Your insurer wants a monitored alarm: discounts, proof, and keeping the system working

Often yes, but your insurer sets the terms

A monitored alarm can lower your homeowners insurance premium in Texas, but the amount and the rules depend on your insurance company. The Texas Department of Insurance lists a monitored burglar or fire alarm system among the discounts homeowners should ask about, and it advises telling your insurer when you install a monitored alarm or a smart home system. Some insurers go further and require one. Either way, the insurer decides what qualifies and what proof it needs, so ask before you buy and again after installation.

We at Foresight Security install and monitor alarm and camera systems, and insurance is one of the reasons people call us. One customer wrote that his homeowners insurance pretty much mandated the system. I am not an insurance agent, so treat this as general information from the security side, and talk to your licensed agent about your policy.

What the Texas Department of Insurance says

TDI's consumer advice is straightforward. In its tips on lowering home insurance, it says thieves are less likely to target houses with security alarms, and that if you install a monitored security alarm or a smart home system, you should tell your insurance company and ask about a discount. It also notes that companies might offer discounts to customers with smart devices in the home. On its list of ways to save money on home insurance, a monitored burglar or fire alarm system appears among the discounts to ask about.

Notice the word monitored. A siren that only sounds inside the house, or cameras you watch yourself, may not count. Insurers set their own discount rules, so the only reliable answer comes from your company or agent. If you are still deciding between a monitored system and a self-monitored one, our comparison of professional monitoring and self-monitoring lays out the differences.

Burglary, fire and water are separate questions

Ask your insurer which kinds of monitoring matter to them. Burglary monitoring covers doors, windows and motion. Fire monitoring connects smoke and heat detectors to the central station, so the fire department can be dispatched when smoke or fire is detected, even when nobody is home. Some insurers treat those two differently.

Water is worth asking about, too. Our flood sensors send text alerts and are monitored around the clock, which matters most in winter when pipes can freeze and burst. Catching a leak in minutes instead of hours can be the difference between a towel and a claim; if water does get loose, this guide on the first 48 hours after finding standing water covers what to do next.

• Burglary: door and window sensors, motion and glass break detection
• Fire: smoke and heat detectors tied to the central station
• Carbon monoxide: detection with emergency dispatch if nobody responds
• Water: flood sensors with text alerts and 24/7 monitoring

Do the math before you buy for the discount

An insurance discount is a good reason to ask about monitoring, but it is rarely the whole reason to buy a system. Compare the yearly discount your insurer quotes with the yearly cost of monitoring. Depending on the insurer, the discount may offset some of the monitoring cost or very little of it, and the real value is in what the system does: a siren and a dispatch during a break-in, the fire department sent to an empty house, a text before a leaking pipe ruins a floor.

If your insurer is requiring an alarm rather than rewarding one, get the requirement in writing. Ask whether it must include fire monitoring, whether it must be installed by a licensed company, and what deadline you have. Then hand that list to whoever quotes the system so the design meets it the first time. If you are buying a house, ask the insurer about alarm requirements before closing, so the system can be installed and the proof sent without a scramble.

The paperwork insurers usually ask for

When an insurer offers a discount or requires an alarm, it usually wants proof that the system is professionally monitored and what it covers. Ask your insurer exactly what document it accepts, then ask your alarm company for it. Typically that is a letter or certificate from the monitoring company with your name and address, the company's name, what is monitored and the date monitoring started.

Send it to your agent, ask them to confirm the discount was applied, and check your next declarations page or renewal to make sure it shows up. If you never see it, ask. Discounts that are not requested are often never applied.

• Proof of professional monitoring from the alarm company
• What is monitored: burglary, fire, carbon monoxide, water
• The monitoring start date
• Confirmation from your agent that the discount was applied

Keeping the system qualifying

A discount based on monitoring assumes the system stays monitored. If you cancel monitoring, let it lapse, or switch companies, tell your agent, and send new proof if you change providers. A policy priced on a monitored alarm that is no longer monitored can create problems you do not want to discover after a loss. Ask your agent how your policy handles that situation.

Use matters as well as monitoring. A system that is never armed protects nothing, and the household habits that make an alarm useful are the same ones that keep you on good terms with your insurer: arm it when you leave, use a mode for nights at home, and give everyone their own code.

Life changes can affect this too. A remodel that adds doors or windows, a finished garage, a new pool gate or a home office often calls for more sensors or a camera. Updating the system keeps it matched to the house your insurer is actually covering, not the one that existed when it was installed.

A yearly maintenance routine

Security systems are reliable, but they are not maintenance-free. A short routine, twice a year when the clocks change, keeps everything working. Start by calling the monitoring company to put your account on test so nobody is dispatched, then work through the list below and call back to confirm which signals arrived.

Pay special attention to carbon monoxide detectors. The CDC recommends checking batteries when you change your clocks each spring and fall, and replacing CO detectors according to the manufacturer's instructions or every five years. Before the first hard freeze, make sure flood and temperature sensors are where pipes are most exposed and that alerts still reach your phone.

Dallas summers are hard on outdoor equipment, and spring storms can knock a camera out of alignment or leave a lens covered in debris. A quick look at every camera view after a big storm, and again before you leave for a long trip, catches most problems before they matter.

• Put the account on test with the monitoring company
• Open each protected door and window and walk past each motion detector
• Press the test button on smoke and carbon monoxide detectors
• Check dates on detectors and replace any that are due
• Clean camera lenses and check the view and night image
• Pull a recorded clip to confirm cameras are saving footage
• Review user codes, app users and the emergency contact list
• Take the account off test and confirm it is back to normal

When the system has to prove itself

If something does happen, the system becomes evidence. The app keeps a record of activity, including which user code armed or disarmed the system and when, and cameras store video clips you can save. After a break-in, save the relevant clips and activity history before anything is overwritten, and share them with the police and your insurer. After a water or fire event, the alert times show when the problem started, which can help when you describe the loss.

Then call us to inspect the system. A forced door, a damaged sensor or a camera knocked out of alignment should be fixed right away, because the period after an incident is when a house is most exposed.

Ask about the rest of your policy, too

While you are talking to your agent about an alarm discount, it is a good time to look at the whole policy: deductibles, coverage limits and other discounts you may qualify for. If your renewal premium just went up, this guide on what to do when a homeowners renewal jumps walks through the options with a licensed property and casualty agent's perspective.

If your system is older and you are not sure it still reports reliably, check that first. An alarm that cannot reach the monitoring center may not satisfy an insurer that asked for a monitored system. Our guide to signs an old alarm needs replacing includes a simple test.

Getting a system that satisfies your insurer

If your insurer asked for a monitored alarm, or you want to ask about the discount, call us. We serve homes across the Dallas-Fort Worth area. We visit, find out what your insurer wants, and design a system around it: burglary, fire, carbon monoxide and water monitoring as needed, with cameras if you want them.

Our licensed technicians install and test the system and train everyone in the house. Monitoring runs around the clock over a cellular connection that keeps reporting during a power outage or a cut phone line. When your insurer asks for proof, you have a local company to call, and when the system needs inspection, maintenance or repair, we handle that too.

Questions people ask me