Talk to me about Insurance: Auto, Home, personal liability

[riser4]

I have homo insurance

And that covers exactly what now?

[iceman]

You can also sign up if you are related to a veteran.
Worth it, excellent service.

I used to work at USAA in the mailroom when I was in college. My last paycheck came in the mail with a handwritten note saying, "here is the final paycheck for the job you abandoned." And it's true, I just didn't go in one day. And from then on. But it was mostly because of this very big DC girl that made it very clear that she wanted to fuck me, any time, any where, as long as it was RIGHT THEN. I tended to spend most of the day hiding from her. It got awkward.

[Peruvian]

1. Everyone with any assets or a good income should have an umbrella policy, they are cheap as hell.

2. All insurance companies suck in their own way, and it's always situation dependent.

3. Hire lawyers to fuck with insurance companies, and don't wait. In many states, if you are forced to hire an attorney and they get a goddamn penny more from the insurance company, the insurance company is on the hook for attorney fees.

disclaimer: this isn't legal advice but I looooooove to sue insurance companies.

Agree totally with #1 & 2. You are way off with #3.

[yeahman]

Hutash mentioned Chubb, anybody else have experience with them? I have heard they are one of the best to deal with but I've never checked how their rates compare.

[El Chupacabra]

Agree totally with #1 & 2. You are way off with #3.

Agree completely with Peruvian.

Source: (for old goat and Danno) - me. Spent years litigating insurance claims, mostly on the insurance company side. Experience working for Farmers, AIG, Allstate, Chubb, CNA, American Family, Country, and a variety of others.

I'm also surprised that people believe that their local sales agent (the one who sold you a policy) has any "pull" in getting claims handled faster/ better/ whatever more advantageous manner to the insured. They don't. They will forward claims documents to the carrier and can play the squeaky wheel for you, but they have zero authority to resolve claims.

FWIW, I have auto, home, and umbrella through Ameriprise through Costco. Minor claims over the years, mostly Mrs C's driving. I don't have any real criticism of them other than the rates have crept up quite a bit in recent years. When I last shopped comparable coverage, though, I couldn't find any improvements unless I stooped to Geico - and NFW on that.

I agree with the comment somewhere above to avoid the super cut rate companies like the General. Otherwise, for personal auto and home, you can pretty much go with any of the big names you've heard in ads.

[hutash]

Hutash or any other Californian--any experience referring denials or underpayments to the insurance commissioner? No issues at the moment, just curious.

No personal experience, but the IC got involved with the some of the fire claims and helped people expedite claims. He leaned on several companies to pay out max or near max on contents, which a lot of companies did. Helps that it is an election year and he is running for LG I believe. Didn't help us since Travelers wants a total contents list, we we will be able to provide plus a lot extra (hence part of the law suit.)

[old goat]

Re State Farm--we've had several at fault accidents over the years. After two close together they raised the rates on my car temporarily (I was driving the last one). But the amount they overpaid to total a 4Runner was more than the increased premium.

We had an umbrella policy claim--guy--fellow Kaiser doc-- bought the house next door and started doing demolition with day laborers. My wife turned him in to the city for contracting without a license, illegal lead and asbestos abatement, doing unpermitted work, and fire hazard (unshielded romex going under the door of the shipping container he was using as a shop on site. City wouldn't do anything--seems he was bribing someone in the building department--but the fire marshall had the power shut off and then the city finally razed the building. They hired a shark of a lawyer to sue for slander, emotional distress and all the usual bullshit. He lied about having my wife served and sent us a letter a couple of days before we were supposed to go to court, so we didn't have the legal amount of time to file a SLAPP back suit. State Farm defended us with an attorney who did auto cases and was out of his depth. Eventually State Farm settled--for less than the guys attorney's fees since his attorney wasn't doing the case on contingency. State Farm didn't cancel us or raise our rates on the umbrella but they did exclude slander and libel from future coverage.

