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发帖数: 20 | 1 Home-insurance premiums predicted to rise this year
By Becky Yerak
Chicago Tribune
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SO PREMIUMS are going up; what's a policyholder to do?
The Consumer Federation of America provides tips at its Buyer's Guide to
Insurance on its website,consumerfed.org. The National Association of
Insurance Commissioners' site, naic.org, has a feature called Consumer
Information Source, where shoppers can find data about an insurer's
complaints, licensing information and key financial data.
Other resources include consumerreports.org and insure.com, which offer a
quick way to get quotes.
Many state regulators have consumer guides. In Washington state, the Office
of Insurance Commissioner provides information on its website www.insurance.
wa.gov/consumers.
CHICAGO — The average cost of home insurance is expected to rise again in
2011 for the third straight year.
The Insurance Information Institute expects that premiums will be up an
average of 2 percent to 3 percent nationally, with coastal areas seeing the
biggest increases.
Hurricane losses have been low in recent years, but damage from rain and
winter weather, as well as higher prices for materials to repair homes, have
driven up costs. In turn, insurance premiums have been creeping up.
When the books close on 2010, the average premium for home-insurance
policies is expected to be up 1 percent, to $807, the industry trade group
said.
The average Allstate homeowners premium rose 7.1 percent in 2010, and Chief
Executive Tom Wilson said last week that "you should expect to see it go up"
in 2011 as well.
State Farm, the nation's leading writer of home coverage, saw its overall
homeowners rate increase 7.9 percent in 2010.
Key to getting a good deal is to shop around. Insurance companies generally
use three methods to sell their products: independent agents, exclusive
agents or over the Internet or by phone.
The Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America, iiaba.net, has a "
find an agent" tool.
If you want to know what information insurers might have on you, check
LexisNexis' CLUE Personal Property report. It provides a seven-year history
of losses associated with individuals and their personal property.
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