We’re going to be out of town for a while in the near future. Our current deductible on our homeowners insurance is something like 3-5K, I think. This doesn’t bother me in general, but since we’re going to be away for an extended period, it makes me nervous. We’re having a neighbor check in weekly, but we live in the boonies and the house isn’t visible from the road; any damage or whatnot could go unnoticed for a while.
I’m afraid to even ask the insurance agency (USAA if it matters) because such a question might go on our permanent record. We’ve never made a claim on any insurance, ever.
If I lower the deductible for a couple of months for this trip, is it likely to cause problems? If I do so, should I say I want to do it because of the trip?
Is that the paradigm now? If you want intelligent answers from experts on planning questions, it goes in your dossier and you take the hit on premiums, credit score, etc?
Ha. Yeah, I think it is. I was reading some thread here a while back where someone got their car insurance raised for a claim they decided not to make.
Yes, it will. But I feel the house is more at risk while we’re away, and am willing to pay higher premiums temporarily to offset it. What I’m worried about is if something does happen, the insurance company might claim fraud or permanently raise our premiums due to some sort of mysterious risk calculus.
I’m not sure your home is at greater risk while you’re away. (For one thing, there aren’t going to be any incidents caused by residents while you’re gone.) And I don’t see how paying for a higher deductible will offset any change in risk. Why not just call the insurance company and ask them what, if anything, you should do about the house and the insurance on it while you’re away?
You might want to ask the insurance company if your policy has an abandonment or vacancy “condition” in it. This limits coverage on some things if the structure is unused for a period of time, normally 45 days (IIRC). If that’s the case, you should be able to add an endorsement to eliminate the issue. Most insurers are flexible and willing to make adjustments to keep a client happy and covered, but those “conditions” exist because stuff happens to vacant buildings and the company doesn’t want to be on the hook for things that wouldn’t have happened had some one been around.
I’m also unsure how lowering the deductibles would lower the risk. I’d just turn of the water off to the washer, unplug some appliances, make sure everything is locked tight and the place looks lived in but not vacant (stop deliveries, etc.)
A little addendum to my previous post, when I used the term “conditions” I was mistaken. I should have used the term “exclusions” instead. Also, the property has to have been vacant for at least 60 consecutive days. May not apply in your case, but worth a look see.
From my limited experience as an insurance consumer, raising deductibles is easy; lowering deductibles (if even permitted, asnd regardless of your reason) requires something akin to a re-application process, because people don’t normally want to raise their premiums unless they are confident the lower deductible is going to pay off for them, and the insurance company gets the short end of the stick in that scenario.
The vacancy exclusion in many states is really not an issue. Unless you remove all contents from inside the home during your absence, your home will simply be unoccupied as opposed to vacant.
If you are seriously concerned about damage one of the newer wireless break in and incident alarms that can reach you over the internet might be a better use of your money.
If you are seriously concerned about damage one of the newer wireless break in and incident alarms that can reach you over the internet might be a better use of your money.
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We’re far enough from civilization that the only internet available is through a mobile hot spot, unfortunately. I did buy some fake security cameras that are surprisingly convincing, and some stickers to put on windows claiming video surveillance.
Thanks for the info so far. I’ll probably just leave it and hope for the best.
Is your home relatively recent and up to code? If it is the chances of something bad happening while you are gone while non-zero is pretty low. If you are worried about someone breaking in there are a plethora of alarm products and services out there that will notify either you or local police (via a dispatch center) if there’s an issue. I don’t see how lowering your deductible really helps you all that much.
The house is brand new. What we’re worried about is theft, because of the remote location. Normally our pack of dogs plus our presence prevents problems. The dogs will be traveling with us, as will our phones. We have neither phone nor internet service without our cell phones.
As I said, talk to the insurance company about your extended absence and ask for their advice. Also, talk to the local police department. They may be able to do additional patrols past your house while you’re gone.
OK, contact the local sheriff’s office or whatever passes for a police agency out there in the middle of nowhere. In the suburban Connecticut town in which I grew up, the local police was happy to pay special attention to the homes of people who were out of town.
Not just to the washer, turn off the water where it comes into the house.
What about buying one of those pay-as-you-go phones to leave at home & hook up to an alarm? If it’s connected as a hotspot but only used for outgoing message or for you to view the place a few mins a day I don’t think that would use that much data. How long will an unused connection stay up before it drops?
The thing about living in a rural town with no local PD is the sheriff doesn’t even come by your way unless they have to. If the OP lives anywhere near as rural as I do, they’re never going to see any law enforcement unless someone’s called in trouble. So if I called the sheriff to ask them to maybe drive by my place even once a week to make sure nothing was amiss, I’d get flatly denied.
there is no local police department.