Why are my auto insurance premiums increasing in North Carolina?

Are you concerned whether vandalism and riots are covered by your insurance policy? With riots and civil disorders breaking out, many are concerned about damage to their property and whether it is covered by their insurance policy. In Raleigh, we have seen an increase in this and many have been asking us whether their policies will cover them in the event this happens.

Let’s look at a break-down by policy type and what is covered and what is not.

Auto Insurance:

Damage to vehicles due to riots falls under the comprehensive coverage sometimes called other then collision coverage option. Usually there is a deductible associated with this coverage that you would have to pay then the insurance company would pay the rest. This coverage is optional but required by many loan companies. Comprehensive covered perils are fire, falling objects, vandalism and/or riot. Windshield damage also falls under this coverage and even some insurance carriers waive the deductible.

Homeowners Insurance:

Under a standard “All Perils/Open Perils” policy it lists fire, explosion, riot and/or civil commotion, vandalism, or malicious mischief as covered perils. Now, there is a type of homeowner’s policy called a “named perils” homeowner policy that potentially could not have riot as a listed peril. It is important to know the difference and which type of policy you currently have.

Business Insurance:

Damage to the physical buildings and its contents caused by riot, civil commotion, or vandalism is generally covered under a BOP (business owners policy). Glass coverage is generally sold separately. Loss of income due to limited hours or closing entirely potentially can be potentially covered as well but mainly only pays when there has been damage to the building.

With all this said, if you are concerned with whether you are covered by vandalism and riots, it is best to have a review of your current policies to be certain you are covered appropriately. Feel free to call/text us at 919-917-9700 or request a review here.

I was recently asked this question by one of our Oak City Insurance clients, and thought I would share the answer here for our readers.

There are a lot of things that go into homeowners and auto insurance rates, one of them being credit. I’ve heard a lot of complaints from people who don’t like the fact that insurance companies use credit in their underwriting.

Some people have absolutely no idea that it’s used in the rate at all.

At the end of the day, there’s not much we can do about it though. Insurance companies have been using credit in their rates for decades, and that’s not likely to change.

By the way, insurance companies don’t pull your credit like a mortgage company or credit card company does. There is no negative impact on your credit as a result of an insurance company looking at it.

When I say “pull” what I mean is that the insurance company is doing what’s called a soft inquiry, which is not the same thing as having your credit pulled (hard inquiry).

When does credit play a role in insurance rates?
It’s important to understand that insurance companies don’t continuously check or monitor your credit. Usually, they only check it when you first get a quote and/or sign up with them in the very beginning.

This means that if your credit score increases (or decreases) your insurance company does not automatically know about it.

So, to my customers question of whether or not his increased credit score will lower his rates, the answer is not automatically.

What has to be done on our side as the agent is contact the carrier the insurance and ask them to do what’s commonly referred to as a “re-score”. This is when the insurance company can re-run the person’s credit (soft inquiry) to see if there is any positive bearing on the rate.

This isn’t something that the insurance company is going to let the agency do every single year, so it’s not worth even asking unless there has been a significant change in your credit score, and only you as the customer would know if that was the case.

If you’d like to get a better handle on your credit rating, it could be helpful to setup credit monitoring. We hope this was helpful! As always, leave us comment below if you have any questions.