Did your homeowners insurance premium go up?
 

Mine increased by over $500/year. When I called, they told me that "the cost to replace had increased from when I originally moved in and got the insurance." When I told her that she was incorrect, it was the opposite (decreased), her response was "what exactly are you basing your opinion on?" Now, ya'll know I like a good debate and will take either side just for the fun of it, so I saw this as a challenge question, lol. Since I'm in the industry, I thought I was qualified to answer the question- the problem was that I was arguing with a computer and an idiot. When I told her that, she hung up on me. Lol.

Shopping for insurance now, any recommendations for home and car?

I've heard this from alot of people, one person told me they were told by their insurace company that the value of their house went up, therefore it cost more to replace, similar to yours. I haven't seen too many house go up in value enough to raise your rates...lol Just another way to get in your pockets......the CEO needs a bonus

Mine with State Farm went up last year by about that amount. When I called my agent she told me it was due to the increased price of materials like lumber, and that due to that my house would cost them more money to rebuild it in the event something bad was to happen. I have cars, home, and life policies with them, and havent made a claim in 25 years, I should be pure profit to them by now, but I guess I am just making up for the irresponsible idiots in the world..

We use Safeco for ours cars and American Allaince for our house, it's combined so we get the bundled discount

My home value has gone up but for some reason or another my premium only went up like $30 or so for the year. Can't remember the name of the company but it's not much. Then again my home didn't cost much in the first place lol

We use USAA for car insurance, pretty much dirt cheap.

I think insurance increases are at every company. Off subject, but I have Blue Cross health insurance for myself and employees, and while we seen about an 8% increase this year, it is supposed to increase 33% next year. I don't know how much longer I can afford to offer health insurance as a benefit to my people, they may have to start paying for all of it.

Well that's a bunch of bullshit in my case. I know what it cost to build my home in 2006 and I know what it would cost to rebuild today. It's less, or worse case scenario it's the same, without a doubt it's not more.

Cost of materials were at an all time low about a year ago, I didn't get any letters in the mail reducing my rate. Yes, this past October material cost started to creep back up but it's still below where it was when I procured my policy originally and cost to build right now would still be considered "good". Definitely not increased, definitely nothing to justify a premium increase.

They don't like to debate it though, they just hang up. Bastards.

Increaesed home value and cost to replace are two different things. Your insurance is based on cost to replace.

Tell me about it. My health insurance just went up $50 a month too.

And you are right, insurance increases are at every company, but I haven't shopped it since the day I moved in so I am hoping I can find another company to insure me for a little lower premium to offset the increase.

My beef is the reason for the increase, it's bullshit.

I am sure somewhere the government is responsible. 85% of the populous is employeed by the so called small businesses, and I for one, as a small business, am taking a beating from all the operating increases..

I gotcha, I did get that report that shows how much the estimate to replace it is, I'll have to take another look.

The big things I noticed when shopping home owners insurance, and it may not matter to you, was percentage of homes value to replace contents. Farm Bureau for instance was waaaaay cheaper then State Farm, but only 30% for contents, State Farm was 70%, so I stayed..

For the most part, insurance policies are so hard to understand that you don't know what the hell you are and are not getting anyway. It's damn near impossible to compare apples to apples. I shopped for health insurance a month or two ago and the language is so confusing, and the coverage is so different from one to the other, you can't compare. I ended up giving up.

Does anyone have Progressive for everything? I was going to get a quote from them.

I have progressive auto insurance and my rates have gone down over the last 3 years.

if you have flood insurance wait until you get that increase.

Last year I switched everything to Geico from State Farm, I saved at least 30%.

I switched from Allstate to Nationwide and now have better coverage and no hurricane deductible. But I live far enough from the coast for Nationwide to cover my house. Coastal counties will have a higher rate and less choice's of insurance companies to go with.

I would stay away from Progressive due to their political ties to Obama and Santos.

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/peterlewis.asp

Insurance Companies only care about 2 things, your credit score and how many homes, cars, whatever are insured in that perticuler area.

they spread their percentages of homes insured. If they have to many houses in one area then they will raise their rates and lower rates somewhere else that they are below their percentage for that area till they reach what they feel is an acceptable percentage of risk for that area. It has nothing to do with the cost of anything except how much they will be paying out if something happens in one area of the country

everybody got a free roof last year. well, except for me..... i bought a $7200 roof out of pocket as well as the insurance increase.

