Insurance

[Janine Vogel]

Hello,
We are new to the forum and have an ongoing question about B&B insurance. Once again my policy is increasing this year. What are our choices for finding and purchasing reasonable priced home and liability insurance? It seems there are fewer and fewer companies willing to cover B&B's.
Thank you.

 

[Jcam]

this seems to be a weird USA thing as no problem in the UK, strikes me as mental as with the vast and fast growth of Air you would think they would be on the bandwagon like a flash!

 

[gillumhouse]

Wolf is the Cadillac. I use Erie, some use Farmers - it partly depends of if they operate in your state. I am in West Virginia.
Type Insurance in the search box top right - right under the picture of the featured inn. That will bring up all the old threads on the subject.

 

[Lee2014]

I would contact Wolf. They will do your personal stuff, home, business, employees, vehicles (business & personal), boats, RVs, etc. You have it, they insure it! They are more expensive than others but will get the job done and done well. Also they let you pay by the month, quarter, or yearly. They will work with you. While they have you covered if you want to look around, that's fine. But its not fine to be uninsured. I assume you are not planning on redoing what you have now and have a limited time to find something else.

 

[Highlands John]

Agree with jcam, I'm in the UK too and when we started 12 years ago it was a real struggle to find B&B insurance.
Now days I get bombarded almost daily with emails offering quotations.
In fact I'm with a broker and he phoned me with a renewal just this week. He said RoyalSu nAlliance have just started a policy so my premium has gone from £330 last year to £285 this. That's buildings, contents and public liability.

 

[Janine Vogel]

this seems to be a weird USA thing as no problem in the UK, strikes me as mental as with the vast and fast growth of Air you would think they would be on the bandwagon like a flash!.

I found some answers in the admin forum under insurance plus I called around to local B&B owners. Many told me they have a "motel" policy, which I am checking into right now. Thank you for your time. I look forward to seeing and learning from this group!
Janine Vogel
A.P. Green House B&B
Mexico, MO

 

[Copperhead]

Wolf is not all that i'm afraid. We were with them for 12-13 years, prices inched up year after year until that last year.

They held the policy quote until 2 weeks prior to the renewal time. The price had not only skyrocketed, they dropped half of the coverage. [wind/hail] expecting us to not notice.
Of course trying to secure another policy in 2 weeks time is next to impossible given our industry and the lack of many carriers who understand it. It was a nightmare.

The interesting thing is that the broker that secured our coverage also used Lloyd's of London as did Wolf, but Wolf claimed not to be able to secure the wind/hail. The price was also through the roof.
One thing to remember, Insurance companies have all of us over a barrel as they know we must all have their product... either through them or another.

 

[MtnKeeper]

We've had our insurance through a cooperative insurance company here in New England for over 10 years now. Had a claim when we were hit by lightening and they took care of it immediately. Our policy has never gone up much each year even after over $15K in claims for that lightening strike. I always recommend if you can find a cooperative insurance company in your area they are the best way to go as they are owned by the members. My broker lost his ability to sell the coop insurance (bad choices) and the cost he gave me with Lloyds of London was over twice as much as the coop - needless to say I dropped him and moved to another broker who had the coop.

 

[OnTheShore]

We've had our insurance through a cooperative insurance company here in New England for over 10 years now. Had a claim when we were hit by lightening and they took care of it immediately. Our policy has never gone up much each year even after over $15K in claims for that lightening strike. I always recommend if you can find a cooperative insurance company in your area they are the best way to go as they are owned by the members. My broker lost his ability to sell the coop insurance (bad choices) and the cost he gave me with Lloyds of London was over twice as much as the coop - needless to say I dropped him and moved to another broker who had the coop..

MMG?

 

[MtnKeeper]

We've had our insurance through a cooperative insurance company here in New England for over 10 years now. Had a claim when we were hit by lightening and they took care of it immediately. Our policy has never gone up much each year even after over $15K in claims for that lightening strike. I always recommend if you can find a cooperative insurance company in your area they are the best way to go as they are owned by the members. My broker lost his ability to sell the coop insurance (bad choices) and the cost he gave me with Lloyds of London was over twice as much as the coop - needless to say I dropped him and moved to another broker who had the coop..

MMG?
.

Co-operative Insurance out of Vermont!

 

[Breakfastat8]

Agree with jcam, I'm in the UK too and when we started 12 years ago it was a real struggle to find B&B insurance.
Now days I get bombarded almost daily with emails offering quotations.
In fact I'm with a broker and he phoned me with a renewal just this week. He said RoyalSu nAlliance have just started a policy so my premium has gone from £330 last year to £285 this. That's buildings, contents and public liability..

Thats a fantastic price! Must get onto it too! Thanks!

 

[gillumhouse]

Wolf is not all that i'm afraid. We were with them for 12-13 years, prices inched up year after year until that last year.

They held the policy quote until 2 weeks prior to the renewal time. The price had not only skyrocketed, they dropped half of the coverage. [wind/hail] expecting us to not notice.
Of course trying to secure another policy in 2 weeks time is next to impossible given our industry and the lack of many carriers who understand it. It was a nightmare.

The interesting thing is that the broker that secured our coverage also used Lloyd's of London as did Wolf, but Wolf claimed not to be able to secure the wind/hail. The price was also through the roof.
One thing to remember, Insurance companies have all of us over a barrel as they know we must all have their product... either through them or another..

Other than the premium, my problem with Wolf is that they sell a Package. Period. I have no employees so I do not need employee theft insurance - part of the package. They would not be able to replace my house - the woodwork, etc, just insure the house for xxx $k - total replacement is the package. You have to take the package or nothing.
I found Erie who would insure the house for its market value, insure contents and outbuildings, and give me liability for a reasonable price. No, I do not have loss of business insurance - but I am not in a high tourist area where I am going to be impacted that much either.
UPDATE: My innsurance for the year for my 1912 FourSquare 3-guestroom house is now up to $1900 per year. Wolf wanted $2500 about 15 years ago

 

[GoodScout]

We just switched to MMG too since they were the lowest bidder for our business. We put our insurance out to bid EVERY year. You should put a tickler in your calendar about 2 months prior to your renewal date to send out emails requesting bids.

 

[Anon Inn]

We have had Country Financial for some years for B and B plus rentals. One claim (storm roof damage) quickly and fairly settled.
Beautiful inn by the way.