1. You may notice a small increase in your premium this year. Although the rate for calculating premiums remained constant, we are required to adjust the building values slightly upward (by 3%) to remain current with increasing repair and construction costs. Using the same rate for calculating premiums but a slightly higher building value means renewal premiums increased just more than 2.5% over last year’s premiums. If your rent amount required adjustment (see below), the premium increase may be slightly more than 2.5%.
2. For those of you who purchase the optional Earthquake insurance in critical areas of the country, rates were reduced across the board, and you should see a premium reduction for this optional coverage.
3. Loss of rents insurance is an important coverage provided by the program and is designed to protect your investment income. Unless you have kept track and previously updated the rental amounts insured under the program, those amounts may not have been changed for many years. For your renewal this year, we compared the USPS database against your insurance information and updated where it was clear that the amount of your rents has increased. We only increased the rental income in cases where the USPS data reflected a higher amount than previously used for a particular building. However, it is possible you may also receive additional rent that reflects property tax reimbursements under a Tax Reimbursement rider, or for some other reason. If those additional amounts were not reflected in the rent identified in the USPS database, then the insured amount of rent under your policy could be too low. Please review your certificate carefully and contact us at 877-642-8775 if we need to correct your rent so that you can remain fully insured. Again, you need to insure your gross income for your investment to be properly covered.
4. Please review your certificate(s) closely as they reflect any changes made to your coverage since last year. Let us know as soon as possible if you need to make changes or require any other adjustment.
5. Finally, in order to more fully explain some common areas of confusion, we have enclosed answers to some Frequently Asked Questions. If you have other any other questions, feel free to contact us at 877-642-8775.
We thank you for your business and support of the insurance program for the last 21 years.
Sincerely,
Rick Austin and the AUSPL Insurance Team