As many of our clients are experiencing, property and automobile insurance premiums are on the rise. Several Insurance Companies have already taken the lead, increasing their premiums and minimum deductibles in an attempt to compensate for the large losses in the previous few years. Other insurers have made announcements that increases are pending or they will likely be issuing an increase in the near future.
Although the rising insurance premiums are inevitable, we wanted to provide you with some of the important reasons WHY they are increasing so that you have a better understanding of how this impacts you. As well, we thought it would be helpful to provide you with some recommendations on how you can minimize the impact on your pocket book.
Top reasons for rising insurance premiums:
- Inflation of labor and material costs from year to year
- Lower investment income for the Insurance Companies
- Increase in claims (including insurance fraud)
- Alberta Floods in 2013
- Fort McMurray Wildfires in 2015
- Severe Thunderstorms and Hailstorms in 2016
- Wildfires in 2017
As a reminder, Insurance is the losses of a few spread among the many. Therefore, the high amount of claim payouts in the last few years affects all of us even if we have not put a claim through ourselves.
Insurance Company reactions:
- Automatic increase in limits of insurance coverage each year
- Raising awareness on water loss prevention
- Increasing base deductibles to reduce the amount of smaller claims being put through
- Giving the option of excluding wind/hail damage coverage
- Having a higher deductible on wind/hail claims
- Increases in automobile and property insurance premiums
How we can assist you in reducing the impact of rising insurance premiums:
- Review your Dwelling coverage to ensure that you are insured for the correct limit (in some cases, this may warrant an increase in the limit of coverage required)
- Compare your existing policy with the coverage and rates available through our other markets
- Review the benefits and savings of increasing your deductible
- Review the discounts you are eligible for and suggest additional ones that may apply (ie combining your Home and Auto together)
- Look at adding a disappearing deductible endorsement if applicable/qualified
- Applying credit consent where eligible
- Signing up for Telematics, where applicable (Pembridge’s myBridge Program and Intact’s myDriving Discount offer discounts for signing up and additional discounts on renewal)
Hopefully you have found this information helpful with respect to your own insurance policy(ies). Our Team is currently reviewing the rates and coverage on all policy renewals, and one of our knowledgeable Brokers will contact you to recommend a remarket where applicable. If you have any questions or concerns regarding your policy(ies) in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact us!
Thank you,
The Costen Insurance Team
