Does a homeowners claim raise your price?

Amarante

Wed, Aug 05 2020, 11:04 am

Do you have an agent because I would ask that question.

It really depends on the insurance company and the reason for the claim partially.

I live in a condo and people often get floods from people above them. This is through no fault of their own since it is their upstairs neighbor who caused the flood.

In my experience, some people have had premiums raised; some people have actually not been allowed to renew their policy; some people have had their deductible raised.

My crazy upstairs neighbor caused a flood and one of my walls had to have new sheet rock installed plus it had to be dried out to prevent mold and then the wall painted again. It wasn't a huge claim because I was not in the direct line of flood but it was still about $4000 or $5000 because they can't remove sheet rock without testing for asbestos. They didn't raise my premium but that was probably because my claim was relatively small in the scheme of things.

Also - in terms of a natural disaster - it also depends on whether that is unlikely occurrence or whether it is a known risk factor - e.g. does one live in a flood plain or is the flood or whatever an extraordinary occurrence?

ETA - In all of these cases, the people actually had a claim against the person who caused the flood so the insurance companies had subrogation claims. However, the insurance company pays the insured (e.g. me) and then goes against the person who caused the damage. In my case, the right of subrogation for my insurance company was pretty worthless because the guy who caused the flood caused MILLIONS of dollars worth of damage and he only had $100,000 of liability so there was no money in the pot.

amother

Pumpkin

Wed, Aug 05 2020, 11:23 am

amother [ OP ] wrote:

We had some damage from the storm, I am wondering if there is a reason I should not file a claim. The only other time we filed a claim was after Sandy when the roof blew off. Any experts weigh in?

Yes! Be very careful! We made a couple very small claims totaled about $2500 and they raised our insurance like crazy! Not worth it! I also know someone whose homeowners insurance dropped them because they put in a couple small claims also. It’s disgusting.