house insurance

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demann
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house insurance

Post by demann »

I live in Vancouver and it is time to renew my house insurance. I am looking for basic coverage to replace the house ( earthquake,fire, etc). with 1million of liability insurance. My present insurance company seems to have really decreased their customer service.

Any advice and recommendations ??
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AltaRed
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Re: house insurance

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demann wrote:I live in Vancouver and it is time to renew my house insurance. I am looking for basic coverage to replace the house ( earthquake,fire, etc). with 1million of liability insurance. My present insurance company seems to have really decreased their customer service.

Any advice and recommendations ??
I have been a customer of BCAA ever since I came to BC for both my auto and home insurance. I get the member discount and multiple pollcy discounts that makes my premiums unbeatable from the usual other suspects. I believe BCAA has won awards on customer service but Google some info to find out. YMMV
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good4u
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Re: house insurance

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demann wrote:I live in Vancouver and it is time to renew my house insurance. I am looking for basic coverage to replace the house ( earthquake,fire, etc). with 1million of liability insurance. My present insurance company seems to have really decreased their customer service.

Any advice and recommendations ??
I have a similar profile and found Td Meloche Monnex to be competitive. I have never had to make a claim, though, so I have no knowledge of how good they are when it comes to delivering. TDMM's rates were quite a bit lower for me compared to BCAA (like 30-50%).
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Insomniac
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Re: house insurance

Post by Insomniac »

Try an independent insurance broker. The broker will look for the best deal for you. I have used a broker for years and several times he switched companies in order to get me the best deal. Unfortunately for me, my broker retired last year so I am looking for a new one.
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AltaRed
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The best deal does not always translate to satisfactory service. Insurance, by definition, is for when you need it. I'd ask the broker for customer service reviews too.
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jeremy
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Re: house insurance

Post by jeremy »

I switched to Square One insurance this year after Meloche Monnex bumped up my rate again. Their online reviews seem good, and the service has been fine so far. They gave me the best quote I could find, partly because they allow more customization of their coverage rather than forcing you to buy a package of coverages you may not need.
flywaysuzy
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Re: house insurance

Post by flywaysuzy »

I found the best policy for me at the local credit union. It really pays to shop around- also good to raise the deductible as high as you could afford to go... and not to insure stuff that isn't replaceable.
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Re: house insurance

Post by tedster »

I deal with Belair Direct, for coverage on my apartment and my car. I have had claims on both and they were always settled promptly and to my complete satisfaction. I find their process quite competitive.
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Re: house insurance

Post by BRIAN5000 »

How often do you need someone to check your home if you go on vacation?

I renewed policy today and was told in the heating season, which is now, the home must be checked on a daily basis to keep insurance valid.
Spring or summer every three days. I can extend this to 7 days if I drain all pipes, toilets, HWT and shut the water off.

This sounds a tad unreasonable to me?
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AltaRed
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Re: house insurance

Post by AltaRed »

That sounds about what I have heard as well.... but that can probably be debated with the insurance company depending on location. It is absurd to check daily on the west coast where temps rarely dip below zero in winter for any length of time. It would take 2-3 days of a dead furnace for inside temps to drop to critical temp.

Our rule of thumb when we are away is for a neighbour to check every 2-3 days in cold weather - temp dependent.
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Arby
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Re: house insurance

Post by Arby »

Checking every day seems unreasonable to me. My insurance company says to check at least every week. I pay a neighbour's kid to check the house and take in the mail every 2 days. I don't drain the pipes, because one particularly cold winter I had a frozen water line from the street into my house. The City recommended that I leave a slow drip in one of my sinks to avoid this situation repeating in the future.
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Re: house insurance

Post by good4u »

BRIAN5000 wrote:How often do you need someone to check your home if you go on vacation?

I renewed policy today and was told in the heating season, which is now, the home must be checked on a daily basis to keep insurance valid.
Spring or summer every three days. I can extend this to 7 days if I drain all pipes, toilets, HWT and shut the water off.

This sounds a tad unreasonable to me?
I agree with you. I heard of an insurance company telling their customer the same thing about turning the water off. My house has a fire sprinkler system (mandatory in Vancouver when this house was built) and I was thinking that if I turned my water off what would happen if there was a fire. Would I still be covered by my policy for turning the water off?
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Insomniac
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Re: house insurance

Post by Insomniac »

Can anyone give me a source of information on how fire insurance rates are determined? I talked to an insurance agent and she told me the rates are determined by the geographic zone that we live in. The zone has a rate applied to it. So, if the house next door to me has the same replacement value, we would both pay the same basic rate for fire insurance. Of course, there may be discounts for seniors, no claims etc. applied to the basic rate.

I need something in writing or a link to a trusted source. The reason for this is that I had a talk with the fire chief and he told me that the hydrants in our neighbourhood were not up to standard (woudn't provide adequate flow) and the fire department won't use them. So, I talked to my insurance co and she told me not to worry; we were covered and we are were paying the appropriate rate for our area. Now, I want something in writing that I can share with my neighbours.
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Re: house insurance

Post by tedster »

Yikes! Ask your insurer for it in writing! Check their reliability and financial soundness!
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Insomniac
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Re: house insurance

Post by Insomniac »

There are many properties in this area which have individual wells; no community water system is available, so no hydrants at all. If there is a fire, the fire dept brings their own water. They have tanker trucks and a portable water pond (it's like an above ground swimming pool). I assume that the insurance companies know the situation and the rate they set for our zone takes all this into consideration.

BTW, the insurance co I have was established before Confederation. Been around a while ...
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