Personal Insurance Blog

Ice storms, snow storms, tornadoes,  hurricanes- oh my! These were just a few of the catastrophic weather events that Massachusetts homeowners faced over the past few years.  

What does this have to do with your  home insurance premium rising?  

Throughout the insurance industry, these weather happenings resulted in record setting property damage and home insurance claims.  Across the board, insurers evaluated the adequacy of their home insurance pricing  after catastrophic events slammed insurers balance sheets in recent years. 

What is the net result? 

Home insurers will be charging more to cover expected claims and the rising cost of reinsurance- the insurance on their insurance. Many insurers rate increases are in the 10% range. In addition, stricter underwriting guidelines are being used to determine eligibility including distance to the coast and timely premium payments.  The net result is the home insurance market is tightening for Massachusetts consumers.

If you were one of the lucky ones not impacted by weather events and or did not file a claim, a premium increase is a particularly  tough pill to swallow. Or if you did file a claim, a premium increase is still hard to understand particularly if this was the first time that you ever filed a home insurance claim.

How can I get the best price?

Our agency www.agordon.com  reviews home insurance renewals for customers to make sure the best priced option and coverage is provided to our clients.  An example, over the past few months, I reviewed several home insurance renewals for four customers. The rates increased in the 10% range for each of these homeowners. None had filed a claim and all were taking advantage of discounts including account credits for bundling auto and home insurance together.  We went to work and compared pricing with more than a dozen companies for each customer. The analysis showed for each of these customers that their current home insurance program was still the best priced option even with the premium increase. 

For each of these customers, we made other suggestions to save premium. Three of the customers opted for higher deductibles and the other decided to self insure some scheduled jewelry listed on the policy. The net result was all four customers were able to reduce their premium back to the price they were paying the previous year. 

If you are looking out the window at the moderate temperatures on the thermometer and dry pavements, record setting meteorological events may be a mere memory. It’s not quite the same recall for home insurers as they tally their balance sheets and continue to adjust rates. You can be assured that our agency www.agordon.com strives to assure the best priced option and coverage is afforded to all new and renewing customers. Learn more about homeowners insurance here.