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Yesterday for no particularly well-thought-out reason I decided to surf through my car insurance company's homeowner's insurance pages. They had an online quote thingee (good for Virginia) so I went into it and plugged all the appropriate things into the dialog (*), getting back a quote for yearly coverage that pretty much matched the coverage I currently had.
That quote was about $500.
My then-current insurance cost was about $1800.
I just stared at it and said to self "Self, this can't be right!", went over the entire dialog again and found that, yes, it was right and I had been paying some outrageous amount on a yearly basis for who-knows-how-many years.
So I immediately bought the $500 coverage and immediately dropped the $1800 coverage (the rep at the too-expensive company didn't even try hard to get me to reconsider after I mentioned the almost 3/4 savings of the new company's plan).
The bottomline?
Check your insurance coverage just like those ads about car insurance say - you might actually save some bucks or, as in my case, relatively huge bucks.
Now to surf some more to find out WHY the difference in pricing is so large...
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(*) One of the dialog items was "Have you made a claim in the last 5 years" and the answer I gave was "No" since I knew that no insurance company had given me any money over that time.
When the dialog finished I was warned that a "claim" I made in 2011 would affect the pricing of the coverage.
All I said to THAT was "Huh?"
It turns out I =had= contacted my insurance company about a windstorm that blew off some shingles but the rep had said it would not be worth pursuing since only a few shingles had blown away and my deductible would be much greater than the replacement cost. So I didn't pursue it (and did the shingle replacement myself).
But the insurance company none-the-less HAD made a "claim report" to some centralized entity similar to Experian that compiles insurance claim records much like Experiian compiles credit records (A-Plus something or other).
So, a couple years later, I have on my "insurance record report" a "claim" for $0.
the report that carrys all your insurance info and claims is called CLUE..
like a credit report you can get a free copy every year.
you can get it here after filling out the required form on line.
get both the auto and home insurance reports.
you will be amazed at some of the stuff put on your record.
calls for roadside assistance when you use an insurance company sponsered plan can appear.
properties that have issues like flood claims get flagged and the new owner gets whacked if they buy that house with high rates even though they had no claim themselves..
Oe thig to make sure you do is to check the polices as they can differ jusy t like auot insurance. Most are regualted by state boards .For example I saw , mnay who never looed to see if their insurqance was repalcement or based on deprecaition on cliams which makes a huge difference in claims when a hurricane hit here.The at what exactly ws covered other than home totoal worth or contents .ther can be buildig outside to landscapig to tree loss without it hittign a insured property and what is covered if it does.
Oe thig to make sure you do is to check the polices as they can differ jusy t like auot insurance. Most are regualted by state boards .For example I saw , mnay who never looed to see if their insurqance was repalcement or based on deprecaition on cliams which makes a huge difference in claims when a hurricane hit here.The at what exactly ws covered other than home totoal worth or contents .ther can be buildig outside to landscapig to tree loss without it hittign a insured property and what is covered if it does.
Holy Cow!
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Yesterday for no particularly well-thought-out reason I decided to surf through my car insurance company's homeowner's insurance pages. They had an online quote thingee (good for Virginia) so I went into it and plugged all the appropriate things into the dialog (*), getting back a quote for yearly coverage that pretty much matched the coverage I currently had.
That quote was about $500.
My then-current insurance cost was about $1800.
I just stared at it and said to self "Self, this can't be right!", went over the entire dialog again and found that, yes, it was right and I had been paying some outrageous amount on a yearly basis for who-knows-how-many years.
So I immediately bought the $500 coverage and immediately dropped the $1800 coverage (the rep at the too-expensive company didn't even try hard to get me to reconsider after I mentioned the almost 3/4 savings of the new company's plan).
The bottomline?
Check your insurance coverage just like those ads about car insurance say - you might actually save some bucks or, as in my case, relatively huge bucks.
Now to surf some more to find out WHY the difference in pricing is so large...
One of the differences is probably that the company is giving you a discount for combined insurance - house and car at the same place. Not all of the difference, but some ...
Yesterday for no particularly well-thought-out reason I decided to surf through my car insurance company's homeowner's insurance pages. They had an online quote thingee (good for Virginia) so I went into it and plugged all the appropriate things into the dialog (*), getting back a quote for yearly coverage that pretty much matched the coverage I currently had.
That quote was about $500.
My then-current insurance cost was about $1800.
I just stared at it and said to self "Self, this can't be right!", went over the entire dialog again and found that, yes, it was right and I had been paying some outrageous amount on a yearly basis for who-knows-how-many years.
(snipped)
Holy cow! Where do you live that insurance is that cheap!! I'd LOVE to even have my insurance for $1800 let alone $500.
Unfortunately insurance in my county is difficult to get (not many companies willing to underwrite my county and I'm not even on the coast!) and the rates went up twice last year in Texas.
Holy cow! Where do you live that insurance is that cheap!!
The difference in insurance pricing is crazy - I'm in Fairfax, Virginia, county of outrageous home pricing.
The coverage is pretty much as before - approximately $400,000 with the usual liability stuff, etc. As noted, whatever I had before I pretty much got again (maybe some insignificant item was dropped - I'd have to check - but that would have been for, say, jewelry or something).
The car insurance companies ALL advertise "Get our quote - save hundreds!" which in and of itself is nuts - yet here I did it with house insurance and saved...welll...hundreds!
Over time I guess the insurance companies must just raise their rates - so if you compare existing to new-business quote the deal is already done. Since house insurance is typically tied into the mortgage payment the actual rate is (obviously for me) not as apparent. You can bet, however, I'll be paying MUCH closer attention from now on.
"pretty much the same"--what's different? That could make a big difference in your premiums and in your coverage.
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