Shop Home And Auto Insurance Without The Hassle

We break down why so many people feel like their home and auto insurance keeps climbing and what can actually be done about it. We talk with independent agent Micah LaBorde about how shopping works, why “bundle and save” is not a rule, and the policy details that can protect you from big surprise costs.

• Texas homeowners insurance rates vary by region and carrier 
• Auto insurance pricing depends on which carriers want new business
• Review renewals at least annually to catch creeping increases
• Know when a 5% to 15% jump is worth shopping
• Debunking bundling as an automatic money saver
• Debunking “loyalty discounts” as a reason to never switch
• The value of an independent agency with access to many carriers
• Tailoring coverage by need including liability limits and exclusions
• Common gaps like water endorsements and uninsured motorist coverage
• Roof settlement differences such as replacement cost versus ACV
• Replacement cost estimates versus market value and Zillow pricing

Micah LaBorde
micah@victory-insurance.com
victory-insurance.com
512-630-6978

To learn more about Stansell Wealth Planning visit:
https://www.StansellWealth.com
Stansell Wealth Planning
5550 Granite Pkwy, STE 270  
Plano, TX 75024  
469-606-2040

Transcript

Welcome And Why Rates Hurt

Speaker 2 0:16

Hey everyone, welcome back. Stansell Wealth Painting Podcast. Thank you for joining us. Whether you're listening, whether you're watching on YouTube, wherever you may be, thank you for joining us here. Uh, have a great episode for you. If you feel like you're paying more for auto insurance or homeowner insurance or any kind of uh insurance policies, if you haven't shopped them around in a while, this episode is for you. I have a guest on Micah Laborde. Micah, what's going on, man?

Speaker 0:46

Not much, man. Just living the dream. Doing good over here.

Speaker 2 0:50

Living the dream. Living the insurance dream.

Speaker 0:53

Absolutely.

Speaker 2 0:54

That's awesome. So we'll like I was saying, we'll go through uh Micah as an insurance company. A long story. Uh Stansell Wealth Planning is associated with Victory Financial Group. And around that is Victory Insurance, which Michael or Micah, excuse me, is a part of. And so kind of connected affiliates, if you will. We've had a couple of conferences together. Mike and I has golfed a few times. And so we'll walk through current rates. What are you seeing in the market? Some of those things, and just helping out the consumers. Especially, I just feel like the last over the last few years, just rates have really gone up. So is there anything people can do about it? Right?

Speaker 1:39

Yeah, absolutely.

Texas Home Insurance By Region

Speaker 2 1:40

Let me, Micah, let me formally introduce you here and then we'll just kick it off and dive in. Let's see here. As an independent agency, Victory Insurance shops the major providers to find the best one for you and your family. They don't work for the carrier, they work for you. They help individuals and business owners with insurance solutions from home, auto, commercial, and more. Micah is dedicated to connecting with his customers and providing exceptional service. He carries this passion for people into everything he does, both inside and outside of his career. So let's start it off. Yeah, what are you seeing? Current rates, homeowner, vehicle. You know, tell us what's going on right now.

Speaker 2:26

Yeah, absolutely. I will say that that question is a difficult one to answer, uh, just in a broad perspective, but it really just depends on your location. So here in Texas, it's you know very segmented and and rates follow those those different areas. Uh I'll start with DFW. DFW is, you know, it's struggling in some zip codes. The rates are pretty high, and it's hard to secure new insurance at a competitive rate. Um, they have improved over the past couple years. You know, 2022, 2023 was pretty terrible. I mean, all the rates were spiked, and DFW even basically closed new business with a lot of the companies. Overall, for DFW, it's not perfect, but it is getting better. Some carriers are coming back on the scene. They want new business in this area, and to get new business, they have to be competitive. So rates up here are getting better. They're just not perfect. Uh, central Texas, it's kind of a sweet spot. Central Texas is doing really well right now. A lot of companies want business there, so they're taking rates down. They're getting a lot more competitive in the San Marcos area in between Austin and San Antonio. Austin with high value homes can be a little difficult, but um overall, Central Texas is a sweet spot where rates are pretty good. And then the Houston, the coastal areas, I think they're just always going to be tough. It's never gonna be a perfect world down there. Um, but at Victory Insurance, we actually do have a couple carriers who specialize in those areas, and um I've been able to find a lot of success with helping people move from those state farms and the farmers to some more independent agency companies that that specialize in the coastal zones. The rates in Houston, uh, you just gotta get a little creative. You gotta look at some new carriers, and and with that you can find some better rates.

