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Why Don't the Major Insurance Companies Make Clients Aware of the Vacant Home Insurance Risk?

At Vacant Home Insurance Now, we maintain detailed statistics on every inquiry we get, both by phone and through the web. Our results show that 92% of people did not know they could lose coverage with their existing homeowners insurance policy if the home became empty or vacant. Over 9 out of 10 people sought quotes for vacant home insurance only after they were either cancelled by their existing homeowners insurance carrier, or they were told by the carrier or the agent that coverage could not continue. In other words, they were not aware of the vacant home provisions themselves.

Why is this such a big secret and why does no one understand the issue before they are facing losing their coverage? Why don't the big carriers offer vacant homeowners insurance? Perhaps the existing insurance companies don't want to lose business in a bad economy? VHIN estimates there may be well over 100,000 homes in the United States that are not being lived in currently, and coverage with the existing home insurance policy is in jeopardy or has been lost, and the owner of the home does not know about it. Most people do not realize they may need to secure special vacant home insurance for a home that is empty for just 60 to 90 days. Thousands will file claims that will be denied by their homeowners insurance company because the dwelling was unoccupied.

When looking at this issue, it's worth noting that almost all major homeowners insurance carriers do not cover homes that are considered empty or vacant. They simply do not have the product available in any State. What's more, most of these companies do communicate with their insureds via emails, and mailed newsletters. Of course, they all send renewal notices by mail as well. VHIN estimates that if the top companies "announced the fact" that they do not provide vacant homeowners insurance, and "remind" insured that they need to seek coverage elsewhere if the home becomes empty, tens of thousands of homeowners would cancel their policy and seek vacant home insurance coverage elsewhere.

The exact reason why the major companies don't make it more clear to their insureds that they do not provide vacant home insurance, and do not emphasize their own policies for empty homes, is up for debate. One thing is clear, that homeowners need to understand how their existing homeowners insurer treats vacant homes, and they must know when to seek vacant home insurance coverage or risk losing everything to an unpaid fire loss, or another peril that can cause catastrophic loss.

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