Three emails, three PDFs, one week. By Friday night I had them printed and spread across the dining table like a jigsaw puzzle, and Biscuit was sitting on the middle one.
Back in July our homeowners premium jumped 22 percent, from $1,486 to $1,812. Our auto policy, which covers Greg's 2014 F-150, my 2017 SUV and Josh as a listed driver, was $1,328 a year. Together that's $3,140. I promised myself I'd shop it in September, and an independent agent in Springboro did the shopping for me.
Why an independent agent
For years we bought insurance from an agent who represents one company. That's fine, but she can only show you that one company's price. An independent agent works with several insurers and can quote all of them from the same set of facts. I sent him our current declarations pages, the vehicle numbers, our driver's license numbers and the details on the house. He asked good questions: roof age, updates to the electrical and plumbing, any trampoline or pool (no and no), and whether Josh still drives our cars when he's home (yes, sometimes).
He came back with three bundles. I'm not going to name the companies, partly because what's cheap for us might be expensive for you. I'll call them A, B and C.
The three quotes
- Quote A: $2,390 a year. Home $1,210, auto $1,180.
- Quote B: $2,520 a year. Home $1,290, auto $1,230.
- Quote C: $2,780 a year. Home $1,440, auto $1,340.
All three beat what we're paying now. My first instinct was to circle A and be done. Then I read the fine print, which is the part of the job I'm actually good at.
What changed between them
I asked the agent to set everything at the same deductibles and limits where he could, but a few differences wouldn't line up, and those differences were the whole story.
The roof. Our roof is from 2004. Quote A would cover it at actual cash value, which means if hail took it out, they'd pay what a 21-year-old roof is worth after depreciation. The agent guessed that might be 30 or 40 percent of a new roof. Quotes B and C would cover the roof at full replacement cost. With spring hail around here, that's not a small detail.
Wind and hail deductible. Quote A had a separate wind and hail deductible of 1% of the dwelling coverage. On about $270,000 of coverage, that's $2,700 out of our pocket for a hail claim, compared to the flat $1,000 deductible on B and C.
Liability. Quote C came with higher liability limits on the house, which explains part of its price. Quotes A and B both matched our auto liability at 250/500, which is what we have now and what we wanted to keep.
Deductible. We moved from a $500 home deductible to $1,000 on all three. That alone saved about $140 a year. We have savings to cover it.
How we chose
I did a little arithmetic on Quote A. It saves $130 a year compared to B. But one hail claim on the roof could cost us thousands more under A, between the depreciated payout and the bigger wind and hail deductible. We'd have to go many years without a single storm to come out ahead, and in southwest Ohio I wouldn't bet on that.
Quote C was the most generous, but we didn't need the extra liability enough to pay $260 a year more for it.
So we chose B: $2,520 a year, down from $3,140. That's $620 saved, with the roof covered at replacement cost and a deductible we're comfortable with. Greg's comment was "Fine by me," which from Greg is practically a standing ovation.
The new policies start October 1. The agent timed it so the new coverage begins the same day we cancel the old. Our old insurer will refund the unused months on the homeowners policy, which we paid in full back in July. I'll watch for that check and make sure it actually comes.
What I'd tell a friend
Get the quotes using your current coverage as the starting point, so you're comparing like with like. Then look for the places where they don't match, because that's where the price difference is hiding. Ask specifically how the roof is covered and whether there's a percentage deductible for wind and hail. And don't cancel anything until the new policy is confirmed in writing with a start date.
I'm not an insurance expert, and your house and cars aren't ours. Your answer might be the cheapest quote, or the priciest one. But the week of reading fine print was worth $620 to us, and probably more the next time it hails.