Speaker 2 4:13

Yeah, no, and that definitely makes sense, especially it's very regional, right? Weather-wise, the FW's never gonna get a hurricane like coastal is, you know, so that makes sense. When you do say regional, I assume you just mean homeowner, like for an auto policy, does it really matter area or region?

Auto Insurance Shopping Basics

Speaker 4:32

Not really, yeah. So that that answer was specifically for homeowners. Auto insurance across the state, they kind of just follow suit. It's the the rates are not as broken up by zip code or area. Uh auto rates are really comes down to does the does the company want new business? Are they going to be competitive? And right now, auto's pretty wide open. You can secure some good rates, and we have some really great carriers who are competitive for the auto. So if you're with a state farm or you're with the farmers or an all-state and you've been with them for a while, odds are you're overpaying for the auto, and it's definitely worth taking a look at some some other carriers.

How Often To Review Renewals

Speaker 2 5:08

Yeah, that was definitely one of my questions, and it's kind of at the end, and we'll go into those details here in a little bit. But if you're watching or listening, Micah and Victory Insurance is independent, which what that means is what he was saying. He's not representing a certain, you know, state farm, and here's your insurance options, right? He's independent. He can go, you guys go to multiple carriers, shop it around. And it's very similar to what we do, right? There's not just a I don't work somewhere where it's just like, okay, here's your mutual funds or here's these select investments. We're we're independent. We can invest in anything. So big believer in independence when it comes to uh not being pigeonholed to a certain product or price or some of those things. Yeah. So having said that, how often, I probably don't do this enough. How often should someone shop these kind of policies?

Speaker 5:59

Yeah, I think that also comes down to being with an independent advisor rather than an a state farmer farmer's agency. Shopping it out, it really comes down to what your renewal looks like. What is that company increasing your premium by? So I would say if you're not with an independent advisor, that's step number one. You gotta have an independent advisor get you squared away with all your policies. And then whenever it comes to how often I should shop, that kind of comes down to the advisor and their advice. I would say annually, if you're not having somebody at least look at your renewals, you're probably overpaying. So with my clients, you know, it's not always the right idea to shop every year. Sometimes these carriers will actually drop your rate or give you, you know, a discount every year. So it's not like a surefire, like you have to shop it every year. But what I do at least is you know, I renew, I review the renewals with my clients. I look at them together, I let them know, hey, we're actually going to be taking some points down here. We're dropping 15%. So I think we're good for another year. But then if a renewal comes back and it's drop or it's spiking 15% or increasing 10 or even 5%, it's worth a shop. So at least have an independent person or an advisor, hopefully me, review your renewals and then establish whether or not it's a good time to shop.

Speaker 2 7:18

Is there any downside to shopping? Like you know, like you don't ding a credit score or there's nothing like how long does it take if someone comes to you, hey, I got your info from Cody. Uh, I want you to look at my policies, like how quickly can you run quotes and kind of give them an idea of what they're looking at?

Speaker 7:38

Yeah, I can do, I mean, turnaround time is usually a couple hours, unless it's a complex case and you have multiple properties and multiple policies, but you know, for your general home and auto umbrella package, do it in an hour, two hours. That's awesome.

