insurances

[Foxske]

Good morning from Belgium
We do have a question about property insurance and maybe someone can help us.
Insurance system is alot different from the insurance system right here in the USA, so we could use some advise/help because if asking to the insurance company, we are sure they always will try to charge maximum.
So this is the situation :
We do own a property , valued by tax collector for around $56,000 ;
We do have a dwelling AND a flood insurance , both have on the contract a rebuilding ( dwelling it is called on contract ) for an amount of $130,000.
For each contract we pay $850 - $900 per year

Compared to what we pay for insurance in belgium we have a feeling we are overpaying , is it realy necessary to have the rebuilding amount as high as $130,000 or would for example $100,000 be enough ?
i think this could make a difference of a copple of hundred dollar per year on both contracts.
Anyone an idea ? or is my thinking about this completely wrong ?

Fox & Tania:wave:

[twinklesweep]

Good morning from Belgium
We do have a question about property insurance and maybe someone can help us.
Insurance system is alot different from the insurance system right here in the USA, so we could use some advise/help because if asking to the insurance company, we are sure they always will try to charge maximum.
So this is the situation :
We do own a property , valued by tax collector for around $56,000 ;
We do have a dwelling AND a flood insurance , both have on the contract a rebuilding ( dwelling it is called on contract ) for an amount of $130,000.
For each contract we pay $850 - $900 per year

Compared to what we pay for insurance in belgium we have a feeling we are overpaying , is it realy necessary to have the rebuilding amount as high as $130,000 or would for example $100,000 be enough ?
i think this could make a difference of a copple of hundred dollar per year on both contracts.
Anyone an idea ? or is my thinking about this completely wrong ?

Fox & Tania:wave:

Hello Foxske,

I am not an expert, but a couple of things did occur to me when I read what you wrote:

First, you must understand that the tax value of your property is called its "assessment." This relates to all the properties in your area and does not have anything to do with its market value.

Second, the actual value of your property is called its "appraisal." This figure is what you need to look at to determine market value.

Third, insurance generally looks at "replacement cost," how much it would cost to rebuild your home should there be a total loss, for example, in a fire (on your standard policy) or in a flood (on your flood policy).

Fourth, remember that in this hypothetical event of a loss not related to a flood, you ordinarily do NOT have to replace any of these, assuming you have them (or any of them): your driveway, your foundation, your well, just to give a few examples. In contrast, in a flood situation, you might very well lose some or all of these items.

Yes, of course, some insurance companies will want to charge the most that they can get away with. I had one once that insisted on automatically raising the amount of coverage with each renewal, whether relevant or not! I told them that I would give them a figure of what to insure for, and if they didn't like it, I would get my insurance elsewhere, which eventually I did.

What you might want to do is speak with several insurance agents in your area and ask them to work up quotes based on identical info that you give them. You will likely find that there is some variance (and possibly a lot of variance) in their proposed premiums. You need to make sure that all are offering the same coverage.

Might there be a single company that can offer you a single policy that covers both conventional and flood loss? I really don't know.

In any case, it is not necessarily a bad thing that the best quotes come from companies you never heard of. Now is when you need to do some homework to get evaluations of the companies you're considering. A. M. Best is one of the outstanding companies that does these evaluations. <www.ambest.com> You can check with your local Better Business Bureau is a great resource; here you have to Google the BBB in your state or region, as unsurprisingly you can be great variances from state to state.

And notwithstanding all this work on your part, you can ask your neighbors what companies they use and how they feel about their coverages and the cost of their premiums.

So, to get a better picture (and likely a better cost to you), you have your work cut out for you.... Whew!

[Foxske]

Thank you Twinklesweep for this explaination.
Well since we are in belgium we will have to look for quotes online or by phone i guess.
Asking the neighbours is not an option either.
We are coming to The Villages next year in march for 1 month , maybe we can do some investigation then with insurance companies.

[twinklesweep]

Thank you Twinklesweep for this explaination.
Well since we are in belgium we will have to look for quotes online or by phone i guess.
Asking the neighbours is not an option either.
We are coming to The Villages next year in march for 1 month , maybe we can do some investigation then with insurance companies.

I believe that you can accomplish a great deal via the use of the Internet and secondarily by phone. And believe it or not, you might well be able to access your neighbors to ask them about their insurance coverages, companies, policies. Property tax records are public info here; you can find these records online, get names of owners, use something like White Pages | People Finder - AnyWho (http://www.anywho.com) to get phone numbers. Or there are phone services that will supply phone numbers based on addresses rather than on surnames. All this takes time, of course.... Good luck!