• The hail exposure to home and autos. In the last 3 summers we have had substantial hail losses in the Denver Metro area and surrounding counties. Every home insurance carrier has had to pay out claims in the millions of dollars. Ultimately, they need to transfer this loss back to the consumer in the form or rate increases.
• Economy. Clearly the economy has impacted the auto and home insurance carriers in our entire market. The insurance company is not able to draw income out of its investments as easily as it once did. This also can lead to increases in premiums.
• Water damage. With the increased heavy rains in 2011, we have seen many water back up claims come in resulting in insurance companies paying out under the Water Back up and Sewer Sump Pump Overflow coverage. Ask your agent if you have this on your home policy.
• Theft and Disapearance. It may not be widely discussed but when the economy is sluggish and people are out of work, often times insurance comapanies can be a target for higher theft claims. In the past, clients may not have filed a claim but in this market, there is more of a tendancy to contact the insurance company. In a nutshell, claims often times are filed in order to recover lost or stolen items.
• Did you know that insurance premiums were actually quite low in the last couple of years? The industry had seen some drastically lower premiums on auto and home insurance as insurance companies were chasing eachother for the lowest premium on the market. This has changed with our economy and larger losses as stated above. All leading insurance companies are now beginning to raise rates in what is called a "hardening of the market"

Give me a call to discuss your options. 303-932-1700www.rickclineagency.com