House insurance

[Young&Ambitious]

Hello,

I did a couple searches but I can't find any recommendations online so I ask you guys, who do you use and what do you recommend?

Details: I have a small ~6yr old condo in a low rise so what kind of coverage do I need (owner occupied, no businesses in building).

BCAA has been recommended but on the other hand I have been told they are quite pricey and well I don't want to pay extra for brand-name insurance.

[Assetologist]

Two thoughts:

- bundled insurance with a single firm is usually less expensive i.e.. home & auto with applied discounts

-consider joining a savings credit union (Coast Capital) or at least get a quote before going with another company

[AMABILE]

You can obtain free, immediate, lowest on-line quotes by entering your details on these 2 web sites :
www.kanetix.ca
www.insurancehotline.com

[Pigzfly]

We went with TD Meloche Monnex on the recommendation of someone.
Honestly, I do not know the fine print, but I do know that specific posessions we were concerned about (bicycles and jewelery, mostly), are more than adequately covered for our needs.

TD was substantially cheaper than the other options. When shopping for insurance, also check out any organizations that may offer you a discount. ie - alumni association discounts, professional organizations, even groups like BCWF or sports groups have discounts

For those from outside of BC - the auto insurance market here is quite different and therefore there is not a lot of ability to bundle. For example, I am too young to have non-basic insurance provided by anyone but ICBC.

[Young&Ambitious]

Amabile, thanks for those 2 websites! The cheapest quote was $200 less than the BCAA quote (although I don't have any details as of yet on the coverage) but so far so good.

How does one find out where the nearest fire hall and fire hydrant is? Is there some official government site etc that insurance brokers will accept for support?

[OhGreatGuru]

Check with your condo board to see what level of property insurance coverage they are recommending for your unit. For a house you want "replacement cost", exclusive of the land, but I don't know how they estimate this for a condo unit. You should determine what kind of insurance the Condo Corp itself has, and what is covered by it already.

For many years $1M was considered good liability coverage. With inflation many people are looking to increase this now. If your car and home policies are with the same company, you may be able to buy an “umbrella” policy cheaply to increase yout liabilty coverage. Monnex for one offers this.

[orange]

Condo corporations will have insurance for the usual types of things you want to cover in a house, including liability insurance, but they won't cover any of your contents or upgrades made to your unit. Some condos have also changed their insurance policies to no longer cover flooring (it's amazingly expensive to insure, apparently, because it's the thing most often claimed after damage from, say, the bathroom flooding in the unit above you!) so check with your condo. We had an insurance specialist come to our annual general meeting to explain things before we voted on our new insurance policy, and generally getting insurance to cover your contents, flooring replacement and any unit upgrades is sufficient.

BUT CHECK YOUR CONDO INSURANCE FIRST for any recent changes.

[Causalien]

I read that my insurance currently covers the house replacement cost itself. However, it covers about 50% more than the actual cost to rebuild the house. For example the cost to rebuild would be 100k, but the insurance is on 150k.

Is this negotiable or are they adding that buffer just in case. I am trying to find ways to lower the costs for insurance.

[carverman]

I read that my insurance currently covers the house replacement cost itself. However, it covers about 50% more than the actual cost to rebuild the house. For example the cost to rebuild would be 100k, but the insurance is on 150k.

Is this negotiable or are they adding that buffer just in case. I am trying to find ways to lower the costs for insurance.

The cost of rebuild keeps rising every year. Minimum rebuild costs are
closer to $175 a sq ft these days and that is if you have nothing
fancy like jacuzzis, granite/solid oak kitchens, oak floors, better grade
windows and heating systems. My 1350sqft 40yr old semi-detached is insured for $234K.
so if I do the math..rebuild costs 1350sq ft x $175sq ft (if that is the
current rebuild cost) materials/labour/taxes = $236k for just
a basic construction grade house.

It's not just the house wood structure rebuild that affects total replacement costs on the policy.

There are other expenses involved in rebuilding a house that has experienced
a total fire.

1. Additional living expenses while they rebuild your home for several weeks
an possibly a couple of months or more.

2. Hauling the refuse away..most demolition contracts and municipal dumps charge $96 per tonne ( or even more) for residential/commercial demolition/construction waste.
Figure on back loader, gravel truck loads (10 ton each), labour rates
and hauling it to the landfill site...another $50 per ton, so you have $150
per tonne.

3. Now if the cement foundation was damaged/cracked/broken if the house burned down almost to the ground, (which may or may not happen if you are close to a firehall/hydrant), the foundation may have to be completely rebuilt as well,
add another "few thousand" for hauling the cement debris away and hiring
contractors to repair/ rebuild the foundation, before the wooden structure
construction can even begin.

4. Cost of permits/inspections, etc.

[Causalien]

Thanks, now I understand there's nothing I can do about that. It gnaws at my frugal instincts that I am paying for insurance on an old house that will end up being demolished anyway and the land valuation itself is the actual amount I can get from a sale.