Anyone know a good website/company/service where you can input the levels of coverage you want, and it scans all the carriers and finds the lowest price for you? Similar to what a mortgage broker does?
Car Insurance / Home Insurance
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Palum
what Suineg set it to
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I just changed carriers and found that several of these tools just aren't very accurate, or they are only comparing rates that aren't really apples to apples because of coverage differences or discount availability. Several of the insurance companies have comparison tools too, same results. Unless you have a high quality broker near you, even then lots of the online only companies you're going to have to get quoted yourself.
It sucks.
Control
Ahn'Qiraj Raider
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Last time I bought, the lender used Matic to get quotes. No idea if it's actually good or if they were just using them for kickbacks, but their best quote seemed reasonable so I didn't complain or shop around myself.
Loser Araysar
Chief Russia Correspondent / Stock Pals CEO
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My home Insurance has gone up from $1200 to $1800 in 2 years.
When I emailed my insurance agent asking why my rates keep going up 20-30% every year he replied with
"Inflation and rate adjustments are the main factors on the increases. In 2022 home coverage was 330K, 2023 it was 360K, 2024 it’s 390K."
I went to look at my policy and sure enough, they're now insuring me for $60K over the total cost of my mortgage (390K vs 330K). Am I retarded or is this wrong?
My understanding is that homeowners insurance is required only when you have a mortgage, so as to protect the lender's investment. If my total mortgage was for $330K, why would I ever insure my dwelling for more than that? Additionally, what would be considered reasonable insurance coverage for a $330K (I guess 400K now) home when it comes to Coverage A: Dwelling, Coverage B: "Other Structures" (I dont have any other structures on my property besides my house and attached garage. Coverage C: "Personal Property" and "Coverage D: "Loss of Use"
When I emailed my insurance agent asking why my rates keep going up 20-30% every year he replied with
"Inflation and rate adjustments are the main factors on the increases. In 2022 home coverage was 330K, 2023 it was 360K, 2024 it’s 390K."
I went to look at my policy and sure enough, they're now insuring me for $60K over the total cost of my mortgage (390K vs 330K). Am I retarded or is this wrong?
My understanding is that homeowners insurance is required only when you have a mortgage, so as to protect the lender's investment. If my total mortgage was for $330K, why would I ever insure my dwelling for more than that? Additionally, what would be considered reasonable insurance coverage for a $330K (I guess 400K now) home when it comes to Coverage A: Dwelling, Coverage B: "Other Structures" (I dont have any other structures on my property besides my house and attached garage. Coverage C: "Personal Property" and "Coverage D: "Loss of Use"
moonarchia
The Scientific Shitlord
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Your mortgage lender probably requires you to insure for the current value of your house or the initial value, whichever is higher. Because they have to build you a new one if it gets jogged down or whatever.
Fucker
Log Wizard
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Cost of replacement.
Insurance is quickly becoming a fucking scam. File a claim and your insurance will go up a lot, and in some cases cancelled. This is on top of wild rate increases for home and auto. I haven't been hit with any of it, but I know people who have. Home 20%+, car 25%+ in one year. Now, their only value is for catastrophic loss, anything else will just make your rates go up.
This country is turning into one giant ponzi game.
sleevedraw
Revolver Ocelot
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Generally correct, unless the state you live in has some law stating otherwise.
Because homeowner policy coverage is generally extended on "total cost to rebuild", not the amount that you mortgage for. In addition to material costs increasing, labor costs are also increasing quickly. Additionally, if, say, your entire town gets leveled due to an F5 tornado, costs could temporarily go even higher. Therefore, companies usually overinsure so that the homeowner can actually rebuild if the home gets totaled.
This will really depend on your situation.
Coverage B: In addition to things like sheds, will also cover landscaping, concrete slabs/porches outside of the home, fences, a mailbox, etc. You do want to factor these in.
Coverage C: Best way to figure out what you need, even though it's a pain in the ass, is doing a home inventory and figuring out the approximate value of your stuff.
Coverage D: Depends on the amount of savings that you have and whether you want your insurance to, say, cover a hotel/laundry/food expenses if a peril renders your home unsafe to live in. Generally speaking, insurers will set loss of use between 10-30% of the structural insurance. If you have $40k-$80k in savings set aside and you were okay paying for this out of pocket, you could theoretically get rid of it, else set to whatever your comfort level is.
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Loser Araysar
Chief Russia Correspondent / Stock Pals CEO
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I basically have nothing outside the house other than a screened porch attached to the house and a chainlink fence.
They got me insured for $190K, I dont think I own even $50K worth of stuff combined
They got me set at max, which is 30%. If this shit happened to me, If I had to leave somewhere for few weeks while my county is a disaster area, I'd just go stay with family or in-laws foir a few weeks while they rebuild my house. Fuck living out of a hotel for weeks.
moonarchia
The Scientific Shitlord
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Probably. They can see what recent sales in your area are and calculate current $/sqft and then multiply out to your house.
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Loser Araysar
Chief Russia Correspondent / Stock Pals CEO
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Loser Araysar
Chief Russia Correspondent / Stock Pals CEO
- 75,304
- 148,135
sleevedraw
Revolver Ocelot
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Like
moonarchia
said, lazy method is grabbing a "total cost per square foot" based on zip and then just multiplying your square footage by whatever that rate is.
