[Girlcopper]

Originally Posted by skippy05

I would highly avoid calling your insurance company regarding this issue. I am talking from personal experience. Any claim or talk of a claim with them will raise your rate to an astronomical amount. They also place you on a black list so that if you try to obtain a policy from another company; that new company will see your name on the list and refuse to insure you for up to 2 more years. Meanwhile, you are stuck on your current (now very high rate) policy! Home insurance should always be regarded as a catastrophic type of thinking, loss when it comes to filing a claim. Do you think filing a claim to recover maybe 15 k of damages is a good idea? Think again. A better way of thinking is I'll only file a claim if the claim need is around 60k or more. YOU pay when you file these small claims....you get their compensation check but then you pay over and over again each time you pay the new higher rate policy. Also, note that your insurance company could care less if you say or think....this claim is "not my fault" (and, therefore would be "nice" and not raise your rates as a result.) Also, note that any claim or even inquiry talk of a claim flags you on the shared insurance company database. Should you try to sell your home over the next couple of years and the prospective buyer tries to obtain an insurance quote....this will cause them to see even the talk of a possible claim and raise RED flags with your prospective buyer as to what happened to this house and do I really still want to purchase it. Why do I know this; again....it happened to me when I was trying to buy a Florida home 3 years ago and when I asked the seller what was this insurance inquiry: The seller said I only called to inquire about a possible claim and did not file one. Next, the seller refused to disclose to me what that inquiry was about, and therefore during my due diligence of the contract I canceled the purchase because I felt the seller was now hiding from me some important facts about the property that was important in my purchasing decision. In summary, I am not saying to never call or file or talk to your insurance company about a claim. I'm saying only do so if you are taking BIG numbers and not small amounts...because this is 'what' the home insurance policy should be regarded as used for.

Ahhh. The conspiracy theory ……….