Hello everyone,
My name is Adam Gurdus and I have been helping a number of people in the South Walton area recently with their insurance needs. I wanted to set up a forum for those who have questions about their personal insurance. Please feel free to ask away and I will do my best to assist and answer your questions. If you would like to reach me personally, I can be reached via email at: adamgurdus@mogil.com[/EMAIL">adamgurdus@mogil.com"]adamgurdus@mogil.com and by phone at 203-661-8126.
Below, please find a few tips for reducing the cost of your homeowner's insurance policy:
1) Increase your deductible- By making the decision to increase your own personal exposure from a $1,000 deductible on your homeowner's policy to a $5,000 deductible, significant savings can be achieved. By making this change, you are saying that in the event of a loss, you will cover the first $5,000 of damage and the insurance company would be responsible for the remainder. Normally, this change will save between 10% and 20% on the annual policy premium.
2) Review your contents coverage- Many times, insurance companies automatically set a value on the contents of the home without actually inquiring with you first. Insurers will normally use 70% of the insured value of the home for the "contents" value on the policy. For a $1,000,000 home, there would be an automatic value of $700,000 of contents. For some, this amount of contents may seem a bit excessive. If that is the case, you have the ability to reduce the amount of contents insurance on your policy. By reducing contents to $350,000 the insured would save at least a few hundred dollars on their policy.
3) Add a Fire & Burglar alarm- By adding a central station fire & burglar alarm, you will take 5%-10% right off the top of the insurance premium. Many times, the savings from having such alarms will be enough to pay for the servicing of the alarm annually.
4) Review your hurricane deductible- BE CAREFUL HERE. By increasing the percentage of your hurricane deductible from say 2% to 5% you can achieve savings on your homeowner's windstorm/hurricane policy. By doing so, you significantly increase the amount of exposure you have. For example, by changing your deductible from 2% to 5% on a $1,000,000 home, the deductible would increase from $20,000 to $50,000. Meaning that you would be responsible for the first $50,000 in a claim situation that arose from a hurricane or windstorm.
Hopefully some of you find this information helpful in reducing your insurance costs.
My name is Adam Gurdus and I have been helping a number of people in the South Walton area recently with their insurance needs. I wanted to set up a forum for those who have questions about their personal insurance. Please feel free to ask away and I will do my best to assist and answer your questions. If you would like to reach me personally, I can be reached via email at: adamgurdus@mogil.com[/EMAIL">adamgurdus@mogil.com"]adamgurdus@mogil.com and by phone at 203-661-8126.
Below, please find a few tips for reducing the cost of your homeowner's insurance policy:
1) Increase your deductible- By making the decision to increase your own personal exposure from a $1,000 deductible on your homeowner's policy to a $5,000 deductible, significant savings can be achieved. By making this change, you are saying that in the event of a loss, you will cover the first $5,000 of damage and the insurance company would be responsible for the remainder. Normally, this change will save between 10% and 20% on the annual policy premium.
2) Review your contents coverage- Many times, insurance companies automatically set a value on the contents of the home without actually inquiring with you first. Insurers will normally use 70% of the insured value of the home for the "contents" value on the policy. For a $1,000,000 home, there would be an automatic value of $700,000 of contents. For some, this amount of contents may seem a bit excessive. If that is the case, you have the ability to reduce the amount of contents insurance on your policy. By reducing contents to $350,000 the insured would save at least a few hundred dollars on their policy.
3) Add a Fire & Burglar alarm- By adding a central station fire & burglar alarm, you will take 5%-10% right off the top of the insurance premium. Many times, the savings from having such alarms will be enough to pay for the servicing of the alarm annually.
4) Review your hurricane deductible- BE CAREFUL HERE. By increasing the percentage of your hurricane deductible from say 2% to 5% you can achieve savings on your homeowner's windstorm/hurricane policy. By doing so, you significantly increase the amount of exposure you have. For example, by changing your deductible from 2% to 5% on a $1,000,000 home, the deductible would increase from $20,000 to $50,000. Meaning that you would be responsible for the first $50,000 in a claim situation that arose from a hurricane or windstorm.
Hopefully some of you find this information helpful in reducing your insurance costs.
to the board. I believe we'll eventually switch to AIG (within a year or so) and it sounds like it will be a good idea. We've spoken by phone and email (you are very quick to respond).