I’m Bobby Thomas, BTJ Insurance, and thank you for sending those questions in. The most Googled question that we receive this past week was, “Why do homeowner’s insurance rates go up?” Well, there are several factors that determine your homeowner’s insurance rate, and then there are several factors that cause them to change.
One of the things that could cause your insurance rate to change, or your homeowner’s insurance rate to change is, homeowner’s policies have inflation guards. So you could have a 4% inflation guard on your policy that allows your amount of insurance to adjust annually. That could cause a difference in the rate.
Another thing is, there are different variables that determine your rate. One of those things is age of construction. If your house is brand new, I suspect your rate’s going to be lower than if your house and your roof on your house has some age on it. One of the things you may see is a new roof discount or a new construction discount. Well, as that homes gets a little older, you may see some changes in your rating. That’s just a couple.
Other factors could be, you made changes to the home. You took out all your carpet and replaced it with hardwood floors. Well, the hardwood floors typically cost more than the carpet. So adjustments in the amount of insurance will make your rate change.
A couple things, discounts. Your alarmed that you was having monitored is no longer monitored. Well, that’s a lesser amount, and now you may see a increase. Or you switched your car insurance to a different company, and now you’re no longer getting a home and car discount. That would result in a increase.
That’s just a couple quick reasons. There’s tons of factors on the home policy; but keep those questions coming, but I thought I’d give you a couple reasons why you would see some increases on your homeowner’s insurance.
Thank you, and we appreciate you sending those questions in.
Call BTJ Insurance in Nashville TN at (615) 953-9385