I have been meaning to check into switching my homeowners policy over to Allstate, where my car insurance is, but haven't done it. I would have to look at who my homeowners policy is through. I did get a refund check from my mortgage company because they had overestimated what the insurance was going to cost when the escrow was figured up. They also said my mortgage payment would be coming down some, but that just means more of a principle payment every month. Woot woot. I can take news like that everyday.

I think Rob has Farm Bureau and his rates were much lower than I would have guessed.

I have State Farm and am pretty happy.

I'm going to do some checking around. I will report back if i find anything signifigant in either direction.

I've had everything insured with State Farm since my 20's and haven't had an issue with them until the last few years. They have been unnecessarily jacking up my homeowners premium every year. Back in 2006, my homeowners bill was $880. This year they want $1330. I called them up for an explanation and they said it was due to the current cost of building materials. My dwelling only cost $108,000 in 2006 and State Farm is now trying to cram $176,000 worth of dwelling coverage down my throat. WTF! I called BS on that and told them to back it down to $120,000. They claimed that there was no way they could drop it that low. After I threatened to drop all my policies with them and find another insurance company, they dropped dwelling coverage down to $134,000, which still pisses me off. I'm currently shopping for another company to get away from these greedy bastards.

Yeah that's bullshit. I can promise you that building cost ARE NOT HIGHER now than they were in 2006, that's a fact. If anything, they are lower.

when I asked Allstate why my premium almost doubled they told me it was due to the economy and the risk of claims going up. I guess they were afraid people would be setting their homes on fire to claim a complete loss.

i would say that's the real issue. around here EVERYBODY got a roof last year. i mean it was out of control. 4 houses on my street got a "free" roof due to hail damage. there is 8 houses in total on my street. state farm turned my claim down. (my house had a 15 year old seemingly concrete roof that couldnt be damaged by hail. too bad it leaked) all the roofing companies have commercials telling you about hail damage and getting a free roof. one of the local roofing companies built a new facility a year or so ago and it is insane. its more like a walmart hub than a roofing company. HUGE.
anyways, it doesn't take a genius to figure out the insurance companies are going to find ways of recovering all the money they paid out for these peoples claims.

Farm Bureau was half the cost of Allstate across the board. Seemingly the same coverage.

USAA wouldnt insure my new house on 5 acres because I am in a "forest fire zone". I am over an hour away from any forest. Hell I'm just as close to a forest as I am to the ocean so I guess I should be in a hurricane zone. USAA claims they use some state of the art software program bla bla bla, I told them to use a map. They actually looked up my place on google earth and even agreed I am nowhere close to any forest but they cant over ride there system. It wouldnt even let them give me a quote or anything based off my address.
I called a local company and had insurance in less than an hour. They couldn't believe what USAA said.

That is some crap from USAA. They are great with everything for me.

UPDATE:

Wifey called Progressive-
Car insurance with them would increase about $30/ month.
My current homeowners insurance just increased to $3900/year, progressive would be $6140! LOL!

Wow thats crazy. Before i bought my cobra i had allstate insurance, i was getting quotes and they wanted $3000 every 6 months. Sure i didnt have the best driving record then, i think i had 2 speeding tickets on my record. Anyhow progressive was $1200 so i switched to them. FWIW i have Farm Bureau for homeowners and my rates have not changed in the last 3 years. (knock on wood)

Waiting on State Farm, Allstate and Farm Bureau to call back with their quotes now.

:shock: Do you live in a mansion on the beach?! I pay 585 a year for 190k worth of coverage.

Farm Bureau will probably take forever getting back to you. At least that was my experience. But I was told by a very trustworthy insurance lawyer that they were the best.

This is THE Wes Whittle we're talking about here...

Hell no I don't, that's why want a discount!

I pay about what Wes pays but have $500k coverage. Never heard of insurance that cheap.

I think flood insurance is a fucking scam. I already pay you to insure my shit but I have to pay extra incase it floods...WTF

Mine is almost exactly the same, 630 yr 200k

Damn that's cheap, I believe mine is about $1500 a year for $150k coverage.