Since home insurance premiums are primarily based on how likely you are to file a claim, filing a claim can raise your home insurance rates. The amount your rates go up depends on several other factors, such as your location and the severity of the claim. For example, a liability related claim could raise your rates around 14% while hail and wind may only raise your rates by 6%.
When Should You File a Home Insurance Claim? 
While filing a claim may be a knee-jerk reaction for some homeowners after an accident, it isn’t always the best choice. When an accident occurs, you should always have the damage evaluated by an expert. A contractor can help you determine how much it will cost to make repairs on your home.
This is useful to see whether or not you will meet your home insurance policy’s deductible. The deductible is how much you must pay out of pocket after an accident before receiving compensation. For example, say a storm causes $15,000 in damage and your home insurance deductible is $1,000. This means you must pay $1,000 toward repairs before receiving compensation for the remaining $14,000.
On the other hand, say the damages are only $900. Since you can’t reach your $1,000 deductible, an insurance claim may be denied. Even if you can reach your deductible, filing a claim isn’t always worth it unless the damages are significantly higher than the cost of your deductible. Otherwise it may be more cost effective to simply pay for repairs out of pocket and avoid filing a claim.
When Should You Speak with Your Insurance Agent?
There are some circumstances where, even if you don’t plan on filing a claim, you should still keep in contact with your insurance agent. This includes when you make upgrades to the home and any accidents involving other people, aka liability.
Liability issues, such as someone being injured on your property, can cause concerns in the future regarding lawsuits. Even small injuries can turn into larger problems down the road and your insurance agent should be aware of it in case a claim needs to be filed in the future.
You should also notify your insurance agent of changes you make to the home including upgrades. If there are updates to your home, it may change how much coverage you need. Certain upgrades to improve safety can actually save you money on your home insurance rates even after a claim, so be sure to speak with your insurance agent.