Car insurance problems

[dave1949]

Our county re-appraises property annually. Each of the last 2 years, they raised my appraisal, and each time, I went to the Central Appraisal District office and they promptly lowered the appraisal to what I considered fair with no argument at all. but I guess the homeowners who didn't take the time to go down there, and sit and wait an hour or so to talk to an appraisor, just paid higher taxes.

Hi Bird,
I went through that once at our old house. They never did lower the book appraisal, they gave me an 'abatement'. I thought that was cheesy and not really the same thing. The town was very aggressive on taxing homes at or above the true market value. You're right, anyone who didn't take, or have the time, paid too much.
Dave.

 

[ToadHill]

Local government recently appraised my home. They compared it to other houses in a much newer part of town, not a single home in my area even though 4 housed in a row were built at the same time by the same builder. I appealed, I might have just as well spit into the wind.

I offered to sell the house to the city for their appraisal but they weren't interested. Problem is the only one you acn appeal

 

[hitekcountry]

The Godfather I is a prime example of that.

That's going back a LOT of years, and I agree that's an excellent example. I read the book before the movie come out. After reading the book the movie was a huge disappointment

 

[dave1949]

That's going back a LOT of years, and I agree that's an excellent example. I read the book before the movie come out. After reading the book the movie was a huge disappointment

1972? Gosh, it didn't seem that long ago. But on the other hand, my wife and I married in 1971

I liked the movie well enough, but reading the book first really helped to know the characters and the Godfather's 'early' days and philosophy of crime, none of which were in the movie. Perhaps the popularity of the movie series took them by surprise, or they would have done things differently.
Dave.

 

[Bird]

Local government recently appraised my home. They compared it to other houses in a much newer part of town, not a single home in my area even though 4 housed in a row were built at the same time by the same builder. I appealed, I might have just as well spit into the wind.

I offered to sell the house to the city for their appraisal but they weren't interested. Problem is the only one you acn appeal

I had the same thing happen in Dallas in 1988. In fact, we had the house on the market trying to sell it, and in spite of going to the appeals board, their appraisal was more than 25% higher than the price we eventually got for the house. But, in spite of initially inflated appraisals, here in Denton County the appraisal folks were quite fair when I went to see them.

 

[dmccarty]

Kyle does your brother have car insurance with medical coverage? If he does then his insurance should be paying for the med bills as well as the other at fault insurance company. Given what the other insurance company is doing I would first call the insurance commission since it cost him nothing. They might help. He has nothing to loose be a phone call. Then its lawyer time but the lawyer is not going to be a perfect solution either.

In NC the at fault insurance does NOT pay until ALL treatment is complete. Up to that point its the victim who has to pay the bills until treatment is finished which could be many months.

I USED to carry a very small coverage for medical coverage on our car insurance since we have good but expensive health care insurance. I think this is a good way to do things. On the other hand if one cannot afford health care insurance carrying decent medical coverage on your auto insurance would be a good thing. Kinda cheap and lets face it, for most of us the biggest risk we have is getting in the car and driving.

After our accident I increased our medical coverage on the auto insurance. My wife quickly went through our coverage on the auto insurance so we have to pay a bit out of pocked until she is healthy. And my neck/back is still messed up so we don't know when the at fault insurance will be paying up.

Later,
Dan

 

[MikeD74T]

Here in KY, you need proof of insurance before you can register a vehicle. A minor inconvieniance sometimes but I think that it is a good idea.
QUOTE]

Same here in Maine. I think it is a good idea too, but there will always be yahoos out there with no insurance, suspended driver's license, etc. I don't know if those people ought to spend time in jail when they are caught. They seem to be involved in an awful lot of accidents. That makes sense, as you usually lose your license and insurance because you were a bad or DUI driver.
Dave.

A coworker has a towing business with his son in NH. He always has several Maine registered cars in his impound lot with expired or cancelled insurance that he can't get rid of because the deadbeat owners won't pay the tow, release the title, or even just haul the cars away. They're usually low end junks with too much damage to fix, either accident or breakdown related. He's required by NH law to keep the cars in a secure facility until he goes thru the abandoned vehicle process which consumes more time & money than junk value of the vehicles.
Not picking on Mainiacs, just saying mandatory insurance is a joke as far as enforcement is concerned. MikeD74T

 

[dave1949]

A coworker has a towing business with his son in NH. He always has several Maine registered cars in his impound lot with expired or cancelled insurance that he can't get rid of because the deadbeat owners won't pay the tow, release the title, or even just haul the cars away. They're usually low end junks with too much damage to fix, either accident or breakdown related. He's required by NH law to keep the cars in a secure facility until he goes thru the abandoned vehicle process which consumes more time & money than junk value of the vehicles.
Not picking on Mainiacs, just saying mandatory insurance is a joke as far as enforcement is concerned. MikeD74T

Yep, that's my take on it too. I know it sounds like a police state to do it, but I'll bet if they started roadblock checks for expired insurance they would nail more people. Hard to verify the insurance is actually in effect. The law in Maine requires the insurance company to inform the state any time a policy is cancelled, then the state sends you a letter which you must respond to with proof of insurance. Happened to us when we changed carriers. So, like always, it's just added paperwork for honest people and the others probably ignore it all.

They don't mind pulling over 100 cars leaving the annual pot - er, 'hemp', festival over in Starks, ME - for 'suspected vehicle defects' - of course. And somehow, they always find probable cause to search the vehicle They also stop every car going down Route 1 for OUI checks around New Years.

The point is, like you say, enforcement of insurance is a joke.
Dave.

 

[2manyrocks]

What is even more offensive is the way enforcement is handled. A friend of mind who is a responsible young man ended up paying about $150 over a burned out tailight. I was in court when the judge let a woman who was driving on a revoked license (why revoked--think DUI) and couldn't pay her court costs, keep rolling the costs till the next session of court. The judge is now retired with his state pension. I'd bet you she didn't have any car insurance, either. --except I don't bet.

 

[Jstpssng]

A coworker has a towing business with his son in NH. He always has several Maine registered cars in his impound lot with expired or cancelled insurance that he can't get rid of because the deadbeat owners won't pay the tow, release the title, or even just haul the cars away. They're usually low end junks with too much damage to fix, either accident or breakdown related. He's required by NH law to keep the cars in a secure facility until he goes thru the abandoned vehicle process which consumes more time & money than junk value of the vehicles.
Not picking on Mainiacs, just saying mandatory insurance is a joke as far as enforcement is concerned. MikeD74T

I'm not big on government intervention; but when the law first went into effect there were many complaining it would "discriminate against poor people who can't afford insurance."
In that case they also can't afford the repair bills on my auto after they run into me.

Given the difficulty this state has keeping unlicensed drivers off the road, enforcing insurance laws really is a joke.