Home Insurance - any suggestions on who to use or who to stay far far far away from?

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Jacks

You never want double coverage IMO. If something does happen neither company will want to pay. Unless I suppose if the policy is written strictly as coverage in excess of the other policy.

I think that's probably what it was. But it was years ago and kinda fuzzy and like I said, I was only aware that somehow they had explained it was necessary and I took it at face value at the time because it seemed to make sense.

[morgin]

Resurrecting as I'm a current TD group rate (Meloche) policyholder and have seen a significant jump from $1850 to $2430 on the $2Million solution with enhanced home coverage.

Anyone renewed or switched in the last 6 months who has had a positive experience? I tried The Personal under group rate and they were close to $1k more expensive for similar coverage.

[Ironhorse]

Also interested, as I'm totally done dealing with the ####ers at TD Meloche.

[FlameOn]

I switched to The Personal and they came in substantially lower than TD Monnex on a professional group rate, which may not apply to everyone so YMMV. I have heard good things about Intact too.

[rohara66]

Yea TD Meloche Monex is awful to deal with. I need to switch too.

[Whynotnow]

I’m with the Personal as well on a great group rate. Setting up the policy they seemed great.

That said I assume every single insurance company is awful when you have a claim. That way I won’t be disappointed.

[Looch City]

Just go with cheapest. They're all the same.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Looch City

Just go with cheapest. They're all the same.

All Homeowners policies are not the same.

Consumers need to know what they are purchasing.

[Lubicon]

Originally Posted by rohara66

Yea TD Meloche Monex is awful to deal with. I need to switch too.

Originally Posted by Looch City

Just go with cheapest. They're all the same.

We're with TD Meloche as well, and they are all definitely NOT the same. We are also getting weary of the yearly BS of increased rates, trying to contact them (takes forever) and negotiating some reduction etc. HOWEVER any time we have had a claim they have been fantastic to deal with, never an argument, disagreement, or issue.

We've shopped around and don't see a large enough difference to make it worth the hassle to switch.

[aaronck]

I was looking to change home and Auto as well-

Home has steadily risen to $2400 a year which I think is insane (Zero claims)
I shopped around and got quotes as high as $3500

Cheapest one I found was through Inova, which is Costco's Insurance broker. Turns out, if I move my home insurance to save some $$ (they were $1500 BTW) then my auto policies would go up as I would lose the multi policy discount. Inova couldn't quote my car insurance as the cheapest company they could find was my own company, who is charging me more because I am already with them so they can't quote a lower rate to me. Insurance in Alberta sucks lately

[GoinAllTheWay]

Originally Posted by FlameOn

I have heard good things about Intact too.

Intact is indeed a good carrier. I quite like them. Only knock against them is they can be a bit stingy with their sewer backup and overland water limits.

[Hemi-Cuda]

We were with Sonnet for both home and auto, which was by far the cheapest option I found. When my wife started her home beauty business though we had to switch the house as Sonnet wouldn't cover it, ended up using Square One covering both the house and business for $2300/yr. I'm assuming without the business it'd be substantially cheaper for anyone using them to only insure their house

[MoneyGuy]

I wasn’t pleased with our increase so went to Belair Direct. They saved us several hundred dollars a year. Their post-sale contact and service has been excellent.

[Raekwon]

Understand your needs and the coverage you are getting, many times the complaints are from people that don't realize they don't have proper coverage for some things or not enough coverage etc. Ultimately this is your responsibility even if you are using a broker. Asking for the cheapest rate and then getting blindsided when you need to use the insurance is very common. One example you insure your home and someone breaks in and steals your jewelry collection, you have a $50,000 maximum theft coverage which is more than enough to cover your $35,000 collection but your policy states of that $50,000 they only cover $5000 for jewelry. Now you are mad because you have $50,000 coverage but only get $5,000 and maybe your deductible is $5000 so now you have no claim. Now you are mad at your insurance company because they scammed you. Ask questions get familiar with what is being offered and avoid these issues.

With that said the claims process for each company will be similar with some having better customer service, response times etc but none of them are going to cover anything differently than your actual policy. If you have the coverage and your loss falls within that no company in their right mind is going to try and deny your claim or "screw you over"

With that in mind treat your decision like you would your cable/phone provider, switch as needed if you can get a better deal on the same coverage. Watch for deals when using multiple coverages from the same company like auto/home, ask about loyalty programs and decide if paying a little more now will save you later although that is risky as companies may change in that time. Insurance is not an after thought its "Peace of Mind"