You need to be very careful with the home insurance coverage. There are
two options: Actual Cash Value and Replacement Value. If you choose
ACV they apply depreciation to any claim; with an old house you end up
getting a small fraction of your actual loss. If you choose RV you must
insure the property for no less of 80% of the replacement cost as
calculated by the insurance company! If your insurance is below that
they prorate your losses; the catch is that they compute the replacement
value at an outrageous rate per square foot, to the point that to fully
insure a house that is worth, say $200K, you must take insurance for
about $450K. The key then is to find an insurer that uses a low
replacement value per sq. ft. I did a lot of shopping recently and I
got a good deal through Ron Ratigan (tel: 610-359-1422). He recommended
The Philadelphia Contributionship, a local insurance company.
As to auto insurance, I didn't try Unitrin, but the best deal I found
was through Traveler's. There is a huge difference in premium from one
company to another -- I compared using exactly the same coverage.
"Neil I. Lifson" wrote:
>
[snip]
> While I'm at it: Here's some nervous chatter about INSURANCE. I'd like to
> hear more opinion/ recomendations about insurance companies (home-owner,
> fire, auto). My insurance in all these areas has skyrocketed in the past
> year. The previous posts have been helpful. Let's have more.
>
> FYI: I found Unitrin Direct Ins. Co. could provide (by far) the best rate
> for auto insurance (a California company). Find them on the web. They
> currently do not write any other type of insurance in PA, tho. I am
> currently looking into home-owner's and fire ins. (for rental property),
> and would like to bundle them all with the same company - including auto-
> to obtain a discount. Any info from others -- including bad experiences,
> would be great. (Please post to the list.) Property insurance is a lot
> more complicated than auto ins., with many more variations in the details/
> requirements for each company.
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