The double dip RANT. And a question.

[noelH]

That is, out of your savings. aka., homeowner's insurance. Paying more and getting less.

Just received a several page amendments to my homeowner's insurance. The cover letter noted that the high claims and inflationary increased cost for materials and labor will result in a substantial increase in the premium.  Kind of figure that out prior to receiving the info package based on what others have been telling me.  Still don't know the exact premium cost, but have inputed data into other insurance companies websites to see what they are charging.

The kicker is all the exclusions and limitations. Almost like not covering anything but a total catastrophic loss. Example is my steel roof. No longer covered for any damage unless water penetration integrity is compromised. And then... +30y/o roof so they only cover 40% of the replacement cost minus my $10,000 deductible. Goes on and on about all the other exclusions and limits.  For my personal situation I only carry an insurance policy to cover a complete loss. Why the +30 years of the $10,000 deductible. So I guess nothing outside of the always increasing premium has really changed. Just pisss....at the thought of all the exclusions and limits.

IIRC, NPR report noted last year the insurance industry paid out significantly more than they collected from premiums. Many companies moving out of high risk areas or states.

The question: What % increase in home insurance premium have you experienced this year?

[Charles Brennan]

noelh, Yeah we got all that stuff, plus flood insurance and sinkhole insurance.
Our deductible was 5k, not 10k but we hear rumors that's coming soon.

Feel yer pain,
Charles Brennan

[Frank B.]

surprised it took them so long in your case.  Mine went up 30% in one year two years ago during the height of high inflation period, and another ten last year.  Same with Auto.  On the Homeowners, I asked the independent agent to shop and she said no can do, no one will issue you a policy because your roof is too old.  Said I should probably reroof before my current carrier balks.  So roof doesn't leak and no shingles are missing but I guess I'll have to change it before renewal.  It will be 25 years at that time but I hate to fix something that ain't broke. At least it will be the last one, I'm sure downsize, nursing home or worse before another one is needed.

Although 300 miles from the coast I still have a "named storm deductible", think it is $5K

[Brian N.]

I changed insurance companies after 40 years with the same big name company. They raised my rates (bundled everything including boat) and they did not even agree to review policy details. Not even open to a review to see where I might save some $$ was the last straw. Moved to another big name company saved a few bucks, but much better coverage. Also better coverage on the boat for less $$. And, you must have coverage to register your cars and boat. Moreover, it would be beyond foolish not to have homeowners and umbrella, even if there is a large deductible. Yes you're feeding the corporate beast your hard earned $$, until you need the coverage. I won't get into details, but one incident where I had a claim, paid many, many thousands. Life is risky, owning a home is risky, owning a boat is risky. Peace of mind (somewhat) is not cheap. I look at it this way: I'm not rich and don't like paying in so much, but I'm blessed to have a good life.

[Captain Kidd]

My policies jumped 40% over two years... that was maybe 2-3 years ago.

[noelH]

This Spring I switched to a different insurance company for auto. Back to the company I had ~36 years ago. Huge savings for identical policy. Both companies are larger "name brand" insurance companies that have been around for as long as I can remember. Unfortunately for homeowner's it looks to be a very uncompetitive market. Happy just to have a choice. Big catastrophic risk up here are forest fires. Next are straight line winds. Tornadoes are extremely rare due to L. Superior. Guessing as the Lake warms the risk will increase. Hail is more frequent. Why my insurance company no longer covers damage to steel roofs from hail unless it developed leaks. Snow load has been an issue. You need steel roof with minimum of 6/12 pitch or enjoy clearing the snow off your roof.

A few of the newbies (Covid, climate, whatever refugees) note they were just tired of dealing with bad weather, crime, pollution..... One reason for the inflated home values and increasing costs are those people. In the City of Bayfield, the population jumped over 50% in one year. Selling prices for homes also jumped over 50%. Weird town. Huge % of seasonal residents, newbies, extremes in incomes... Packed in the warm months. Ghost town during the cold months.

[Norm L.]

I understand the major losses hitting insurance companies due to more frequent and stronger bad weather conditions. But let's go back to the all the local governments that gave zoning to all the developers to build along coasts and in flood plains. A lot of money went into a lot of pockets. And insurance companies had nice premiums on nice houses. 
Kicking the proverbial can down the road eventually catches up to some people.
 
Our relatives and friends in town have almost all gotten big jumps in insurance. Many homes are up for sale as they no longer are affordable. For unknown reasons our rates barely went up. We have been with USAA for 59 years so maybe that helps. Our largest loss was about $30K for Hurricane Ida, including a new roof. The old one was only 10 years old but that is the point where they feel that fixing the roof correctly now is cheaper than having worse damage to a 15-year-old roof which can cause tremendous water damage on the inside.
Our biggest, tho relatively small, was car insurance. I'm thinking that my age puts me in a risky driver class. I took an online drivers test to get a discount. It was helpful. I learned that several areas of driving, turning left or right at an intersection and merging from an on ramp has the highest accident rate in drivers 65 and up.

 

It's true in many places.
The Baltimore allision of the DALI will be the most expensive loss in maritime history. Larger that the loss of the COSTA CONCORDIA (almost) off the coast of Italy

Ship coverage is under mutual associations for Protection & Indemnity (P&I).  The loss of the DALI will cost the group covering it more than its profits for the last 20 years.  As the ships get larger and cargos get more expensive, insurance losses go along with it.

[Doug SC]

When I was a boy the coast from Singer Island to Jupiter Florida was undeveloped. This would have been in the late 1950s. There was a Howard Johnsons where we would sometimes eat Sunday diner looking out over the Atlantic up near Jupiter. While driving up A1A on the coast from Singer Island and looking out at the Ocean "I said wouldn't it be nice to live here". My Dad said you would have to be able to afford to lose everything because you couldn't get insurance.

He was 3 when the 1926 hurricane came ashore in Miami. Every home on his street but one was destroyed. One family drowned in their home and the rest of the people were all sheltered in the only block house on the street. they had to wade through waist deep water to get there when the roof blew off their house.

Even in the early 1980s There was a large stretch of undeveloped beaches between St Augustine and Flagler Beach we use to drive through maritime forest and over the dunes on dirt roads to spend the day at uncrowded beaches with our young kids. 20 years latter those places are all built up.

You are right people saw the potential to make lots of money even the insurance industry. That was before Andrew and Katrina. The dollar often leads to poor foresight and greed drives short term gains without consideration of long-term outcomes. The greed for money is destroying the planet we call home and often puts people in harm's way.

[Norm L.]

I was pretty familiar with St. Augustine area in the 60's. I still have fond memories of a really cool tropical bar on its old main street. All two blocks of it. Yes. a lot of beach and pine.

JJ Gray and Mofro have some great songs about the destruction of the panhandle and west coast of FL.

[Noemi - Ensenada 20]

If insurance companies and the state hadn't kept subsidizing people building in places where they really shouldn't have, the insurance companies might not have been in this position.  Some places are not good for building.