It's that time of the year again when my homeowner's insurance is up for renewal. We haven't change the terms of my policy since purchasing our home and wanted to take a hard look at the terms to possibly lower my premiums. Therefore, we're going comparison shopping this week. Would love input and feedback from our neighbors.

We're currently paying ~$1080/year in premiums for the following coverage:

• Dwelling Protection: $332,000 with $1000 deductible

(However, the estimated cost of replacing our home was $221,303. The higher dwelling protection number may be due to the sale price of our home rather than just its replacement cost. Should I just set this term to $221,303? Does this replacement cost for a 3-story, 2 family unit row home seem reasonable?)

• Other Structures Protection: $33,200 with $1000 deductible
• Personal Property Protection: $249,000 with $1000 deductible
• Additional Living Expense: Up to 12 months
• Family Liability Protection: $500,000 each occurence
• Guest Medical Protection: $1000 each person
• Identity Theft Expenses: $25,000
• Water Back-up: $10,000 with $1000 deductible

It seems based on my Google research that each of these terms seem a little high. I was thinking of these new terms for my next policy:

• Dwelling Protection: $221,303 with $3000 deductible
• Other Structures Protection: $22,130 with $3000 deductible
• Personal Property Protection: $100,000 with $3000 deductible
• Additional Living Expense: Up to 3 months
• Family Liability Protection: $300,000 each occurence
• Guest Medical Protection: $1000 each person
• Identity Theft Expenses: $5,000
• Water Back-up: $10,000 with $1000 deductible

I plan to increase the deductibles to an amount I'm comfortable with, because I don't plan to submit small claims that will drive up future premiums.

Any feedback, premium price points and recommendations for an insurance company are appreciated. I planned to contact the following insurance companies for comparison:

• Allstate
• Amica
• Erie
• Travelers
• Ameriprise
• Liberty Mutual
• Esurance

After a year in this house, we worked with Tom Kantner (215) 345-0962 from Signature Insurance to reduce our homeowner's insurance. We have Travelers for both home and auto and now pay 1/2 of what we were paying originally for the same coverage and we're also saving some money on our auto insurance. He's very professional and a pleasure to work with--you might want to give him a call.

__________________
Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day that says, "I will try again tomorrow."

---Mary Anne Radmacher

A couple of things

1) Check if your work has a deal with any company - mine does.

2) I don't matters when you switch your coverage, you'll get refunded anything you paid in advance.

Anyone have car insurance tied in- my problem is that we do all of them together and not all companies cover cars

I have everything with Allstate (car, house, etc)...my husband had a car accident and it was a nightmare dealing with them. I would NOT recommend them. Am going to change companies...just haven't had time to do it yet.

oops-dupe.

That's what I'm worried about. When we had our (BIG) car accident our insurance company (in NJ, they don't write in PA) was wonderful. I can only imagine what a nightmare it could have been if they were difficult to deal with.

JillyS, how has Travelers been? Have you had to make any claims? (Hopefully not, for your sake. Knock on wood.)

We have our life insurance with a great agent but he doesn't do home or auto, so I think we're paying too much (still using our NJ agent) & shopping around is on our list.

I really think the trick is to use a great agent. It doesn't cost any more & (if they're good) they will advise you well.

We have Nationwide, for both home & car. They've been good to us so far.

__________________
"In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different." Coco Chanel

Add Philadelphia Contributionship to your list. First insurance company in the US and since they are based in Philly, they get the whole flat roof thing (which can cause issues with some insurers).

A.

I already had Geico for my car and signed up with Liberty Mutual through a Geico partnership.

I don't know how much the multiple policy discount is, but I know I increased my coverage substantially on the house and contents, halved my deductible from $1000 to $500, and I pay about $10 less a year. Allstate is what I had before.