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Home Insurance Discounts
Home Insurance Discounts
I recently found some useful articles on home insurance discounts. I thought I would share some of the more common and/or important discounts with you.
1. Alarm system - many insurance companies will give you a discount for having an alarm system in your home. There is a difference between monitored and non-monitored alarm systems. Some companies offer homeowners discounts for non-monitored and some do not.
2. Smoke detectors - If you have an older home you can install smoke detectors in it to earn as much as 5% in home insurance discounts.
3. No claims - If you keep from claiming on your insurance you are more likely to receive favorable rates on your home insurance premium. Typically, you might see savings after the first year without any claims, but certainly after multiple years of having no claims you should expect a reduced rate on your homeowner's premium.
4. Increasing your deductible - If you can afford a higher deductible, it may help save money on your annual home insurance premium. For some of us, a $500 deductible is about par, but if you live in a more ritzy area bumping your deductible up to $1,000 may drop your premium by as much as 10%.
5. Hip roof discount - having a hip roof can earn you a discount as well. You will either have a hip roof or won't, but knowing that you do can help you save on your insurance premiums. A quick search on Google will give you more insight into how you can tell if your roof is a hip roof or not.
There are many other discounts:
- dead bolts
- senior citizen discounts
- clubs or alumni discounts
- fire extinguishers
- A well maintained, "clean" home
- The age of your home may factor into your premium price
- remove potential risks (e.g. cut down heavy tree limbs)
- living in a lower crime area can help as well
It is important to understand what insurance companies look at when they determine your premium. Visiting their websites and talking to your insurance agent should provide a lot of clarity.
Online Insurance Quotes
Every month there are roughly 8 million people nationwide who shop for insurance online. Many of them use quote engines like NetQuote, Insureme, QuotesAdvantage and many others. Consumer shop for home insurance, car insurance, health insurance and so on. But why shop online for insurance quotes? To start, it's quick, it's easy, it's always free (I have never seen anyone charged for it) and it's done through your computer on your own time.
Depending on your location you can save a significant amount of money when you shop your rates online. As a consumer, you must be aware, however; often times your rates may change because of coverage changes, previous claims, better driving records etc and NOT just because you are shopping online.
There is a disturbing trend going on right now in the online insurance quote industry. Some of the biggest players are being bought by the same company! That's right, you could be filling out a quote with two different companies who are owned by the same "parent" company. This doesn't benefit the consumer or the insurance agents. The consumer has now taken their time to fill out two forms for the same exact company. What good is that? And the insurance agents probably have it worse as they are purchasing quotes that are being passed between the same company.
Case and point - NetQuote was purchased by Bankrate.com this year (just recently). Do you know that Bankrate.com also owns Insureme, another lead generator (quote engine)? That's right, Bankrate owns both companies (click here for insureme sale). So now Bankrate can sell their leads through both NetQuote and Insureme. A lose lose for agents and consumers, no matter how you look at it.
Insurance quotes online are a great opportunity for consumers, but be careful where you shop for insurance...
For agents, insurance quotes are a great opportunity as well, but why would you want to buy leads from a company who owns multiple lead gen's? Simply put, you wouldn't.
Citizens Rate Increase
Citizens will be requesting a rate hike, effective January 2011, for 10.2% on average state-wide. This sounds like a big increase, but believe it or not, this may not be enough to keep the state-run property insurer financially sound. According to actuaries, Citizens needs a rate increase of nearly 50% on average state-wide to remain adequately funded. It is not clear if the rate hike will be approved by the Office of Insurance Regulation.
According to some reports, the rate hike would be an average increase state-wide and there may be some areas that actually see a rate decrease. Citizens Rate Hike.
Insurancenewsnet has a report that says Citizens may be asking for a commercial rate increase in the near term as well.
As always, the insurance industry stays active. Who will be next to ask for a rate increase? Will there be a flood of requests if Castle Key and Citizens are approved? Time will tell...
Wind Mitigation Discount on Home Insurance
Living in FL we have all seen our fair share of wind damage. Most of the time this damage is caused by Hurricanes. As you can probably imagine, most insurance companies pay a pretty penny for wind damaged homes. Because of the high cost for insurers, many of them offer home insurance discounts for homes that have been inspected and possess wind mitigation features.
So what are these features and how do you find an inspector? Well to find an inspector you can visit Google and Yahoo and type in the phrase "Florida wind mitigation specialist." More importantly though, how do you know if your home possesses these features?
Windmitigation.com has some great tips and information on wind mitigation. Some features that may allow you to qualify for a wind mitigation discount include, concrete block construction, a hip roof, single or double roof straps, gable end bracing, shutters etc. What is so nice about having these features or adding them to your home is that you can save a huge amount of money on your home insurance. In some cases people save as much as $500 on their annual premiums! Incredible. It should be noted that wind mitigation inspections are NOT free. Often times you can expect to pay (depending on where you live) anywhere from $75 - $150 for an inspection.
Hurricane Bonnie
Tropical Storm Bonnie has moved into the Gulf of Mexico and could be weakening. According to weather.com, the storm has 30 mph winds and is expected to reach the MS/LA coast by early Sunday.
BP has evacuated their people from the shorelines and from the relief well site in the Gulf. Bonnie is not expected to regain momentum and in all likelihood will be a non-issue.