From time to time we've regretted not hiring our own, more experienced and more aggressive attorney to counter sue (among other things my wife blew out her knee tripping over demolition debris on our property) and maybe get the time extended to file a SLAPP back suit, given the fraudulent claim of having served us (we could prove we were out of town when they claimed we were served). But I think it worked out for the best. There's no guarantee of winning, my wife wouldn't make a sympathetic witness, and the case would have dragged on longer than it did. In any case, we don't have those particular assholes as neighbors, which was worth the whole experience.

What we learned from the experience was that lawsuits are no fun. OK--maybe if you're Donald Trump they're fun, but not for normal people. Whenever I hear or read people talking about suing about this and that I know they've never been through it on either end.

[Kinnikinnick]

Lots of good thoughts. We have the umbrella or personal liability policy. I’ll need to ping Amica and a couple of the others to see if our rates are competitive.

Once we ring up all the policies with autos, Home, liability, life insurance we are tallying close to $4k a year, Seems like too much.


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[Danno]

I used to work at USAA in the mailroom when I was in college. My last paycheck came in the mail with a handwritten note saying, "here is the final paycheck for the job you abandoned." And it's true, I just didn't go in one day. And from then on. But it was mostly because of this very big DC girl that made it very clear that she wanted to fuck me, any time, any where, as long as it was RIGHT THEN. I tended to spend most of the day hiding from her. It got awkward.

Cool sorry bro.

No, really, cool story bro.

[reckless toboggan]

I used to work at USAA in the mailroom when I was in college. My last paycheck came in the mail with a handwritten note saying, "here is the final paycheck for the job you abandoned." And it's true, I just didn't go in one day. And from then on. But it was mostly because of this very big DC girl that made it very clear that she wanted to fuck me, any time, any where, as long as it was RIGHT THEN. I tended to spend most of the day hiding from her. It got awkward.

Was it the jeans?



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.
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But seriously you should sue the fuckers for a hostile workplace.
#meetoo

[Harry]

USAA is pretty good if you are a veteran.

Ditto. Been with USAA for 30+ years. Plus they still call me by military rank after all these years. "Good afternoon Lieutenant Harry, how may I assist you today ?"

[old goat]

Someone mentioned USAA for relatives of military. I can tell you it doesn't work for parents.

[Danno]

Someone mentioned USAA for relatives of military. I can tell you it doesn't work for parents.

I believe it's dependents and former dependents. So yeah, parent doesn't count.

[El Chupacabra]

USAA was willing to write for me and Mrs C (she is ex Navy), but I only got through the HO quote before stopping the application - their quote was over twice our current policy. YMMV and all that.

[ski-wpk]

I have USAA for home, rental properties, autos (child of retired military) and have no idea if the rates are competitive. Service is so good, and claims process so simple, that I’ve never thought to shop around in 25 years.

In other news I bought a minivan today. #winning

[Danno]

I have USAA for home, rental properties, autos (child of retired military) and have no idea if the rates are competitive. Service is so good, and claims process so simple, that I’ve never thought to shop around in 25 years.

I wish I could say that. But the two claims I've had in the past 2-3 years (one auto, one home) were both handled poorly.

Have you noticed that they advertise a lot these days? I think they've been working hard on growing and customer service has suffered.

[Mazderati]

Lots of praise for USAA but also plenty of criticism found online. I think 60 Minutes did a piece about some of their questionable lending practices a few years.

[Danno]

Lots of praise for USAA but also plenty of criticism found online. I think 60 Minutes did a piece about some of their questionable lending practices a few years.

Comments on their website seem to run heavy with the "I was a happy member for xx years, but not anymore". I do banking and investments with them too, and a few years back I had some fraud perpetrated on my debit card, and they were not very nice, they treated me like a criminal trying to scam them rather than a victim.

Their second level of customer service has been top notch, though. If you complain on FB or on their website, they give you someone to help you, and that person has always helped me make things right. But the first level has sucked ass the last 3 or 4 times I have had a problem.

[old goat]

You got sources for this info? I mean, you're a surgeon not an insurance broker, right? It's not clear if it's accurate, are you assuming that the insured has collision? Because if not, I think a complete and final determination of who is at fault will probably be required before the insurance pays out (but I have no source for that). And your comment re fire prone area, that sounds like a rumor. Do you have a source for that? Way too many rumors that turn out to be bullshit on this forum. I try to only pay attention to information from reliable sources, where the source is identified, ya know?

