One of the sayings I heard after moving to Dallas was, “If you’re tired of the weather in Texas, just wait a few hours and it will change.” That may not be entirely accurate, but our weather does tend to be filled with surprises. 2017 held a couple of major surprises for Texans and its effect on home and car insurance will be felt this year. Let’s look at what happened and how it will impact home insurance this year.
The countdown to Christmas is in full swing even as Black Friday and Cyber Monday appear in the rearview mirror. Shoppers do have 4 more weeks before Christmas arrives, so if you haven’t found that perfect gift for the love of your life, you have time! If you’re planning on popping the question to the person you want to share your life with, take a few minutes to think about scheduled jewelry insurance for the ring that says, “I love you!”
While Dallas is renowned for tearing down old homes and replacing them with new ones that are “bigger and better,” there are some areas in east Dallas, Lakewood, the Park Cities and parts of Fort Worth near TCU that have some beautiful, stately homes built at the turn of the past century. Some of the homes appear on National and Texas historic home registries and more reside in historic districts. How does writing a home insurance policy for a home in a historic district or on a registry differ appear from writing one built in the 1950’s or that was just finished?
Sheri and I had dinner Saturday night with a friend. It was a delightful evening as we caught up with what has happened in each other’s lives. Our friend had a couple of questions about her home and car insurance and was concerned her home may not have enough coverage to cover a total loss. After all, prices for homes in her part of the metroplex have risen sharply in the past few years.
In early October, Equifax announced another 2.5 million consumers’ data was stolen bringing the total to 145.5 million people. The data stolen includes names, addresses, dates of birth, social security numbers, credit card numbers, and in some cases driver’s license numbers. Chances are, most adult Americans were victimized by this data theft. Let’s look at what’s changed, what to do, and how this relates to your home and car insurance.
A friend of mine who’s in the water, fire, and smoke damage servicing business asked me to talk with one of his client’s last week. The client was a first-time home buyer and needed some advice on how to deal with a home insurance claim for 6 leaks beneath his slab foundation. His homeowner’s insurance policy was woefully inadequate to deal with the claim as it didn’t have the right coverage added to it.
A client texted me early Monday morning letting me know his car was broken into overnight. The good news was his car wasn’t stolen. What was stolen, though, was his wallet, watch, possibly his passport, a ring, and a few other items. His question was, did his car insurance policy cover this? He has “full” coverage policy on his car which results in a yes and no answer. Let’s look at the reasoning behind the two answers.
In July of this year, news agencies announced Wells Fargo forced unwanted car insurance on 500,000 to over 800,000 of its car loan customers, most of whom had valid car insurance. The type of insurance used is referred to as forced place or lenders insurance. The results of this practice were devastating; 274,000 of Wells Fargo’s customers were forced into delinquency and 25,000 vehicles were wrongfully repossessed. Wells Fargo reaped millions in revenue and fees from this practice.
There are several dog breeds home insurance carriers will decline to write a home or renter’s policy for. These breeds may also result in the insurance company canceling or not renewing the policy if they are acquired after the policy goes into effect.
Over the past two weeks we’ve examined how you and your home impacts what you pay for home insurance. Your home policy also impacts what you’ll pay, so let’s delve into four common areas that lower or raise your rate.
Subscribe to my newsletter by filling the form below.
A confirmation email will be sent to your mailbox: please read the instructions to complete the subscription.
