How many, and what are the names of the insurance companies in the United
States that offer a discount on insurance premiums to homeowners that have have
water leak prevention/mitigation systems installed in their homes?

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Request for Question Clarification by cath-ga on 13 Dec 2002 10:20 PST

Dear Floguard,

can you tell me what specifically you mean by water leak prevention/mitigation
systems? Also,how many names would satisfy you? It may be necessary to
contact each company individually, so I can't guarantee I could find them
all. cath-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by cath-ga on 13 Dec 2002 11:09 PST

I assume you are talking about Homeowners Insurance? Or are you speaking
of Flood Insurance? cath-ga

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Clarification of Question by floguard-ga on 13 Dec 2002 15:19 PST

There are a handfull of small companies which make and sell water leak
prevention (or mitigation)systems for homeowner or light industrial
use.  These system prevent (or reduce) the damage associated with
leaky or burst water pipes.  Water leaks can be the result of failed
plumbing system, burst pipes due to freezing, burst hoses (wahing
machine, ice cube maker, dishwasher, etc.), or numerous other reasons.

I would satisfied with the names of five companies, if there are that
many.  if there are more, a extra tip would be provided.

This does not have to due with flood insurance or any water source
other than that associatd with domestic water (plumbing).

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Request for Question Clarification by cath-ga on 13 Dec 2002 19:49 PST

Dear floguard,

thanks for the clarification. I have e-mails out to a dozen 
insurance companies, but so far have only gotten a couple of negative
responses. I will send more e-mails over the weekend. Hopefully, I
will get some affirmatives. However, I did some pretty thorough
Internet searching and didn't find" leak prevention" listed under
"insurance discounts" anywhere.
Maybe it's so new they're not advertising it yet...cath-ga

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Clarification of Question by floguard-ga on 15 Dec 2002 15:45 PST

cath-ga:

I've heard that Chubb(?) offers a discount but I have no verification.
 You're right, these are relatively new systems that haven't had allot
of exposure - yet.  I've also heard from the maker of one of these
systems that they're very close to landing an agreement with a VERY
large insurance comapany for 1.4 million of their systems.

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Request for Question Clarification by cath-ga on 16 Dec 2002 14:09 PST

Hi floguard,

Just want to let you know who I've contacted.

Spoke with Nicole at the American Insurance Industry Association

http://www.aiadc.org/

Media Dept. She had not heard of such discounts and thought that
the information would be proprietary.  Suggested I contact the
Personal Insurance Federation, and I left a message there.

Chubb *is* one on the list of companies I contacted:

State Farm:  no
Allstate: 
ITT/Hartford:
Metlife:
MSI : 
Chubb & Son:
American Family Insurance:
Safeco: no
Travelers:
Aetna:
Zurich America:

Four have responded so far, State Farm and Safeco saying no, two
others saying they’ve passed my e-mail to the appropriate dept. and it
may take
up to a week or ten days for a response.

I also sent an e-mail to this organization:

The Insurance Research council:

http://www.ircweb.org/contactindex.htm

I'll send out more as I await responses. Given the "week to ten days"
answer, it may be a while before we have a definitive result. Please
be patient! cath-ga

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Clarification of Question by floguard-ga on 03 Jan 2003 09:36 PST

Given the information content provided so far, I'd consider an
acceptable answer to include those top ten companies that either DO OR
DO NOT offer discounts (This is different from my original question of
only those that do.)

To clarify, I would like to know whether the top ten insurance
companies in the United States DO or DO NOT offer discount on
insurance premiums to homeowners that have water leak
prevention/mitigation systems installed in their homes.

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Request for Question Clarification by cath-ga on 03 Jan 2003 14:14 PST

Thanks so much for your patience!! I'm very glad to see your 
re-formulated question, as I was despairing of locating 5 companies 
that DO offer the discount. Over the holiday I received one answer 
in the US mail, from American Family Insurance, and they said, 
"Information regarding our rates and discounts is proprietary and 
I can't provide you with specific info." They referred me to their 
website, which I will check.

I also received a phone call back from Jerry Davies, Dir. of 
Communications for the Personal Insurance Federation, in Sacramento 
(916-442-6646). He told me he hasn't heard of any company offering
this discount. However, he had heard of someone whose company was
going to cancel them because their pipes had burst three times, and
they were instead renewed after installing the leak detector. He's
checking to see if he can find out which company that was.

