Advertising Disclaimer

Homeowners Insurance Public Protection Classes

Read Time: 4 mins

Our team is devoted to helping homeowners make the right coverage choices. We adhere to strict editorial guidelines to maintain the accuracy and relevance of our content. This article may feature our affiliate partners who provide us with compensation; however, our reviews remain independently formed. For further details, please refer to our editorial policy.

Photo by Daniel Tausis on Unsplash

You’ve just moved to a new home and kept your insurance company. You notice your home insurance rates have gone up despite making no new claims and having a good record from your previous property. Why the insurance price hike?

It’s probably due to your new property being rated at a higher Public Protection class. The Public Protection class is a level your property can be rated based on how prevalent of a risk fire is to your home. The class rating is determined by a multitude of factors regarding fire protection in your area by the Insurance Services Organization (ISO).

Compare home insurance quotes
Find cheap rates from the best providers in your area

Most insurance companies take this class rating into regard when determining a policy’s pricing. If you’re seeing a rate increase or are interested in why your policy is more expensive than that of other areas, it’s probably due to the Insurance Protection class.

How the Public Protection Classification is rated

The PPC rating is divided into 10 classes ranging from class-1 to class-10. The lower the class, the better your home is protected from fire emergencies. This means if you are in a class-9 or class-10 rated area, your home is considered “unprotected” by the ISO and a good deal of insurance companies refuse to offer you with coverage.

The insurance company determines your rates based on how much of a risk your home has to damages and, in this case, fire damages. If the insurance company sees that your property is in a higher-class area, they will charge you more to cover your home.

Because the classes are decided based on how well protected your home is from fire damage, it’s easier to understand why higher classes have more expensive policies. The longer it takes for emergency services to get to your home, the more damage will occur. The more your home is damaged, the more the insurance company will have to pay to repair it. By charging higher premiums for higher classes, insurance companies are protecting themselves against financial loss.

What factors determine your PPC class

There are three main factors that decide what protection class your home falls into:

  1. Proximity to a fire station – The closer you are to a fire station, the better protected your house is from fire damage. If you are within a short distance to a fire station, it will take them less time to reach you and stop the fire. Whether the fire department is volunteer or funded plays a role in class determination as well. Class-1 properties are within 5-miles to a fire station. The farther away you are, the higher your class.
  2. Proximity to a fire hydrant – Not being within close distance to a fire station is not the end of the world. If there’s a nearby fire hydrant, the ISO will take that into consideration. As with fire stations, the farther away from a fire hydrant you are, the higher protection class your home will be. This and the proximity to a fire station take up around 90% of the ISO’s determining factors of protection class.
  3. Communication systems – The third and final factor is how well the communication is between your home and emergency services. If communication is spotty at best with poor reception, your property will be considered more at risk. If you can get a call out to the fire department in quick fashion, you will be better off with your class rating.

There are plenty of places online you can go to find out your Public Protection classification. This will help you to understand more why your insurance policy may have increased or is so high to begin with.

Get Cheap Home Insurance
Compare quotes from the top insurance companies in your area to find the cheapest plan
Notice an error or discrepancy?
Despite our rigorous fact-checking process, we recognize that errors can sometimes occur, as we are only human. If you discover any inaccuracies, oversights, or outdated information within this post, please bring it to our attention. Your input is highly appreciated and instrumental in maintaining the accuracy of our content. Contact us here.

Leave a Comment

Thank You for Visiting HOIC