TUESDAY, MAY 25, 2021
When you buy home insurance, you have to pay for it. After all, your policy is designed to provide a financial service to you when a problem arises in your home. Therefore, you are a cost risk to the insurer, and they must recoup those losses by charging you your premium for coverage.
However, one thing about insurance premiums is that they can vary from policyholder to policyholder, and from year to year you might even see your rates go up or down. At times, these price changes are inevitable, but, in other cases, your own actions will cause your premiums to rise. Let’s take a closer look at why rates might increase and what you can do to help keep yours in check.
What’s Your Home Insurance Premium
An insurance premium is simply the cost you pay for your policy. When you buy a home, you will have to factor the cost of your premium into your overall budget. You must continue to pay for your plan to continue to receive coverage.
However, it can be hard to guess precisely what your premium will be. Most insurers base your premiums on a risk profile, which they calculate by gauging how likely you are to file a claim and how much a claim is likely to cost them. Compared to other clients your cost risk to the insurer might be higher or lower, and your premium might need to be adjusted accordingly.
Some of the factors that will influence your risk profile might include:
-
The cost and value of your property
-
The types of coverage you buy
-
How high you set your coverage limits
-
How high or low you set your damage deductibles
-
Your credit score
-
The home’s age
-
The home’s location
-
Crime, storm and other property damage risks in your area
-
The proximity of the home to fire or police stations
-
Your history of making claims on your insurance policies
-
Whether you have let any policies lapse due to non-payment
So, suppose that in the last year you have made a lot of small claims on your homeowners policy. For each claim, your insurer has had to pay out a settlement. You have wound up costing the insurer money, perhaps even on costs that you might have been able to pay for yourself.
As a result, the cost risks that you have caused the insurer might put you on the list of high-risk customers. Your insurer might have to charge you more simply to make up this cost difference. Still, your rates might drop once again as time passes and you don’t file further policy claims. Insurers often don’t track claims forever, so this particular cost adjustment might only be temporary.
Still, every time that you renew your home insurance policy (usually you must do so once per year), you might see your rates go up or down. This might be true even if you have made no claims on your policy. Below, we’ve outlined three reasons why you are most likely to see your rates rise.
You Bought Additional Coverage
Insurance policies are based on the principle of supply and demand. If you want more coverage, then you are going to pay more for it. After all, each increase in coverage represents a potential sum of money that your insurer might have to pay you.
Usually, your mortgage lender will require you to purchase homeowners insurance. Even though they might mandate certain amounts of coverage, you are still encouraged to purchase more coverage than just the minimum requirement. The good news is that as you increase your coverage, you will not usually see massive premium increases. Generally, these will be modest compared to any potential benefit you might receive for a claim.
Economic Factors Influence Rates
Economics may factor into the cost of premiums. Like most businesses, insurers will have to periodically adjust rates to keep up with inflation. Additionally, if the insurer experiences a higher number of claims, cumulatively, year over year, then they might be forced to raise rates on all clients to make up the difference. However, low-risk policyholders often don’t face as significant of a cost burden from these market changes.
Risk Factors in Your Area Change
Environmental and demographic factors in your community will change over the years. Therefore, your home insurance risks might change, too.
Say, for example, that your neighborhood has seen a recent increase in property crime like vandalism, home burglaries and related occurrences; the risk your insurer has to take to cover your home might go up. Your insurer might have to make premium increases to cover this new risk. This increase might not only affect you, but also others in the area. Therefore, the actual price increase might prove nominal.
If you face an increase in premiums, don’t hesitate to speak to one of our agents to learn more about what you can do to combat these changes. Discounts, changes in your deductible and other factors might help you save money without sacrificing critical benefits. In the end, we’ll ensure that you have as much savings potential as possible.
No Comments
Post a Comment |
|
Required
|
|
Required (Not Displayed)
|
|
Required
|
All comments are moderated and stripped of HTML.
|
|
|
|
|
|
NOTICE: This blog and website are made available by the publisher for educational and informational purposes only.
It is not be used as a substitute for competent insurance, legal, or tax advice from a licensed professional
in your state. By using this blog site you understand that there is no broker client relationship between
you and the blog and website publisher.
|
Blog Archive
|