Insurance policy renewal - auto, home, umbrella

[riverwed070707]

I was so thrilled a few years ago to finally have a provider who could offer all my insurance coverage under one policy. I've been extremely happy with them, including dealing with a major car accident and adding a teen driver for the first time. They've been helpful and, while not the cheapest option on the market, relatively affordable. Got my renewal this week...

Auto - small increase from $2,005 to $2,251 for the year on 3 vehicles including a teen driver
$1M Umbrella for personal and business liability - stayed the same at $324 for the year
Property - holy Up 44% from $5,760 to $8,322 on 3 rentals and my primary

There are all kinds of complexities that make switching complicated. Many providers won't cover all of my policies for one reason or another. Given I only have a month before my renewal payment is due, I reached out to a broker to see if they can help me find something to bring it back down. I understand everyone's home values are up but this is a driving-people-out-of-their-homes level of crazy.

Are you all seeing massive property insurance increases? Are you shopping around?

[myrdale]

This is what I've said in other post. Prices continuing to skyrocket are really hurting people. The amount of construction in this area (NW Georgia) is insane. I had joked with a friend about where all the people to fill these houses and apartments were going to come from, where they going to ship them in?.... Well guess what, they are. A local car battery plant is supposed to be 4,000 new jobs, BUT 3,000 are being shipped in from South Korea.

You throw inflation in the mix on top of demand and prices go through the roof.

And so your insurance goes up, as does your property tax.

[ua_guy]

Insurers have had a wild couple of years of losses, and they continue to pull out of places like Florida (hurricanes), and California (fires) that are tanking their insurance businesses, and continue to cost them (and everyone else) dearly. Our homeowner's renewal went up here in WA on the last round significantly, but that's in part because the companies have been after the Insurance Commish here to approve a rate increase after so many years. Well, that finally happened and the approval was something like 25% increase. Not just losses, but the cost of construction (labor and materials) has gone up, and is also in high demand. In most urban areas and desirable places to live, there's actually a shortage of housing, so those services are in high demand. Pay for what you can get.

Our auto policies have also gone up, but less than 25%. Parts and labor have gone up, and so has the value of new vehicles, so, a rate increase isn't really surprising, but it's not exactly palatable, either. The loss rate on vehicles is up overall too. More accidents = more paid out.

We looked at switching carriers, curious if maybe ours was just going off the deep end or didn't want our particular brand of risk, and that doesn't appear to be the case. Every quote we got was just as expensive.

Now, the part where I feel particularly screwed is our auto rates haven't generally leveled or decreased over time. That was perhaps the only exciting thing about turning 40...maybe car insurance would finally chill out. Nope. That really feels like a gouge, considering we are driving almost 40k miles per year less than we previously were. Our cars are already on "low mileage" policies.

I don't see premiums becoming cheaper anytime soon. Certainly not with an install of any kind of new administration, that would just cause prices to go up with any further deregulation and special handling of the finance industry.

[Fishindude77]

We've been pretty pleased with our insurer and prices have not increased substantially. We also insure our home, farm, automobiles, etc. with a single vendor.
My biggest beef is there billing. I wish they would just invoice us every six months for everything. As it stands, we'll get an auto bill one month, homeowners the next, then a bill for the umbrella, etc. Makes it a bit more difficult to track.

[disneysteve]

Insurance costs are only going to keep rising due to climate change. We're seeing more frequent and more damaging storms and extreme weather events, more and worse flooding, bigger wild fires, etc. All of that is resulting in higher insurance costs.

[Fishindude77]

Blaming insurance costs on climate change is a stretch at best. Todays weather events are not dramatically worse then in past years.

What has changed a bunch is that there is a whole lot more valuable stuff built in those vulnerable areas that has to be insured.

[ua_guy]

It's a stretch to deny that more severe weather isn't also responsible for increased insurance costs, but, whatever, no use in arguing that the earth is a sphere with someone who insists it's flat because that's what it looks like out of their front window.

