Insurance Company Property Inspection Notice

Non-investing personal finance issues including insurance, credit, real estate, taxes, employment and legal issues such as trusts and wills.
Post Reply
Topic Author
Mudpuppy
Posts: 7409
Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 2:26 am
Location: Sunny California

Insurance Company Property Inspection Notice

Post by Mudpuppy »

I received a letter in the mail today from my home owner's insurance company stating that they would be conducting an "exterior inspection" of the house before renewing the policy. The policy renewal isn't until February, so this seems a bit odd. I have also had absolutely no claims on the house for the entire time I've owned it, so I don't know what motivated this request.

Being relatively new to home ownership, I don't know if this is a standard request or something that should be raising alarm bells. My suspicious side thinks they're trying to find any excuse to shed liability in the area. But perhaps this is just something insurance companies do from time to time.

My concern about the timing of the request is I am currently in the bidding phase of having my back patio cover replaced due to water damage. The project will be moving into the actual demolition and construction phase in a few weeks after I select a company to do the work, so the likelihood of the inspector coming by either before the work begins or while the work is in progress is high. I'd hate to have a ding on my property record because of something that's already being taken care of. I meant to get this started a month ago, but got caught up in something at work (10-12 hour days for the past 4 weeks) and pushed off getting bids.

So is this standard? Should I be concerned about the timing of the patio cover replacement?
WhyNotUs
Posts: 2606
Joined: Sun Apr 14, 2013 11:38 am

Re: Insurance Company Property Inspection Notice

Post by WhyNotUs »

Perhaps not common but it happens. I had one once with a previous insurance company. Never even spoke with the guy. He drove by, stopped and took a couple photos and left.
I own the next hot stock- VTSAX
Nebster
Posts: 118
Joined: Thu Feb 02, 2012 3:48 pm

Re: Insurance Company Property Inspection Notice

Post by Nebster »

"Drive-by's" are pretty common industry practice. Total coincidence with the project timing. Could be random sampling, could be something in your neighborhood, could be your policy's age and some characteristics of your house triggering the visual. Could be that there's an adjuster in the field working a big claim down the block and the computer figured out that they'll not justify coming to you again, so they throw you in there. Could be that the latest Google Maps flyover shows something weird on your roof and they want to see what's up.

The better the insurer knows their risks, the better they can price your policy and reduce fraud. Hopefully the cost of the refinement (inspections) is less than the improvement in underwriting accuracy. :)

If you're tearing your home apart when they come by, you may have some follow-up work to document that you've restored the property to the grade/quality of construction stated on your app.
kenner
Posts: 3128
Joined: Sat Mar 01, 2008 7:45 am

Re: Insurance Company Property Inspection Notice

Post by kenner »

What does your insurance policy/contract say about this situation? That - coupled with applicable state law - governs.

Of course, you could always elect to get a different insurance company.
Cigarman
Posts: 480
Joined: Fri Jul 12, 2013 5:12 am

Re: Insurance Company Property Inspection Notice

Post by Cigarman »

I just had this happen to me after 5+ years with Amica. We did some remodeling on the interior and called to see if my policy needed adjustment. At that time the representative noticed the house had never been "inspected". Bottom line was someone came out, walked around the property (and probably drove a bit around the neighborhood) and left. They came back and said I was over-insured and could reduce my coverage, still be in good shape insurance wise and save about $150.00 a year by changing the overall value of my coverage. (Since I originally got the policy there is an automatic adjustment for inflation that increased my coverage faster than the house was appreciating. Hence, I was over insured.)
Rupert
Posts: 4122
Joined: Fri Aug 17, 2012 12:01 pm

Re: Insurance Company Property Inspection Notice

Post by Rupert »

I got one of these letters a couple of years ago and started discussing it with my neighbors. It seems that while insurance companies rarely or never did these inspections in the past, almost all insurance companies are starting to do them now. When they come, what triggers an inspection, etc., seems to be completely random. I'm sure it's not random (the insurance companies must have some standard), but there was no pattern that I was able to discern after talking to my neighbors, who were insured by a handful of different, but big (State Farm, Allstate, Farmers, Alfa), insurance companies. A couple of neighbors reported that they were warned to remove trampolines or to fix the fence around their pool, etc., as a result of the inspections. Fortunately, when my inspection occurred, I had just replaced my roof and had had my concrete walkways replaced. So I never heard anything from my insurance company as a result of the inspection.
Beth*
Posts: 734
Joined: Wed Apr 30, 2014 9:57 am

Re: Insurance Company Property Inspection Notice

Post by Beth* »

We were notified a few years ago that our property was being inspected and I never heard anything after that so I guess it all went fine.

I have a friend who was required to fix various things after the insurance company inspected her house or lose her coverage, but in my opinion the insurance company was right. They required her to fix some broken sidewalk in front of the house where someone could have tripped and been injured and they required her to fix a broken fence around a swimming pool so the pool fencing met the legal requirements. Frankly, these are all things she should have done without the prodding from the insurance company.
Riverstwo
Posts: 214
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2013 1:42 pm

Re: Insurance Company Property Inspection Notice

Post by Riverstwo »

My neighbor got a little freaked out when he was putting in his own driveway pavers to spruce up the yard. Doing a very nice job I might add. He got a STOP WORK from the county. They stated that since he had a big concrete pool in the backyard, he was not allowed to do any more hardscape in his yard since he was within a thousand feet of the Bay and the erosion runoff would be detrimental. My neighbor said they had a photo of a satellite view from above on the work he was doing in his driveway and that is how they found out. He couldn't believe it. Perhaps the Insurance companies are curious and doing the same thing. Even if you havent started any projects yet it appears as if someone, somewhere is checking up on things.
ieee488
Posts: 1989
Joined: Thu Dec 10, 2009 7:57 am

Re: Insurance Company Property Inspection Notice

Post by ieee488 »

Switched insurance company two months ago and received the exterior inspection.
Frankly this is something they should be doing.
Dell Optiplex 3020 (Win7 Pro), Dell Precision M6300 (Ubuntu Linux 12.04), Dell Precision M6300 (Win7 Pro), Dell Latitude D531 (Vista)
meebers
Posts: 501
Joined: Sat Apr 14, 2012 7:20 pm
Location: Florida

Re: Insurance Company Property Inspection Notice

Post by meebers »

My son got a notice from his home owners insurance company. They wanted him to replace the driveway and the concrete in front of the garage due to several cracks or they would not renew.
Topic Author
Mudpuppy
Posts: 7409
Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 2:26 am
Location: Sunny California

Re: Insurance Company Property Inspection Notice

Post by Mudpuppy »

I doubt they could have seen the patio cover damage from a satellite photo, since the primary damage is on the underside. Basically, every 2x4 the seller was told needed to be replaced before escrow would close on the house sale has started to rot away. General consensus is the sellers replaced with wall stud 2x4 instead of pressure treated, and painted over them before the inspection occurred. So now that it's 8 years since I bought the house, they're rotting away.

This is not the first "quick and dirty" repair of the prior owners that I've had to have redone properly, so my house fund is prepared for it. I'm opting to have the whole thing replaced rather than just repair it, since I want to change the layout a bit. I also want to add a walkway from the driveway to the back patio so I don't have to drag trash bins across grass on garbage night.

Perhaps I am just over-thinking it. But there's that lingering doubt that they're trying to shed liability in California. Wildfire season is going to be expensive this year. And if that's the case, they'll look for any tiny thing that they can legally use to drop the policy. Almost every home will have some tiny thing if they look closely enough.
Topic Author
Mudpuppy
Posts: 7409
Joined: Sat Aug 27, 2011 2:26 am
Location: Sunny California

Re: Insurance Company Property Inspection Notice

Post by Mudpuppy »

meebers wrote:My son got a notice from his home owners insurance company. They wanted him to replace the driveway and the concrete in front of the garage due to several cracks or they would not renew.
This is the sort of nitpicking I worry about. All concrete cracks eventually, it's just a matter of how big the cracks are and if they're a hazard. Small or hairline cracks don't usually warrant replacing the driveway, although cracks big enough to lead to tripping hazards or erosion of the soil under the driveway do. But what if they threaten to drop the policy over a small crack that wouldn't be a problem for a decade?

Now you're stuck with either paying thousands to replace the driveway before it really needs to be replaced or having to quickly shop around for new insurance before the old insurance lapses. My cynical side thinks the insurance company is hoping for the later so they can shed the liability and push it on to another company.
Post Reply