compare homeowners insurance
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MUNCIE — City Council is considering an ordinance geared toward better protecting Muncie’s trees and homeowners.
How to Compare Homeowners Insurance to Get the Best Rate
Why is it so hard to compare home/fire insurance rates?
I’ve asked this question here and elsewhere before but have never received a single solitary answer (except spam). Why is it so hard to find a site or get a response from someone saying–”yea I compared about 5 insurance rates and the cheapest was ABC Insurance”. You would think tens of thousands of people have the same question. (Auto and Life insurance comparisons are a dime a dozen so why not home/fire insurance–is there a conspiracy?!.) Surely at least one person has actually done a price comparison of homeowners insurance and shared the results! Why then is this info so impossible to find anywhere?
Thx.
Well, because not all insurance companies write in all states. And, if you’re in Akron, have a 10 year old brick house with $200,000 cost to rebuild, the company that’s probably going to be cheapest for you, would NOT be cheapest on a 50 year old frame house in Medina that costs $200,000 to rebuild.
The company that’s cheaper for someone with a lower credit score, might not be cheaper for houses valued under $150,000.
Here are the rating factors, besides insurance limit, that influence pricing the most:
Claims history – both yours and the house
Protection class
Age of the house
Types of Updates
Construction Type of the house
Credit Score
ANY ONE of these factors, can skew the “best rate” from one company to another, or a third. Each company choose it’s OWN “target market” – the kinds of houses they WANT to write, and then price their policies accordingly.
So, you CANNOT get an answer that’s valid for everyone. Just like, what size jeans do I need? Just because one size fits YOU best, doesn’t mean it will fit me AT ALL.
There is no short cut. To find the cheapest for you, you have to shop around. SOME state insurance websites, will give you a ‘generic’ price comparison – but those prices are subject to underwriting, and when you CALL for those prices, you’ll likely find that they are for a condition that you DON’T have with your particular house.
And, FYI, all those online comparison websites, they harvest your personal information to sell to agents as leads. Even the auto/life ones. Their numbers aren’t accurate, either.