Eight factors that can affect your homeowners insurance rates

It is extremely important that you review your insurance coverage regularly.

It is extremely important that you review your insurance coverage regularly so that you can ensure that your coverage keeps pace with the cost of repairing or rebuilding your home and replacing its contents, including any renovations you may make over time. While this may lead to you paying higher premiums, it will help you to have more adequate insurance and be less vulnerable to high expenses.

Here are some of the things that can affect your insurance and the premium you pay:

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Home remodeling

Since moving into your home, you may have remodeled your kitchen, renovated your bathroom, or made other improvements. If you’ve added value to your home, make sure your homeowners insurance coverage takes these new improvements into account. It is expensive for you to build, and for the insurance company it is expensive to rebuild in the event of a loss. Construction and materials costs will be considered, and your premium may increase, but at least your coverage will be current.

Swimming pools and trampolines (considered attractive annoyances)
Your garden pool can be relaxing and the trampoline fun for kids, but they can also increase your insurance premiums. You could be responsible if someone gets hurt using them, regardless of whether they authorized it or not.

Tip: Keep your pool secure with fences, install self-closing gates, and keep safety equipment close at hand. Consider putting a net around the trampoline to reduce the chance of an accident.

Antiquity of the house, roof and materials
As your home and roof get older, they may be more susceptible to weather damage or even internal deterioration. Replacement costs, including material and labor, increase over time.

Wood stoves

If you have a wood stove, you could limit possible premium increases by providing your insurance company with proof that your wood stove was installed by a licensed contractor and meets code requirements.

Tip: Install smoke detectors on all levels of your home. Also, keep a fire extinguisher in an accessible place and make sure everyone in your household knows how to use it.

Home businesses

If you work from home, you may need protection for electronic equipment and items, company vehicles, and inventory stored on site. Standard homeowners insurance may provide some protection for commercial equipment, but coverage varies by policy and may not be sufficient. Also, getting customers in and out of their home can create property liability and loss risks that homeowners policies may not cover. Consider adding an endorsement to your homeowners policy or purchasing business insurance.

Physical and material security at home

Home security systems can help lower your premium and add an extra level of protection for you and your family, your home, and your belongings.

Tip: Replacing old locks with new ones (including security locks), and installing and activating a monitored home security system, could reduce the rate of homeowners insurance.

Dog bites
Dog owners may have little or no coverage if their pet’s breed is considered aggressive. Did you know that more than 50 percent of dog bites occur at the owner’s home and account for a third of all homeowners insurance liability claims? 1

Previous Claims
The more claims you have, the higher your perceived risk to insurance companies will be. Not only can this lead to higher premiums, but you could also risk your insurance company canceling or not renewing your policy.
What you can do
Contact your insurance agent and review your coverage every year. Also:

– Consider combining your policies. Many insurance companies offer discounts for bundling policies.

– Buy a supplemental liability insurance policy to protect yourself against claims that could exceed your current coverage limits. Supplemental liability insurance policies generally offer $ 1 million or more of additional coverage at reasonable rates.

Related topics: Insurance and protection ,Understand your needs
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