Consider me needled. Sources--my way too extensive experience with collisions both at fault and not at fault and how State Farm handled the claims. State Farms rules for purchasing umbrella insurance. Coverage in the Truckee Sun (used to be Sierra Sun) about homeowner's coverage in the area.
https://www.truckeesun.com/news/envi...g-brush-trees/
(according to this article being with a company a long time won't stop them from cancelling you but I'd still be loath to switch companies until I actually get dropped. That's just personal opinion.)
As far as getting reimbursed for a not at fault collision--someone pointed out that's true only if you have collision coverage, which I assume almost everyone has for any vehicle worth it. We have never had a problem getting immediate repairs paid for when it was the other guy's fault, minus the deductible, and then getting the deductible reimbursed--accept the time the other driver was also State Farm. Maybe it varies by state--insurance is a state by state matter.

[RootSkier]

Agree completely with Peruvian.

Source: (for old goat and Danno) - me. Spent years litigating insurance claims, mostly on the insurance company side. Experience working for Farmers, AIG, Allstate, Chubb, CNA, American Family, Country, and a variety of others.

I'm not talking about $5000 disputes here, but I regularly see cases where insurance companies fuck up by admitting liability (or where it is reasonably clear) but then refuse to pay what they should. What do you recommend people do in those circumstances, especially when the damages are in the six figures?

I think trying to compare companies by anecdotal evidence is a waste of time. Your claims handling will be dictated mostly by chance--if you get a good adjuster you'll be fine but if you get a shit adjuster you are fucked.

[El Chupacabra]

I'm not talking about $5000 disputes here, but I regularly see cases where insurance companies fuck up by admitting liability (or where it is reasonably clear) but then refuse to pay what they should. What do you recommend people do in those circumstances, especially when the damages are in the six figures?

I think trying to compare companies by anecdotal evidence is a waste of time. Your claims handling will be dictated mostly by chance--if you get a good adjuster you'll be fine but if you get a shit adjuster you are fucked.

A carrier can admit liability and dispute damages. That is not necessarily a fuck up or bad faith.

My reason to disagree with your statement was because you said that if you prove a penny more damages than the carrier wanted to pay, then you automatically get attorneys fees. That is not accurate.

I would recommend anyone with a dispute with their carrier to pursue that dispute, either themselves or consult an attorney. There are lots of Plaintiff's bad faith lawyers out there.

[Nobody Famous]

You know – I’ve got friends of mine who live and die by the actuarial tables and I say ‘Hey. It’s all one big crapshoot anywho.’

OP - Have you heard of single premium life? Because I really think that could be the ticket for you.

Ned the insurance guy on Groundhog Day.

[Danno]

Ned the insurance guy on Groundhog Day.

Ned? Ned Ryerson?

[neufox47]

Consider me needled. Sources--my way too extensive experience with collisions both at fault and not at fault and how State Farm handled the claims. State Farms rules for purchasing umbrella insurance. Coverage in the Truckee Sun (used to be Sierra Sun) about homeowner's coverage in the area.
https://www.truckeesun.com/news/envi...g-brush-trees/
(according to this article being with a company a long time won't stop them from cancelling you but I'd still be loath to switch companies until I actually get dropped. That's just personal opinion.)
.

Yea most of the time when they drop, they stop writing in the area all together. For those in high fire areas in California try Spinnaker Insurance. It is a non-admitted carrier with really competitive rates based on the quotes i got. As someone who has been involved in many insurance cases, some companies are generally better than others but the individual adjuster and the examiner (who the adjuster reports to) matter more.

If you have a business policy make sure your broker writes a specific adjuster into your policy.

[Marshall Tucker]

TN Ken, nother questions. Assume you meant what comes up online as "Cincinnati Financial insurance company" "The Cincinnati Insurance Company" etc.

Also, re-reading what you wrote, is your UIM coverage for the bike, does that kick in through the umbrella, which you also reco Cincinnati for? seems how its written.

Freakin hated insurance class in college.