Home Insurance company raised rebuild cost and now require I get a home alarm system (Lima: homeowners insurance)

[nycbrooklyn]

I need some help. I have a large house nothing fancy in there. No fireplaces or anything that would make you say wow it's just a big home built for an extended family. My insurance carrier just increased what they charged for my policy and also mandated that I get an alarm system. They raised my rebuild cost from $780, 000 to $839,000 just out of the blue. The reason I don't have an alarm system is because it will never be used with people home all day, kids making like the LIE at nights from room to room and the fact that I don't live in a high crime area.

I have two questions
1. I guess I wanted to know if anyone else had their policy just go up
2. If I must put in a system since they are still the cheapest (I hate ADT had them before) does anyone have an experience with the self-install kits for alarms? The ones where you just buy the equipment and pay a small monthly fee for fire monitoring.

[twingles]

Yes, they can raise your insured amount like that - however, you have the right to rebel. Tell them you will sign something if needed. When I worked for an agent we would have people who wanted to severely underinsure themselves (I'm talking about insuring homes for like $100K) and we would make them sign something. Obviously your mortgage company/bank if you have one may have a say in matters as well.

As far as requiring you to have an alarm, I have never, ever heard of such a thing. There's gotta be some backstory here - either you've had a theft claim or a bunch of people in your area have. I'd press the agent on this if there is no claim history and ask them to show you where in the policy document it allows them to do this. Now I haven't worked for an agent in years so maybe this is something new.

[Elke Mariotti]

Originally Posted by nycbrooklyn

I need some help. I have a large house nothing fancy in there. No fireplaces or anything that would make you say wow it's just a big home built for an extended family. My insurance carrier just increased what they charged for my policy and also mandated that I get an alarm system. They raised my rebuild cost from $780, 000 to $839,000 just out of the blue. The reason I don't have an alarm system is because it will never be used with people home all day, kids making like the LIE at nights from room to room and the fact that I don't live in a high crime area.

I have two questions
1. I guess I wanted to know if anyone else had their policy just go up
2. If I must put in a system since they are still the cheapest (I hate ADT had them before) does anyone have an experience with the self-install kits for alarms? The ones where you just buy the equipment and pay a small monthly fee for fire monitoring.

1. Yes, the cost of my policy just went up 30%!!!
I do have a rider that automatically increases the value/rebuild cost, but this is ridiculous. I understand that a declining housing market has no bearing on the cost of new construction, if that should be required, but 30% is absurd IMHO! (If LIMA were in charge, my house could be rebuilt for half of what it's insured for now ).

2. Did they specify what kind of alarm? Do you have fire detectors on all levels of your house as well as a carbon monoxide detector? Could that be what they're referring to?
This is the first time I've heard of this requirement and I have to deal with homeowners insurance all the time.

[Interlude]

Does your insurance company have a deal with ADT or other company? Mine did, so the install was very discounted and the monthly monitoring price is almost entirely offset by a premium discount.

[nycbrooklyn]

I doubt they have anything with ADT. I guess they just want a basic monitored alarm system and they reasoning was because anything over $800,000 in rebuild cost require an alarm system.

[mrsstats]

Do you have an agent or is it written directly with the insurance company? If you have an agent, call him and ask him if they will do a replacement cost estimator on the house. You will have to provide them with information on the house for them to determine it.

Yes, alot of insurance companies require an alarm when the dwelling amount if over a certain amount. I guess they figure a more expensive house is a bigger tarket to be robbed.

If you need additional help, send me a pm.

[Chrisk327]

when I discussed renewal on my policy they were all over the place on rebuild value. I'm not sure how bg your house is, and/or your mortgage. if you feel that 839 is too high, push them to reduce it to 795K and skip the alarm.

[Dudley76]

Originally Posted by nycbrooklyn

I need some help. I have a large house nothing fancy in there. No fireplaces or anything that would make you say wow it's just a big home built for an extended family. My insurance carrier just increased what they charged for my policy and also mandated that I get an alarm system. They raised my rebuild cost from $780, 000 to $839,000 just out of the blue. The reason I don't have an alarm system is because it will never be used with people home all day, kids making like the LIE at nights from room to room and the fact that I don't live in a high crime area.

I have two questions
1. I guess I wanted to know if anyone else had their policy just go up
2. If I must put in a system since they are still the cheapest (I hate ADT had them before) does anyone have an experience with the self-install kits for alarms? The ones where you just buy the equipment and pay a small monthly fee for fire monitoring.

Have another broker shop your homeowners policy with other carriers. See what those carriers rate your Coverage A amount at. If it's close to what the incumbent carrier is rating it at now, then that's what the construction costs are at now in your area based on your square footage.

By the way, this is nothing unusual, and which is why brokers move their insured's to other carriers from time to time.