“This is a good thing for Henderson KY in terms of fire protection, but don’t look for a large decrease in your homeowners insurance premiums.” –Nibby Priest, Licensed Insurance Advisor
The Henderson City Fire Department announced today that they were moving to a protection class 2 effective January 1, 2015. Previously, they were a protection class 3.
What is a city protection class? This is the rating that the ISO (Insurance Service Office) gives a municipality based on their response time for fire and emergency services. By obtaining a protection class 2 rating, our city (Henderson KY) has proven to ISO that they are responding faster, and they have better equipment. This is a win/win for both residents and insurance carriers. Better response for citizens and less potential for larger claims.
What will this do to my homeowners insurance rates? Most all of the homeowners insurance carriers give the same rate for both a protection class 2 as they do for protection class 3, and we will see very little if any rate decrease for this change. We as a city do not need to discount this, but embrace the idea that our Fire Department is better equipped and responding faster than before when it was rated a protection class 3.
Some carriers are moving away from rating homeowners insurance based upon protection class. Since a majority of homeowners, insurance claims come from weather-related perils rates might be more aptly determined by weather patterns of particular address.
If you have questions about this or any other homeowners insurance questions, we ask you to contact us.
Official Public Protection Classification Summary Report for Henderson KY September 2014