Home Insurance Daily Blog

If you thought that keeping your bike within your house premises, think again. According to statistics made by Halifax Home Insurance, that a bicycle gets stolen every 65 seconds, more than the 70 seconds last year. Take note, that this are for those that were reported to the police.

One should check their Home Insurance if the bicycle was stolen on your property.

Head of underwriting at the insurance company David Rochester explained: “We encourage all who experience bike theft to report it to the police, otherwise they could miss the opportunity to make a claim.”
Mr Rochester added that steps such as a high security lock could help protect the bike, as well as the use of anti-pry devices and keeping it locked up when not in use.

Source

Trends ion the UK are showing that most people who go into retirement have to move out of their current residence to allow their pensions and insurance savings to stretch and last. Most people who are retiring today have little or not much in terms of money to splurge due to the fact that money has devaluated so much, it would be cheaper to move to a cheaper location outside major city centers where life is easier and goods cheaper from local farmers. The trend goes for those who live elsewhere for the pensions that used to amount to a million dollars might have been a huge sum back then but today has become just a sum of money you have to be careful in spending with. Retirees used to be well off for their hard earned pensions provide most of the costs of their retired life. Devaluation, inflation has all caused much upheaval in the value of money that if not wisely spent, is gone in a couple of years leaving them high and dry.

Insurance premiums have maintained a steady rise in the past years only to bottom recently which might be sign that companies are beginning to feel the crunch of the global economic crisis. The cost of oil has grown to such high levels that most people who have cars opt not to use them in order to save some more for other spending. Insurance rates have maintained a steady 6 to 7% increase per annum in the past years but have now leveled out. People are now thinking more about saving and getting to spend their money where they want to rather than save for a future date which is uncertain.

Insurance providers in the state of Hawaii have lost a case where they were complained to have asked for excessive taxes form the insurance industry. The money the state gathered form the said taxes were supposed to be brought into the State’s compliance resolution fund but was instead diverted to a general fund much to the dismay of the providers. The move of the state resulted in 2,000 lawsuits from the insurance association when they were asked to pay for 2 million dollars for the said regulation fund. The state has appealed the decision and is awaiting another round of hearing for they say there have absolutely been wrong judgments in their case.

Texas Windstorm Insurance Association, a state-backed last resort insurer has requested an increase of their reinsurance stores for the upcoming 2008 storm season due to rising claims and costs in the said area. The plea is presented to the state senate and is awaiting scheduling for hearing and serves to prevent problems that resulted form the 2007 hurricane season from recurring. The Texas area was hit hard by severe storms and is expected to get another round of severe storms this year. Global warming, pollution and all the other contributory factors cited, the problem is getting worse and better to be prepared with enough stores than to go through what Katrina survivors had to go through.

Problems in the embattled State of Florida have allowed the passing of the Florida Senate of more measures to enact control in the insurance industry much to the disgust of insurers. The move was brought about by the controversial pullout of Allstate from the state even resorting to deliberately cancel policies without their owner’s knowledge with another provider following suit. The cascading effect had affected the home sales market so much that any buyers were swayed by the fact they could not get any insurance for their prospective property. The bill is hailed by homeowners and legislators alike but many insurance firms have expressed dismay for it hampers their competitive edge so to speak in the industry. The move is to prevent rescissions and foreclosures from happening without the state’s appointed body having mediated in a meeting that would aim to resolve the outstanding issues. This is aimed to control the already dire insurance situation in the state that has experienced a rash of foreclosures due to many homeowners not being able to settle their mortgages.

The move to providing new regulation on the area of insurance regulation to avoid future problems such as the ones that are happening now are underway and making good progress. The only problem, the bickering in Congress is taking too long for it to make any difference at all and State governments are fed up. They have expressed their intent for Congress to give them control over the management and regulation of the insurance industry in their respective areas due to their intimate knowledge of the local scenario. The state-based regulatory regime has been in effect for over 100 years and has proven to be effective which crumbled only due to the financial crisis the sub-prime lending market initiated. They want to keep on regulating their own insurance industries locally without the federal government’s meddling which as they have seen, just takes too much time.

The events of the California wildfires had many homeowners discover that even with their expensive home insurance policies they were still quite underinsured. Almost 90% of those affected by the California Wildfires discovered the hard way that they were underinsured with some even shelling out hundreds of thousands of dollars just to get their houses back into habitable status. This emphasizes the need for extensive understanding of the different types of insurance that are now necessary for homeowners due to increasing construction costs and inflation. The security of home insurance and any other form of insurance should not lull people and industry experts into complacency which has devastating results. As with the case of the California wildfires and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, many providers/carriers are thinking twice about home insurance policies they have issued even cancelling and opting not to renew them even for very loyal customers.

Home insurance premiums are typically equal to the total value of the house when it was purchased when you sum them all up. They are however not fixed but generally go for at least $100,000 US. There are certain deductibles that can be deducted as discounts say damage from a leaky roof and many other minor stuff that can be deducted from the total amount you’ll have to pay for in your premiums. These repairs will be charged out of your own pocket before the insurance steps in shaving a bit of the premiums.

Well, yes you might have insurance but as recent history shows these policies vary from state to state and from provider to provider. There are well defined coverage of disasters such as hurricane damage, fire and many others but they may not include floods, etc. Be sure to ask for the details of coverage before signing to prevent the heartache/heartburn later. As we have said previously, contracts should be read and understood however hard it may be to do so. If in doubt, have your lawyer present to review the said policy so as to avoid misunderstandings. Being sure prevents you from getting disappointed that the insurance you are so depending on does not cover a specific natural disaster or event.