Insurance Company Inspecting my House.

My guess is that they really are just trying to establish a baseline. They normally have the purchase price to establish market value, but if it's been a while since a purchase or re-fi w/ appraisal, then the home's condition and value is less well documented, particularly if there's also been renovation or remodel. Has it been a while since one of those events?

You probably just want to talk up the value of your additions, quality of fixtures & materials, good maintenance, etc - assuming you want full coverage for those things.

 

They just want to verify value IMO, that the work was done etc. Maybe if they are asking to take pics then ask to get copies. That way everyone's on the same page. It's good to have an umbrella policy if you've got lots of stuff. Check that out if you haven't.

 

They did that to me. But I would not let them inside the house. In NC I think it is against the law for them to demand to go inside, but I am not sure. Who is your new policy with?

 

No biggie really. After my house was finished being built my insurance company came out and took lots of photos and this was brand new construction. I think that they want to make sure that you are insuring it for the right amount of money and that if you told them that there were solid granite countertops that there really are solid granite countertops etc etc.

Honestly, I don't think that they really care about your running commentary on how they only used the wood of the African Khaya Ivorensis tree to make the mantle around your fireplace...just that there is one there.

 

We've had alot of adjusters at my house the past months because of the hurricane damage and all. Luckily we had a video and lots of pictures of before and after the storm, so it was pretty hard for them to argue. Dont lie, but stretch the truth a little. That's probably really bad advice . We got a little over half back of what we lost--but were still fighting.

 

This is std. operating procedure--I wouldn't be alarmed or suspicious of the insurer's intentions. They want to know what they are insuring. And, since we shop property insurance regularly and switch when it is worthwhile, we have been through this 3-4 times in the last few years.

 

When I purchased my house the insur. guy came over to inspect. Just wanted to make sure I had an alarm which I claimed to, and look at the furnacve/ac units. He also made sure I had a fire ext. in the kitchen and smoke detectors installed.

 

They may want to check for things like trees that could fall on the house in a windstorm (just had a lot of claims in my area for that one!), loose or missing handrails on steps, security system, location of fire hydrants, safety precautions around your pool, etc. etc. Anything that could lead to a claim. They only want to collect premiums, not make payouts!

 

A non-event.

Or at least, it should be.

Miltonian is right, they're mostly looking for potential hazards, veryifying condition of the premises, making sure you aren't running a crank lab, etc.

 

It's more to point out unique things they might not notice if they're in a rush. However, sometimes the "rare wood" thing can come back to haunt the insurance company.

I had an architect-designed/owned contemporary house that had water damage to the ceiling when it rained during a re-roof and the roofer failed to cover properly. The ceiling of the house (about 4000 sq. ft.) was ALL tongue & groove milled wood planks made out of some relatively rare Canadian fir. I didn't know this detail before this incident, it was just a beautiful wood ceiling. Since the incident had caused stains to the ceiling, I just told the insurance company, "I don't care how you do it, but just restore the original appearance". The insurance company discovered that it would cost almost $200K to replace the wood and would take many months since they would have to get a custom mill run. Instead, they spent about $50-60K having restoration specialists working on their backs on platforms for weeks, taking the surface down 1/16" and then bleaching and restaining what was left.

 

Three reasons:

1. Confirm values. You undoubtedly have a replacement cost valuation. Also to establish a baseline for an escalation clause that is probably a part of your policy as well.

2. Loss Control. Looking to see if you have any hazards that should be corrected, like trees too close to the stucture, old or faulty wiring, etc.

3. Confirm representations made on your application. Sometimes applicants lie and sometimes agents lie in order to get a cheaper premim or better coverage. On higher value homes, a physical inspection is commonplace because the risk to the carrier is much higher.

 

Don't sweat it. After getting burned just doing drive bys, the insurance companies have gotten a little wiser.

Dale

 

Beware. A friend of mined owned a very nice house that he rented out. One day out of the blue, he gets a letter from his insurance company stating that they did a drive by inspection of his rent house and said that the roof needed replacing or his policy would be cancelled in something like 30 days. So he had to call out the roofers, get estimates, have everything done, cough up the money, etc. All out of the clear blue nowhere.

 

if your insurance company is chubb, have no fears...they are establishing real replacement cost...anyone else i would worry about...

oh yes, make sure your smoke detectors are working...

 

RCV or replacement cost value and market value or purchase price are two different animals.

Let them make sure you are adequately insured, and you are a good risk. Insurance is about risk. Unless you are doing something wrong or reported something to them that is incorrect, you should have nothing to be concerned about.

