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Editorial
Claims catch up with insurance premium payments
Wednesday, July 1, 2015
It's hard to keep track of the hail storms in McCook; roofers are busy replacing shingles from last year's hail storm, and some of THEM were replaced only a few years earlier, 2011, when hail took out roofs and siding across the Heritage Hills subdivision -- remember the row of pine trees that used to border the Walmart parking lot?
Yes, hail damage is a serious financial loss, but some wags saw it as economic development -- look at all the work it creates for roofers, construction crews, glaziers, body shops and paintless hail repair businesses.
Silver lining to storm clouds, perhaps, but there's another cliché that fits -- there's no such thing as a free lunch.
If you've ever turned in too many home damage claims in too short a time, and had your insurance coverage canceled, you know what we're talking about.
Insurance companies exist to provide coverage for unexpected losses, but they also exist to stay in business.
To do that, they set rates according to location, construction type, amount of insurance requested, your individual credit history and, yes, claims history.
How does McCook fare?
Not well, according to the number crunchers at ValuePenguin.
The site obtained quotes from four major insurance companies for a benchmark property of 2,000 square feet, 11⁄2 baths, two stories tall with an attached garage, owned by a 41-year-old single male with a bachelor's degree and no pets. He was also a non-smoker and had a job.
The results? It cost $3,281 to insure such home in McCook, slightly better than Cambridge's $3,294, but still 10 percent higher than the state average of $2,982.
It would cost $3,204 in Wauneta and $2,992 in Imperial.
Broken Bow has the dubious honor of being the highest priced place to insure a home, $3,810 a year or 28 percent above the state aveage, while Papillion has the lowest rates, $2,060 or 31 percent below the state average.
Of course, you probably don't fit the model ValuePenguin used for its study, and your insurance company may have provided a better quote than the four that were used.
But it's a good reminder that an insurance check is not a financial windfall but is a payment intended only to cover a legitimate loss.
Check out the original study here: http://bit.ly/1LCWJyU