The vast majority of the world accepts that climate change is happening, though some conservatives in America doubt whether it is man-made or not. Here’s another question: what does global warming mean for your homeowners insurance?

The natural forces tied to climate are significant risks to homes and big factors in determining insurance premiums. Changes in those risks mean changes to premiums and policies.

How Climate Is Changing

Scientists at American universities, in the UK, in South America, and even the United Nations agree that climate change is already happening. Glaciers are melting and this is evidence, but there’s more. Record floods and droughts in Sri Lanka, Brazil, and China, as well as deadly heat waves in the United States and across Europe, are all consistent with the projections from climatologists.

It’s not just that the planet is getting hotter – it’s that it is getting hotter in some places, cooler in others, and currents and weather patterns are changing. Desert could become rainforest, prairies swamps, and tundra could be eradicated altogether.

What Insurers See

Insurance companies look at climate change and they see chaos. The statistics they have used for a long long time are quickly becoming irrelevant. They won’t be quite certain how to determine how at risk a given home is to disaster.

Read the rest of this entry »

The year 2011 has been one for record natural disasters. The Texas wildfires currently raging are already causing never-before-seen damage in the state to forests, animal habitats, and human homes. This damage continues hurting even after the fires are done. The only thing protecting homeowners in the 25 thousand scorched acres is insurance.
Big disasters can be huge tests of the viability of an insurance company. Make sure your insurer is up to the test.

Damage from Wildfires

Wildfires have always been a problem in the Southwest and always will be, if climate change doesn’t turn it into a tropical zone. The problem will likely only get worse as more of the precious few water resources are tapped out in Texas and other border states.
Wildfires can start from almost anything, whether it be spontaneous combustion from the sun or a cigarette tossed into the woods. The key is parched woodland from lack of rain, intense sunlight, and heat. Once a fire gets going, it’s very hard to stop. Part of the reason is the incredible amount of fuel available – so many trees – and another part is the inability to predict which way it goes. Fires spread by wind to anywhere where a flame or even an ember can blow.
In this Texas wildfire, 500 homes are already been destroyed in the conflagration, with no end in sight. The 25 thousand acres of land affected could double or triple before this is over, the fire department says. Read the rest of this entry »

Insuring a vehicle is probably one of the least pleasant aspects of owning a car. And because it’s required by law you just can’t do anything about it. Most people choose going with the flow when it comes to car insurance and simply take the first policy they come across. Others, however, take the time to learn what can be done to lower the costs and still get sufficient coverage. If you are one of those inquisitive people there’s good news for you – this way you have a much higher chance of getting inexpensive car insurance. But before you will be able to shop around effectively you should first learn what actually affects car insurance rates and why they tend to differ between various customers.

First of all you have to understand that the insurance company sets individual rates for each customer based on a set of different factors. These factors help the company determine the actual risk of a particular person to file an insurance claim. And the combination of these variables is what determines the final auto insurance quotes you get when simply trying to learn how much the policy would cost you. Moreover, each company uses the same factors in different formulas when calculating the customer’s premiums so there’s usually a fluctuation in rates even if you’re trying to get the very same policy from two different providers. Read the rest of this entry »