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My Homeowners Insurance Renewal: OUCH!
By JLP | August 2, 2007
I received the first draft of our homeowner’s insurance policy. Our premium went up to $1,823, a 19% increase over last year’s premium of $1,528. Oh, and they added a new 2% deductible for wind damage, which would put us on the hook for the first $4,652 in damages if our home received any wind damage.
My first, quick-tempered reaction was, “What the hell do I have insurance for?” I realize that’s an immature response but consider this:
I remember putting on an entire roof with architectural shingles just a few years ago for $200 less than that deductible! I’m sure that roofing materials have gone up in price since then but I’m not sure how much.
This is what stinks about insurance. We have been in our house 8 years, NEVER filed a claim, and yet our rates keep going up. Of course it doesn’t help that we live in an area that was hit particularly hard by the mold BS that happened several years ago. It also doesn’t help that we suffered a hurricane in 2005. Still, these rates seem a bit extreme especially when you consider the fact that our premium was around $850 per year not too many years ago.
My insurance agent is working on getting the limits of liability reduced, which should drop our premium and deductibles some (the deductible is a percentage of the limits of liability). I’ll let you know what the final premium is as soon as I find out.
UPDATE: I guess it could always be worse.
Topics: Disaster Planning, Homeowner's Insurance, Insurance |