Did you know that you might be eligible for a reduction in your homeowner’s fire insurance premium? Insurance companies determine premiums they charge a homeowner based on many factors. While most factors do not change over time, some do. If your insurance company is unaware of those changes, you may not receive the reduction in your premium that you rightfully deserve.
Four Common Factors that Can Reduce Fire Insurance Premiums
- The addition of a fire hydrant within 1,000 feet of your property if you did not have one located within 1,000 feet before.
- A reduction in the Insurance Services Office (ISO), Public Protection Classification (PPC) grade for your city.
- A significant change in your fire department’s policies or capabilities concerning structure fire response.
- The addition of a whole house fire alarm detection and alerting system.
Have Any of These Factors Happened in Hudson? Yes!
- Over the past few years, new fire hydrants have been added in locations throughout Hudson. You may not be aware, because the hydrant could be on the street behind you or around the corner.
- In late 2019, Hudson’s ISO PPC grade was reduced from 04/4Y to 03/3Y following significant effort by the Hudson Fire, Police, GIS, and Water departments. ISO's Public Protection Classification (PPC™) program measures and evaluates the effectiveness of fire-mitigation services in communities throughout the country. With this new grade, you might be eligible for a decrease in your insurance premium. This reduction primarily impacts commercial property insurance premiums, but many insurance companies use the ISO PPC grade as one of their factors for determining residential fire insurance premiums. Following the advice from the Hudson Fire Department, some homeowners who checked the ISO PPC their insurance company is using to calculate their premium have found the ISO PPC used was incorrect, thereby causing their rates to be significantly higher.
- In 2017, the Hudson Fire department instituted an Automatic Aid policy for dispatching one engine and one ladder truck from the two nearest neighboring communities whenever our Dispatch Center receives a call for a structure fire with visible flame or smoke. This Auto Aid response policy has been used by some insurance companies as a mitigating factor to help justify reducing your homeowner’s fire insurance premium. This policy also reduces the response time for the neighboring community’s apparatus to any structure fire in Hudson as well as helping Hudson to obtain our reduced ISO PPC grade.
- Have you added or upgraded your whole house fire alarm/detection and alerting system? If so, tell your fire insurance company as it could result in a reduced insurance premium.
Call your fire insurance company to see if you might be eligible for a decrease in your insurance premium.