[Hullahopper]

Houston, bend over and grab your socks!

Insurance rates up as much as 500 percent, same coverage

09:54 PM CDT on Tuesday, June 13, 2006



By Jeremy Desel / 11 News

Thousands of Houston homeowners will soon be hit with an insurance rate hike of 300 percent or more.

AP

Insurance rates are going up, but coverage remains the same.

Knowing that the big one could come any time is risky, but risk is what insurance is for.

But what if you can't get it?

""There is nothing in place to protect people," said Claire Pinkston.

The homeowners at Hidden Lake Townhomes found that out recently when they got the renewal of their insurance.

"We kind of went though it and went, 'You're kidding'," said Pinkston.

From $37,000 for the 84 units to $96,000.

But that wasn't the worst of it.

"You have until tomorrow at 5:00," said Pinkston.

Many insurance companies are telling customers that Harris County is now considered as high risk as Galveston.

"This is such bad business practice that there has to be something wrong here," Pinkston said.

Officially, the state says nothing has changed.

Tier One, or highest risk, still technically only includes a small part of coastal Harris County .

But many insurers said that for their purposes, all of Harris County is high risk.

Hence the massive rate hikes to many associations that have commercial insurance.

"We assume they are going to raise rates, but 300 to 500 percent. That is an awful lot. And has caught a lot of people by surprise," Pinkston said.

Not just the rates but the tactics of some companies.

After we started asking questions, the State Department of Insurance said it would begin an investigation into the matter.

But you have the power to start that process by filing a complaint.

As for the folks at Hidden Lake, they were able to find another insurance carrier that only raised rates slightly...

But with a catch, the deductible.

"From a $5,000 deductible per unit to now a $25,000 to $50,000 deductible per occurance," Pinkston said.

That's a 500 percent increase.

There are 31 other associations, just managed by one company, now looking for other coverage. We were told by insurance brokers that is very hard to find here. We have also found associations that didn't want to run the risk of being cancelled like Hidden Lake did.

They simply paid new premiums, triple in price for the same coverage.

 

[Maddog]

even worse

To make matters even worse my homeowners, windstorm and everything expires in August. We found out last week that the policy holder is no longer writing in Brazoria county, to make matters worse, the only licesnsed agent for my insurance company died Monday.

 

[DannyMac]

File compliants with the State Board and get on the phone to you local State Rep. Get as many people to complain and call as possible.

 

[sqwaby]

I've paid homeowners ins. for 23 years with less than 5k in claims. This sort of thing really ticks me. I think they need to do some shopping for their reinsurance.

 

[Redfishr]

Its just like gas prices, there is nothing we are gonna be able to do about it in the end.
Someone that makes those decisions will be paid off and we will take it in the ***** again.
Oh yea, just like gas prices there IS something we can do............not buy any......yea right....................

 

[kenny]

I just renewed my windstorm, flood, and homeowners with a very minor increase.

 

[Chuck]

Sad thing is that means nothing to an insurance company....your agent will belly ache and pat you on the back while shaking his head in disgust but they have absolutely NO loyalty to their customers!! Casualty insurance companies are not anyone's friends and will do everything in their power to shift the burden to the insured while raising rates. Some even do it illegally like Farmers Insurance....then they get a little hand slap, refund a few bucks and pocket millions. But their lobbyist spends plenty of bucks wining and dining the influential lawmakers! And those lawmakers certainly take care of their benefactors at our expense.

whew...I will crawl down off my soap box now! Now lets talk about something fun like: family courts, criminal defense lawyers, beach access issues, and new orleans refugees!

I've paid homeowners ins. for 23 years with less than 5k in claims. This sort of thing really ticks me. I think they need to do some shopping for their reinsurance.