The increase in cost is multi-factored, not just one thing and not another. Know what else is a factor? Fraud. Saw it in Minnesota all the dang time. Every time a hail storm came through there were roofing companies out there door-knocking the next day, and trying to scam insurance companies into doing whole roof and siding replacements.

[disneysteve]

Todays weather events are not dramatically worse then in past years.

This simply isn't true but I'm not going to waste my time gathering the data for you. You can google it just as easily as I can.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Our auto insurance renewal is nearly double. It's insane. The homeowners got resold and it's about 20% more expensive. But wow the auto, with cars getting older? I don't get it at all.

[myrdale]

Blaming insurance costs on climate change is a stretch at best. Todays weather events are not dramatically worse then in past years.

What has changed a bunch is that there is a whole lot more valuable stuff built in those vulnerable areas that has to be insured.

I agree 100%.

There have always been storms, droughts, floods, fires. In the 70's people were screaming new ice age. Then in the 90's it was global warming. Now it's climate change which is an umbrella to mean literally any thing. After Hurricane Katrina, people were running around shouting its the "new norm". Ultimately it is all about control. Control of populations and control of the individual.

As population densities continue to grow, when there are these natural events they will affect more people. Its just part of putting all of your eggs in one basket.

And it still all goes back to inflation. A tornado knocks out 20 houses worth $100k each five years ago, or knocks out the same 20 houses now worth $250k today. "Storms are doing more damage than they use to!!". Well no it is just everything is more expensive.

[myrdale]

But wow the auto, with cars getting older? I don't get it at all.

Its not about what you drive, its about what the guy you might hit drives.

In 2016, the average new car was $34k.

In 2023, the average new car was $47k.

The constant flood of government regulations on new vehicles doesn't help at all.

[ua_guy]

And it still all goes back to inflation. A tornado knocks out 20 houses worth $100k each five years ago, or knocks out the same 20 houses now worth $250k today. "Storms are doing more damage than they use to!!". Well no it is just everything is more expensive.

That's funny, because that's not how insurance works, but, whatever. There's a dwelling coverage limit chosen in advance of the policy actually binding. And typical homeowner policies renew every year, so if you experience a huge increase in value, you have to choose a higher dwelling coverage to cover the cost of rebuilding. Or if you're paying for home replacement coverage, they re-baseline that every year with the cost of construction and home values, and raise your rate accordingly. Those things are already covered and determined in the policy, and every policy has its limit.

Similar with car insurance. If you buy a $47k car, you're paying to insure a $47k car, not a $34k car 9 years ago.... And your property damage limits for liability are what you select - not what the other guy's car is worth.

There are actually smart people like actuaries that determine how much premium needs to be charged. They can't, however, predict if/when Lahaina is ever going to burn to the ground again. There is still risk, and climate change represents an increased risk.

[scfr]

Enough already! Geez. Y'all act like DJT & BS in a cage match. It's not a good look.

[bjl584]

I really don't want to have to close this thread too.
Things are getting heated.

Can we all take a breath and get back to the topic posted by OP?
I realize that there is an election on the horizon, and we're all divided, but it does no good to start throwing ideology and politics into EVER SINGLE posting.

Thanks everyone.

[ua_guy]

I really don't want to have to close this thread too.
Things are getting heated.

Can we all take a breath and get back to the topic posted by OP?
I realize that there is an election on the horizon, and we're all divided, but it does no good to start throwing ideology and politics into EVER SINGLE posting.

Thanks everyone.

Brian, I think the problem is allowing certain folks to post misinformation and thinly veiled political opinion/whining in every single thread, but then only responding or closing threads when people stand up for the truth or offer alternative perspective. Otherwise it looks like you side with and support only one perspective, when, in reality, I don’t think the moderators want those topics of discussion at all. I’ll gladly help support the latter, but I refuse to sit quiet if those topics are permitted in the first place.