When you apply for coverage, some companies will also ask you questions such as whether your home is framed, masonry, etc., what roofing material and type you have (gable, hip, etc.), what flooring/wall/etc materials that you have that they use to refine the rough cost/sqft figure. When I applied for mine, I also got asked how tall my ceilings were (higher = more $), and for Coverage C, approximate grade of materials/appliances on the inside of the home (budget, builder-grade, semi-custom, custom).
moonarchia
said, lazy method is grabbing a "total cost per square foot" based on zip and then just multiplying your square footage by whatever that rate is.When you apply for coverage, some companies will also ask you questions such as whether your home is framed, masonry, etc., what roofing material and type you have (gable, hip, etc.), what flooring/wall/etc materials that you have that they use to refine the rough cost/sqft figure. When I applied for mine, I also got asked how tall my ceilings were (higher = more $), and for Coverage C, approximate grade of materials/appliances on the inside of the home (budget, builder-grade, semi-custom, custom).
Loser Araysar
Chief Russia Correspondent / Stock Pals CEO
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Agent said I can knock off $500 off annual premium if I raise my deductible to $5,000 so I'm probably going to do that.Like
When you apply for coverage, some companies will also ask you questions such as whether your home is framed, masonry, etc., what roofing material and type you have (gable, hip, etc.), what flooring/wall/etc materials that you have that they use to refine the rough cost/sqft figure. When I applied for mine, I also got asked how tall my ceilings were (higher = more $), and for Coverage C, approximate grade of materials on the inside of the home (budget, builder-grade, semi-custom, custom).
Given the feedback I'm getting about Insurance companies being dickheads I probably wont even bother with a claim anyways unless I get hit by act of God
I work for an insurance company and can verify. If you file any claim they will either jack your rates up 30% or not renew you if they can in that state.
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Cutlery
Kill All the White People
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Best you can do is just shop around every time they do. I was with a pretty good company, but my guy retired, and my rates went up, so I went looking, and now my rates are back to reasonable again.
As soon as they go up, I'll go hit the bricks again and find someone to replace them. But yes, it's gay as fuck that you're required to have insurance, but don't dare fucking use it.
As soon as they go up, I'll go hit the bricks again and find someone to replace them. But yes, it's gay as fuck that you're required to have insurance, but don't dare fucking use it.
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Rajaah
Honorable Member
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So my car insurance company Geico unceremoniously dropped me without warning because I missed a letter from them asking if I ever did rideshare (so they could jack up my rates, of course). I call them today like "I have before, but not in a while, sorry I missed a mail from you, can we just renew my policy?" and they were basically like "we're not renewing you because you didn't confirm that you don't do rideshare, which is in violation".
Okay great. So I go back to my old car insurance company Progressive, and they want $400 per month (3x more than I was paying with Geico) due to an accident I got into in 2023, as well as a couple scrapes I sustained on pillars in parking garages and got fixed over the last few years. $200 would be doable but $400 is excessive and more than I pay for my actual goddamn car.
Jimmies are super goddamn rustled right now.
If anyone has a suggestion for affordable car insurance of some sort, I'm all ears. However I'm pretty sure any insurance company I call is going to give me similar whopper rates.
Okay great. So I go back to my old car insurance company Progressive, and they want $400 per month (3x more than I was paying with Geico) due to an accident I got into in 2023, as well as a couple scrapes I sustained on pillars in parking garages and got fixed over the last few years. $200 would be doable but $400 is excessive and more than I pay for my actual goddamn car.
Jimmies are super goddamn rustled right now.
If anyone has a suggestion for affordable car insurance of some sort, I'm all ears. However I'm pretty sure any insurance company I call is going to give me similar whopper rates.
Burns
Golden Baronet of the Realm
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I never fill out or even read anything from Geico and they haven't canceled me yet. So it looks like the ride share companies have sold your info to Geico.
For all the other companies, it's probably best to do internet quotes on them all then look up the cheapest ones and see if you want to take a risk on them.
Here is Consumer Reports Auto Insurance company rankings if it helps, it gives a bunch of companies to look at (many are regional), but I'm not sure how trustworthy CR is on such matters:
sleevedraw
Revolver Ocelot
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The scores for claims and service might be worth considering (in aggregate with other sources such as NAIC and JD Power), but I would disagree with whatever metric they are using to calculate premiums - Allstate is cheap (at least their per-mile insurance is; I only paid about $500 for the entire year last year with liability/uninsured motorist-only coverage), but they pull out every stop to fuck you on claims.
I was with Amica before, and their rates for car (not home) insurance were very reasonable, but they specifically look for low risk drivers with high credit scores. I know that they ask if you have ever had a non-renewed insurance policy as one of their opening questions. And while their customer service may still be good relative to the super-carriers like State Farm and Allstate, it's definitely been heading downhill.
NJM is supposedly good, but they are only in a few states.
Chubb, PURE, and Cincinnati cater to high net worth people.
There are sites like The Zebra that can help you compare rates, although obviously not ideal from a privacy POV. Could also consider looking for a local broker.
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