Watch out if you are doing any renovations while shopping around for new insurance. Also, I’d recommend carrying your current coverage concurrently with your new policy for 6 months or so. Read below.
Story time: A few years back I got tired of the constant 10-25% annual increases with my Company A so I decided to shop around. I went with Company B because they were 1/3 the price of Company A but with 50% more coverage and 1/2 the deductible. They issued the policy no problem and even handled the cancelation of my old policy for me.
Two months later, we were having the siding stripped and replaced. Unbeknownst to me a third party inspector hired by Company B shows up, took unflattering pictures of the worksite. Pictures included a dumpster of old siding, trimmings, etc., few nails on the ground, and a few photos of the unfinished work area which showed exposed plywood because we were rewrapping the house. Again, mid project, with a full siding, roofing, and window crew present. He submitted his report and I was notified by an attorney representing company B that I was found in violation of some clause indicating that all windows, siding, and roofing was intact at the time of policy issuance and that my coverage was retroactively denied dating back to the original date. I called them to explain that it was a full exterior renovation and submitted pre project photos showing that everything was intact at the time of policy issuance and the contract documents with the contractor. They don’t care; denied.
Then it got worse. 1 week later, I was notified by my mortgage company that because of the retroactive denial, I failed to maintain property insurance for over 2 months and that I had 3 business days to obtain full coverage otherwise they would start seizure proceedings “to protect their company’s investment”. Holy F, I’ve never been so stressed. I started shopping around, but company B had put a derogatory “Clue Report” on my insurance file so every company denied me outright and told me to go back to company B to remediate the issues.
Happyish ending: The Farm Bureau helped me out and got me a policy issued under Virginia’s VPIA insurance which is required to be issued by law in the event a homeowner cannot obtain insurance on the market. It was cruddy protection at 2x the price of my original policy but at least crisis averted.
