Any experience with homeowner's insurance through Mercury? (escrow, personal property, California)
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We are currently in escrow on a home in California. Although there are no woods or thick trees or underbrush areas anywhere near the structure and it is within 2/10 mile of a fire station, it appears that we are located in a "very high fire hazard severity zone". Because of this, we were told that our location is virtually uninsurable and that five companies have already declined to cover the property - so our choices are limited.
Currently we have been given quotes by Homesite (through GEICO) and Mercury as well as State Farm.
Homesite is not remotely an option because of their reviews so it's between Allstate and Mercury right now for us unless we can find someone else to quote us.
I've read many negative reviews of Mercury's auto insurance coverage /claims process so we are wary of using them for homeowner insurance coverage without further research - and I am having trouble finding any comments online about the homeowner insurance coverage through Mercury.
The State Farm quote is $72 more per month / $869 more per year than Mercury, but their reputation and service are also considerably better according to the customer reviews - so are their commercials but that's marketing. Insurance is always worth it if/when you need it - would hate to find out if we did need it that there was a problem with the process or whatever. It would be a peaceful feeling for sure to know that a company would protect us and cover us if we should ever need to make a claim in the future.
So, would anyone offer advice or pitfalls about choosing homeowner insurance in general and does anyone have positive or negative experiences or advice with respect to acquiring it through Mercury vs State Farm?
All advice is welcome and it's with the understanding that it's ultimately our choice, but we are new at this and hoping to hear from those who know their way around. Direct message is obviously ok if you would rather not post on the thread. I really appreciate any replies you can give.
State Farm has lost more class action lawsuits for their claims handling practices than the rest of the industry combined.
Honestly, if you're using Internet reviews for insurance coverage, you might as well put it all on red 7 next time you're in Vegas. What you have to look at is policy form and coverage limits - not some nebulous online reputation and price.
You will likely find that State Farm has a more restrictive policy for anything related to water discharge, etc.
Honestly, you're never going to want to use your HO insurance for anything under $5K anyway (you already have crazy limited options, a loss will make coverage almost impossible). If for some reason you've got a loss above that, go out and find a public adjuster - so "service level" means diddly squat in homeowners insurance.
Coverage A is the dwelling value. The easy way to look at this is what would it cost to rebuild that structure if it burned to the slab. In many areas, this won't be close to the purchase price, since the land underneath doesn't burn.
TLR is a percentage above that Coverage A amount that will be kicked in, should you be underinsured. Get 25% minimum.
Make sure you have roof at replacement cost and contents (coverage C) at replacement cost as well.
To answer the broker question, it's the following:
1. Ease of use. How fast can they get a quote/bind.
2. Commission rate. Not all carriers pay the same.
3. Experience. Some carriers underwrite like crazy after the fact and the broker knows they're going to have to jump through hoops.
4. Cross Sell opportunities. Expect the "would you like me to quote your Auto" question - Mercury and SF in particular are very package heavy.
Coverage A is the dwelling value. The easy way to look at this is what would it cost to rebuild that structure if it burned to the slab. In many areas, this won't be close to the purchase price, since the land underneath doesn't burn.
TLR is a percentage above that Coverage A amount that will be kicked in, should you be underinsured. Get 25% minimum.
Make sure you have roof at replacement cost and contents (coverage C) at replacement cost as well.
To answer the broker question, it's the following:
Thanks for this -
Get 25% of the coverage A amount, or of the total purchase price?
None of the quotes have a separate roof replacement cost.
All of them have an astronomical amount for contents / personal property, way more than it would take to replace what we have - they said it is a fixed percentage of the structure/dwelling replacement cost and no way to alter it.
How do you find out if the dwelling / total replacement coverage is enough to rebuild the structure - the quotes vary by over 100K on this ?
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