Too many people have been burned by trusting their insurance agent when they have a vacant home or vacant property. Sometimes the insurance agent does not even know the terms of the vacant homeowners insurance policy he or she recommends and just get's it wrong, telling the client that they do not need to secure special vacant home insurance coverage.
However there are times, and we hope this is the rare exception, where an insurance agent will tell a client that it's OK to leave the home empty or vacant with the existing policy because the agent knows the insurance company he or she represents does not offer a vacant homeowers insurance policy and they would lose the business and thus their renewal commission.
Whether mistakes are legitimate or on purpose does not matter. We always recommend that the insured get something in writing from the agent stateing that they understand the house will be vacant for a period of time and the insurance will continue without lapse. When asked to put it in writing, the chance for error goes down by a factor of 10.
Showing posts with label insurance agent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label insurance agent. Show all posts
Vacant Home; Don't Trust Your Agent to Get It Right
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Labels:
empty home,
insurance agent,
vacant building insurance,
vacant home,
vacant home insurance,
vacant homeowners insurance,
vacant property
Bait & Switch Vacant Home Insurance
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Labels:
empty home,
insurance agent,
vacant dwelling insurance,
vacant homeowners insurance,
vadalism
When we leave our home in Radnor Pennsylvania for the winter to spend 4 or 5 months in Scottsdale Arizona, we typically can find someone to "sit" in the house while we are away. Last winter we found no one, and spoke to our agent about how to insure the home.
We were advised that we were in luck, and our regular homeowners insurance company would be able to insure our vacant home at an additional premium. In February of that year, we had a major claim when vandals broke into the house, stole some items, but even worth left about $20,000 of damage in the house.
When we filed the claim with our insurance we were in for a big shock. We had assumed the coverage was pretty much the same because it was the same insurance company. We quickly learned we had no coverage for this incident because the new policy was a reduced level of coverage. Our agent told us "you just can't get the same level of coverage when a home is not being occupied" and this is what people live with. Basically.. we had no other choice?
However, no one explained the coverage was to such a lesser degree. Our advise, when you put on a vacant dwelling insurance policy make sure you know exactly what you are buying.
We were advised that we were in luck, and our regular homeowners insurance company would be able to insure our vacant home at an additional premium. In February of that year, we had a major claim when vandals broke into the house, stole some items, but even worth left about $20,000 of damage in the house.
When we filed the claim with our insurance we were in for a big shock. We had assumed the coverage was pretty much the same because it was the same insurance company. We quickly learned we had no coverage for this incident because the new policy was a reduced level of coverage. Our agent told us "you just can't get the same level of coverage when a home is not being occupied" and this is what people live with. Basically.. we had no other choice?
However, no one explained the coverage was to such a lesser degree. Our advise, when you put on a vacant dwelling insurance policy make sure you know exactly what you are buying.
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