52weekbreak
Active VIP Member
Happened to us last year....renewal shows up and its 1000 bucks higher on the house. So I call my agent, tell her to sharpen her pencil and remind her we have a 25 year relationship. After not hearing back in 2 weeks, I shopped around. Made it easy for the agents I talked to as I brought copies of all my other papers for the last place and told them that I will not settle for less coverage, I want to pay less money. PERIOD. Got a couple of them coming back with roughly the exact same numbers or slightly lower, but of course you look at the details and they've bumped up the deductibles and lower the liability amounts, etc. Got a quote from one agent who was able to put all 5 vehicles and the house on the same insurance company. Got a 500/yr discount on the vehicles as multi-vehicle discount and house insurance was 1500 less then my previous place. And yes, I spent the time going over the coverages...they are EXACTLY the same. I went from 600+- a month for house, RV, truck, beater truck and quad to 450+- a month for all that PLUS the wife's Murano. All have full coverage (collision), 250 ded, and 2 mil liability (even the quad). All I can say is that I am going to go shopping every 3 years or so from now on.
Also: Wawanesa is pretty much the most expensive out there....
Lots of effort and time involved in going through insurance pricing especially when you do not want to give up coverage. It is time away from riding your toy or researching the next one to buy and that sucks. Looks like you did it right though.
I know that I could not deal with the hit of losing an uninsured house so that $3,000 for the house looks pretty reasonable to me and it is paid for. I am located in the country just under 10 miles from a volunteer fire department so basically the fire department will probably show up to save the neighbor's house while mine burns.
All of the insurers have their issues with price, service and claims. At this point they are all extra competitive for new business and renewals get run through a computer which is programed to put rates back to where they want them. No solution in sight for now and brokers try to manually review each policy as it comes in and fall behind. The cheapest insurer last year suddenly becomes middle of the pack or the most expensive this year. The next year they might be cheapest again depending on where you live/what you own etc.
Certainly not a great time in an industry that has never been liked. Not quite the NDP though but seem determined to head that direction