Home Owner Insurance Rant

[frayne]

No doubt this has been covered before but just got my HO insurance statement for the coming year. Currently paying about $550 for covering an average 1800 sq. ft home, basic coverage, no flood insurance and have the highest deductible allowed. That said I still think it is too darn much. Have been with the same insurance company (autos too) for 35+ year and never had a claim. Why do I feel like I am paying mob protection money and getting screwed at the same time ? BTW State Farm is my carrier.

Am I being unreasonable, what is everyone else paying ?

 

[jebmke]

About $1300 for a 2500 sf single-floor. No flood. Can't recall deductible - I have whatever the umbrella policy requires - maybe a $1,000?

 

[Tom52]

I had State Farm for home and 2 autos for over 30 years. They just kept raising the rates by anywhere from 7% to 10% a year. I never had a single claim. I finally shopped thru and idenpendent insurance agent and cut the bill by over a third. State Farm is the problem, you are subsidizing all that high priced advertising. Now I see they advertise loans. I suppose as a policyholder you will be paying for anyone who defaults on the loans as well. They won't eat a nickel of it.

Yeah, I am not a fan of State Farm.

 

[Al in Ohio]

I pay about $800 for a 2450 sf home with no flood ins in Ohio where risk for fire or any natural disasters is very low. My deductable is high too.

 

[harley]

All you can do is compare costs in your area and decide for yourself. I'm paying more for the 1200 sf house in Florida than I am for the 4200 sf house in Maryland. And Maryland isn't that cheap either. So looking at comparisons from outside your area is pretty meaningless.

 

[braumeister]

That doesn't sound unreasonable to me. In southern Ohio, I pay a little more than that for a similar size house with a 5K deductible and earthquake coverage.

 

[FANOFJESUS]

No doubt this has been covered before but just got my HO insurance statement for the coming year. Currently paying about $550 for covering an average 1800 sq. ft home, basic coverage, no flood insurance and have the highest deductible allowed. That said I still think it is too darn much. Have been with the same insurance company (autos too) for 35+ year and never had a claim. Why do I feel like I am paying mob protection money and getting screwed at the same time ? BTW State Farm is my carrier.

Am I being unreasonable, what is everyone else paying ?

I am paying more that in MO and with a smaller home. Nowadays that sounds good at $550
The Florida folks would love this thread it would be better than comedy central.
Reminds me of a friend from St Louis that went to Chicago and told them about his high house taxes. Taxes in Chicago are about 5 times that of MO. Needless to say he will not be moving to Chicago anytime soon.

 

[travelover]

Reshop your rates evey few years. I combine home, auto and umbrella to get the best overall rate.

 

[bellanca18]

We pay about $560 for 980 sq ft home with $500 deduct. Allstate with the 2 autos on same policy. No flood insur. or earthquake. It does look to vary across the states. We're in Arkansas.

 

[Gumby]

I think you're getting a good deal. My premium is $2853 per year for a 2505 sqft house on the Connecticut shoreline. Deductible is $2000. Without the discounts for having multiple lines with them and a long and good payment history, the premium would be $5775 per year. The premium increased by over 10% from last year -- most likely due to the fact that we have been hit by hurricanes the last two years in a row (Irene and Sandy).

 

[jazz4cash]

Ours is .38/sq ft compared to your rate of .30/sq ft., but real estate in DC area is pricey so that probably accounts for much of the difference. I do have some enhanced coverage. We switched from Geico to State Farm two yrs ago for home + auto. I was extremely unhappy with the way Geico auto for how they handled two claims in 25 yrs. I like having an agent, but it is almost mandatory w/ State Farm because thier systems seem antiquated. It is always a hassle whenever I need to make a change, but the agent is pretty good. My homeowners jumped 20% this year and when I complained they researched and it seemed they "forgot" to add some discounts that I was due.....then there was a series of screw-ups before it got worked out. Loyalty does not pay when it comes to home and auto insurance. Like Travelover says, shop the well known carriers every few years and see if current carrier will match.

 

[Amethyst]

OP's rates sound quite reasonable to me.

On a related topic, one's credit rating supposedly affects one's insurance premiums, but the relationship is obscure. I was appalled, when checking CreditKarma and CreditSesame, to see our "excellent" credit scores accompanied by "poor" homeowner's and "fair" auto insurance scores, even though we've filed no claims for years and years. The site didn't offer any useful explanation for the insurance scores.

Amethyst

 

[zinger1457]

Paying $419 with max deductible for a 2250sf house here in Arizona. It had been under $300 until wildfires in the area caused rates to spike up last year.

 

[sheehs1]

Mine is almost $1700 a year for 3400 sq ft house and one car (DH's car is insured by his company) thru Encompass with a local broker. No claims on the car and only 2 small claims on the house over 22 years (less than $5,000 and less than $2000(after deductible met)) . The $2000 one was a mistake in my opinion but once started I couldn't get out of it. I carry high deductibles of $5k and the highest deductibles on my car that I'm allowed.

