Two home insurance claims in 6 months
If a tree falls near your house but doesn't reach a building and just one part of your walkway upends, can you file an insurance claim?
Do the math and think carefully about the answer. If you are going to make an insurance claim, be sure to get the most out of it. You have the right to hire an experienced home insurance attorney to maximize your property damage claim.
According to an insuranceQuotes.com report, in some states filing a single homeowner insurance claim will increase a policyholder's premiums by hundreds of dollars each year. The average rate hike for the first assertion nationally is 9%, but it's much worse in Wyoming (32% on average), Connecticut (21%), Arizona (20%), New Mexico (19%), and California (18%). In Texas, your premiums can't be raised because you make one insurance claim. However, insurance companies may choose not to renew you, which could be an act of bad faith.
If you pay for home insurance, you better use it. Don't be fooled by fake news insurance propaganda. They will try to scare you into thinking that your rate will go up because you made a claim. The truth is that your rates are going up regardless. Still, the best thing you can do whenever making a property damage claim is to enlist an experienced professional to make sure you get the biggest bang for your buck.
"Insurance is the one thing we purchase that we hope we never have to use," says an insurance advocate, "The rise of 30 percent is for one claim. If you have a second claim, get unlucky, and have a problem in the next 12 months, it's only going to skyrocket."
And not a little. According to the survey, the average national premium rise for a second claim is 20 percent, with Michigan insurers socking policyholders with a whopping 71 percent increase if they file more than one request within a short period.
"This is the typical fake-news lies spread by the insurance industry." Says home insurance lawyer Eric Dick, responding to the insurance advocate. If your insurance company raises your rates, the best thing to do is contact an independent insurance agent and get a different policy. You'll probably save money and get a better insurance policy. Never have loyalty to your insurance company because they don't commit to you. in fact, they'll try to get out of paying perfectly valid insurance claims.
"The home insurer looks at the past performance chart, and they're trying to price the policy according to the risk they're taking on the behalf," says an insurance carrier underwriter. "If you file two claims in a short time, I think insurers will take notice."
So what does a homeowner do when evaluating claims? Experts recommend balancing insurance costs against the deductible. They also recommend hiring experts to get the most out of your request.
"Homeowners insurance plans are meant to cover the damages that you, as a homeowner, can not cover out of pocket," An insurance advocate says. "It's still an appeal for the decision because it's focused mostly on your deductible amount. For example, if I have a $1,000 deductible because my loss is $1,500, it probably doesn't make much economic sense to claim unless you get an expert to help you."
With that in mind, experts suggest that policyholders reduce their deductibles if they can.
You probably want to have a deductible no less than $1000. "Beyond that number, you're probably going to want to file the claim," an expert says. "When you've got that much damage to your house, financially speaking, you're probably going to make a claim ahead."
Any steps that minimize the number of homeowners' insurance claims are advantageous. The Insurance Information Institute states that an average homeowner files a claim every 8-10 years. However, experts warn that insurance firms use the Extensive Loss Underwriting Exchange database to track requests added to a policyholder's insurance history.
"If I make a claim and it ends up raising my premium by 30%, what does it mean to me in extra payments?" An insurance advocate asks. "These extra payments will last for many years because the Hint report holds the data for five years."
According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, homeowner insurance costs an average of $978 a year (about $81.50 every month) nationwide. A single liability premium adds an average of $137 to the bill, which corresponds to $685 over the five years of a CLUE survey. That's around eight-and-a-half additional payments or more than two-thirds of a year's costs over the original value.
"If you come from this from the consumer's perspective, I'd say any contact with the home insurer is closely monitored," an expert says. "They keep track of who's calling when they're calling and when they're calling."
If such calls are regular enough or if harm is directly inferred, it may be sufficient to increase premiums. Insurance companies recommend customers who want to question their insurers about future claims do so as loosely as possible ("if I have this amount of damage to my house, how does it increase my premium?").
As customers can also request a copy of their CLUE report, they can also add a note to every contested entry, particularly those involving insurer calls that did not result in a claim. Finally, experts recommend shopping around because your current insurer increased your premium after a request does not mean that every insurer would treat that claim with equal severity.