Home Insurance Increases?

[molly]

I just got a heads up from our house insurance broker that our home policy, which has been with Wawanesa for ages, could go up as much as 40% due to Fort Mac. She won't know for a couple of weeks yet. Also, they are now charging a 10% surcharge for a wood stove. Not sure why this would be; it is not the main source of heat in that house.

Has anyone noticed any sizeable increases on their policies? Definitely increasing the rent for the next tenants!

[elkhunter11]

I just had my policy adjusted to reflect the home development that we just completed, and the company charges a 20% surcharge on wood stoves.

[josey]

Ouch what about wood burning fire places?

[elkhunter11]

Originally Posted by josey

Ouch what about wood burning fire places?

If it burns wood, it's 20%.

[mountain_man]

I too have been with Wawanesa as well for many years and we took a 55% hit on our Home insurance Back in the beginning of August. Had a very small claim last October, and was told that it would be a 15% hit on our premium. So put it through as it was still cheaper than out of pocket. Got a real eye opener when the new premium came. When I called I was told the same thing, that it was due to the Fires and all the large payouts, plus my small claim.

[Ken H]

Ours was very similar to what we paid last year. We had a large claim in 2011 when our house burn down and the rates have been similar for years. I guess I will see what next years rate is.

[Northern Bob]

I had a rude awakening when I renewed my home insurance a few months ago. It jumped by over 50%. By increasing the deductible and a few adjustments I got it down to about a 20% increase. I'm 58, a home and vehicle owner (4 vehicles, 2 boats, motorhome, quad and UTV) for decades, and I'd never had an insurance claim in my life. It was tough for my broker to find a company that would even insure my western red cedar log house as some wouldn't insure log homes anymore. They weren't even interested in making adjustments until I told them I was seriously considering going without home insurance.

[kevinhits]

I just called my broker and got all my insured assets reduced...Mostly on 3 vehicles....House went down a little....

3 vehicles, RV and house insurance dropped $500 for the year.....

I call them every year before renewal and tell them the increases are unacceptable....It is essential having a clean abstract for the past 7 years and no claims. Also, I have been with Brokerlink for over 20 years now and have established a great relationship with them.

[bobtodrick]

Originally Posted by molly

I just got a heads up from our house insurance broker that our home policy, which has been with Wawanesa for ages, could go up as much as 40% due to Fort Mac. She won't know for a couple of weeks yet. Also, they are now charging a 10% surcharge for a wood stove. Not sure why this would be; it is not the main source of heat in that house.

Has anyone noticed any sizeable increases on their policies? Definitely increasing the rent for the next tenants!

Your problem isn't Ft Mac, it's Wawanesa.
I used to have my car insurance through them. At the time they were a little cheaper than anyone else...seemed like a good deal
Till someone did a hit and run on my vehicle. About $2000 damage. Called Wawanesa and was told...get this..."insurance is really for when your vehicle is totalled...not for minor collision"
This was in the late 80's when $2000 was lot of cash. I told them I was going through insurance and paid my deductible. Six months later when it was time for renewal they tried to raise my price because I had a claim...even though it was not my fault.
Cancelled it that day and went with another provider (TD Insurance) who've been great...now have everything through them.
As to your original question...just got my home renewal from TD...because I've been 10 years without a claim my price dropped about 8% for the upcoming year.
So much for Wawanesa's 'Ft Mac' price increase.

[josey]

Wawanesa we were told is pretty much the one for farms. Any alternatives that the broker is not telling us about?

[shurshot71]

Anybody look at Costco for insurance ?

[Twisted Canuck]

I've been with Wawanesa for years, 4 vehicles, home, a rental (before I sold it), business. I check pricing every year or so, but with the multi policy discount I have, it is always a bit cheaper. May not be in the future, but that is why I check. Probably overdue, will have to do it again this year.

Having said that, I have had two claims in 20 years, $15000 on my rental property when there was a water leak due to a failed solenoid on dishwasher, and a small $2500 when the wife smacked up the corner of my car. My rates did not go up on property. They went up a small amount on vehicle because she lost her preferred whatever rating....Wawanesa was excellent through both claims, no arguing, no hassle, it was painless. After hearing horror stories about people with cheaper insurance rates who tried to make claims and basically had to go to war, get lawyers involved, etc....there may be something to be said for paying a bit more? Not a lot more. A bit. If you get great service when you really need the insurance.

Also, my broker has been awesome for all these years, and they pretty much only deal with Wawanesa, so to dump them, I dump my broker too, and I really really like them.

[Jeff336]

I can't comment on the house insurance side. But I know i certainly would avoid wawanesa after seeing how they handled my BIL's claim. Had his truck stolen in September of 2014. Took him to the following March to finally get paid, this is after they tried to convince him to get it fixed with known bio hazards in the truck, some FN's folks in red deer stole it and turned it into an opium den for 2 weeks

[fishtank]

i use brokerlink , they seem to shop around for the cheapest for me ,save me $300 from intact and switch to wawanesa .

[badbrass]

Was with Wawanesa for 20+ years. Every year price went up, Checked out a broker in Edmonton, saving over $800.00 a year now!