Bundle And Loyalty Myths

Speaker 2 7:53

So, yeah, definitely worth in my opinion. You know, once a year. It's no downside. Gotcha. That's awesome. Uh so what are some common misconceptions you hear from clients that come to you and they kind of ask the same question? It's you know, it's a big misconception. There's a lot with insurance. There's a lot of misconceptions about insurance. We have time, so feel free to go through.

Speaker 8:17

Uh I'll start with what you guys probably hear and see every day with the commercials. The bundle and save. The everybody thinks, you know, I have to bundle to save money. And sometimes that is the case. Sometimes putting your home and your auto together with a carrier does give you some awesome savings. But you know, being independent, sometimes it makes a lot of sense to break things up. Sometimes you have a carrier like Progressive or Geico that are giving you a really good rate on your auto, and then we got to go somewhere else for the home because the carriers that do home and auto together are not giving you as big of a discount on the auto as they are on the home. So it really just, you know, it's not a one answer. Oh, if I bundle, I'm gonna save the most. It's no, have an independent person look at everything, check out all of the carriers, make sure that everything is maximizing the savings. So the bundle and save stigma is not always the case. Just that's one misconception. And then the other one I want to talk about.

Speaker 2 9:12

I can't turn on a football game and not hear some major carrier talking about bundling and saving.

Speaker 9:18

Spend a lot of money on their marketing, commercials are everywhere.

Speaker 2 9:21

Yeah.

Speaker 9:21

And then the other misconception I hear all the time is, you know, I don't want to switch. I've been with Allstate, I've been with USAA for 10, 15 years, I'm getting a loyalty discount. There's no such thing. Allstate, any company does not give you substantial discounts for just staying with them. They actually do the opposite, they just steadily increase your rate by one, two percent every year. So if you're with a company for 15 years and you haven't shopped it for 10 years, you you are definitely overpaying. I mean, I just had a client last week at the same pushback, they're like, hey, I'm good, I've been with All State for 15 years, I'm getting a good discount. I was like, oh, well, it doesn't help or it doesn't hurt just to take a look. So we took a look and we saved them over $6,000 a year because they were getting just robbed on their auto insurance. It makes a lot of sense to to look. A lot of people with insurance, it's just a set it and forget it type of thing. And that'll get you in trouble. It really will. You'll just be overpaying and not even know. That those are the two big ones bundle and save, and then you know, I'm getting a loyalty discount because I've been with USAA for 10 years.

Speaker 2 10:27

Yeah, there's a lot of I'll run across ain't no offense to your industry, but it's like, yeah, I'm my brother-in-law does my home and auto, and it's like, you know, that's what you started with, and you it feels awkward to at least shop it around. You're not the the previous company doesn't have to know, and it's just worthy. Yeah, if you're gonna save them ten bucks a month, yeah. Obviously, weigh those pros and cons, stay with your brother-in-law, you don't want to be awkward at Thanksgiving. But if you're talking six thousand dollars a year, yeah, okay, this is substantial money. And then the bundle save cracks me up too, because there's it just reminds me I'm a big analogy guy. Like my wife and I will go out to a nice dinner, a steakhouse, or whatever, and she's a big desserts fan. And so I'm like, hey, let's look at the dessert menu. And none of them look good, but we're already here, we're already sitting down, and it's kind of like the bundle and save. Like, wow, we're already here, let's go ahead and order the cheesecake. She's like, I don't want the cheesecake. Like, I want to drive to Andes and get ice cream, it's gonna be the same price, and the ice cream is gonna be better. I already know that I like the ice cream, and so it's kind of the same way. Like, there's some companies that they have like really good homeowner policy, but their auto's expensive or not very comprehensive, and just because you bundled them, you might be getting one that's pretty good and the other one that's like, no, I I want to drive down the street and get a better one, right? And at the same price, yeah. You agree with that?

