I just got off the phone with my insurance agent. In getting my new home insured they did their standard procedure of looking at everything from the outside. That review noted that we had three skylights.
Skylights raise the price of insurance… apparently
We don’t care about skylights. We didn’t buy our place with the thought that “Wow, these skylights are awesome.” We bought it for location, and layout.
I suggested that we buy a flat rate plan for a set income, not “replacement value”, but I was told that wasn’t available.
Insurance companies don’t offer it, nowadays. My agent said that many have asked for it, but that doesn’t make it happen.
How strange that I couldn’t lower my premium by excluding features that I didn’t care about, right?
The other interesting thing they did is that they increased the square footage of the property based on their measurements. I guess that is going to allow me sell it for 7% more when the times comes.
Do insurance company giveth or taketh away?
Skylights can leak and cause water damage, especially when not properly maintained. It’s not just the cost of the risk of damage to the skylights you’re paying for.
I am surprised you can’t carve out exceptions. Is that true with every company? I know in Life and Disability insurance, you can improve your rating by excluding certain things. It’s not like you can do it a la carte, but if you have a condition already you can often get it excluded.
Don’t get me started. Insurance companies are “the devil.”
Homeowner’s insurance? I live in FL: the state all the ins. companies are bailing out of. The few that are left have very very particular rules on the type of house they will cover. So much of the state is left with the coverage of last resort – Citizens. Extra expensive and kinda like not having a real ins. company at all.
I am not sure how they would carve that out? What if the skylight leaked and caused carpet damage? Is that then out? or if the water destroyed your entire ceiling is that not covered?
It would be a litigious nightmare.
You have to have replacement cost, otherwise it’s a morale hazard. If you know you would collect a $200k check if your house burnt down, you might be tempted to do something crazy. But if you know the insurance company is obligated to rebuild instead of cutting you a huge check, you wouldn’t be tempted to play with matches.