Homeowner Insurance Question, Please

: quoted-printable

Hello,

Tried to find a newsgroup devoted to insurance questions, but =
surprisingly, there doesn't seem to be any active one.  So, will take =
the liberty of posting here, please.

Son (not in area) has moved into his first house, and has taken out a =
Homeowners Policy with Metropolitan.
Lives in Mass.

Had some water damage on a downstairs ceiling from a leak.

He spoke to Met. Agent, and tells me that he said:

    "Claim would raise our premium, and 25% surcharge if claim filed 1st =
3 yrs.; 15% afterward."

- Have never heared of a "Surcharge" on a claim

- Have never heard of anything similar to the:  "15 % afterwards"

I will probably call him myself to learn a bit more, but thought I'd ask =
here first and hopefully learn something so I can ask better and more =
focused questions regarding this.

Are these "caveats" normal in a Homeowners policy (Mass.), or just =
something "unique" to Metropolitan's ?

Not to sharp with this stuff, and would be most appreciative for any =
information.

Thank you,
Bob
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<DIV>Hello,</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Tried to find a newsgroup devoted to insurance questions, but surprisingly,
there doesn't seem to be any active one.  So, will take the liberty =
of
posting here, please.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Son (not in area) has moved into his first house, and has taken out a
Homeowners Policy with Metropolitan.</DIV>
<DIV>Lives in Mass.</DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV>Had some water damage on a downstairs ceiling from a leak.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>He spoke to Met. Agent, and tells me that he said:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>
<DIV>    "Claim would raise our premium, and 25% surcharge if
claim filed 1st 3 yrs.; 15% afterward."</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>- Have never heared of a "Surcharge" on a claim</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>- Have never heard of anything similar to the:  "15 %
afterwards"</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>I will probably call him myself to learn a bit more, but thought I'd ask
here first and hopefully learn something so I can ask better and more =
focused
questions regarding this.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Are these "caveats" normal in a Homeowners policy (Mass.), or just
something "unique" to Metropolitan's ?</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Not to sharp with this stuff, and would be most appreciative for any
information.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Thank you,</DIV>
<DIV>Bob</DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>

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The fact of the matter is that the insurance companies had a major
wake-up call when all the hurricanes hit a few years ago.  Then
with Katrina, there is so much rebuilding going on that the price
of materials has gone sky high.  The result is that the insurance
companies are doing all kind of things to try to stay afloat.

The townhouse association where I live ran into a problem with
3 claims in a relatively short period of time.  All were legit.
But the net result was that we were dropped by our carrier, and
no other company would cover us.  We ended up in the state high
risk pool.  Our rates for 49 units went from about $8K per year
to $35K per year overnight.  That lead to a big dues increase.

The net-net is that if this problem is something less than
catestropic, you may want to eat the costs rather than risk
10 or 15 years of vastly higher insurance rates.

-john-

--
======================================================================
John A. Weeks III           952-432-2708            john@johnweeks.com
Newave Communications                         http://www.johnweeks.com
======================================================================

wrote:

there doesn't seem to be any active one. So, will take the liberty of posting
here, please.

Homeowners Policy with Metropolitan.

yrs.; 15% afterward."

first and hopefully learn something so I can ask better and more focused
questions regarding this.

"unique" to Metropolitan's ?

information.

In my experience, you're lucky they are covering that at all.  I've
had two water-related issues over the years and neither were covered
as they weren't "sudden" damages.  Long story short, one was a slow
leak under the sink that I couldn't see and the other was a plumbing
leak inside the wall that eventually caused us to rip out an entire
shower and replace it.  Basically, if a pipe bursts, you're covered.
If it's a slow leak, they will take the position that you weren't
maintaining the house properly.

Luckily, the first repair turned out to be pretty small.  The second
was not small, but we ended up with a much nicer shower than we would
have had the insurance company paid for it.

And I agree with the person who suggested raising deductibles and only
relying insurance to cover major damage.

: quoted-printable

  Hello,

  Tried to find a newsgroup devoted to insurance questions, but =
surprisingly, there doesn't seem to be any active one.  So, will take =
the liberty of posting here, please.

  Son (not in area) has moved into his first house, and has taken out a =
Homeowners Policy with Metropolitan.
  Lives in Mass.

  Had some water damage on a downstairs ceiling from a leak.

  He spoke to Met. Agent, and tells me that he said:

      "Claim would raise our premium, and 25% surcharge if claim filed =
1st 3 yrs.; 15% afterward."

  Hey Robert,

  We have houses in Mass and in Florida, and we've come across the same =
thing.  It's standard now to eat the costs of minor repairs, even if =
they're technically "covered", to avoid  the risks of higher premiums, =
or, even worse, being dropped after your first claim (horribly common in =
Florida, becoming more so everywhere).

  Think of homeowners as insurance to cover catastrophes.   And teach =
your son to keep five grand in a savings account for =
less-than-catastrophic house repairs.  :)     I agree with the gentleman =
above, who raised his limit as high as they would allow him.  Since you =
aren't going to be using your deductable except for a catastrophe, it =
makes sense to have it as high as possible.

  HTH,

  Donna
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<BLOCKQUOTE dir=ltr
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; =
BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
  <DIV>"Robert11" <<A =
  wrote in message <A
  =
7bnJpHanZ2dnUVZ_gSdnZ2d@comcast.com</A>...</DIV>
  <DIV>Hello,</DIV>
  <DIV> </DIV>
  <DIV>Tried to find a newsgroup devoted to insurance questions, but
  surprisingly, there doesn't seem to be any active one.  So, will =
take the
  liberty of posting here, please.</DIV>
  <DIV> </DIV>
  <DIV>Son (not in area) has moved into his first house, and has =
taken out
  a Homeowners Policy with Metropolitan.</DIV>
  <DIV>Lives in Mass.</DIV>
  <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV>
  <DIV>Had some water damage on a downstairs ceiling from a leak.</DIV>
  <DIV> </DIV>
  <DIV>He spoke to Met. Agent, and tells me that he said:</DIV>
  <DIV> </DIV>
  <DIV>
  <DIV>    "Claim would raise our premium, and 25% =
surcharge if
  claim filed 1st 3 yrs.; 15% afterward."</DIV>
  <DIV> </DIV>
  <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Hey Robert, </FONT></DIV>
  <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
  <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>We have houses in Mass and in =
Florida, and we've
  come across the same thing.  It's standard now to eat the costs =
of minor
  repairs, even if they're technically "covered", to avoid  the =
risks of
  higher premiums, or, even worse, being dropped after your first claim
  (horribly common in Florida, becoming more so =
everywhere).</FONT></DIV>
  <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
  <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Think of homeowners as insurance to =
cover
  catastrophes.   And teach your son to keep five grand in a =
savings
  account for less-than-catastrophic house repairs. 
  :)     I agree with the gentleman above, who =
raised his
  limit as high as they would allow him.  Since you aren't going to =
be
  using your deductable except for a catastrophe, it makes sense to have =
it as
  high as possible.   </FONT></DIV>
  <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
  <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>HTH,</FONT></DIV>
  <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
  <DIV><FONT face=Arial =
size=2>Donna</FONT></DIV></DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>

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