Wednesday, December 09, 2009

Some Interesting Homeowners Insurance Statistics

By Stacy Fox

You may be surprised by some of the homeowners insurance statistics revealed in this article. Beyond mere numbers, the data may help you optimize your own insurance policies.

As an example, did you know that 2/3 of homes are underinsured? They have 23 percent less insurance than they actually need. That means that if something were to happen, they would have to pay almost a quarter of the cost out of their own pocket. But, most homeowners would spend less than $10 a month to get the kind of coverage they actually needed.

So, what kind of costs are we talking about?

Fire damage, for instance, has an average payout of $24,153. For wind and hail, the payouts average $7163. Water damage costs the insurer an average of $5531. And burglary reimbursements average $2493.

One of the worst things that can happen to a homeowner is for someone to get hurt on their property. Whether it is a slip and fall or a dog bite, the medical bills and punitive damages can add up. The insurance companies pay out $15854 on a typical bodily injury claim and another $3055 in medical payments. These are costs you don't want to have to assume yourself.

But there are other kinds of interesting homeowners insurance statistics. For instance, the average cost of homeowners insurance premiums in 2006 was $809 a year. South Dakota had the lowest premiums of $628 per year while Texans, due to wind and tornado damage, had to pay out the most at $1408.

State Farm is the largest homeowners insurer at 21 percent of the market. Allstate is number 2 and Zurich Insurance Group is number 3.

Where do your premium payments go? 58 percent of every dollar goes to policy payouts, 28 percent to administration and expenses, 9 percent to profits and 5 percent to taxes.

If you have ever wondered about your insurance, hopefully this article provided some interesting homeowners insurance statistics for you. - 2364

About the Author:

No comments:

Blog Archive