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

[Mr.Coffee]

That is interesting. I wonder if that has anything to do with the flood because typically AMA was quite high in my experience.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

Thought I'd bump this again to see if anyone has had recent claims experience with Dominion/Traveller's since the latter bought out Dominion.

My broker has come back with a home quote 30% less than TD and as much as I like that rate, I know it's about actually getting them to pay out when you need to...

Interestingly enough, overland flood is being offered by quite a few underwriters now for my neighborhood. Expensive as hell though - like another $1,400 annually.

[VladtheImpaler]

Having dealt with insurers for many years, I would say Cooperators is head and shoulders above the crowd. AMA is generally pretty good too. Stay away from TD - they have tightened the screws lately. The rest are all pretty much average.

[Calgary14]

I've also heard bad things about TD. I am with Intact and they are great. Here are the rankings from JD Power. http://canada.jdpower.com/press-rele...nsurance-study

[FLAMESRULE]

We're with TD Meloche. Inquired about what I thought might be hail damage on our garage roof and pulling shingles on the house. Had an inspector come out and say that its definitely not hail damage, but it is just old age...but oh look, here's 5 hail marks and your gutters are dented up a bit.

Got our entire roof reshingled. +10000 for TD. Super easy to make the initial claim, the inspection, the repairs. Very very happy.

[I-Hate-Hulse]

TD has been good on the couple of car and hail claims I've had, but I too have heard they have really clamped down lately to try and recover from flood losses. The difference in premiums is almost $1,000 for house and auto now and worst of all they have a limit of $25,000 for sewer backup.

Travellers appears the cheapest as I understand they are hungry for business. Would love to know if they are as good as TD to work with.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

Thought I'd bump this again to see if anyone has had recent claims experience with Dominion/Traveller's since the latter bought out Dominion.

My broker has come back with a home quote 30% less than TD and as much as I like that rate, I know it's about actually getting them to pay out when you need to...

Interestingly enough, overland flood is being offered by quite a few underwriters now for my neighborhood. Expensive as hell though - like another $1,400 annually.

I have mine with TD and similarly got quotes that were 25-30% lower. Chatted with TD and they actually lowered my rates when I told them I wanted to cancel and move to someone else. FWIW

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

Thought I'd bump this again to see if anyone has had recent claims experience with Dominion/Traveller's since the latter bought out Dominion.

My broker has come back with a home quote 30% less than TD and as much as I like that rate, I know it's about actually getting them to pay out when you need to...

Interestingly enough, overland flood is being offered by quite a few underwriters now for my neighborhood. Expensive as hell though - like another $1,400 annually.

IHH, ensure you know what you are buying.

Not all Home Owner Policies are the same.

In the last 12-24 months some insurers have moved to a depreciation/ACV schedules for roofs.

I believe AMA, Portage, Intact (maybe) all do this.

If "you" don't know a lot about insurance using a broker (a truly independent broker, Brokerlink is not independent) to purchase.

[flamefan74]

Originally Posted by I-Hate-Hulse

Thought I'd bump this again to see if anyone has had recent claims experience with Dominion/Traveller's since the latter bought out Dominion.

Had an accident last year that I put in a claim for with Dominion. Was quite happy with the experience. Within 20 minutes of hanging up phone all arrangements had been made for dropping off car at body shop and rental car in place. Everything went very smooth and no surprises.

[CroFlames]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

IHH, ensure you know what you are buying.

Not all Home Owner Policies are the same.

In the last 12-24 months some insurers have moved to a depreciation/ACV schedules for roofs.

I believe AMA, Portage, Intact (maybe) all do this.

If "you" don't know a lot about insurance using a broker (a truly independent broker, Brokerlink is not independent) to purchase.

Can you name a truly independent broker for Calgary?

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by FLAMESRULE

We're with TD Meloche. Inquired about what I thought might be hail damage on our garage roof and pulling shingles on the house. Had an inspector come out and say that its definitely not hail damage, but it is just old age...but oh look, here's 5 hail marks and your gutters are dented up a bit.

Got our entire roof reshingled. +10000 for TD. Super easy to make the initial claim, the inspection, the repairs. Very very happy.

I used to think they were awesome too, but be careful, basically if you call them 3 times in 5 years (I think that's the right numbers) they will dump you, and you are now a "high risk" client going anywhere else.

The good news, was their slow rate jacking meant that even as a high risk client, I saved a decent amount leaving them.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by CroFlames

Can you name a truly independent broker for Calgary?

Good question.


I haven't dealt with a broker in Calgary for over 5 years.

I believe that Haggett & Rogers Insurance Group is still independent.

http://www.insuranceagencies.com/

My example of Brokerlink, is a reference to them being owned by Intact Insurance.

[Kjesse]

I'm not very happy with TD on my hail claim. They were good on some things such as eavestroughing, but really dug their heels in on broken windows seals. They eventually relented but it took a lot of persuading.

The front line person though was very good to deal with, she was trying hard and was very communicative but it was also clear she was carrying out a mandate from management.

Also, even though they agreed to finally cover everything, our premiums rose such that wihin a year and a half i'll have paid for the value of this loss.

We will probably switch soon.

[Calgary14]

How much is everyone paying for home insurance these days? I am in the process of renewing and was surprised at how much rates increased. Home and auto is combined so part of the increase is due to auto rates also going up

[jeffporfirio]

I switched to Innova (Costco) this year, from TD, home stayed pretty much even, but they offer higher flood coverage, auto went down almost 40% for two cars.

[ken0042]

Looks like I'm paying $125 a month for a 2000 sq ft house. I think my multi policy discount goes on my car insurance.

[OffsideSpecialist]

Originally Posted by ken0042

Under the category of "who to stay away from"- Intact Insurance. One of my co-workers had a house fire and after seeing all the crap they had to go through; I would never want to deal with them. Basically they scrutinized each and every item to see how they could squeeze the claim smaller and smaller.

My dad has the exact same story about one of his co-workers.

[eddly]

My recommendation would be to go with Cooperators. Cooperators has a clue when it comes to flood plains. Where I live Cooperators has it pegged as no risk for flood, other insurers think I live on a flood plain.

You have to contact Cooperators directly, they don't go through brokers. Who needs a middleman.

[Calgary14]

Originally Posted by jeffporfirio

I switched to Innova (Costco) this year, from TD, home stayed pretty much even, but they offer higher flood coverage, auto went down almost 40% for two cars.

I'll have to check out Innova, I forgot about them and 40% is a big savings. My auto rates went up from last year and I was told it was because all rates went up across the board

[jeffporfirio]

Originally Posted by Calgary14

I'll have to check out Innova, I forgot about them and 40% is a big savings. My auto rates went up from last year and I was told it was because all rates went up across the board

I switched because TD increased our auto for a no-fault small dent which the other person's insurance paid out.