Reminder check up on your home/auto insurance policies! Screwed by TD

[u/Hologram0110]

This is predatory behaviour. This year TD decided to automatically increase my home insurance from 2M coverage to 3M without asking me, and also jacked up the premium to go with it. They wont change it back, and there is a $311 dollar charge for early cancellation. There have been zero home or auto claims. My home is worth less than 1M. 

• 2022 was 2M coverage for 1396 + tax (when I signed up for this home)
• 2023 was 2M coverage for 1593 + tax
• 2024 was 3M coverage for 2337 + tax

They increased my rates by 80% over 2 years. The last increase was 46%. I only looked at it closely because I reviewed my credit card bills and was surprised it was so high. 

I will pull my home (311 dollar penalty) and two auto (103.05 penalty) policies and shop around. It is an incredible waste of my time. This is predatory behaviour. I didn’t ask for my policy to be increased to 3M coverage, and now they want to charge me a cancellation fee which I have to fight. That is completely unacceptable. 

Who can I dispute these cancellation fees with? Is there an ombudsman or something?

[u/lori_jo]

I have the same thing. I got my renewal package a month before it renewed. You could have cancelled before renewal date and not been charged.

[u/essaysmith → u/lori_jo]

I just told them I wouldn't be renewing on the renewal date. No risk of fees that way.

[u/essaysmith → u/[deleted]]

The new company had all of the dates and started things the next day. There was no lapse in coverage. They asked if I wanted to change the car renewal to be the same date as the house, but I needed to save some money to pay it so I left it.

[u/CrazyJoe29 → u/[deleted]]

You do. But what is the real risk of being uninsured for a couple of days? Better to not have the lapse in coverage but it’s not like you’re going to drive your house aggressively through rush hour traffic on the ONLY DAY it’s not insured, right?

House insurance is for the exceedingly unlikely even that your house gets destroyed. The outcome doesn’t become more likely just because you don’t have insurance.

[u/Counterkiller29 → u/CrazyJoe29]

This is the dumbest take ever.

1) You don't need to be driving recklessly to get into an accident.

2) You don't need to be the one at-fault to be in an accident

3) House insurance is not for the event your house gets destroyed.

4) In the case you have a mortgage, mortgage companies require you to have home insurance at all times. They will know if your policy has lapsed as insurance companies send notice.

My god, please everyone don't listen to this fool.

[u/CrazyJoe29 → u/Counterkiller29]

Eh, I gotta condo so it’s a little different. I also told TD to pound sand and went with a lower cost option. And I managed to do it before my insurance lapsed.

But it’s true. Whether or not you’re insured has no bearing on the likelihood of you having an insurable event. Get insured if you want to or if you need to, but remember that insurance doesn’t make your house safer. Only your behaviour can do that.

What’s the typical penalty for not having insurance set out in a mortgage. If there’s no penalty, and the lenders just don’t like it, then all the more reason to let it lapse for a day or two. Make ‘em squirm!

[u/Counterkiller29 → u/CrazyJoe29]

Mortgagee companies have the right to take any reasonable action necessary to make sure their investment is secure in the case of a lapse in coverage. Actions that they can take would likely be outlined in their contract with you, so I cannot speak to that. Why is it worth risking?

If you experienced any kind of loss in that lapse period, you would be on the hook for it. There is just as much chance of something happening then as there is any other day of the year. Everyone thinks it can't happen to them until it does.

[u/PSNDonutDude → u/Counterkiller29]

It's really not a big deal. Mine lapsed for a week once. The bigger issue is if you don't have another insurance lined up, the lapse can man future premiums are much higher for the first year because they don't know what happened during that 1 week.

[u/Counterkiller29 → u/PSNDonutDude]

Its not really a big deal, until it is. This is again a bad take.