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

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

Resurrecting this thread, as it looks to be the most appropriate. I’m reviewing our home insurance because it jumped quite a bit this year (no claims for us since we’ve lived here for 15 years), and I see the policy is for a global amount of $3 million, covering dwelling, property and living expenses. Also $1 million liability. That seems rather high for my $370ish home. Or is this the lowest standard amount?

I was literally just reviewing my renewal documents and noticed a huge jump, too. With TD.

Deductibles increased from $1000 to $1500 and annual premium up nearly 35%.

It mentions weather and increasing building costs and such which I suppose makes sense, but it still feels like a pretty swift kick to the balls.

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by powderjunkie

Deductibles increased from $1000 to $1500 and annual premium up nearly 35%.

It mentions weather and increasing building costs and such which I suppose makes sense, but it still feels like a pretty swift kick to the balls.

Mine is with TD also. Ridiculous. Is yours also a $3MM policy?

[powderjunkie]

Dang, I was kinda hoping this was happening across the board and I'd have an excuse to not shop around.

Yup, also $3M (though our house is ~700k). I don't that limit would make much difference to premium because they know they rarely have to pay anywhere near it.

I think the reasoning for a limit that high is if you had a fire that wrecked your home and several neighbours and city infrastructure, etc. Or if someone is killed on your property (e.g. trips down deck stairs and brains themself on a rock).

Of course the catch is the insurer would also look to wiggle out of paying if they could.

disclaimer: I have no idea what I'm talking about.

[powderjunkie]

Welp, I guess I'll be finding out just how craptacular these unilateral policy changes actually are as a tree in our backyard crashed in this snowfall. Thankfully there may be little to no damage to the house (but it was really really close to smashing through our bedroom window)...the deck and BBQ may not have been so lucky.

I suspect things will shake out to $1000-3000, but there is potential for it to balloon. Another change noted in my renewal docs was the removal of a clause where certain situations would have zero deductible. I need to dig deeper to see if this might have been one of those situations.


PSA: read those annoying documents carefully!

It's on me for not doing so, but this still feels pretty close to bait+switch (at least since this is only year 3 of our policy). I hope I get good service, because it's going to be a pain in the ass to cancel several TD bank accounts and a credit card if I don't.

[Ironhorse]

I called and got quotes from The Personal (since they are associated and promoted with ASET, of which I'm a member). 30% cheaper for Auto, and 40% cheaper on Home compared with what TD sent me for renewals. I think the coverages are pretty much comparable to my current policy.

Has anyone had any experience with The Personal?

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

I called and got quotes from The Personal (since they are associated and promoted with ASET, of which I'm a member). 30% cheaper for Auto, and 40% cheaper on Home compared with what TD sent me for renewals. I think the coverages are pretty much comparable to my current policy.

Has anyone had any experience with The Personal?

The Personal is part of Desjardins. Ensure you understand what you are purchasing, mainly for your home. Auto policy wordings are universal (set by the Gov't) but home is not. The Personal & Desjardins can have some different policy wording and coverage.

[DoubleK]

Does anyone have a recommendation/suggestion for an insurance company who provides insurance for a non-resident?

We have moved to the US but are keeping our house in Calgary and are renting it through a property management company.

I've called a couple brokers but no luck as of yet. I understand that this will cost more, but I can't find anyone who will insure me. Do I need to set up a corporation?

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by GoinAllTheWay

Chubb is not a regular carrier though. They typically cater to the higher end homes. They typically don't look at properties with a rebuilding cost under $750k.

Intact most certainly won't cover seepage, nor will any other regular line insurance company for that matter. I can point to the massive flooding we had in 2007(?) as proof. The Alberta Government had to step in as this is not covered by normal homeowner policies.

The approach to repair or replace entire siding/roofing is done case by case with all insurers.

Remember when a high end house was $750K?

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

I ended up saving quite a bit by switching from TD to Square One, no idea what the service is like because I literally just switched but we shall see.

[Ironhorse]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

I ended up saving quite a bit by switching from TD to Square One, no idea what the service is like because I literally just switched but we shall see.

Can't be any worse than the "service" I'm currently getting from TD on a hail claim...

[Jiri Hrdina]

I got switched to BelAir when they purchased the company I was with previously and I've been utterly impressed with their communication and responsiveness including how they handled my house claim following a hail storm.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Jiri Hrdina

I got switched to BelAir when they purchased the company I was with previously and I've been utterly impressed with their communication and responsiveness including how they handled my house claim following a hail storm.

