We usually recommend you reevaluate your homeowners insurance at least once a year around your renewal time, to make sure you’re getting the best coverage, service, and price. This is just a minimum, though. There are other instances where you’d also want to make changes to your homeowners insurance, whether that means adjusting your current plan or making the switch to a new insurance provider and policy.
In this article, we’ll go through some of the common situations and scenarios where it’s a good idea to take a look at your policy to reevaluate, update, or change your homeowners insurance to ensure you have the appropriate coverage in place.
Reasons to Change Your Homeowners Insurance
Moving homes
If you’re moving to a new home, even if you’re just moving down the street, you’ll need a new homeowners policy for your new home.
In most cases, if you’re moving in the middle of an active homeowners policy, your current insurer will give you a refund for the remaining months on your policy (if you paid upfront) and/or will cancel your policy without cancellation fees.
If you’ve liked the coverage and customer service you’ve gotten with your current insurer, be sure to talk to them about insuring your new home. However, moving to a new home may also be a good time to shop around and compare homeowners insurance quotes from different companies to make sure you find coverage that suits the unique needs of your new home at a competitive price.
Curious about home insurance rates in your area? Get a free homeowners insurance quote online with our fast new quote tool:
Having a baby
Congratulations on your new bundle of joy! Adding a new family member to the household is an exciting (and stressful) time. There will likely be changes to your home, like finally making tackling those home projects before baby’s arrival and adding a nursery and expensive baby gear. This means you may need to raise your dwelling coverage (if you’ve updated or added to your home), contents coverage (for all the baby supplies), or even your liability limits. Make sure your homeowners insurance is suited to your new family by visiting our new parent insurance guide.
Marriage or divorce
You want your policy to reflect the needs of the people living in your home. If you get married and move in together, you’ll want to add your new spouse (and their belongings) to your homeowners insurance. If you are divorcing, you’ll to talk to your insurance agent if your ex-spouse is moving out to see if you should adjust your coverage and remove them from the policy.
Get the ins and outs of changing your home and other insurance with the following resources or give one of our expert agents a call today at (844) 522-0543:
7 Insurance Considerations After a Divorce
Getting a pet
Did you just get a little ball of fur to make your home even happier? Getting a pet, especially a dog, can increase your personal liability. No matter what kind of dog you have, there’s always a risk that they could intentionally or accidentally hurt someone (like biting). There’s also a risk that they could cause property damage, like digging a hole from your hard to the neighbor’s yard or peeing on the carpet of a dog-friendly store. Because of these risks, it is imperative that you tell your home insurer about your new pet.
Since dogs and pets are a higher risk, it’s critical to ensure you have enough liability coverage to protect all your assets in the case of a major liability lawsuit. Figure out how much liability insurance you really need here.
Many insurers have a list of “aggressive” dog breeds that they won’t insure or that are more costly to insure, so be sure to ask your agent if your new pup will be covered under your homeowners liability insurance. If they’re not covered, you may want to work with a licensed InsuraMatch advisor to find a new home insurance provider that will cover your pup. Give us a call at (844) 522-0543 to compare quotes and review your options.
Home improvements
Let your insurance agent know about any additions or upgrades to your home. If you don’t let your insurer know about any changes or upgrades to your house’s structure, then these home improvements may not be covered in the case of an incident or claim and you could be missing out on savings if you upgrade certain systems in your home. You may need higher dwelling coverage for additions or upgrades and/or contents coverage for upgraded possessions. If you’ve added any detached structures like sheds, garages, pools, fences, gazebos, hot tubs, etc., then you may also need to raise your limits for “other structures” coverage.
Add-ons or endorsements
If you have unique insurance needs, like you need to insure a collection of rare baseball cards or you have valuable antique furniture, you will want to talk with an insurance agent to see whether protecting those items require an insurance endorsement or add-on policy, like a contents coverage endorsement for high-end valuables. Not all homeowners insurance companies are created equal when it comes to these specialty kinds of insurance needs, so you may want to shop around and consider switching home insurers if your current provider doesn’t provide the best coverage for your unique situation. A licensed insurance agent can help you determine how to best insure your unique valuables. Give one of ours a call today at (844) 522-0543.
Using home for commercial purposes
If you’ve recently started renting out a spare room, listing your home on AirBnB, or holding small business inventory in your home, then you will likely need to look into commercial insurance. Most standard homeowners insurance will not cover any business property and/or incidents that occur while you’re “on the clock,” like if a client was injured at your home while there for a business reason.
If it’s related to business, generally your homeowners policy won’t cover it. That’s why even small businesses and sole proprietors should consider business insurance to ensure that your liability and property are covered.
Check out our working from home insurance guide to learn more about what is and isn’t covered by your homeowners’ policy.
Customer service complaints
If you don’t like your current homeowners insurance due to service complaints, then it’s definitely time to make a switch. If you don’t feel completely comfortable with your insurer’s customer service and offerings, then it’s time to call up your insurance agent to start shopping around for new homeowners insurance company.
InsuraMatch agents can help you find credible and highly rated insurance companies that will provide friendly and effective service in both the “good” and “bad” times. Give us a call today at (844) 522-0543.
Price comparison
Feel like you’re paying too much for your homeowners insurance? See a discount or deal on the television from another insurer? We don’t recommend switching homeowners insurance based on discounts or price alone, but it’s always a good idea to look around for deals and discounts that could help you save on your homeowners premiums. If you think you’re paying too much for your insurance, it doesn’t hurt to shop around for comparable quotes and deals.
If you’re thinking about comparing quotes, let an InsuraMatch agent help you take a look at similar coverage policies and quotes to find the best price and applicable discounts for your home by giving us a call at (844) 522-0543.
End of current policy
If your current homeowners policy is up for renewal soon, it’s a great time to start comparing quotes to make sure you’re getting the best coverage at the best possible price for your home. We recommend you reevaluate your insurance at least once a year to keep up with changes in your home and the best current rates and prices.
InsuraMatch makes this process a breeze with our online quote tool that lets you compare online quotes in just minutes:
Important: When switching home insurance companies, make sure that your new homeowners insurance policy is active before your last one ends to avoid lapses in coverage, which can increase your homeowners premiums.
Changing your homeowners insurance
Life can throw a lot of changes your way, both good and bad. As we cover in the tips above, some of those changes are good reasons to take a look at the home insurance coverage you have in place and make sure it’s still right for your needs. We recommend that you take at least an annual review of your coverage, where you can look at whether you’ve had any changes that may need to be addressed with your insurance company or insurance agent.
Take a look at your homeowners insurance coverage with the expert advice of one of our insurance advisors at (844) 522-0543
Or compare home insurance quotes online in just minutes with our free tool: