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Hi Chris,
Remember one thing I am a NJ, PA, DE licensed agent so some information may be different where you live.
From your description it sounds to me to be more lack of advise/information from the agent vs. a "bad" company. Don't get mad at me but that is assuming the agent was consulted and asked their advise on each situation and how and if you should proceed.
Case #1- Sounds like a perfectly legitimate claim.
Case #2- was this filed as a separate claim from #1? Did you get paid? This sounds like a clear case of either ground saturation where water seeps in through the foundation (not a covered loss) or flooding. The sudden accumulation of ground water (covered by flood insurance) not a covered home owners insurance. Even if it were a flood and covered by flood insurance the only thing that they would pay for is systems to serve the building. Everything else below ground is excluded.
Case $3- Sounds like a case of back up of sewers and drains. Only covered by homeowners insurance. I'm reading between the lines here but the agent saying "you need to drop your water back up clause" says to me they are changing the type of policy. Thereby changing the perils you are insured against. Sewer and drain back up is not a stand alone endorsement that you can buy a-la-carte. It is built into the HO-3 homeowners policy. The only way to get rid of it is to buy a different type of policy. The problem is you will lose a whole series of coverage's by going to a lesser policy. Either you are not understanding what is being offered or the agent is trying to sugar coat the fact you are being non-renewed and offering you a lesser product.
When is your renewal date? Did you get a non-renewal in the mail?
Every claim gets reported regardless of whether you get paid or not or how much you get paid. Every claim that is made gets investigated to some degree. It may only be a claims manager reviewing the coverage and exclusions making a determination or an adjuster coming to the property for an inspection. Either way it costs them money. The claim history goes into a central data base that all companies have access to as part of their underwriting process. As Larry said it is called a "clue" report. Generally the look back is three years. It is not unlike your credit report. This way companies can assess the risk.
It sounds like you have had a streak of bad luck. Unfortunately, at this point you are a habitual offender in the eyes of the insurance company. They could care less if you have been with them one day or one hundred years. They look at the situation from a profit stand point. Also, don't ever try and save the company money. Get as much as you are entitled to every time. That is your agreement. When your policy is up for renewal all they are looking at is numbers. They don't have a person sitting in the back reviewing saying Ahh Mr. Chris was nice a nice guy he saved us $50.00 on a screen door we'll keep him. It's all about the numbers. This is where a good agent comes in.
So what the company sees right now is two years, 3 claims, $15K paid out and $8K paid out.
Get what ever the agent is offering you in writing. Start shopping. Don't lie to the agents when you speak to them. As they say garbage in garbage out. Not telling them the whole story will only get you a false estimate. They will find out in short order then you will have a bigger problem. Either your premium and deductibles will sky rocket or you will get a 30 day cancellation. You may very well find yourself in a situation where you can only get a basic fire policy for a while. Usually one year then you can look for a proper Home owners policy.
Keep me posted.
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