Searched but didn't see any post about this. AAA sent us a letter saying that they need to inspect our house for the upcoming year's homeowner insurance. Is it usual? What is your take on this and is there any precaution we have to prepare? Wonder if it is an excuse to increase the rate!
I don't know about other, but my insurance company came inspect within the first few week after we bought from them. But after 5+ years, they never come to inspect.
If they jack up your rate, then I would suggest start shopping for a better rate.
Some insurers do a full walkthrough at inception, some take exterior pictures only periodically woithout informing or disturbing you, and some do no inspections at all.
It is somewhat unusual (and inconvenient) to demand a walkthrough for a renewal on an existing policy if the home has been previously inspected.
They will be looking for things like cracked walkways, trees not maintained, signs of water damage, updates/upggrades not already disclosed, etc. basically if you have anything wrong with your house they will use this opportunity to deny renewal, or if they find you are underinsured they will demand you purchase more insurance.
I personally detest insurers that inconvenience me with a full walkthrough....but then again if my home were in perfect shape maybe I wouldnt mind so much...
ThursdaysChild
Missed.
posted: Nov. 6, 2009 @ 2:03a
Which AAA is this? How long have you had their insurance?
Ours started sending out a description of the house & components (type of siding, type of roof, how many & what size skylights, what type of flooring) which we correct - and correct - and correct, but they haven't done a walk-thru since the initial purchase.
SUCKISSTAPLES said: Some insurers do a full walkthrough at inception, some take exterior pictures only periodically woithout informing or disturbing you, and some do no inspections at all.
It is somewhat unusual (and inconvenient) to demand a walkthrough for a renewal on an existing policy if the home has been previously inspected.
They will be looking for things like cracked walkways, trees not maintained, signs of water damage, updates/upggrades not already disclosed, etc. basically if you have anything wrong with your house they will use this opportunity to deny renewal, or if they find you are underinsured they will demand you purchase more insurance.
I personally detest insurers that inconvenience me with a full walkthrough....but then again if my home were in perfect shape maybe I wouldnt mind so much...
Wouldn't you rather know that your house was underinsured BEFORE it burns to the ground rather than AFTER so that you can make adjustments to your limits???? If you suffer a loss and are underinsured, you may either be penalized (for a partial loss)or not have enough money to make repairs/rebuild (for a total loss). I have seen MANY homeowners woefully underinsured end up in a difficult situation when a serious loss occurs.
A less critical point is that rebuilding costs are impacted by the quality of the materials used. If you have a custom kitchen it will cost more to rebuild than if you went to Home Depot and bought "assembly required" cabinets. So a full walkthrough might help ensure an accurate valuation.
Insurers want you to have the "right" amount of coverage, especially in "valued policy" states.
Wouldn't you rather know that your house was underinsured BEFORE it burns to the ground rather than AFTER so that you can make adjustments to your limits???? If you suffer a loss and are underinsured, you may either be penalized (for a partial loss)or not have enough money to make repairs/rebuild (for a total loss). I have seen MANY homeowners woefully underinsured end up in a difficult situation when a serious loss occurs.
A less critical point is that rebuilding costs are impacted by the quality of the materials used. If you have a custom kitchen it will cost more to rebuild than if you went to Home Depot and bought "assembly required" cabinets. So a full walkthrough might help ensure an accurate valuation.
Insurers want you to have the "right" amount of coverage, especially in "valued policy" states.
You sound like you are in the HO biz... while I agree that many people are vastly underunisred...the motive behind these inspections is NOT benevolent.
It is to make sure the insurer can get out of the policy if they see anything they consider risky....
and the second goal is to make sure the insurer collects fat premiums, equal or greater than their calculated replacement cost.
In CA, most HO policies pay 125, 150 or 200% of policy limits in the event of total loss. So if I can get a $200k policy from an insurer with 150% coverage, Im really getting $300k coverage if my home is destroyed. If my home costs less than $300k to rebuild, I am fully protected with a $200k policy limt.
However, if they do an inspection and see my custom kitchen, etc and calculate replacement cost at $300k, they will not let me keep my $220k limit - they will make me increase it to $300k policy, which is at least 33% more expensive, and ignores that my $200k policy would have covered a $300k replacement cost just fine bc of the 150% of policy limits provision (yes I realize personal property and separate structures limits will be higher as well.
Reading the comments, it seems that it is the insurance company that determines how much coverage is needed; and it's not the home owner who decides. I called my insurance company (AAA) once, and they would not lower my coverage.
My HO insurance is up for renewal, and my dwelling coverage seems way to high. They want me to have a coverage of $349,000. I recently had an appraisal report and noticed a section dealing with the replacement cost of my house. The report stated that the cost to rebuild my house (building + upgrades) would be about $251,000. Of course, it does not include the cost to clear the land before rebuilding (how much is it anyway? I assume no more than $50,000). Do I have a case to make them lower my dwelling coverage?
Thanks.
gluck
Addicted Member
posted: Nov. 10, 2009 @ 11:34a
Wynstan said: Searched but didn't see any post about this. AAA sent us a letter saying that they need to inspect our house for the upcoming year's homeowner insurance. Is it usual? What is your take on this and is there any precaution we have to prepare? Wonder if it is an excuse to increase the rate!
Same thing happened to me. I called the number and left a voicemail that they can do they inspection from the outside any weekday and not one would be present. If they wanted to inspect inside they'll have to come in sat/sun. The response was a voicemail stating that they don't do Sat yet and they noted my acct. for an inspection when they start doing it on weekends. Got the usual bill 2 days ago.
jtruong2 said: Reading the comments, it seems that it is the insurance company that determines how much coverage is needed; and it's not the home owner who decides. I called my insurance company (AAA) once, and they would not lower my coverage.
My HO insurance is up for renewal, and my dwelling coverage seems way to high. They want me to have a coverage of $349,000. I recently had an appraisal report and noticed a section dealing with the replacement cost of my house. The report stated that the cost to rebuild my house (building + upgrades) would be about $251,000. Of course, it does not include the cost to clear the land before rebuilding (how much is it anyway? I assume no more than $50,000). Do I have a case to make them lower my dwelling coverage?
Thanks.You need to find another insurer who estimates replacement cost lower.
If an insurer estimates a certain replacement cost and you want it lower, they will either refuse to issue the policy or not pay fully in the event of a claim...even a smaller claim.
example say they estimated 360k replacement cost, yet they agreed to lower coverage to 240k based on your appraisal. If you had a claim of even say $30k, far under your policy limit, they might only psy you $20k bc in their eyes, you only insured to 66% so you only get 2/3 of your loss amount.
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