Higher Insurance Costs....Here's The Reason

Recently we have received quite a few calls regarding rate increases on property coverage for home and business insurance.  Most people don’t understand the reason behind these increases.  Here is an explanation  of what has contributed to your increases.

Tornado losses alone between 1996 and 2009 produced the following results for losses over 1 million
CO  had over $176 million, LA over $189 million, MO over $693 million, KS over $778 million, AR over $829 million, TX over $1,049 million and OK over $1,729.
Hurricanes and tropical storms from 1991 to 2010 made up 44% of total catastrophe losses followed by tornado losses at 30%, winter storms at 7.4%, terrorism at 6.8%, earthquakes and other geologic events at 5.1%, wind/hail/flood at 4.1% and fire at 2.2%.

The U.S. Catastrophe Record 2001 - 2010

The following chart shows the number of catastrophes causing insured property losses of at least $25 million.

Year	Number of Catastrophes	Claims (Millions)	Insured Losses (Billions)	In 2011 Dollars (Billions)
2001	20	1.6	$26.5	$33.7
2002	25	1.8	$5.9	$7.4
2003	21	2.6	$12.9	$15.8
2004	22	3.4	$27.5	$32.7
2005	24	4.0	$62.3	$71.8
2006	33	2.3	$9.2	$10.1
2007	23	1.2	$6.7	$7.3
2008	37	3.9	$27.0	$28.2
2009	28	2.2	$10.5	$11.0
2010	33	2.4	$14.1	$14.5

Sources: Insurance Services Office, Inc. (ISO) | Insurance Information Institute

According to www.ncdc.noaa.gov, the U.S. has sustained 133 weather/climate disasters since 1980 where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 Billion.  The total standardized losses for the 133 events exceeded $875 billion.

These losses have a direct effect on insurance companies.  When an insurance carrier’s claim reserve is depleted, the result is higher insurance costs in an effort to build that reserve once again and to balance out future losses.

Even if you have never had a claim, these natural disasters affect all of us by raising insurance rates.

We have all seen the results of drought producing bad crops, freezing temps damaging citrus crops, therefore changing the supply and resulting in high prices in the grocery store.  How does this relate to insurance?  Much the same, if the reserves aren’t available to pay claims, the need to do something to make sure that funds are available should another catastrophic loss occur becomes necessary., which means increasing prices.

After a heavy rain and hail storm, how many of us have seen the roofers combing the neighborhoods looking to tell people they have hail damage?  The roofer knocks on the door, tells you he was just at your neighbor’s house and will be making repairs for hail damage and he noticed you had damage on your roof.  He tells you he can take care of the repairs and file it directly with your insurance company and you don’t have to do a thing except to authorize him to do the work.  These claims have cost the insurance industry millions of dollars and a high percentage of the repairs were never needed in the first place.

This defective practice should make you angry because these costs are passed on to you, the consumer. You see it every time your insurance renews.  My advice is contact your insurance company direct and obtain 3 or 4 estimates from reputable roofing companies.  Ask your insurance company if an adjuster could come out to examine the damage before committing to an unknown contractor knocking on your door.

All of the above is reflected when you open your insurance bill.  Odds are your insuring company is not limited to writing coverage only in Illinois.  Many of these carriers are U.S. wide insurers and therefore they are affected by disasters occurring in all 50 states.  Consequently, you the consumer will see the results of such disasters.