Sorting through the different requirements when you have a home can seem a little daunting, but one essential purchase that you must make is good Connecticut Home Insurance that adequately protects your home.
Intuitively you may realise that getting comprehensive home insurance in Connecticut is a good idea, but may put actually buying it on the back-burner whilst you get a handle on the day to day experiences that life brings us.
That would be a mistake, because the reality is that disaster scenarios such as fires and robbery do occur far more than most people realise. For example, there were an estimated 15.6 million property crimes in the United States in 2009 according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and 356,200 residential building fires in the same year according to the US Fire Administration, who estimated that this caused $7.26 Billion worth of damage.
So if you are not adequately protected then you are potentially in a world of hurt if something that you had not predicted such as a robbery or a fire comes to pass.
The sensible thing to do then is to arrange to get multiple Connecticut Home Insurance Quotes and read through the various terms and conditions carefully. In that way not only will you get a better idea about what your policy is going to cost you, you will also get a clearer perspective on the type of terms and conditions that you can reasonably expect to receive.
In reality there are a number of different factors that can affect how much any home insurance in Connecticut is going to cost you, and so I will discuss some of the bigger factors below.
How much will Average Connecticut Home Insurance Cost?
Whilst there are a number of factors that affect how much your insurance will end up costing you, there are nevertheless some statistics available as to what an average Connecticut Home Insurance policy will cost.
The most accurate of these come courtesy of the US Census Bureau who collate statistics across all of the state insurance departments in the United States. In 2011 they released finalised statistics for 2007, which showed that the average cost of home insurance across the United States as a whole was $822 a year, and that the average cost of home insurance in Connecticut was much in keeping with that at $826.
However the immediate good news is that all other factors being equal you are likely to pay less for your Connecticut Home Insurance then you would if you lived in many other states, as it averaged $1534 in Florida and $1448 in Texas. So whilst home insurance in Connecticut is not as cheap as a state like Ohio (where it averaged just $540); it is nevertheless cheaper than many.
There are many different factors that go into making up the final price of your homeowner insurance, and these encompass both factors about your home and where it is situated, as well as personal factors about you as the insurer.
Let’s take a look at some of those factors that can impact on the cost of your Connecticut Home Insurance.
Five Property Related Factors to the cost of your Connecticut Home Insurance Premium
1/ The age of your property – Younger properties will generally have come under stricter building regulations and may (though clearly not always) have been built of better materials. All else being equal a younger property is going to be cheaper to insure than an older property.
2/ The building materials of your property – If your property is constructed out of bricks, stone or synthetic materials the insurance company in Connecticut is going to have extensive databases that shows exactly how likely a building of that nature is to get damaged, and how much it tends to be affected by fire damage etc.
3/ The location of your property – This is a massive factor in the final price of any home insurance. If you are located in an area that has a high crime rate, or that is particularly susceptible to a certain type of damage that the insurance company is liable for, then you can expect to pay more.
In practice the insurance companies tend to classify based on zip codes, and so if you happen to be on the right side of the road and in a different zip code, then often this can make an appreciable difference to the final cost of your Connecticut Home Insurance Policy.
4/ The current state of the building – If there is currently a problem with the building such as the roof having problems, or subsidence then you can realistically expect it to be difficult to get covered. It may be that the insurance company will specifically exclude those areas from coverage, or you may find it difficult to get covered at all depending on the current problems. Regardless, your best course of action is always to get a number of different Connecticut Home Insurance Quotes and answer all of the questions honestly.
If you lie on your application then the insurance is null and void in any case, and so even if you did manage to get the insurance, because it was under false pretences, the insurance company would not be under any obligation to pay out on your claims.
5/ The safety profile of your property – Have you fitted any security systems or alarm systems? Is there any kind of neighbourhood watch schemes operating in the area? Are there security patrols that have been organised locally to watch local properties? Do you have dead-bolts fitted to all your windows?
All of these can potentially affect the final cost of your home insurance premiums.
Three Non-Property Related Factors That Can Affect Your Connecticut Home Insurance Premiums
In addition to direct property factors, there are also several factors that are directly related to you as an individual taking out the policy.
Here are three of the biggest factors:
1/ Your Credit Rating – This is something that is frequently glossed over and many people are under the impression that your credit rating really only affects your ability to get a mortgage, or a personal loan to buy a TV or some new gadget.
The reality is that your credit score is a critical factor in the cost of your home insurance, and all else being equal, the final cost of your Connecticut Home Insurance will be influenced quite dramatically by whether you have a good or bad credit rating.
It is well worth availing yourself of your legal right to see your credit reports from the leading credit agencies every year, which can be done once per year free of charge in the United States under Federal law.
You should check that they are an accurate reflection of your credit history, and that no extraneous factors such as previous partners with bad credit, or old housemates with bad credit have crept onto your report.
This is more common than you might think and getting these removed from your credit history can improve your credit rating and potentially dramatically improve your costs both of financing, and how much you have to pay for home insurance in Connecticut.
2/ Your Previous Claims History – Again this is a big factor in how much you will end up paying. If the insurance company has you pegged as a frequent claimer, then you will pay more (possibly much more) for any cover. And you may in fact come up against companies who are unwilling to insure you at all.
It is a good policy to not claim for very small amounts for this very reason, and you may want to consider increasing your excess, as any gains you make from the claims would very quickly be swallowed up in the extra costs you would have to pay on any renewal premiums.
3/ Smoking – Smokers will generally pay more for their Connecticut Home Insurance because the insurance companies perceive them to be higher risk, and factors such as the increased likelihood of fires at the property for example come into play.
The best place to start with getting a home insurance policy that you can be happy with is to get a number of different Connecticut Home Insurance Quotes so that you can compare exactly what is available.
You may be surprised at how much you can potentially save, and you will almost certainly end up with a better policy.
