What Is Protection Class For Homeowners Insurance?

  1. 14231 POINTS
    Tom Sheehan
    Agency Owner, The Thomas G Sheehan Agency, 27 Glen Road Sandy Hook, CT 06482
    Standardized Protection Classes are determined by the Insurance Services Organization (ISO).  They regularly survey local Fire Companies and determine these  Protection classes based upon a company's equipment and response time as well as the proximity of fire hydrants within each neighborhood.  Insurance companies use this information, in addition to other factors, in order to adjust their base rates to determine the amount of premium that needs to be charged to most accurately reflect the particular risk. Generally speaking, Protection classes run between PC 1 and PC 10 and the lower the number of the protection class the lower the premium.  All Insurance companies should be using the same Protection Class ratings, but in practice I have found that this is not always the case. Be sure to check with yor insurance professional to make sure that your home is properly rated t avoid any problems down the line.
    Answered on October 24, 2013
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  2. 37376 POINTS
    David G. Pipes, CLU®, RICP®
    Business Development Officer, T.D. McNeil Insurance Services, Fresno, California
    The Insurance Services Office is an independent organization that sets the protection class for most properties in the United States.  Most companies subscribe to this service and issue policies based upon their classification.  This information is not always current but getting it updated can be a slow process.  For example, often fire districts merge and the service to a location might have previously been 15 minutes and is now 2 minutes.  Getting that noted is difficult.
    Answered on August 27, 2014
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  3. 1844 POINTS
    David W. Clausen
    Chief Executive Officer, Coastal Homeowners Insurance Solutions, Rocky Point, NY 11778
    Protection class is determined by an independent organization called the Insurance Services Organization (ISO). ISO will classify the from PC 1-10 based on the distance to a fire department and fire hydrant among other things. On Long Island, NY most homes are considered protection class 4 meaning they are within 5 miles of a Fire Department and within 1000 ft of a fire hydrant. Some homes in the hamptons are Protection class 9. This means that they may be within 5 miles of a fire department but they do not have a hydrant within 1000 ft. Many companies will either surcharge the risk or not write it at all. Having said that, if the fire department has trucks that can pump from an existing body of water, at a certain rate per hour, or can hold a certain amount of water they can be eligible for the Protection class 4 rates. Hope this helps!
    Answered on September 25, 2015
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