The cost of homeowner's insurance is going up. Once upon a time, the home policy was the best and cheapest property and casualty insurance. The policy for homeowners is being attacked. There are a lot more chances to be seen than ever before. In some parts of the country, toxic mould has caused a lot of trouble and caused insurance rates to go up a lot. In some states, toxic mould is not covered at all. Rates have changed because of things like natural disasters. Because of the recent string of hurricanes, there aren't as many supplies as there used to be. This makes demand and prices for repairs go up. In the end, the policyholders have to pay for these costs.
The rates are set by people who are trusted by the insurance company. To figure out your rate, they look at the cost of claims and the cost of doing business and compare it to the company's income. You can't change how the companies figure out their rates. Before they set rates or raise rates, they have to get approval from their state insurance departments. They can't just pick a number out of thin air.
How Can You Help?
- Know what kind of policy you have. Make sure you know what kind of policy you have right now. If this is your first time buying insurance, you should do some research on the type of policy you want. You can go with either Replacement Cost or Actual Cash Value as your main choice. With a Replacement Cost policy, your building or its contents are replaced with materials of the same kind or quality and there is no depreciation. With an actual cash value policy, your loss is settled by taking the cost to replace the item and subtracting the amount by which it has lost value because of age or use.
- Self-Insure: The best way to buy insurance is to self-insure with the highest deductible you can afford. Auto insurance claims happen a lot more often than homeowner insurance claims. No longer do low deductibles make up for the higher premium.
Use your declarations page to make sure you get all the discounts when you shop around. Almost all homeowner policies offer discounts for having more than one policy, installing safety devices, and retiring. Check out the rates of the insurers we suggest.
