Insurance

[Bill Robertson]

I got talked into getting umbrella liability insurance a couple years ago. I dropped it just now. We never have anyone near our house unless they're completely uninvited and I'll take the risk if they are hurt. And that's very rare anyway.
My wife and I have been getting rid of a bunch of stuff lately. We are keeping the stuff we actually use regularly.
Our homeowners insurance has our house at 300k and our personal possessions at 200k.
1. If our house was a total loss for some reason we would not rebuild what we have (1700sq ft, 3 bed, 2 bath). We would build a house about half the size we have now (1000sq ft, 1 bed, 1 large bath, 1 big room that would be utility room and storage.
2. Personal possessions. We'd replace the bedroom furniture, living room furniture and kitchen necessities. No where near 200k.
We have no mortgage to require coverage.
Am I crazy to have our coverage dropped to 200k for the house and 100k for personal possessions?
P. S. I've been in construction all my life and have people that would rebuild at cost.

[Jeremy Martin]

I don't think you are crazy at all. You got the coverage that you feel you need. That is all anyone should purchase.

[gjl]

Good luck getting any major insurance company to drop your coverage. Most I've checked with require a Replacement Cost Policy where they determine the value. You will need to get an Actual Cash Value policy and that is what a lot of the majors won't write in my experience. I've been complaining about what AAA requires me to insure our house for for a while now. At one time when I was with Liberty Mutual they would allow you to insure for 10% less than what their system valued the house at. I did that for a couple of years until I found out that even at 10% less value their premiums were outrageous compared to AAA when I switched. I am in a similar position, no mortgage and house is on a 1 acre property in Warr Acres that even if the house was leveled to the slab the land has a lot of value. Zillow has our house estimated at $286,300 county assessor market value is $361,500, and my last AAA renewal in November required me to buy a $458,227 replacement cost policy and the premium went up 30% from the last renewal. AAA won't write an ACV policy. If you have any luck getting your policy lowered be sure and post here how you did it. What I haven't tried is going through an Independent Agent that shops a lot of different companies. I have always insured with the major well known companies. I will not insure with Geico, Progressive or Allstate for reasons. In the past I've used LM, Farmers and Shelter. I started a thread about it in this sub forum a few months ago.

[Bill Robertson]

^ I'm currently with State Farm. If they won't do what I want I'll research someone that will. Even if they're not a major company I might take my chances. I've owned a house for 45 years and have yet to file a claim.

[FighttheGoodFight]

^ I'm currently with State Farm. If they won't do what I want I'll research someone that will. Even if they're not a major company I might take my chances. I've owned a house for 45 years and have yet to file a claim.

You've dodged hail for 45 years?!?! Can I get your address so I can move in next door.

[gjl]

I've been a home owner since 1978 and never had a hail damage claim either home or auto. Farmers did replace my roof in 2000 but it was just worn out, not because of a hail storm. It was an 18 year old wood shingle roof. After they paid to replace it they promptly canceled my policy.

[Bill Robertson]

^ I've never had a car or house hit by anything bigger than pea or barely larger hail. Not big enough to hurt anything.

[April in the Plaza]

I've been a home owner since 1978 and never had a hail damage claim either home or auto. Farmers did replace my roof in 2000 but it was just worn out, not because of a hail storm. It was an 18 year old wood shingle roof. After they paid to replace it they promptly canceled my policy.

this is wild. had no idea that an insurer would willingly replace a roof under this context.

[djohn]

this is wild. had no idea that an insurer would willingly replace a roof under this context.

They do not - It has to be damaged for insurance to replace it - normally hail or wind. Most companies require it to be tied to a specific storm (specific date).

[gjl]

Well then they must have determined that it was damaged from something. But I didn't call them after any specific storm. It was the original wood shingle roof on the house built in 83. I bought the house in 96. At the time of purchasing the house. I was having trouble getting an Ins Co to insure it mainly because of the old wood shingle roof. I was told to call the Farmers agent the seller had been using and he said he could write a policy on the house since they had been insuring it the whole previous time. In 2000 I noticed the roof was looking pretty bad. I called Farmers to come out and look at it. The inspector said there were a lot of areas that needed repair but there were too many to just repair so they would put a new roof on it. I had a $500 deductible and the roofer I chose did it for the $15K check Farmers wrote. I foolishly had it replaced with wood shingles again because I thought that I had to. Farmers then cancelled the policy, I insured with LM for about 10 years then switched to AAA. Then 18 years later the roof was looking bad again so I had AAA come out to look at it. They said a lot of the shingles were split but couldn't say for sure it was storm damage and I didn't have cause for a claim. I then had the roof replaced this time with comp shingles and paid for it out of my own pocket for $16K. And that included having to deck the whole house because with wood shingles there is no decking under it.