Rant against insurance agencies

[WinterDeere]

So far I have maxed deductibles to help… some are now 10k.

I've explored raising our deductables each time we've switched insurance companies, and to my surprise, I've always found the savings to be so minimal that it really wasn't even worth consideration. I think the savings to raise our homeowner's deductable from $5k way up to $50k was only $70 per year, or something like that.

I normally don't bother to insure anything I can afford to replace, or anything I don't need to replace. There's little point in insuring my tractor, when the chance of loss is so small, and I can easily afford to go buy a new one, if by some miracle something does happen to the thing. Likewise with collections of anything, such as firearms... I really don't need to replace an antique civil war repeater, if lost.

The size and success of the insurance industry is a great example of a lot of people throwing away money insuring things that really don't need to be insured. Speaking of which, anyone been to Allstate Arena or State Farm Park?

... and when I say, "I can easily buy a new one," I'm not pretending to be Elon Musk-rich, or that it won't ruin my year. But it's not going to make me homeless or take food off our table, either.

 

[ultrarunner]

5 to 10k annual residential home owners policy premiums are becoming the norm and you learn not question as options may not exist…

Several of my friends have gone naked with no insurance or only a liability policy…

12k annually for a 3,000 feet 1970’s home and a 2500 square feet shop is what he was paying before dropped.

My boss and my brother live in typical residential neighborhoods with sidewalks, parks, street lights and plenty of fire hydrants and less than a mile from fire house and both dropped by longterm carriers.

 

[Joel/ak]

Doesn't this apply to most of life? Seriously, don't become that dissatisfied customer that nobody wants to work with in resolving an issue. I agree that sometimes one has to take a hard line but when emotions get involved it can become a whole new problem.

Usually my wife doesn't get mad. After weeks of run around and games, she was done. We finally got to another claims agent from a different office. She was great. She told me and my wife were treated wrong and it shouldn't have gone this far, she was reading the notes that have been put on our claim. Then magically things started happening under this new lady.

World doesn't stop and evolve around me i know. But weeks before even a human puts a hand on the truck.....that's BS

 

[Joel/ak]

Regardless, the PIA ordeal is done with. We got a different truck.

Both sides could have handled it differently

 

[JRH02]

It's in the news that the tariffs will cause prices to go up for consumers, not the least of things will be new vehicle prices. This will directly AND indirectly affect the price of used vehicles and the value of the rig you use right now. So I suspect that if the dread event happens that your rig is stolen or totaled that the insurance companies will have real time valuations for your loss so you can go get a replacement. Right?

 

[mrmikey]

.........the insurance companies will have real time valuations for your loss so you can go get a replacement. Right?

My guess is they'll give you the price that was based on the premiums you paid. So if your policy is 11 months old and they based your replacement payout on the vehicle 11 months ago the chance of you getting a newly priced vehicle would be slim. Insurance companies will get out of it somehow guaranteed.

 

[ultrarunner]

It's in the news that the tariffs will cause prices to go up for consumers, not the least of things will be new vehicle prices. This will directly AND indirectly affect the price of used vehicles and the value of the rig you use right now. So I suspect that if the dread event happens that your rig is stolen or totaled that the insurance companies will have real time valuations for your loss so you can go get a replacement. Right?

Several with cars totaled or not recovered were given the option to find a replacement and insurance paid.

I met a guy at Toyota… his 75 year old mother’s 95 Camry, garage kept with 19,000 miles was stolen… insurance offered not so much but when contested offered the option to find another and they would pay for it.

Local Toyota had a mint 1995 30,000 mile Camry for $10,000 so he flew to San Francisco to drive it home…

10k was a lot more than the $3500 offered.

 

[WinterDeere]

So I suspect that if the dread event happens that your rig is stolen or totaled that the insurance companies will have real time valuations for your loss so you can go get a replacement. Right?

When not clearly spelled out in black and white, or open for any level of interpretation, the interpretation which will cost the insurer the least will always be favored. If you believe there's another interpretation of the policy that lands more in your favor, then I think it's going to be up to you to lawyer it out with the carrier.

 

[5030]

My philosophy is with insurance, you have to have it and if you suffer a loss, they will always screw you to the wall...

If I told anyone how much I paid in insurance for the farm, for the rentals and for the machine shop yearly, you'd probably thing I was nutz.

I forgot to include the cars, the farm truck and my Class 8 tractor and grain trailer.

Here in Michigan at least, no insurance (vehicles) means no plates.

 

[M59]

My philosophy is with insurance, you have to have it and if you suffer a loss, they will always screw you to the wall...

If I told anyone how much I paid in insurance for the farm, for the rentals and for the machine shop yearly, you'd probably thing I was nutz.