Rate Hike - Allstate Sub
Castle Key Insurance, an Allstate subsidiary and the 6th largest insurer in the state, has requested a rate hike of 33% on average state wide. According to Amy Moore, an Allstate spokeswoman, the rate increase is necessary to keep pace with higher costs, including back up expenses and claims expenses. She points out that the Castle Key has not received a siginifcant rate increase in 5 years.
Read more here.
Interesting that Allstate would look to take 50,000 policies of the state insurers hands prior to requesting a rate increase. Interesting, but not surprising. It's usually a good thing for Citizens to get rid of their policies. Our FL gov't is in enough financial trouble as it is, let alone being on the hook for all of the high risk home coverage that Citizens brings to the table.
It isn't clear when a decision will be made just yet. We will keep you posted.
Another article on the issue here.
Read more here.
Interesting that Allstate would look to take 50,000 policies of the state insurers hands prior to requesting a rate increase. Interesting, but not surprising. It's usually a good thing for Citizens to get rid of their policies. Our FL gov't is in enough financial trouble as it is, let alone being on the hook for all of the high risk home coverage that Citizens brings to the table.
It isn't clear when a decision will be made just yet. We will keep you posted.
Another article on the issue here.
BP to Plug the Leak Early
BP is now on day 80 of their cleanup efforts in the Gulf. Lately it has seemed as though BP has simply been "maintaining" the oil spill. They continue to collect oil and take thousands of barrels out of the gulf every day, but are they any closer to plugging the leak for good?
According to the managing director of BP's Gulf Coast Restoration Unit, Bob Dudley, in a perfect world it may be possible to be ready to stop the leak between July 20 and July 27th. Bob Dudley did stress that this is a "perfect" scenario and is "unlikely."
The Coastguard and BP have stressed that they intend to plug the oil leak by mid-August. So what has the oil giant in a sudden push to plug the leak by the end of July (besides the obvious - that OIL is ruining our beaches!!)? To start, BP is set to announce their 2nd quarter results on July 27. It would benefit the company greatly if they could give their investors good news when they deliver 2nd Q results. In addition to their earnings release, the British Prime Minister is visiting the White House on July 20th. It would also do the company good to have good news in time for the PM's visit. Two big reasons to stop a big oil spill!
Despite these compelling motivations for BP, they need to stay focused on the task at hand; cleaning up our beaches and stopping the oil leak. It's probably a good thing that they have a little extra motivation right now, because they need all of the help they can get.
More to come ...
Tropical Storm Alex to add to BP's misery
Tropical Storm Alex is growing in strength and BP has yet to define their solution. As of today, it is expected that Alex may become a hurricane by land fall in Mexico late Wednesday. Currently, BP does not expect the tropical storm to hamper their relief well drilling (expected to be complete in August and to be the most serious solution), but that may change if Alex decides to change his course.
BP is supposed to hook up another containment system this week, but one of the BP executives said that waves as high as 12 feet may delay the installation. This containment system, in conjunction with the existing containment system is supposed to raise the containment level from 28K barrels per day to 53K barrels per day. It is estimated that there are anywhere from 35K-60K barrels leaking per day from the blown out well.
With the largest oil spill in US history still not contained, it's no wonder BP has lost $100 billion in market cap since this all began 71 days ago. Some are even speculating that a take over may be looming as BP struggles to keep up with the mess in the gulf. There have been suggestions that the 2 most likely candidates for the buy-out would be Shell or Exxon.
Hopefully BP can get their act together soon. With no real end in sight and hurricane season well upon us, it could spell the end for BP.
Supreme Court Rules - May Impact Lawsuits Against BP
The Florida high court has ruled that commercial fisherman can sue a company that discharged pollutants into Tampa Bay for lost income and profits even though the fisherman do not own any property that was damaged by the pollutants. The case is against Mosaic Fertilizer, LLC. The case revolves around a polluted pond at one of Mosaic's storage facilities (more coverage on the case).
The real impact, however, is likely to be on the BP oil spill lawsuits that are sure to be plentiful in the coming days, weeks and months. F. Wallace Pope Jr, a lawyer for Howard Curd who brought the suit against Mosaic, has said "this establishes that under Florida law that commercial fisherman, even though they do not technically own the fish when they are swimming around, have a protectable interest in the fish because they are licensed to go out and catch them. That is how they make their living." He believes this ruling will set a precedent for future cases involving BP.
BP had better figure something out soon. With $2.35 BILLION in costs spent as of today, they are sure to be in a world of hurt when everything comes to a legal head. Let's hope for our sake and the sake of the wildlife that someone figures out how to stop it soon.
BP Oil Spill
Today marks the 63rd day of the BP Oil Spill and still we have no conclusion.
Last week, Tony (the CEO for BP) was removed from handling the spill and a new BP executive (Bob Dudley) is running the clean up efforts. To date BP says it has paid out nearly $105MM in claims related to the oil spill and says in total it has cost the company some $2 billion. That is amazing, 63 days and $2 billion in clean up costs.
With no end in sight some are wondering what is next? How will we stop the flow of oil? Better yet, how will we protect our wetlands and the surrounding protected areas? I found an article that discusses the use of the Mississippi River as one possible solution for wetland protection. Interesting thought and it really does seem almost too simple.
The real question still remains... When will the flow of oil stop and how much destruction will it leave in its wake?
For updates on the oil spill visit this website. It's run by BP (so it's biased) but at least it's current.
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