The insurance companies have figured out how much they want out of us IMHO. I say this because when I try to increase the deductible on my house, the rate drop is insignificant ($16).

Rate shopping locally doesn't reduce it for me. Progressive may have been cheaper. State Farm was higher.

I need to rate shop again this year.

 

[pb4uski]

I pay about the same for a ~2,000 sf, 2-year old house. My coverage is robust because IIRC it was cheaper to have better home coverage and a lesser umbrella than the inverse.

 

[Amethyst]

I'm afraid to shop around. We've been with one company for decades. We have "accident forgiveness" included in our auto premium for "free," and other companies say we must be with them for a year to get this benefit. So if we switched, we would be going "naked" for a year. Plus there is the fear that if we do file a home or auto claim, a new company (that doesn't have the history with us) would drop us.

Perhaps we are just kidding ourselves, and longevity with one company doesn't mean anything.

Amethyst

 

[dm]

I had my first claim this year. Hail damage on roof. I got my new bill on Sat. My rates went up over $700 per year. My new rates for a 2500sq ft home in MO is now $2685, a 37% increase from last year. I also have flood insurance, thats $340 a year extra.

I'll be calling my agent on Monday. I'm not happy.

I'm starting to think its time to move.

 

[John Galt III]

I have homeowners and auto with Erie, in Pa. My homeowners has gone up 13% each of the last 3 years. But it is "only" $295 a year for a townhome, with $1,500 deductible, no flood ins, so compared to other folks, I am getting a good deal. I'll wait to see what they do to my auto premium, then possibly go through the hassle of shopping around. I used to be with Allstate, until they started raising my auto by 10% a year, every year, with no claims. Then I dropped them and got much lower rates with Erie.

 

[Kaufmanrider]

No doubt this has been covered before but just got my HO insurance statement for the coming year. Currently paying about $550 for covering an average 1800 sq. ft home, basic coverage, no flood insurance and have the highest deductible allowed. That said I still think it is too darn much. Have been with the same insurance company (autos too) for 35+ year and never had a claim. Why do I feel like I am paying mob protection money and getting screwed at the same time ? BTW State Farm is my carrier.

Am I being unreasonable, what is everyone else paying ?

I wish I only paid $550. I am paying about $1500 a year for a 2000 sq ft. house in North Texas. Allstate raised it on my this year about $300. There has been a lot of hail and tornado damage in North Texas the past few years.

 

[jetpack]

I'm paying about $2k, for an old 2500sqft home. I'm about ready to shop around (home / auto / medical ) after being w/ this company for life. I also want to add umbrella. The real question is how much coverage do I want. Min / max or somewhere in between.

 

[brewer12345]

$1200 or so a year for a 2800 sq ft house in CO and I had a 10 grand hail claim last year.

 

[Gatordoc50]

In Florida here. 2500 for 2000 SF. That doesn't include wind or flood for which we self insure. Otherwise it would be closer to 6 grand. Ouch!

 

[MooreBonds]

I am paying more that in MO and with a smaller home. Nowadays that sounds good at $550

I have AMICA, 1951-era house, 1760 sq ft, 3 bedroom, 2 bath, with basement. $250k 'replacement' value.

There are many factors that can have a small impact on premiums. Added up, they can make a big difference:

-Discounts for having auto with them
-Age of house
-Remodeled year (updated electrical and plumbing can be big pluses)
-Smoke alarms
-Central monitoring alarm for burglar/fire
-Distance to fire hydrant and fire station
-pool on property
-liability coverages (I have $500k)
and that doesn't even begin to approach things like deductibles, flood zones, wind/hurricane, etc.

My homeowners for my home (remodeled in 2010, updated electric/plumbing) near a fire station/hydrant with smoke detectors and $500k liability is $791/year for a $2,500 deductible. My mortgage w/ PenFed requires a max deductible of 1% of the home's worth, so once the mortgage is paid of down the road, would switch to a $5,000 deductible.

 

[ripper1]

Has anybody looked into USAA. While it is for military families it is very reasonable. I am paying 1200 a year for a 2100 sqft ranch and two newer model cars at full coverage. Property is located in NW Indiana.

 

[MooreBonds]

Has anybody looked into USAA. While it is for military families it is very reasonable. I am paying 1200 a year for a 2100 sqft ranch and two newer model cars at full coverage. Property is located in NW Indiana.

Was engaged to the daughter of a former Marine, so she had USAA coverage. The engagement ring had a VERY low rider adder to the USAA homeowner's policy.

If memory serves me correctly (this was about 5 years ago), the USAA homeowner's policy was slightly cheaper than whom I have now (AMICA), but the jewelery rider was substantially lower (like 30% lower), and half of the quote from a Jeweler's Mutual quote.