Home Insurance Articles
Keeping Your Home Insurance Costs Low After A Major Claim
2010-03-16
No one wants to pay too much for their home insurance. But if disaster strikes and you have no choice but to file not just any home insurance claim, but a major one that will take a big bite out of your insurance company's profit margins, things may seem bleak. Many people assume that this will come back to haunt them in the form of increased home insurance coverage rates from then on. That is not necessarily the case, however, and there are ways to ensure your home insurance coverage rates will remain the same even after a major claim.
The best way to keep your rates low is to take preventative measures, and there are two forms of this. One is to have not have filed too many claims beforehand. One major home insurance claim is bad enough, and your insurance company may just forgive you for it, particularly if the chances of it happening again are slim. But if you are a customer who is continually filing small claim after small claim, and then following it with the big one - you can rest assured your premiums are going to go through the roof. Making smaller claims continually generally ends up not being worth the cost in the long run - better to save making a claim for when you really need it.
The nature of the claim also plays a part in determining whether your rates are going to remain the same or skyrocket. The other preventative method is to keep your house as safe and secure as you possibly can, to possibly prevent any disasters from happening in the first place. Security systems to prevent against burglary and theft, having smoke alarms, and even fire extinguishers on-hand can significantly lower the risk of the occurrence of such a disaster. However, no matter how large the claim, if it is based on events outside of your control, e.g., extreme weather conditions causing damage to your home, the insurance company will not penalize you for it. That is, of course, unless there are some other circumstances involved that fall within the remit of being your responsibility (for example, the weather conditions caused damage to your home exacerbated by poor maintenance).
Of course, it is not impossible that the home insurance company you are with may well decide to raise your premiums next time around after a big pay out. This is true even if it is your first claim and the incident most assuredly was not your fault. Rest assured, there is a way to deal with home insurance companies that still try to raise premiums; shop around for someone cheaper so that you save on cost.