Some people get intimidated when getting a home insurance quote, as the amount of questions being asked can often seem overwhelming. Don’t be intimidated. Call me.
To make it easier for you, I’ll give you the list of questions that will be asked, so you’ll know ahead of time.
The first set of questions have to do with the house. The following questions are designed to come up with an estimate of what it would cost to rebuild the house if there’s a total loss. Here they are:
• What year was the house built?
• Square feet?
• Number of kitchens?
• Number of bathrooms?
• Type of heating? (eg. is it heated with a gas furnace?)
• Is there central air conditioning?
• Type of flooring? (eg. hardwood, carpet, ceramic tile)
• Type of roof? (eg. shingled, steel, solar panels)
• Type of exterior walls? (eg. brick, siding)
• Type of garage (eg. attached, detached, 1-car, 2-car)
• Is there a porch, deck, or balcony? If so, how big is it?
• Is there a swimming pool?
That’s about it to figure out the rebuilding cost of the house. There may be a few follow-up questions, depending on your answers. If you have a custom house, there will also be a few other questions that are a little more detailed.
After we get a figure to plug in the rebuilding cost, we move on to the underwriting questions to get the rate. Here are the underwriting questions that will be asked:
• Name of the homeowner?
• Date of birth of the homeowner?
• Occupation? (Some insurance companies give a discount based on occupation)
• Does the house have a mortgage?
• How many years have you had continuous home insurance?
• Is the house within 150 metres of a fire hydrant? If not, is it within 300 metres?
• Is your house within 5 kms of a firehall? If not, is it within 8 kms of a firehall?
• Do you have a burglar & fire alarm?
• If the house is more than 20 years old, when was the last time there have been updates to the following: roof, electrical, plumbing, heating?
• Do you have a dog?
• Have you ever had any home insurance claims?
That’s it! If you have the answers to all these questions, you can call me for a quote. Of course, every situation is different and, based on your answers, there may be a few follow-up questions.
When you call, I’ll run your details through all 13 of the insurance companies that I work with. In most cases, I pick out the company with the lowest rate and quote you with that one (I say in most cases because sometimes there are specific coverage issues for a particular person or underwriting issues with a specific insurance company. Each situation is unique)
