Calculating Home Insurance Quotes
There are many different factors that insurance companies use to help determine your home insurance rates. Understanding what these factors are and how they are used to calculate your rates will help you make more informed decisions and secure the best deals possible on your home insurance.
The 9 Most Important Rating Factors
We’ve identified the 9 most important factors used to determine home insurance rates:
- (1.) Basic Description of Your Home
(2.) Geographical Location of Your Home
(3.) Distance from the Nearest Fire Department and Hydrant
- (4.) Home Upgrades in the Last Few Years
(5.) Total Square Footage
(6.) Credit History & Insurance Score
(7.) Security Devices and Alarm Systems
(8.) Prior Loss & Claims History
(9.) Type of Pets and Recreational Equipment
Basic Description of Your Home
The most important factors used to calculate your home insurance rates are the basic details about your home, like your home’s age and condition, how much its currently worth today, and what construction materials were originally used to build it. Its a good idea to know this basic information about your home to better prepare yourself to compare rates.
Geographical Location of Your Home
The geographical location of your home is one of the most important factors used to determine your price because it helps insurance companies predict what type of weather patterns may affect your home. If you live in a region prone to natural disasters like floods, tornadoes or hurricanes, you are most likely paying a lot more for this increased risk.
Distance from the Nearest Fire Dept. or Hydrant
The distance between your home and the nearest fire department is also used to help determine home insurance rates because insurance companies want to make sure that if a fire does break out in your home, your local fire department is located close enough and well-equipped to respond quickly.
Insurance companies look at how your local fire department is rated using the Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS). The Fire Suppression Rating Schedule (FSRS) is used by insurers to review the fire-fighting capabilities of individual communities. The schedule measures the major elements of a community’s fire-suppression system and develops a numerical grading called a Public Protection Classification (PPC).
Most home insurance companies require that your home to be located within 5 miles of your local fire department station and 1,000 feet from the nearest fire hydrant.
Upgrades to Wiring, Plumbing, and Heating Systems
Home insurance companies also determine the age and condition of your home’s wiring, plumbing and heating systems and will ask if you have made any upgrades recently. Upgrading your home’s wiring, plumbing, and heating systems will help improve your home’s overall safety. If you’ve made home improvements recently, you could be qualified for much lower rates, so its a good idea to compare home insurance prices after upgrading.
Prior Loss & Claims History
Your home insurance loss and claims history in the past few years is important in determining your home insurance rate because it helps insurance companies calculate the likelihood that you will file a claim again in the future. Insurance companies want to know if you have filed any claims in the last several years, how much the total amount paid out in losses was, and if you have had a lapse in coverage.
Type of Pets and Recreational Equipment
Home insurance companies will also ask if you have any pets, swimming pools, or trampolines on your property. Owning certain breeds of dogs or recreational equipment could increase your rate and may even prevent you from being eligible for coverage.
Click the following links to read more information on how your Dog, trampoline, or swimming pool could be affecting your home insurance rate.
Right on-this helped me sort tghins right out.