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Old 05-31-2013, 11:33 AM   #1
mykalberta
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Default Home Insurance - any suggestions on who to use or who to stay far far far away from?

Could this thread title be any longer - geez.

Anyway - now that I am entering full on adulthood and moving from a condo to a house I need some suggestions on who to use for home insurance.

With my condo I was previously with Wawanesa because my parents are with their agency and thought it would be a good idea to go with them in case of a claims situation.

Well I lived in a condo and wouldnt you know, I had 0 claims. So I figured I would ask those CP 1%ers who have home insurance in Calgary who they would suggest going with seeing as now that I have a house the likelyhood of a claim is going to go up from living in a condo so dealing with someone closer to home for a claim might be more advantageous than dealing with someone 3 hours away.

Currently we both have cars with TD (cheapest). We got a home insurance quote from them and it seemed to be relatively high. Our house is built in 1987, has original furnace and etc from that time frame.

Thanks.
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Old 05-31-2013, 11:39 AM   #2
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Wawanesa Insurance has had excellent rates for several years in a row now. I'd check with them. Aviva Insurance has been pretty good too.

As to who to stay away from? That's a bit harder. Intact has had some poor rates. Economical has very high base rates but applies a ton of discounts to be competitive. Which is nice until you make a claim and then you can see your rates jump big time. Not a big deal though as you can always remarket yourself the next renewal.

TD I've heard bad things about. I've had several clients come to us from them. Their biggest complaint seemed to be be that it was easy to get the policy started but if you had questions, getting ahold of a rep was difficult.

Now is an unfortunate time to be getting into home insurance. 3 yrs of major hail storms in Calgary has done nothing good to rates.
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Old 05-31-2013, 11:40 AM   #3
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I have TD, and I have not yet made a claim so I can't tell you anything much.
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Old 05-31-2013, 11:41 AM   #4
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One thing to remember is, unlike car insurance, not all property policies are the same. Some companies have different coverages/endorsements/policy sub-limits/schedules. It might be beneficial to speak to a truely independent broker, ie: Borker Link is owned by Intact Insurance.
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Old 05-31-2013, 11:53 AM   #5
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One thing to remember is, unlike car insurance, not all property policies are the same. Some companies have different coverages/endorsements/policy sub-limits/schedules. It might be beneficial to speak to a truely independent broker, ie: Borker Link is owned by Intact Insurance.
Not quite....core coveage across all carriers is bascially exactly the same. Even have very similar endorsements. Some may have a few bells & whistles that are unique to them but nothing major.
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Old 05-31-2013, 12:04 PM   #6
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Not quite....core coveage across all carriers is bascially exactly the same. Even have very similar endorsements. Some may have a few bells & whistles that are unique to them but nothing major.

Well I know Chubb used to cover (may still do) seepage if it could be shown to be the first incident. I also believe Intact covers some water through the foundation dependant upon the circumstances.

My point was that with the auto policy it is the same word for word between companies. Such is not the case with property policies.

I should also note that the way companies interprete the policy also is different. Hail is a good example. Some companies will wrap a house, some will attempt to match and only replace the damaged side/pieces. Same goes for roofs.
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Old 05-31-2013, 12:12 PM   #7
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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.
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Old 05-31-2013, 12:36 PM   #8
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Meloche Monnex had their residential rates go way up in the last year, but they are still awesome to deal with if you ever have to make a claim.
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Old 05-31-2013, 01:02 PM   #9
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Quote:
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Well I know Chubb used to cover (may still do) seepage if it could be shown to be the first incident. I also believe Intact covers some water through the foundation dependant upon the circumstances.

My point was that with the auto policy it is the same word for word between companies. Such is not the case with property policies.

I should also note that the way companies interprete the policy also is different. Hail is a good example. Some companies will wrap a house, some will attempt to match and only replace the damaged side/pieces. Same goes for roofs.
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.
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Old 05-31-2013, 01:06 PM   #10
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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.
Also, MMI covered seepage for a small amount of time, but they have taken it out of the policy.

In certain situations Intact will cover water damage resulting from water that enters the property through the foundation.
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Old 05-31-2013, 01:13 PM   #11
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My insurance is through aviva, made a claim last year and the process was handled very quickly. It was the only claim I have ever made so I don't have much to go off as far as a measuring stick but IMO they were very easy/professional to deal with.
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Old 05-31-2013, 01:17 PM   #12
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I would not recommend the Personal Insurance out of Toronto. They tend to decline coverage for the most frivolous reasons. Typically they have low rates but very tough when it comes to claims.
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Old 05-31-2013, 01:29 PM   #13
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Bork... Chubb? hehe.
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Old 05-31-2013, 01:35 PM   #14
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Also I hear Wawanesa is easy to deal with and pays out on their claims without a lot of hassle.
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Old 05-31-2013, 01:42 PM   #15
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Meloche Monnex had their residential rates go way up in the last year, but they are still awesome to deal with if you ever have to make a claim.
I'm with them for home and auto, and while I've only had to deal with their claims on the auto side (hail claim then a total write off) they've been nothing but great to deal with. Zero hassle in getting my claims both times. When I totaled my car (my fault) my rates went up of course so I did a bit of shopping around when renewal came up. Every other company I checked was $500-$1000 more per year for the same coverage
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Old 05-31-2013, 01:50 PM   #16
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We've been with All State for a long time.

We've had a few claims the past couple years (hail and then wind damage).
No issues at all, prompt service and repairs.
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Old 05-31-2013, 02:05 PM   #17
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I can give you a ballpark quote if you'd like. All I really need is the style of the home, the square footage of the above grade area (If it's a bi-level, I need the area of both levels), and whether or not the basement is finished, and if you have a garage (attached or detached). I'm also assuming the house is in Calgary.
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Old 05-31-2013, 09:33 PM   #18
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I'm with Meloche Monnex for home and auto

I also haven't made a claim on my home but their rates were much lower than anyone else
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Old 05-31-2013, 10:22 PM   #19
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i can confirm that TD is great for taking the premiums. i have no idea on how they are paying out the claims, though.

you need to meet a guy called torch, and he can help you test out varuious companies claims payment practices - please report back.
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Old 05-31-2013, 10:35 PM   #20
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TD uses some real sketchy policy wordings in some cases with their Gold, Silver and Bronze home wordings. You can get talked into a lower premium with coverage that is carved out to not give you full coverage in some of the most crucial areas such as wind, hail, internal water to name a few. I think their Bronze package is one of the worst wordings I have ever seen. If you are dealing with them stick to the Gold wording.

As for others, try to get a policy that hasn't increased the deductible for hail/water to $2,500 or $1,500 yet as many companies are quickly/quietly throwing in these new caps/restrictions and higher deductibles. When you are protecting your biggest asset, in many cases, you want full comprehensive, guaranteed replacement cost, coverage with a normal deductible amount and full coverage for the three biggest risks you face : Hail/Water/Fire. Shop around and get the best wording and realize that this is likely one area in the insurance world that you will likely want/need professional advice. Also having $2,000,000 liability on your policy should be an automatic and if you don't have it you are putting yourself at risk for $20/$30 per year.

The general insurance industry in Canada has had four consecutive years of billion dollar payouts from 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012. There will likely be another round of hail/wind this summer but this time many companies are in a position to reduce their exposure to these risks and almost certain claims payout events that come from operating in Southern Alberta. One thing I am surprised by is that companies haven't retreated from this market as if you take Intact as an example they last year paid out $3 Billion in claims much of it coming from losses in Alberta. There is clearly lots of variance in the policy wordings and this is where you need to start.
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