Anyway, I will endeavor to ascertain the top 10 companies, then pin
each of them down on your question. My kids go back to school Monday,
so I will make
good progress on it then.Thanks again for your patience and Happy New
Year!
cath-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by cath-ga on 09 Jan 2003 12:34 PST

floguard,

I am so sorry this is taking so long!! I have contacted the media relations
people at the ten companies (repeatedly!) Five have found the answer,three 
just today. They are slow, but we are getting there. All five are "no" so far,
but I have some interesting info on why. We should have all the results soon.
cath-ga

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Clarification of Question by floguard-ga on 10 Jan 2003 09:43 PST

Cath-GA:  Thanks for the update!  That's fine1 - I'll wait for your final reply.

Dear floguard, 

At long last, here is your answer. I’m sorry to say that
there are apparently no top ten companies now offering this 
discount, and perhaps no companies at all. Sorry for the
long wait, and thanks for your patience. I appreciate your
business! cath-ga

Top Ten US Underwriters of Homeowners Insurance 

(From the Insurance Industry Association, according to A.M. Best 
Insurance Rating Company  http://www.ambest.com/ )

State Farm- NO

according to Kip Digs, Media Information 309-766-8864 
Digs told me “ We currently don’t have that because we don’t have
the actuarial data to support the premium discount. Once we get
it we can revisit the idea. “

Allstate- NO
Bill Blanda, media relations team, 847-402-5600

Zurich-Farmers- NO (according to Mary Flynn, “there are some out
there,  ADT has one, but we couldn’t find one that was standard, that
everybody could use, that was effective…”) 323-932-3662

Nationwide- NO
according to Bob Sohovich, in the Media Relations department, 
1-800-882-2822 

USAA: NO
Paul Berry, 210-913-1562, USAA Media Relations

Travelers- Citigroup- NO
According to Kris Mammen, Media Relations, 860-277-7458

Chubb-NO 
Mark Schussel, Public Relations, 908-903-2107

American Family Insurance- declined to answer (by letter), discount 
not on website

Safeco- NO
Paul Holly, Media Relations  206-545-5000 

Liberty Mutual- NO and not aware of anyone else who does.
Glenn Greenberg 617-357-9500, PR, homeowners insurance 


Below is a comprehensive article about water leak prevention systems 
on the State Farm website. If you want to get a company to give this
discount, it looks as though State Farm has an open mind, pending
the data.

http://www.statefarm.com/consumer/vhouse/articles/watersen.htm

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Search Strategy:

On Google:

“largest insurance companies”
“top ten insurance companies”
“homeowners insurance discounts”
“water leak detectors” discounts
“water leak prevention” discounts
“water leak prevention” insurance
“water leak detector” insurance

Also searched the Insurance Industry Institutes website:

http://www.iii.org/individuals/homei/hbs/save/

and e-mailed their representative. Here is her answer:

	alejandras@iii.org

Dear Cath, 
 
We have no knowledge of any company offering such discounts- but
consumers should ask their agent. The more questions, the more
adequately insured a consumer will be.
The "standard" answer on discounts is as follows-
 
You should also check with your insurance company to see if they 
offer premium discounts for the use of dead bolt locks, smoke alarms,
fire extinguishers, sprinkler systems and security systems. Insurers 
are required to offer premium discounts if a policyholder has
installed hurricane/storm shutters and/or hurricane resistant
laminated glass
windows and doors. All of these devices minimize losses and in 
some instances, may deter them.
 
Hope this helps- and feel free to contact us in the future. In fact,
for research questions you may refer directly to Madine Singer-
madines@iii.org
 
Thank you.
Alejandra Soto  

Also searched the Websites of all top ten companies.

www.statefarm.com/homepage.htm

http://www.farmers.com/FarmComm/index3.html

http://www.allstate.com/Home/Home.asp

http://www.nationwide.com/

https://ww3.usaa.com/lcs_corp/Logon

http://www.travelers.com/

http://www.amfam.com/

http://www.libertymutual.com/omapps/ContentServer?pagename=CorporateInternet/Page/CorpHome&dir=/CorporateInternet/CorpHomePage

http://www.safeco.com/

http://www.chubb.com/indexPC.html

SafeHome has just released a new Smoke Detector that Alerts your
Neighbors when it senses smoke in your home(www.safehome.net).