Even after two increases averaging 8 pct/yr we pay about 40 pct less than what State Farm charged us.

 

[athena53]

I've also had drive-by and walkarounds only. Most of my homes have been garden-variety tract homes so not much that would increase replacement cost compared to other houses in the area. Current one is an architect's original (we have the plans) but our agent insured the previous owner so he probably knew the inside pretty well- it's a small neighborhood. No fancy finishes here, either, although I'm sure the walkaround helped document the addition of the enclosed porch.

 

[socca]

I object to having a contractor that I have not personally vetted poking around inside my house, so I am going to deny permission in the future. If the underwriter insists, I will cancel the policy.

 

[OldShooter]

I ... If the underwriter insists, I will cancel the policy.

I did exactly that five or ten years ago. I signed with a new company based on a competitive rate. AFTER I signed and paid they sent some bozo out who complained about gutters not being clean, a tree branch rubbing against the house, and a few other idiot things. I was instructed to remedy these problems. Instead, I just cancelled the policy.

 

[euro]

I've only had this happen once. It was with one of the big companies (can't recall which one, but I think it was GEICO). They used some underwriter based in California and sent out a local guy to look at the property (outside only). He found a couple of cracks in the concrete driveway, and they ended up telling me it had to be fixed before the policy could be issued and gave me 8 days to have it remedied. It was February, and my driveway was frozen over. I asked them how they expected me to repair the driveway within 8 days with a layer of ice and snow on top of it. They did not have any advice but refused to give me more time to deal with the issue. I switched my policy to a different provider. They did have the lowest rate at the time, but not by much, so I wasn't' going to deal with a bunch of knuckleheads