Less than half of consumers comparison shop for homeowners insurance.
Only 44 percent of the consumers surveyed say that they comparison shop for homeowners insurance at renewal. In contrast, 69 percent of consumers revisit their decision for auto insurance at renewal. The reasoning for this could be that because homeowners insurance is often escrowed by a mortgage company, consumers don’t view this necessary expense as a financial burden.
Consumers prefer to speak in-person to an agent when shopping for homeowners insurance.
Consumers want to be able to have face-to-face interactions with insurance carriers when making a purchase decision; however, this “old-fashioned” way of doing business is not always possible.
Having an insurance inspection performed is one of the few ways that insureds get face time with insurance carriers. At Insurance Risk Services, we partner with insurance carriers to complete property inspections. Because we represent the insurance carrier, insureds view our property inspectors as the face of the insurance company. These face-to-face interactions allow us to strengthen relationships between insurance carriers and insureds and identify new opportunities.
Many consumers believe that a standard homeowners insurance policy offers coverage for heavy rain flooding.
Shockingly, 43 percent of the consumers surveyed had the misconception that a standard homeowners insurance policy provides coverage for heavy rain flooding. The Southeast region experienced billions of dollars in property damage in 2016 due to flooding, and many of these losses were uninsured because homeowners were not aware that they needed to purchase supplemental flood insurance.
An alarming number of consumers incorrectly think that their homeowners insurance policy covers sinkholes.
Sinkholes are a hot topic in Florida as there are more sinkholes in Florida than any other state in the country. Alarmingly, more than 30 percent of the surveyed consumers have the misunderstanding that sinkholes are covered by their homeowners insurance policy.
The majority of property owners assume their homeowners insurance policy includes coverage for sewer backup.
Approximately 55 percent of consumers surveyed think they have coverage for sewer backup. This can get a bit messy as some policies will provide coverage for sewer backup in certain circumstances. Typically, a rider or separate policy is needed to cover sewer backups.
As you can see, many consumers have some misconceptions about what their homeowners insurance policy covers. By serving as an insurance inspection partner for our property and casualty insurance carrier clients, we can add a lot of value by closing the knowledge gap. Please contact us at Insurance Risk Services to learn how the face-to-face interactions that our team has with your insureds during an insurance inspection can help you to better service your customers.
