who needs an umbrella when it ain't raining?

A few weeks ago, my homeowners insurance renewal arrived .. with a substantial premium increase over last year. What did I do to deserve that? Must be that hailstorm in April 2003 when my roof (and several thousand others in the Metroplex) were totalled. That event happened BTB [Before This Blog], so there aren't many details, but .. suffice it to say that I wouldn't have known my roof sustained that much damage if it hadn't been for Drew-Bob, a former co-worker who was in the roofing business at the time.

Drew-Bob offered to swing by my home and inspect for damage, and after a few minutes, he suggested I call my insurance company. They sent an adjuster, who concurred that my roof was a total loss (even though my naked eye, from the ground inspection showed no damage). After some competing bids were secured, Drew-Bob's company won the work.

I'd only been covered by that insurance company about 5 months when the storm happened, and they renewed me last December at about the same cost as before. But this December, they decided to go for the glory and offered a 50% increase. I like to be loyal to a company, but .. it was time to shop.

Surprise! Most quotes were about the same as my renewal. But, I'd already changed auto insurance earlier this year, and if I changed my homeowners insurance, I'd lose my umbrella insurance (no company wants to write only your umbrella) so it made sense to try to put all policies with the same company. There's probably a discount in there somewhere for doing that.

Bottom line: all policies will now be with my new carrier (USAA) on Tuesday. I had them when I lived "back east" but dropped them when I moved to Colorado in 1982 (I don't recall why). Being a prior USAA policyholder made me eligible to "come home again".

In doing so, I saved about 10% over GEICO's auto insurance, and increased the policy limits a bit (seldom a bad thing). I commented to the underwriter about why not everyone spends the extra money for an umbrella insurance contract, above what's provided by the base auto and homeowner's insurance. I guess most people just don't know, or are willing to accept the extra risk. Not me; a $1 Million umbrella is (relatively) cheap.

For extra credit, see the Texas Insurance Commissioner's Bulletin # B-0025-97 which is riveting stuff. Maybe they'll make it into a movie?