Speaker 11:55

Absolutely. Yeah, there's just there's some carriers that specialize in one line of business, so you know they're just gonna knock out of the park all the time with auto. And then there's sometimes companies that are like, hey, in this area, I really want to focus on homeowners, so we're gonna be dropping rates for that. So that's why it just makes sense to make sure you're looking and you're you're giving all of the the carriers an opportunity to to beat your rate. So but like I said, sometimes the bottle and save does work. It does, it just depends on on your situation. And if you're not taking a a more uh specified approach to your insurance, then you know you're not doing yourself a good good service as far as looking for better options.

Why Independent Agents Win

Speaker 2 12:34

Gotcha. Yeah, and especially for a couple hours, you know, it's not a three-week process. You're not filling out tons of forms. It's not, you know, it's it's not they're not dinging your credit report. It's yeah, worth it, in my opinion. So let's come back to uh what we talked about a little bit earlier, independence, right? So you guys are independent. I mentioned it a little bit, but what what do you see the benefits of an independent approach to when it comes to your space and insurance?

Speaker 12:59

Yeah, I mean, it just comes down to more options. You know, we work with over 100 carriers here in Texas, so we have a lot of companies that we will look at. So just having that option to go to different companies for different lines of businesses to maximize the savings makes a lot of sense. And the captive guys, they don't do that. You know, if you're with a state farm agent, they're selling state farm products only. Farmers selling farmers' products only, all state, same thing. So we just have the diversification of companies where we can look and make sure you're in the right spot as far as the carriers go. And then another element is just, you know, tailoring your coverage, customizing things for things that you need versus things that are just thrown in there. We go line by line on the policies. We want to make sure that all the coverages match what you actually need as the client. And there's some things that are just thrown in there that can be taken off. So taking a look at a specific situation and tailoring your coverage and shopping with other companies just will maximize your savings and better protect you and your family. So the tailored coverage, diversification of the companies, and then also education. I'm I'm really big on this with my clients, is I want to make sure that I explain what the words on the policies actually mean. Because a lot of people just, oh yeah, I'm covered. I got my auto insurance, and I'm like, well, you don't have XYZ. And this is kind of like the biggest risk, especially in Texas. I think uninsured motorists is a big one that I see all the time. People will send me their policies, and I'm like, hey, you realize that you would be out of pocket for this scenario. So education is big for us on all policies. We want to make sure that the client understands what they're covered for and what those limits are. So that's another big one for me.

Policy Details That Actually Matter

Speaker 2 14:42

And that's a really good point. And I didn't have this question in the in the prep. So if you're not prepared, no problem. But yeah, to me, I think a lot of people, if they're new, maybe they're a new homeowner or younger, or they just don't run in these circles and not really familiar with kind of policies. Your homeowner insurance or your auto insurance isn't a check the box, like you either have it or you don't, right? Right. There's vastly different policies in what they cover. And obviously, you went into some of those there. But your particular situation, like with your house, there's I'm probably gonna butcher this terminology, actually insuring your residence, but then there's a liability piece, right? And then there's another piece. So like there's some folks that may benefit from having increased liability if they have other properties or just what's going on in their particular life. So talk through a little bit, if you don't mind, just what some of those how those policies are just different inside and out. It's not a check yes or check no. It's okay, what kind of policy meets your needs and what do you need?

