Insurance Premiums

We have Chubb for home insurance which has been great in terms of coverage, however this year they had somebody increase the replacement value of our home from $2MM to $5.6MM at $1,100 per square feet to reconstruct. Premiums increased over 100% vs last year. Anybody else have this experience and is there anything you can do other than switching carriers? Broker was very unhelpful and basically told us it is what it is. Thanks for any advice!

akhtz708

in General Discussion 2 years and 2 months ago

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baseballcard | 2 years and 1 month ago

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Our discussion about insurance premium costs needs to be balanced by our claims experiences. We felt very lonely when we filed a minor claim. Our agent did not seem to have the clout to effectively deal with the insurance company. If Amazon Prime became an agent through which Townhouse insurance could be purchased, I think we might all quickly become customers.

Guest User | 2 years and 1 month ago

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Frankly if you are using Summit Insurance they are not the most straightforward agents on how they underwrite their policies. You can file a complaint with NY Dept of Finance.

If you have an agent you like/trust ask an insurance expert to review your policy to see if there are ways to reduce the premium. Neighborhood Housing Services of Brooklyn offers this service and I’ve dealt with Elizabeth Malone at NHS who was super helpful.
With CHUBB you pay for something you may never use or need.

baseballcard | 2 years and 2 months ago

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We have a 3 family.

mozeeatupu | 2 years and 2 months ago

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Are any of these experiences for multifamily properties?

JPDA | 2 years and 2 months ago

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I had the exact same experience after 15 years with Chubb and rolled the dice with Lemonade, using their 50% “Extended Reconstruction Cost” multiplier. Curious if anyone has had any claims experience with them.

justinromeu26 | 2 years and 2 months ago

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So if you decide that farmers is a ponzi scheme, please let us know as you get out.

colonialrevival | 2 years and 2 months ago

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The difference between an insurance company and a ponzi scheme can be hard to distinguish.

baseballcard | 2 years and 2 months ago

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The monetary amount of the claim was insignificant. But the claim experience was disturbing for a (now that I count) nearly 30-year customer. Made us wonder.

arewedoneyet | 2 years and 2 months ago

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I’d love to hear about your denied claim with Brownstoner baseballcard.

With regards to rebuild costs I can’t imagine spending 5M which would be ~1350/sq. foot.

justinromeu26 | 2 years and 2 months ago

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Colonial, i am glad to see someone on here who had metlife. i must have had the A+ as well because it called for actual replacement in a full loss. But have you looked at the farmer’s policy and check out farmers? that sale must be over a year ago now and i have not done any research. you will stay with farmers?

colonialrevival | 2 years and 2 months ago

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We were Metlife “A+” coverage that then got bought by Farmers with the same coverages. Many in NYC have this policy — Chubb and Pure are by no means the only players, you just have to do your diligence and look.

baseballcard | 2 years and 2 months ago

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Also include in your consideration how any potential claim is dealt with. We had Brownstone coverage for over 20 years but had a relatively small claim denied. We did not feel we had an advocate at Brownstone and wondered what would happen if a significant claim were needed? We may have had a false sense of security all these years.

xuytbjicwnofjdde | 2 years and 2 months ago

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We had USAA coverage on our old condo, but once we purchased our brownstone, they said they couldn’t cover it in-house and we needed to use either Chubb or Pure. From my understanding, Chubb and Pure are basically the only game in town once you get to a certain value, which many brownstones exceed. It sounds like this alternate insurance from Brownstone comes in less expensive due to the reduced replacement value. I guess it’s all about risk tolerance. Granted, the total loss of a house is HIGHLY unlikely, so perhaps it makes sense.

arewedoneyet | 2 years and 2 months ago

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I had something similar with Pure. They increased the yearly premium from about 12K to over 17K with an ~5M rebuild cost. I’ve heard from folks who have been quoted 26K/year from Chubb recently for an ~7M rebuild cost. I ended up going with Brownstoner which is covering me with ~2.5M rebuild costs for a dramatically lower price.