Rant against insurance agencies

[Joel/ak]

There are bad agents as well as good ones. Just like bad service shops and bad doctors. I have been lucky to have a good SF agent.

That was a big part of the problem. Our old agent was great, he was johny on the spot any time any problem was brought up. He retired.

This new jack wagon is MIA. Can't get ahold of him. We stop in there and he's always gone. Doesn't return calls, etc

The secretary who does her best swears he does exist.

 

[Dftodd]

Copart has ruined the business. Now insurance companies are using arbitrage to find the relationship between what it will cost to repair vs what they can get from Copart to part out the vehicle.

A car or truck that requires a lot of repair work is going to be totaled. I have seen if a repair is 25% of the value, it's totaled. It use to be 50-60%.

I remember telling you that the bumper you had on is what is called a damage multiplier. Round bar bumbers should be banned. Only put plate steel bumpers on, but those are heavy and expensive.

I would get what you can from SF. Then buy it back. Then call up Copart and sell it to them. SF will do everything to prevent you from doing this, but this is best way to deal with it.

My son in law has two vehicles he's purchased from Copart.

Daughters Kia Telluride and a Jeep Gladiator.

The Gladiator was a steal. Must have been the insurance adjusters first week on the job.

Insurance adjuster totaled the Gladiator out for a bent frame. The only thing bent was the upper bracket (bolt on) for the lift kit.

Son in law got the Gladiator for 33% of what a new one leather and loaded with a lift kit would cost with low miles.

It cost him $550 to replace the bracket and some mounting hardware for the fender flare that was sitting in the back seat

He's a mechanic at a car dealership. So he checked the frame, replaced the bracket, gave it an alignment and borrowed his buddies plastic rivet gun for the fasteners for the fender flare.

He had to replace the carpeting, and a few sensors on my daughters Telluride.

 

[Little Red Tractor]

Not a fan of State Farm. I have a long track record with another insurance company. Last year I got rear-ended (in a truck with 1500 miles on it). The other guy was insured with State Farm. They placed me 40% at fault as I was making a right turn when he rear-ended me. Go figure?!?!?!?! That forced me to collect on my own insurance, and pay the deductible.

My insurance company went to bat for me and I got the deductible back...though it took about 6 months to get it.

 

[Runner]

I will have to say that, although their current billing process mystifies me, State Farm has been more than fair with any claims I've had (a couple for auto and couple for home). For example, my truck was stolen and needed some minor repairs.

They let me look at it after the repairs were done for my approval and I noticed something that I hadn't noticed when I first turned in the claim (the rear bumper had been hit and bent slightly). When I mentioned this, they said no problem and replaced the rear bumper. Always let me pick any shop I wanted, etc.

When my shop was burglarized, they just said "give us a list" and replaced everything I put on there, no questions asked.

So their service has been good for me.

 

[dbritt]

Google "Josh Hawley and State Farm" for a plethora of bad publicity, or watch this for a starting point:

 

[ZiggyD]

I’m with Auto Owners and all is well

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

 

[WinterDeere]

The days of the family agent in town are fading fast… real fast here in Oakland anyway.

The days of a family agent weren't as rosey as some seem to think. Nostalgia has a way of painting over the rough spots.

Just one of a million stories: My grandparents used the same insurance agent for decades, something like 40 years. They had their business, home, auto, and life insurance all through the same agent and company (Prudential). The agent would swing by their house for their premium payment each quarter or twice a year, whatever their payment schedule was, same routine for decades.

Then while we were all away on vacation ca.1990, grandpa got sick, and we all found ourselves stuck hours from home, with him in the hospital until he passed. Subsequently, grandma found out the term life insurance into which they'd been paying for something like 40 years had been canceled during that window, because they had missed their most recent payment.

Long story short, their agent had passed or retired (I can't remember which), and so he never showed up at the house to collect their most recent payment. With grandpa being sick, no one noticed. With everyone stuck hours from home in a hospital, no one received any letters from the insurance company of late notices.

Grandma got nothing from a policy into which I'm told they paid premiums since the 1950's.

 

[ultrarunner]

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

Even 40 years claim free across all policies isn’t a sure bet in California.

 

[ultrarunner]

The days of a family agent weren't as rosey as some seem to think. Nostalgia has a way of painting over the rough spots.

Just one of a million stories: My grandparents used the same insurance agent for decades, something like 40 years. They had their business, home, auto, and life insurance all through the same agent and company (Prudential). The agent would swing by their house for their premium payment each quarter or twice a year, whatever their payment schedule was, same routine for decades.

Then while we were all away on vacation ca.1990, grandpa got sick, and we all found ourselves stuck hours from home, with him in the hospital until he passed. Subsequently, grandma found out the term life insurance into which they'd been paying for something like 40 years had been canceled during that window, because they had missed their most recent payment.

Long story short, their agent had passed or retired (I can't remember which), and so he never showed up at the house to collect their most recent payment. With grandpa being sick, no one noticed. With everyone stuck hours from home in a hospital, no one received any letters from the insurance company of late notices.

Grandma got nothing from a policy into which I'm told they paid premiums since the 1950's.

My only experience is auto and home… state regs are very specific regarding notice, appeals, etc…

Not sure how it works with Life Insurance… no one in the family has ever had Life Insurance except dads Navy policy…

 

[WinterDeere]

My only experience is auto and home… state regs are very specific regarding notice, appeals, etc…

Not sure how it works with Life Insurance… no one in the family has ever had Life Insurance except dads Navy policy…

This was also 35 years ago, when laws may have been different, and we're relying on my memory as a teenager at the time. So I'm sure there was more to the story, but the result was as described, either way.