Homeowners Insurance?

[HLAuburn]

Well, we just got a statement from our homeowners insurance company, and our policy cost doubled! We have never made a claim, plus we have flood insurance in a flood zone C, yet we have to pay for everyone else.

Anyway, needless to say, we are going to shop around on Monday, but are any companies writing new policies in Louisiana, or will looking for a new policy be a lost cause? We also have our car insurance with the same company (again, no claims...knock on wood), so I'm definitely going to try losing our business as some leverage.

Just wondering where to start. Is everyone in the area dealing with this problem? What can we do?

Thanks

 

[Ms Marigny]

My homeowners policy also doubled. We did file a claim, but what they paid us was laughable, it was a very small payout (less than the cost of the new policy). We do live in a flood zone, but we also have flood insurance.

Everyone I know of is having this problem. And I couldn't find anyone else writing policies- people told me that I should be happy that our policy got renewed at all- many people are being dropped and are having to go with the Fair Plan.

I wish I had some advice for you, but I dealt with the same problem and got nowhere. It's just a part of living in this area now, I guess.

I wanted to add that you might have better luck than I did because I see you live in St Tammany Parish- I live in Orleans Parish and no one is writing policies here- good luck!

 

[annegal]

There was an article about Allstate (#2 insurer in LA) in today's paper. They are raising the deductable on a standard $200k house to $10,000 for wind and rain & hail damage. The average roof replacement cost is is $6-8k.

 

[ducklite]

Here in Florida all insurer's have a standard 2% hurricane deductible on all but the smallest/least expensive homes, but never less than $500. So on a $300K home (which won't buy much in the greater Orlando area these days) the first $6K of wind damage is on the homeowner.

Trust me, you've got my sympathy, at least you didn't get a surcharge from your private insurer to pay for the state insurance comapnies shortfalls because they didn't charge enough to their insureds to have adequate reserves. The people insured by Citizens are having fits because their rates ent up--well, Citizen's needs to have ample reserves in case of a catastrophy, and it's a lot more fair to surcharge THEIR insureds than everyone in the state. Face it, if my house blows away, someone insured by Citizen's isn't going to get surcharged for it--why should I have to pay for claims that people who aren't even insured by my company make?

Anne

 

[christineann]

Unfortunately, hurricane deductibles are in place in most, if not all, areas that could be hit by hurricanes, and frankly 2% is a bargain. I can't remember the exact percentage I have on my policy - I think it's about 5%. The figure I do remember is that the first $15,000 of any damage when the area is under a hurricane watch comes out of my pocket. I would be better off if my house were completely destroyed. I have been paying premiums on this house since 1983. Unbelievable.

 

[lulu71]

Trust me, you've got my sympathy, at least you didn't get a surcharge from your private insurer to pay for the state insurance comapnies shortfalls because they didn't charge enough to their insureds to have adequate reserves. Anne

Unfortunately, we did. I looked at a quote today for a policy for the home we're buying in NOLA- yep, $185 surcharge to pay for Citizens. Supposedly, the whole state is going to be hit with this. And the rates for Citizens are insane - I just got a quote of $5100 for the year from them. I know that until we get some roof issues hammered out with the new house (which we cannot take care of until act of sale - and we need insurance before act of sale so we're stuck), we have to go with them and then switch to a private insurer, which will then cost about $2400/year for the same coverage. It sucks because I've heard that it can take 4-6 months to get the balance of your premium refunded when you do switch.

OP, I have a home in Mandeville that we are living in temporarily and my premiums here are reasonable and did not go up very much at all. It is with Farmers, if you are interested in getting a quote from them.

 

[darlene9947]

To the OP, have you tried AAA? I'm in Slidell and that's who I have and believe me, they went up some, but compared to Travelers (who aren't writing, but their renewals are staggering) and Citizens, they are reasonable. My auto is with them also. You might also try Encompass(a division of Allstate) and Fidelity. I think both of these require you to have auto insurance with them also.

And as far as I know, Farmers is dropping wind and hail, so you still have to get that coverage from Citizens.

I work for an insurance company in N.O. and it's really brutal right now. It seems if you have a million dollar home, you can get coverage with well known national companies, but less than $500,000 forget it. It's Citizens or nothing.

Good luck in your search.

 

[yecats]

I have recently moved to Mandeville and due to the fact that I had prior claims no one but AAA would write me so in turn State Farm lost my car insurance as I had to write that with AAA to. The price was a little high but wasn't horrible overall. Try calling Pappalardo's, they were very helpful to me.