Speaker 15:47

Yeah. So establishing what the need is is super important. So having a face-to-face or you know, Zoom or just a call with the client and understanding their need uh is step one. Liability, that's a big one on homeowner's policy. Like a lot of people have low limits and they don't realize what that means. Everything on a homeowner's policy is is really broken up and can be tailored to fit what you need. So establishing that need and then kind of going line by line is really big in my process. And there's a lot of exclusions on homeowners' policies. A lot of people think that they're covered for something, then it's actually an exclusion in their policy and they didn't read it. So that's a big one. So, like you said, it's not a checkbox. Water coverage is a big one on homeowners. A lot of people think that they would be covered for foundation leaks or a burst pipe, but those are all endorsements that you add onto the policy and it doesn't come on just a traditional HO3 homeowner's policy. So making sure that the water coverages are all set, and that's super important because that's a very common claim. And then another big one is definitely your roof uh settlement type. There's two different types of roof settlement or loss assessments with when it comes to a roof. You got replacement cost, and then you have payment schedule or ACV. One takes depreciation into uh account, and one is just full replacement. And people don't realize that either. So if you have a 20-year-old roof and you have ACV, you're subject to your deductible, but also have to cover like 50 to 40% of the cost of the replacement. So, what's the point of insurance if you're gonna be out of pocket, you know, 60% of your roof? Um, so taking, you know, a detailed look at those coverages and exclusions makes, you know, a lot of sense for a homeowner.

Speaker 2 17:28

Yeah, I I can't think, you know, as a financial planner, I can't think of anything worse than unexpected expenses, right? Especially younger couple or folks that are in retirement and they have a set, you know, pretty fixed income, that something happens with a storm or some flooding or foundation issues, and you're about to come out of pocket 20, 30, 40 grand, and you thought you've been paying these premiums your whole life, never had a problem, you think you're covered, and then a big expense like this comes up. Nobody, nobody needs that, nobody wants that.

Replacement Cost Versus Market Value

Speaker 17:59

Yeah, no, that's the worst, the worst type of story. And I hear it all the time.

Speaker 2 18:03

And then this might be shoot me down if this isn't correct or or or not correct, but we've had definitely real estate prices just over the last decade. Right. If you bought a house in 2016, it's probably worth twice as much now. And so on those renewals, do they take that into account? Like, yeah, if my house burned down, I might have paid 300 grand for it six years ago, but I could probably sell it for five or six hundred grand now. Does that go back to the how often you should shop policies to kind of take into account what my house is really worth now and not in the past?

Speaker 18:39

Yeah, so with the renewals, they will do generally an increase on the dwelling A coverage, which is the actual physical home. You know, they base those numbers off of cost of labor, cost of materials to rebuild a house. But it's not, it doesn't directly correlate with the market value of the home. We want to look at a replacement cost. All these companies use a replacement cost estimator to establish what they think it would cost to rebuild the home, ground up. Like I said, cost of materials, cost of labor. Um we're not taking into account the land. So if you're in a hot zone where your home spiked 300K, that doesn't necessarily mean it needs to reflect on your insurance um policy. But making sure that you feel comfortable with the replacement cost estimation, that's a big one too. I have seen people who bought a home in 2018 for 300K and they've kept that coverage just stagnant the whole time. And the replacement cost is actually like 500k because those other things do go up as the market value goes up. It just doesn't directly correlate with what Zillow says.

How To Contact Micah

Speaker 2 19:42

Yeah. Okay. That yeah, that makes sense. Thanks for coming on that. Okay, how can we get a hold of you, Micah? What's your website, email, phone number?

Speaker 19:53

Yeah, absolutely. Uh my email is Micah at victory dash insurance.com. And my phone number 512-630-6978. You can give me a call anytime. If you're working with Cody currently, just let him know that you're you're open to shopping and he'll send you uh he'll send you my way and I'd be happy to help. But yeah, victory insurance.com is our website. But yeah, best way to get a hold of me email or phone.

Speaker 2 20:18

Micah, appreciate it, man. This has been great. Yeah.

Speaker 20:21

Thanks a lot. No, I appreciate you.

Speaker 1 20:23

Yeah, have a good rest of your week.

Speaker 20:24

Yes, sir. You too.

Speaker 1 20:26

Thank you for listening to the Stansell Wealth Podcast. This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It is general in nature and may not apply to your specific situation. Please consult with a professional before acting on any information shared in this podcast pertaining to financial, investment, legal, or tax advice. The views expressed by Cody and his guests do not necessarily represent those of Charles Schwab, Victory Financial Group, or any other organization.