Why A Storm-Damage Claim May Not Affect Your Home Insurance Rates

Some people are so against filing a claim on their homeowner's insurance policy for fear of spiked rates afterwards. While filing claims can affect your rates, it's important to understand how most insurance companies view and handle claims due to storm damage. Here are some important things to understand about this if you are currently considering filing a storm-damage claim.

"Acts of God" are expected

"Acts of God" is a phrase that refers to storms that sweep through, and this can include wind storms, hurricanes, and other types of events that can lead to damage to homes, cars, and other assets. These events cannot be stopped or controlled, and insurance companies fully understand this. While they may not like the fact that these events lead to claims, they are also fully aware of the fact that the policyholders are not responsible for these things. Because of this, insurance companies expect to receive claims in areas that are hit by these types of acts.

Insurance companies raise all local rates after major storms

When something catastrophic like this occurs in an area and the insurance company begins receiving claims for damage, the company is likely to increase the rates of all home insurance policies in the area. These rate increases are not singled out to just the policyholders that made claims. Instead, the company covers its costs by spreading out the expenses to everyone living in that particular area. This means that whether you file a claim on your policy or not, your rates are likely to go up if your locality was hit by a major storm that affected a lot of people.

With this theory in mind, you should consider that if you do not file a claim for the damage you experienced, you will still be paying for it. Therefore, you will likely be paying a higher rate to pay for the damage done to those living in your neighborhood.

Most companies will not raise a person's rates for one storm-damage claim

Finally, you should understand that your insurance company probably will not raise your rates if you file one claim for storm damage, especially if you are one of few people that experienced damage from a particular storm.

If you currently do not have sufficient homeowner's insurance or would like to find out if you can save money by switching to a new company, contact a business that provides home coverage insurance and request a free quote.