Buying an insurance policy is something of a paradox unto itself. Generally speaking, insurance of all types is something that you purchase hoping that you never have to use it at all. You would never buy a car and just let it sit in the garage, hoping that the day never came where you would have to get behind the wheel, put the key in the ignition and go for a spin. Despite that, insurance is still necessary to have in the unfortunate event that you do need it the most. One of the most important factors that many people struggle with has to do with the claims process. People do not want to make an insurance claim at all because they are concerned that their premiums will go up. As with insurance as a concept, the answer is not necessarily straightforward.
Your Premium Will Change Over Time
For starters, you should never worry about filing an insurance claim because your rates might increase for one simple reason: your rates will likely increase whether you want them to or not. Many of the reasons why your rates might go up will have little to do with the claim in question.
One of the primary reasons why insurance rates might increase has to do with the age of the home in question. The older the home, the more liability there is for the insurance company to insure and financially protect that home. As your general sense of liability increases, so do your insurance premiums.
Natural disasters in surrounding areas can also increase your premiums. If your area has seen a rash of fires, floods, storms and other types of events that are beyond your control, your insurance company may look at you as statistically more likely to suffer from the same types of damage and increase your rates as a result.
Mass Claims Affect Premiums
Another reason why your rates might go up has to do with the amount of recent claims the company in question has been dealing with related to certain types of losses. Sometimes certain portions of your policy are designed to naturally get more expensive as homeowners in the surrounding area have made claims pertaining to one specific type of loss. If there has been a rash of burglaries in your area, for example, other homeowners may cause your rates to go up even if you have not been affected.
The point is that every insurance company is different regarding what events cause a premium to go up and what allows that money to remain unaffected.
It’s always a good idea to speak to your insurance agent. He or she will be more than happy to sit down with you, go over the specifics of your own personal policy and address any and all concerns that you may have.
A lot of insurance agents will do just about anything to retain their customers. As a result, they may actually have significant pull in the decision about the way that your premiums might be altered after filing a claim. Though it is not a guarantee, talking to your provider about your concerns may be a way to allow your premium to remain the same even if a claim has taken place.
The most important thing to remember involves how serious the situation in question really is. Will the claim that you are filing exceed your deductible? If the answer is “yes”, then you do not need to make a claim. Can you afford to pay for the services that you need out of your own pocket in the event that it does exceed your deductible? If the answer is “no”, then the situation dictates that you should likely make a claim...
