Currently shopping around your insurance policy or considering leaving your current carrier? With inflation affecting insurance rates and premiums across the board, it’s become common practice for many policyholders to shop around their policy as soon as they can in order to hopefully obtain the cheapest available policy.
However, shopping around your insurance each year may not yield the best results. In fact, it could wind up causing you bigger problems - or even cost you more money.
At Berry Insurance, our team is always happy to remarket a client’s policy when it’s the best option available. But what about when it’s not? In this article we’ll be breaking down why remarketing your insurance policy may not be the best path for you, and what you could lose by leaving your current carrier.
Table of contents:
What should I consider before remarketing?
While remarketing your policy can be enticing if you’re hoping to save money, swapping carriers could end up costing you money or creating potentially bigger problems. The following are things you should think about before deciding to remarket your insurance policy:
Hard insurance market:
As an agency we’ve noticed the insurance industry is going through a “hard market” recently, meaning that carriers have restricted their coverage offerings, raised premiums overall, and/or stopped writing certain types of insurance altogether.
So, while your insurance rates may have increased, you may find that to be the case with every carrier. It may also be difficult to get approved coverage or find affordable coverage when shopping around your home, auto, or other type of insurance polices.
The good news is that insurance markets are always changing – this is just the current state of the insurance market for the time being.
Inspections:
If you’re looking to shop around your homeowners insurance policy, you should know about the crucial role of home inspections when carriers are deciding to approve or disapprove coverage. Inspections overall are becoming far more common amongst carriers - and more thorough.
Carriers utilize inspections to ensure your home would have the right amount of coverage, as well as identify potential risks. Many carriers will be paying close attention to any previous history of water damages, a home’s age, and roof integrity.
A home’s roof in particular is where we’re seeing a lot of cracking down in coverage approval, as carriers may deny coverage for homes with roofs over 15 years old. This makes it crucial for homeowners to prioritize the upkeep of their roof, and clip back any tree branches that could pose a threat. Some carriers have even begun utilizing drones to survey roof conditions from overhead, assessing if any nearby branches are hanging too close to the property.
If you do choose to remarket your policy, you should ask yourself whether your property will meet the standards of the carrier’s inspections, and if you’re willing to pay for the necessary updates and renovations to receive policy approval.
Claims history:
Applicants with a long history of filing claims, especially recent claims, on any of their insurance policies will be less likely to have their policy approved compared to policyholders with a clean claims history.
Besides the number of claims, the types of claims filed will stand out to insurers. Lawsuits (such as if someone is hurt on your property) especially will raise more flags to insurance underwriters when you’re applying for insurance.
Other carriers may not be eager to cover applicants with a history of frequent claims, and the policy would likely cost you more if coverage was approved.
Bonuses, discounts, and accident forgiveness:
I think it’s safe to say we’re all fond of saving money. And this is what makes remarketing so enticing, as we hope to find a cheaper coverage alternative when our rates increase.
However, remarketing away from your current insurance provider may lose you cost saving membership discounts and bonuses applied to your policy - ones that may not be offered by other carriers.
Additionally, if your current carrier offers accident forgiveness for recent auto accidents, you could find yourself paying for them after switching to another carrier.
So, when should I remarket my insurance policy?
Even with everything we mentioned above, remarketing is not always a bad option – far from it. If you’ve addressed all the potential factors of why you shouldn't begin shopping around your insurance policy, you can begin considering why you should.
If you’re unhappy with your current carrier’s service or price, remarketing may be your best option - and you should discuss your options further with your trusted insurance agent.
If you do choose to remarket your insurance policy, the best time is typically prior to the renewal of your policy. This provides insurance agencies more flexibility in obtaining multiple quotes from different carriers - so then you can get the best available coverage.
Reconsidering remarkets
While shopping your insurance policies in search of a new carrier is a valid choice for any policyholder, you now know the potential hurdles and headaches that can come from remarketing.
While chasing the lowest priced policy may seem like the best way to save money, it could actually leave you with gaps in coverage that would end up costing you more in the event you file a claim.
However, even if you decide not to remarket, it will still be a good idea to review your policy. This is to make sure you can properly update your policy to ensure you have adequate coverage and see if you qualify for any potential discounts. For more reasons on why you should review your policies, check out this guide: Why You Should Review Your Personal Insurance Annually.