That comes with the added bonus of being able to tell your current provider "Nah, forget it, my home to Bel Air".

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by DoubleK

Does anyone have a recommendation/suggestion for an insurance company who provides insurance for a non-resident?

We have moved to the US but are keeping our house in Calgary and are renting it through a property management company.

I've called a couple brokers but no luck as of yet. I understand that this will cost more, but I can't find anyone who will insure me. Do I need to set up a corporation?

Isn't it just converting your home insurance to a renter's insurance (not to be confused with by tenant liability insurance)? That's what I did years ago and then when I sold a condo unit to a non-resident, my insurance guy sorted out the insurance for the buyer who asked if I could help them get insurance through the same company I had previously been using.

I'm quite certain you don't need a corporation AND it's likely not as tax efficient to do that (likely better to own a rental property in your personal name than through a corp).

I use the Co-operators. Probably not the cheapest, but they've always gone to bat for me and caused little issue when I had auto claims. I haven't had a claim on my homes yet, but I assume it'd be similar to the experience I had with autos if I needed to file a claim. That being said, the cheaper insurances are probably more likely to fight you if you have a claim.

[DoubleK]

That's what I thought too, but my insurance company of the last 20 years has kicked me to the curb. I've had exactly two claims during that time too, it's not like I was a bad client.

[photon]

Dumb basic question.. can you switch insurance in the middle of a renewal cycle? I assume yes but wasn't sure, I've been with TD for so long but with a couple of good suggestions for alternatives here getting motivated to look at switching.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by photon

Dumb basic question.. can you switch insurance in the middle of a renewal cycle? I assume yes but wasn't sure, I've been with TD for so long but with a couple of good suggestions for alternatives here getting motivated to look at switching.

You can always switch. The better question to ask is how much it might cost you as a penalty to switch ASAP.

I think it depend, so having a broker look over your policy to determine if changing ASAP is OK or if you want to wait closer to renewal to change might be worth considering. I've seen some scenarios in the past where it made more sense for someone to have double coverage for 1-2 months than it was to cancel the original and take the penalty/deal with the admin headache. No idea on the details though, just that I've seen it happen before.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

You can always switch. The better question to ask is how much it might cost you as a penalty to switch ASAP.

I think it depend, so having a broker look over your policy to determine if changing ASAP is OK or if you want to wait closer to renewal to change might be worth considering. I've seen some scenarios in the past where it made more sense for someone to have double coverage for 1-2 months than it was to cancel the original and take the penalty/deal with the admin headache. No idea on the details though, just that I've seen it happen before.

Sorry what do you mean by "double coverage" as it relates to Home Owners or Auto (non-fleet/commercial)?

Who is primary?

Who pays the losses?

Sorry just trying to understand.

[Weitz]

Originally Posted by photon

Dumb basic question.. can you switch insurance in the middle of a renewal cycle? I assume yes but wasn't sure, I've been with TD for so long but with a couple of good suggestions for alternatives here getting motivated to look at switching.

Your insurance package will have the cancellation info within it somewhere. Should be able to determine what it would cost you.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Sorry what do you mean by "double coverage" as it relates to Home Owners or Auto (non-fleet/commercial)?

Who is primary?

Who pays the losses?

Sorry just trying to understand.

I think it was some weird scenario where they just left the insurance till the end of the term with one provider and started paying insurance with a different provider for the last two months, then upping it when the previous insurance term expired, but I didn't look at the info in detail at the time nor do I completely understand why they felt it made sense to "double insure" the property.

Maybe it had something to do with a pending spike to the insurance of the property due to estimated spike of FMV of the property that hadn't been addressed yet? Didn't like quote of old insurance company and doubled up for a few months in case there was a claim and the old insurance company's policy didn't cover enough due to the older FMV of the premium?

ie: FMV was to spike 20-30%, old company policy was still on old FMV value for coverage and wouldn't cover excess if a claim were to happen. Quote from old insurance company would increase premium 20-40%+ after policy expired, so they said they'd cancel after it expired. They also grabbed a cheap policy with a new insurance company to cover the 20-30% excess if anything were to happen. Then obtained revised policy with same new insurance company that would cover the updated FMV but only costs 10-15% more (vs 20-40% more) than what was paid before on an annual basis?

There was no claim during that time period, so I don't have an answer for your other questions. I just recall asking why they had months with two insurance premium payments and their response made sense.

[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.