Home Insurance Jump

[Scrambler]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

I mean technically you don't have to insurer anything in your home that you own.

You choose to insurer contents.

You have no choice in insuring the building.

Technically, if you owned you home outright you could drop first party coverage

I do own my home outright at this point. I do like being able to choose my deductible, among other things.

Maybe I'm just so introverted, I like doing my own policy via an online brokerage versus dealing with another human. Saves money which is icing on the cake.

[GullFoss]

Originally Posted by Wormius

Is everybody getting maximum coverage or is there a difference if you have mortgage paid off or not? Our coverage is pretty basic. $1 million liability and $2000 deductibles on hail/wind/etc.

It is Security National as the insurer though, with TD as the agency.

Of course it renews in October so maybe that is when it the price skyrockets.

Value of contents and house will be major factors. The more you are insuring, the more you pay.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by calgarygringo

Same policy, same coverages should be the same. If not I would check for discounts missed and there are many but only if your broker asks, coverages missed, deductible amounts bundling to name a few. Also keep in mind the insurer may change the $$$ if your broker messed up. If too good to be it probably is.

I've had this happen before myself, different brokers get totally different pricing for the same policy from the same provider. I was miffed.

[flamesfever]

I understand that what you pay for insurance has a lot to do with your credit rating. I managed to get my insurance cut in half, a couple of years ago, when I went from Intact to the Personal through APEGA.

[TorqueDog]

Well, I guess I'm sticking with TD Meloche for a bit longer.

BrokerLink (through Pembridge) had a pretty decent looking quote online even before I added my home insurance to get a multi-line discount... only for that quote to jump to $900/year more than TDMM when I called in to get everything made official.

Feck.

[woob]

What the heck? What was their reasoning?

[TorqueDog]

They really didn't have one. Just sort of a "huh, well, maybe try again in a few months or 30 days from your TD policy expiry".

When I did the online quote, I mimicked all the options from my TDMM policy in terms of usage, coverage, and deductibles. Even with them applying the 13d glass waiver, it was more expensive (which I didn't want waived to begin with).

[Kiran403]

Just switched from TD to Intact via Surex. All online and it was fairly easy to get done. Saving almost $4K per year with the switch and that was with two claims on my house within the past 5 years (pipe break and roof replacement from hail damage)

[Deegee]

All State and Intact were my cheapest options. Everyone else was about $1,200-$1,800 more a year. All State had better deductibles for the same price as intact.

[Knut]

Anyone have a broker they can recommend. Not getting anywhere to lower the rates on my own.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by Knut

Anyone have a broker they can recommend. Not getting anywhere to lower the rates on my own.

I don't have experience but have heard good things about Mammoth, there ain't many indepdnant brokers left.

Just google Haggett & Rogers (who I was going to recommend) they are now part of WFG

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by Scrambler

For HOME insurance, I can suggest Square One, it's customizable coverage which I think is good. I don't need to insure things I think are a low risk (IE: I have zero valuables in my home). It's basically an online broker where you get to make decisions yourself and see the cost variance as you go through it. Even if you go with full coverage (no exclusions) you're probably better off on your premium cost.

https://www.squareone.ca/ref/URUDAQ

They'll hopefully do auto insurance in Alberta in the next year or so. But for now, using this outfit for Home insurance and Zenith for Auto works better than any combo/bundle deal out there.

I use them too, and I like that I can adjust different limits and deductibles as needed to save money. The standard contents insurance on most home policies is ridiculous, usually 50% of the structure value. In my case, that'd be over $400K in coverage just for contents.

And for anyone in coastal BC like me, their earthquake insurance is extremely cheap compared to anyone else I've used. They also haven't raise rates much at all in the 3 years I've been with them. A little above inflation, but nothing egregious.

[cral12]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Mine tripled in two years, I called and updated a bit of info, and it went magically from "Nothing we can do" to almost a third of the new rate, and I increased coverage on a few things. I was ready to switch, but this was easier.

Did you have to escalate to get this, Fuzz?

(Seems like a lot of people calling and they are not budging)

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by cral12

Did you have to escalate to get this, Fuzz?

(Seems like a lot of people calling and they are not budging)

No, I just spent about a half hour on the phone. Maybe I just got lucky? I'm also incredibly handsome, so maybe try that?

[cral12]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

No, I just spent about a half hour on the phone. Maybe I just got lucky? I'm also incredibly handsome, so maybe try that?

Dang, I have no chance then lol.
I spent >60 minutes on the horn with them. Got it down by $300 only which is not much given the 40% increase in one yr.

Intact quote is >50% less and The Personal about a 67% less.
(But auto insurance still quite a bit less at TD - maybe that balloons next yr!?)

[SeeGeeWhy]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Well, I guess I'm sticking with TD Meloche for a bit longer.

BrokerLink (through Pembridge) had a pretty decent looking quote online even before I added my home insurance to get a multi-line discount... only for that quote to jump to $900/year more than TDMM when I called in to get everything made official.

Feck.

Yes, I ended up calling The Personal a few weeks ago to try again, and the agent was shocked with the rates that were coming up "for my area".

He said that the premiums were 9.6x higher than the average.

So my working theory is that, somehow, the City successfully filed a claim to cover the damages from the broken sewer pipe fiasco in 2024 and now everyone is paying for it.

His advice was to also check back in 90 days, which I most certainly will not be doing.

[Knut]

After 2 hours on the phone I got TD down about $500. Still $2000 more than last year.

Have a broker shopping it out to see if anything comes back less.

[Regorium]

Originally Posted by Knut

After 2 hours on the phone I got TD down about $500. Still $2000 more than last year.

Have a broker shopping it out to see if anything comes back less.

Try the Costco broker. Worked well for us and got our home insurance rate back down to what we were paying (around $1800/yr) compared to the Aviva quote of $3500.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by cral12

Dang, I have no chance then lol.
I spent >60 minutes on the horn with them. Got it down by $300 only which is not much given the 40% increase in one yr.

Intact quote is >50% less and The Personal about a 67% less.
(But auto insurance still quite a bit less at TD - maybe that balloons next yr!?)

It could be because I have a fairly new roof, hail resistant siding, and it's a bungalow so not much to replace if damaged. Or witchcraft. Tough to pin down with insurance companies.

[cral12]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Well, I guess I'm sticking with TD Meloche for a bit longer.

BrokerLink (through Pembridge) had a pretty decent looking quote online even before I added my home insurance to get a multi-line discount... only for that quote to jump to $900/year more than TDMM when I called in to get everything made official.

Feck.

Dang. This was my next step (follow up on the lower quotes I got from BrokerLink).

I had AMA agent just tell me my online home quote (about $1200 less than my TD rate) is actually lower than it should have been (and auto insurance is $1000 more than TD).