No I wouldn't think you were nutz, however I do have problem with the shenanigans that go on in the book keeping and legal juggling the insurance play in order to "justify" raising their rates with the individual state regulators.

You have the benefit of offsetting those costs, to some degree, as a business expense.

I would like to see the state and federal laws change so there was greater competition among the insurers by allowing all insurers to operate in all states instead of states authorizing only specific insurers to operate in their state.

In TN if you drop your insurance the insurer immediately reports this to DMV and police are notified. A simple traffic stop turns into a expensive day.

 

[5030]

Rates NEVER go down, only up. What a racket.

 

[M59]

Perhaps we should start the TBN Mutual Insurance Company specializing in tractors and off road equipment.

 

[dfkrug]

All is well as long as there are no claims. All insurance companies, the worst included, will happily process your premiums.

Another supporter of Auto Owners Ins here, but long time State Farm customer.

Auto Owners Insurance processed and paid out my only at-fault auto claim promptly. That was in AZ in the early 80s. I also had them when I lived in MI.

Wish I could get Auto Owners Ins to come to CA....

 

[EscapedSuburbia]

We finally gave up our umbrella policy because a condition of it was that we had to have high coverage on anything that floats or has wheels. It just got to be too much carrying insurance on everything, even those that never left our property.

 

[mjonesnh]

We finally gave up our umbrella policy because a condition of it was that we had to have high coverage on anything that floats or has wheels. It just got to be too much carrying insurance on everything, even those that never left our property.

Currently have umbrella policy in effect. Company requires max liability on all other policies in effect, so farm, autos, and homeowners max on liability. Helps me sleep better at night with extra liability coverage

 

[WinterDeere]

Rates NEVER go down, only up. What a racket.

When I was young and idealistic (naive?) I got irritated that Allstate would raise my rates every year, despite zero claims in 20 years, and then magically be able to drop them every time I called and threatened to cancel. I'd always think, "if you had the ability to offer me a better rate, then why did you instead raise my rates last year?"

Of course, that's the whole game, small incremental increases over millions of customers adds up to substantial revenue growth. And the name of the game is pushing those increases until someone squeals, before dropping the rate to avoid loss of zero-claims customers.

Anyway, being so idealistic, I decided to switch to a new insurer when I sold my first house and had to arrange insurance on the second. Then I learned the new insurer was working from the same playbook, as they all are. After that, I decided it's probably best to just choose your insurer based on the one that will give you the least hassle with a claim, should it ever happen.

 

[JRH02]

The ins rider for the tractors, atv and utv is pretty inexpensive. The woodmill too. Where we are located in remote forest, of course fire/theft/vandalism is one thing but to get a heavy machine back upright or retrieved and mechanically restored would be a huge expense - we're not talking about a lawn tractor situation. The coverage doesn't apply to any maintenance aspect. Just getting the LBH to a trail and 1 1/2 mile to the nearest place get a lowboy and then get it loaded, whoa. Of course the smaller stuff is a different story.

 

[EscapedSuburbia]

The ins rider for the tractors, atv and utv is pretty inexpensive.

True, but it all adds up. What finally got us to drop our umbrella was the requirement to insure our ebikes. I wasn't opposed to that since they were expensive and I'd have liked theft coverage, but they wanted to treat them like motorcycles at $40/month each. These are not electric motorcycles - they don't have throttles and the motors only provide power in proportion to peddling effort. That was the final straw. When we added up all the excess coverage on everything with wheels we just couldn't justify keeping the umbrella. We didn't make the decision lightly because I do feel that if I caused a life altering injury to someone I want them taken care of but there's a limit. We're retired and our 401k is federally shielded from lawsuits and our state protects our IRAs and, to some degree, our house so I don't have huge financial exposure but I'd still like an umbrella if it wasn't for all the additional insurance it requires.

 

[JRH02]

True, but it all adds up. What finally got us to drop our umbrella was the requirement to insure our ebikes. I wasn't opposed to that since they were expensive and I'd have liked theft coverage, but they wanted to treat them like motorcycles at $40/month each. These are not electric motorcycles - they don't have throttles and the motors only provide power in proportion to peddling effort. That was the final straw. When we added up all the excess coverage on everything with wheels we just couldn't justify keeping the umbrella. We didn't make the decision lightly because I do feel that if I caused a life altering injury to someone I want them taken care of but there's a limit. We're retired and our 401k is federally shielded from lawsuits and our state protects our IRAs and, to some degree, our house so I don't have huge financial exposure but I'd still like an umbrella if it wasn't for all the additional insurance it requires.

All of that over ebikes?!? Those things sound like a stress heart attack let alone burning your house down.

Just teasing....

 

[buckeyefarmer]

My agent really worked to get me the best possible payout when my son totalled my subaru, Wasn't SF.