What if your Insurance company will not renew your Homeowners policy?
Home insurance providers sometimes refuse to renew their clients’ policies for a variety of reasons, but it isn’t anything to lose sleep over. According to state laws, insurance companies are required to provide a policy holder with notification that their policy will not be renewed before it expires.
The amount of time an insurance company has to notify policy holders on their intent varies by state, but in most cases, the policy holder will be notified at least 30 days before the policy expires.
If your insurance company decides not to renew your policy, there are several options available to you including finding a new insurance provider and applying for reinstatement of your policy with your former insurance company.
Here are a few things you should know and do if your insurance provider won’t renew your policy.
Find Out The Reason.
Insurance providers are not allowed to drop clients without providing a reason for doing so, which means they will let you know why your policy isn’t being renewed. Sometimes, insurance companies aren’t allowed to continue providing coverage in certain areas or states. If that is the case, it will be impossible to get your policy renewed by the same company, which means you have to find a new insurance provider.
Some insurance companies may decide not to renew, commonly referred to as “non-renew”, your policy because of your claims history, which means you have made too many claims for their liking. If this happens, you should talk to your agent or the insurance company itself to get a better understanding of the situation and see if it can be resolved.
Get a Copy of Your CLUE Report.
If your insurance provider isn’t leaving your area or state, you are entitled to receiving a copy of your Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange (CLUE) report, which is a database shared by insurance companies. The CLUE report includes any coverage inquiries you have made and your claims history. You should review the report to make sure that the information in it is accurate. If there is any inaccurate information in the report, you should file a dispute and request the false information be removed from the report. You can get a copy of your CLUE report at LexisNexis website.
Look for Other Insurance Providers.
If your insurance company refuses to renew your policy, you should shop around for other providers even if you are trying to resolve the issue with your current provider. You should also keep in mind that some companies may refuse to insure your home if you live in areas prone to disasters like hurricanes or own certain dog breeds.
Contact Your State For Help.
If your insurance provider won’t renew your policy and you are unable to find a company to insure your home, you should contact your state’s insurance commission and ask them to recommend insurance companies that will cover you. Most states have a pool of insurance companies that are required to provide insurance to people that are considered to be high-risk homeowners. If you decide to do this, you should know that the coverage cost will be higher.
File A Complaint.
If you feel your insurance provider unfairly denied your policy renewal, you can file a complaint against the company through your state’s insurance commissioner. You can find your state’s insurance commissioner and their contact information through the National Association of Insurance Commissioners database.
If you believe your insurance provider dropped you due to false information in your CLUE report, you can file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, which regulates the consumer information found in the CLUE report.
If you don’t want to go through the FTC or NAIC, you can file a complaint with your insurance provider and ask them to review their decision.
