10 things home insurers won’t say
Your friendly home insurance company would rather you didn’t know that you’re Your friendly home insurance company would rather you didn’t know that you’re paying too much. Or that it could drop you in a heartbeat if you file too many claims.
1. “We have our own caste system.”
Sam Mayer, a physician in suburban Chicago, had insured his home, car and life with Metropolitan Life Insurance for 10 years without ever filing a claim, until a damaged roof and a burglary led to two claims totaling $3,000. Mayer promptly installed a home-security system. But instead of giving him a discount, the company dropped Mayer from its preferred coverage, citing his “claims history” and instead offered him its standard carrier at a higher rate — even though his risk profile hadn’t really changed.
(”Homeowners insurers may sometimes offer a change in conditions of coverage of a consumer’s policy at renewal in order to continue to offer a policy to that individual whose risk profile has increased,” a MetLife spokesperson says. “This often occurs when a customer files more claims than average in a short period of time.”) Read more