Experts say homeowners should be saving one to three percent of the purchase price of their home every year to pay for home maintenance costs, but an Erie Insurance Harris poll shows 60 percent of homeowners are failing to do that.
The survey also finds that more than half of homeowners fail to inspect furnaces once a year, and 23 percent say they never inspect their roof.
Plus, a third mistakenly believe that insurance will pay for any type of roof damage.
“There’s a lot of confusion about what insurance is for,” said Robin Stamps, the owner of Community Shirley Insurance in Dayton.
Insurance is for sudden and accidental damage only, said Stamps.
“If you’ve got a maintenance issue it would be like asking the insurance company to pay for an oil change,” Stamps said.
Not only will neglecting major repairs cost you, but you could also face higher insurance rates or worse.
“People have to be aware that sometimes you are just uninsurable,” Stamps said.
Rachel Murray is a WHIO-TV consumer reporter. You can watch her reports on News Center 7, follow her on Twitter @RMurrayWHIO, and like her fan page on Facebook.
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