While there are bad people and companies in every sector, I find that more often than not, people's suspiscion or distrust is due to misinformation and confusion.

 

There's clearly much more to that story. Clearly there was something wrong with the roof or he would have insured it elsewhere, rather than spend thousands on a roof. If his roof was in need of replacement, that much wear doesn't occur overnight.

Every state is different. If you have a concern about an issue, contact your state insurance department and ask them. Some states you cannot be cancelled, but you can be non-renewed. Other states they can drop you with 30 days notice, ie. your pitbull bites someone. They give you 30 days to find another company because they are dropping you. Similar to an old or severely weathered roof, the pitbull is a significant risk to them at that point, and their exposure of $300K or $500K is not worth the $2.5K in premiums. Same with the roof; your $2,500 premium is not worth your claim that wind damaged your 25 year old dried out shingles where you claim $10K for a roof that really just wore out and should have been replaced 2 years ago, the ensuing water damage to the walls and ceiling inside totalling $2K, and your $10K of mold damage because your tenants did not notice the leak right away and then didn't tell you as the landlord right away. Hmmm $22K in loss $2.5K in premium. Don't you think the smart business decision for the company is to make their policy holder aware of the hazard and give them the chance to fix it and prevent a future problem?

 

Right. Like Mark said, it was a very nice house but needed a new roof.

 

It sure was. Only located in the best area of town. Sort of like an old Ferrari with bad tires. It was a real clunker,....right?!

 

You can have a priceless vintage 50s Ferrari but only an idiot would drive it with bad, period rubber. It's an accident waiting to happen.

Tires are a wear item on a car. A roof is a wear item on a house.

 

Of course you're looking at the figures with tunnel vision. Take that $2500 yearly premium and multiply it by a factor of 14 years worth of ownership WITHOUT a claim. That's $35,000 worth of free money to the insurance company. Even with a $22,000 claim, they still come out $13,000 ahead. Maybe that's why half of the phone book yellow pages are insurance agents. The other half are lawyers. Two of the best ways to make money without breaking a sweat like real people have to do when they work for a living.

Same thing when the airline companies whine and complain about how much money they are losing when their workers and pilots go out on strike for a few weeks. They conveniently foget about the rest of the year when they are raking in the handsome profits.

 

Horsefly, I can appreciate where you are coming from. Based on your comments, there appears to be some confusion regarding where your premiums go. Insurance co's are just that, companies, so they have to be stable. If they weren't profitable and were not financially sound, guess what.. put your claim in and there is no money to pay you and everyone else.

That 35K over 14 years was paid out on operating costs, your claims, legal expenses, employees/ benefits, office space and OTHER people's claims, etc. Insurance is not a bank that you put money into every year and it builds into a pile that is owed to you. Insurance is about spreading the risk of many, thereby reducing the cost to you. Statistics. You pay $35K over 14 years so that if god forbid, your house burns down, everyone else that paid in that year will cover your $500,000 loss. If someone else's house is damaged the year that yours is fine, your premiums help cover THEIR loss.

By that type of logic, you pay in and take out what you put it, like a bank. If companies acted that way, then when your house burns down, they cut you a check for your $20K left in your "pot" because you made a prior "withdrawal" and it's "good luck to you" in replacing your house. Insurance is not a bank. Do some research into how insurance works and truley understand the process. That way you can look at the issue from both sides. In my opinion, its much better to have insurance and pay a few K per year to absorb all of the risk of my house, etc, than to have to self-insure.

Your stereotyping commentary is not exactly accurate or conducive to having an intelligent conversation with people. That's the same as me saying all people on message boards are losers with nothing better to do with their time, and live with mom and dad in the basement.... OR... Fcar owners and fans are all stuck up snobs. Do those describe you? My guess is they don't, just as your stereotypes are not helpful here. I don't find they add anything positive to the conversation. They merely serve to dilute the issue that was your original concern.

 

But I don't hear any denial that half of the phone book yellow pages are insurance agents??? Therefore, with that fact in mind, the profession must be very lucrative, otherwise, why would there be so many people involve in the business???? (I just checked the local yellow pages. There are 25 pages of insurance agents. Hundreds of agents on each page.)
So once again I say,....it must be very lucrative. They don't make money with what they pay OUT. They get richer by what they take IN and keep. And what they take IN and keep is money from MY pocket. Money they keep for doing basically nothing. And that's exactly what they hope they have to do for you,......nothing. Otherwise, they lose money.

 

Pretty much SOP nowadays out here.