At least five large U.S. property insurers - including Allstate, American Family, Nationwide, Erie Insurance Group and Berkshire Hathaway - have told regulators that extreme weather patterns caused by climate change have led them to stop writing coverages in some regions, exclude protections from various weather events and raise monthly premiums and deductibles.
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/home-insurers-cut-natural-disasters-150846840.html
Quote from: flybynight on September 04, 2023, 12:18:12 PMAt least five large U.S. property insurers - including Allstate, American Family, Nationwide, Erie Insurance Group and Berkshire Hathaway - have told regulators that extreme weather patterns caused by climate change have led them to stop writing coverages in some regions, exclude protections from various weather events and raise monthly premiums and deductibles.
https://www.yahoo.com/finance/news/home-insurers-cut-natural-disasters-150846840.html
At what point are Americans going to stop paying higher prices for EVERYTHING?!
I wonder what the average monthly bill is - just to stay alive? Like rent/mortgage, utilities, insurance, taxes, food, fees for every gd thing under the sun.
It now costs over $600 a year just to get flea meds for two dogs and a cat! $600! For flea meds!
It feels like everytime you turn around someone is charging you for something new. Or the fee has increased for some lousy excuse like covid, or the economy, or the supply chain. And about two thirds if it is not based in reality. And just an excuse to squeeze more profit out of the average American.
Just the taxes alone take like what? 50 percent of your income right off the top? Federal income tax, withholding, retail tax, state tax, gas tax, vehicle licensing tax.
What was the amount of tax we went to war with England over? Lmao!
Insurance pricing and even availability of enough coverage is a real issue for businesses and property owners.
In NOLA at renewal this year I was grateful that my annual cost of coverage only increased 25%. Many people had thier coverage dropped and coul only find coverage through the state plan. This plan is the carrier of last resort and by law must be 10% higher than the most expensive plan and provides only actual cash coverage. So you recovery is limited for a premium priced product.
The year before I switched carriers when my long term insurer offered renewal terms that had a premium of 2x and a deductible that exceeded the cost of a new roof. It made more sense financially to drop the wind storm deductible and put the savings aside in a hurricane fund.
At the last minute I was able to find carrier whose premiums made sense but was 25 % higher on premium and deductible. Silly but at least made fiscal sense.
Of course I sold that house. Insurance coverage in my new ao is lot better.
You can sum up the whole issue with a question. Put yourself in the insurers place. You are being asked to come up with a price for insuring something whose value in increasing at least by the rate of inflation (10%+/-), plus will have an open ended limit on your cost so no cost cap. So you will have to replace the item at a much higher cost. BTW you need to make profit..
So what would you charge? Me I would estimate the likely loss, build in my profit then add in 25%.
This BTW is what my insurer did to my premium (& deductible).
When my FIL moved his family to California in 1968. He looked at several homes in Topanga canyon in the hills above Malibu. No insurance companies would touch the properties because of the fire and flood danger. And in order to qualify for a bank loan. The properties had to be self insured.
Insurance is essentially the insurance company betting that something won't happen to you, and you betting that it will. The insurance company has the (wait for it...) house advantage.
Quote from: NT2C on September 05, 2023, 09:38:05 AMInsurance is essentially the insurance company betting that something won't happen to you, and you betting that it will. The insurance company has the (wait for it...) house advantage.
(https://media.tenor.com/SSUg_-zG0CoAAAAC/get-out-leave.gif)
:icon_crazy:
Quote from: Moab on September 04, 2023, 01:33:30 PMAt what point are Americans going to stop paying higher prices for EVERYTHING?!
|------- SNIP -----|
It now costs over $600 a year just to get flea meds for two dogs and a cat! $600! For flea meds!
First item ... Costs will never go down unless there is a Zimbabwe moment and the .gov loops off 2 or 3 zeros in a currency reset.
My first car new car I bought and paid for was in 1975 it cost $2,800.
That is $16,428 in 2023 greatly inflated dollars. So in 48 years the USD has depreciated 587% in value.
BTW When I did that my mother told me her first new car was $150. So remember the "old folks" saying they cannot believe how much prices have increased? Well guess what ... we are the old folks saying that now.
Source: https://data.bls.gov/cgi-bin/cpicalc.pl
BTW a similar car today would be about $35K to $40K. Part of that is the tremendous increase in both required and typical standard equipment (i.e airbags, back up camera, AC, etc.) but most of that is simply inflation.
The flea meds I can help. I have shall we say several animals and I have found that buying flea meds in Australia and shipping to me in Southern MS. is cheaper than going to a local store to buy the same meds. Bear in mind these meds are made in factories around the world and shipped all over. The key difference between the flea meds I buy from Australia and in the US is simply that the dose is in metric units.
https://www.vetmedsforpets.com/cats-and-kittens/flea-and-tick-control/revolution
12 vials or one year is $97 plus shipping ~ $12. BTW they say give every 12 months but in reality assuming fleas are under control you can give one every 40 to 45 days (i read the test results and they said that was still effective after 45 days).
Dog meds are similarly priced.
I posted on this previously. 17% of policy holders in Louisiana had their flood insurance canceled last year. The Southern third of the state is being claimed by the ocean after decades off shore drilling and other poor choices.
Quote from: flybynight on September 05, 2023, 04:03:46 AMWhen my FIL moved his family to California in 1968. He looked at several homes in Topanga canyon in the hills above Malibu. No insurance companies would touch the properties because of the fire and flood danger. And in order to qualify for a bank loan. The properties had to be self insured.
I am curious how this happened...
Quote from: MPMalloy on October 14, 2023, 09:25:20 AMQuote from: flybynight on September 05, 2023, 04:03:46 AMWhen my FIL moved his family to California in 1968. He looked at several homes in Topanga canyon in the hills above Malibu. No insurance companies would touch the properties because of the fire and flood danger. And in order to qualify for a bank loan. The properties had to be self insured.
I am curious how this happened...
How it Happened? Well he decided against buying any of the properties there and bought a house in Torrance . ( which made it possible for my wife and I to meet). If you're asking why the properties could not be insured. This is what the topography looks like. ( There's no homes near this ... yet)
https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0762186,-118.5915023,3a,75y,85.21t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1sleVNEap2kk0syAu1sOXILA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu
https://youtu.be/nK0VEnSjrvI?si=Idl0diWczAVE1WCQ
https://youtu.be/qXpYdfqYuPs?si=D2fJ3ow5wjitf3ZJ