Austin Lawyer Says Texans Paying Highest Home Owner Insurance Rates in US
Jan 26, 2011
Austin, TX (Law Firm Newswire) January 25, 2011 – Texas has once again landed in the top spot for the nation for having the priciest home owner’s insurance premiums.
“This isn’t something I’d think people would want to brag about, but the latest figures put out by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners reveal that Texas is back in the No. 1 spot, nationwide, for having the most expensive premiums for home owner’s insurance. On average, many Texans pay roughly $1,460 for the most common policy sold in the U.S. today,” said Robert W. Lee, an Austin personal injury attorney with The Lee Law Firm.
While this is not anything to be proud of, it does show a trend in insurance companies happily gouging their customers. “Being number one in the nation because consumers pay outrageous rates for basic, fairly inadequate insurance coverage isn’t exactly something you’d want to proclaim from the rooftops,” Lee said. “It’s more of an embarrassment, as it shows just how far insurance companies will go to charge what they think the market will bear, not what might be fair for customers.”
Many consumer groups in Texas were not so thrilled with the results of the study either, as it only reinforced what most Texans already knew, that for as long as anyone could recall, they have paid out insurance premiums that were way out of line with the national average. On the other side of the fence, the insurance industry insists that the rates are a reflection of the high risks for industry representatives selling polices in the state, meaning severe and unpredictable weather.
While the industry may have a point, as there were two hurricanes in 2008, Ike and Dolly, and hailstorms in North Texas and other locales, there comes a point when consumers wonder just how much more they will need to pay for home owner’s insurance that does not adequately address hurricane damage and never really did in the first place. For the record, Ike was ranked as the third costliest hurricane in the U.S., resulting in millions in property claims.
The rasion d’etre for the insurance industry seems to be that the premiums consumers pay are set to prepare them for future losses based on the weather, construction costs and property values, among other things. “If you were a skeptical consumer when it came to overpriced home owner’s insurance, you might be thinking the future loss figures are still obscenely low and the coverage abysmal and that the insurance company just wants to make and keep its money. You may be right,” Lee said.
To learn more, visit Austin personal injury lawyer and http://www.rwleelaw.com.
The Lee Law Firm
11824 Jollyville Road, Suite 302
Austin, Texas 78759
Phone: 512.478.8080