[Alberta83]

I was with TD until just recently. I thought my house insurance seemed high so I shopped around. I went with Allstate and my house and vehicles combined are $1300 per year cheaper. Definetely shop around

[Outdoor-Mark]

I work in the industry and always suggest family and friends to go to brokers. Simply put, tell them your situation and ask them to find the lowest premium company.

[badbrass]

Originally Posted by Outdoor-Mark

I work in the industry and always suggest family and friends to go to brokers. Simply put, tell them your situation and ask them to find the lowest premium company.

X2 they work for your money!

[sakogreywolf]

Originally Posted by bobtodrick

Your problem isn't Ft Mac, it's Wawanesa.
I used to have my car insurance through them. At the time they were a little cheaper than anyone else...seemed like a good deal
Till someone did a hit and run on my vehicle. About $2000 damage. Called Wawanesa and was told...get this..."insurance is really for when your vehicle is totalled...not for minor collision"
This was in the late 80's when $2000 was lot of cash. I told them I was going through insurance and paid my deductible. Six months later when it was time for renewal they tried to raise my price because I had a claim...even though it was not my fault.
Cancelled it that day and went with another provider (TD Insurance) who've been great...now have everything through them.
As to your original question...just got my home renewal from TD...because I've been 10 years without a claim my price dropped about 8% for the upcoming year.
So much for Wawanesa's 'Ft Mac' price increase.

This was my experience as well, though not with my vehicles but rather my house insurance. It went up by 30ish percent one year, which I accepted as I was told it was due to the flooding in Alberta (this was a few years back). The following year, they jacked it up about the same percentage.

I had my broker look into other companies, and switched both auto and house to another company where I saved $1000 just on my house insurance in the first year.

[sewerrat]

We too used to be with Wawanesa until 3 years ago, house insurance jumped by 30% Broker shopped around and we saved $400.00 At that time the broker told me because Wawanesa was one of the cheaper company's because they wanted everyone to go with them, now with all the hail storm claims, floods etc. they are running out of money therefore the higher premium.

If that is true I don't know, could be just a feel good BS story.

[devo11]

Originally Posted by Outdoor-Mark

I work in the industry and always suggest family and friends to go to brokers. Simply put, tell them your situation and ask them to find the lowest premium company.

I wouldn't subscribe to this theory. What brokers do is make deals with one or two insurance companies and run quotes only through them. The brokers receive an agreed to higher commission rate. Also what happens is a brokerage will roll an entire portfolio ie: home policies into one insurance company in exchange for various financial gains from the insurance company.
So in theory brokerages sound like a good way to go it certainly isn't always this way. It is very quick to shop for quotes. I'd suggest obtaining quotes from multiple direct writers and multiple brokerages.

[Positrac]

Wawanesa is one of the harder companies to deal with when you need to make a claim. Just ask most in Fort McMurray who had them during the wildfire. You couldn't begin to count the horror stories about them that I've heard and witnessed.

AMA is another one to keep away from. I know first hand.

Everyone that I know who had TD seems to talk pretty highly about them from what I've seen.

Cheap insurance is only good until you have to make a claim.

[josey]

Originally Posted by devo11

I wouldn't subscribe to this theory. What brokers do is make deals with one or two insurance companies and run quotes only through them. The brokers receive an agreed to higher commission rate. Also what happens is a brokerage will roll an entire portfolio ie: home policies into one insurance company in exchange for various financial gains from the insurance company.
So in theory brokerages sound like a good way to go it certainly isn't always this way. It is very quick to shop for quotes. I'd suggest obtaining quotes from multiple direct writers and multiple brokerages.

That's my experience too. If I would pay the broker, it might be different but they get paid by insurance companies and I have no idea what's going down. I don't trust them.

[Kim473]

Have you ever seen or heard of an insurance company going broke or lose money on a year to year basis ??? NO !! There in it to make money. All of them. Shop around if they are raiseing your premium.

I had a company tell me once, you have not had a claim or accident in 10 years so you are due to have one, that is why your premiums are increasing. LOL Took me 1/2 hr to find another one with lower premiums before the increase. Saved a couple hundred $

[molly]

We have an AO guy as our auto broker. We switched to him as he found Aviva which saved us quite a bit from Wawanesa, but we also had a trailer insured with them, too. Aviva has not been able to match Wawanesa so far on home insurance so we could then get a further discount. He is going to hunt around and see what he can do. We had a wind damage claim on the roof back in 2012, and got no grief at all from Wawanesa. The premiums went up for everyone in that area and others in windy areas the next year, mainly on the deductible for wind damage, which is very large.
I guess we could save some money by disconnecting the woodstove, bahaha...

[79ford]

Originally Posted by Kim473

Have you ever seen or heard of an insurance company going broke or lose money on a year to year basis ??? NO !! There in it to make money. All of them. Shop around if they are raiseing your premium.

I had a company tell me once, you have not had a claim or accident in 10 years so you are due to have one, that is why your premiums are increasing. LOL Took me 1/2 hr to find another one with lower premiums before the increase. Saved a couple hundred $

Insurance companies get squeezed pretty hard by the low interest rates and rates have dropped lots in the last two years all around the world.

Higher insurance fees are just one of the hidden costs of lower interest rates yipee for low interest rates lol