Insurance

[clyde]

My wife and I have been with the same auto insurance carrier for 15+ years and it's been a good little while since I last got quotes. When I did it last time, none of the others would have saved us much so we did nothing. With the 2 recent not at fault accidents and her 1 at fault in the 3-5 year range, I thought now might be a good time to get another round of quotes since some of the time based discounts are gone or minimal.

Also, I'm having some bad feelings about our carrier. I'm still ticked about the two days I lost at MVA in September because they couldn't figure out how to send a form to MVA saying my insurance had not lapsed while the repeatedly told me they sent it when they had not. They've also treated my wife kind of poorly re: her crash last week even after the other driver's insurance
Accepted full liability.

I spent a couple hours getting online quotes from 7 or 8 carriers and have another few left to do. All the quotes are for the same coverage (or as close to it as possible) and paid six months at a time. The spread from cheapest to most expensive is pretty incredible with the most expensive nearly three times as much as least expensive. What's also bizarre is the spread in the different line items. Carrier 1 will be way more than Carrier 2 for Coverage A, but they'll be reversed for Coverage B.

Our current premium sits right in the middle of the range.

One of the quotes was almost identical. An agent from that carrier called the house a little while later while I was out and told my wife the quote didn't include all the discounts that should have applied. Well, why the fuck not?

This is such a pain in the ass.

[bren]

I try to do it every 3 or 4 years, but I take the lazy route and use a broker and let them do the shopping. Come to think of it, I'm about due to give him a call.

[kognito]

I've never had much luck with online insurance quotes. I have always felt it is better to have a face-to-face, personal relationship with a local agent (most of the past 30 years have been with State Farm)

[lip277]

I have a local independent agent and he has access to MANY companies.
Each year, on his own, he runs my numbers through his system and lets me know if anything is of interest.

A few years back he also got wind of a pretty significant rate increase my (then) carrier was going to do. He found me a good alternative and I switched accordingly.

Instead of playing with each company yourself - I favor getting someone to do it for you.

[John V]

I've had the same insurance for the last 15 years, so I'm not the right person to ask :lol:

Having said that, our carrier did an awesome job handling the two claims we've made so far. One for a new windshield for the Mazda a couple years ago and one just last week for damage the Mazda sustained when a pickup truck lost a 2x6 out of its bed and it took part of the front bumper off.

[GimpyMcFarlan]

Recently switched from State Farm to Amica. Saving about 10%.

[SARAFIL]

I've been in the business for a while now. Bottom line, shop around and do so every 2-3 years as things are always changing.

Generally, Geico or Progressive will be cheapest but also generally have worse service when/if end end up filing a claim. They're more likely to nickel and dime you.

Beyond that, it's up to you how you prefer to buy... Direct or via an agent. I'd recommend at least talking to an independent agent and see what quotes they can get you. They are not tied to one individual carrier like exclusive agents (ex. State Farm, Allstate, Nationwide) so they can shop 5-6 carriers to get you options. These are also typically companies that don't sell direct so they can access companies you aren't seeing if you shop online yourself.

A few things to beware of...
A) do you insure your home with the same company? If so, you're probably getting a discount on both policies that you'll lose if you switch just your auto. May be worth asking an agent to quote both for you, since you might also be overpaying for home insurance anyways.
B) beware of "disappearing discounts" - these are things like early shopper, new client discounts, etc. They roll off over time so your rates will go up without even factoring in general rate increases. It causes some people to feel like they are getting a bait and switch after a year.

Pricing insurance is tricky because it's all about making a prediction about future losses with limited info. Carriers use many variables about you and set rates based on their historical experience. The huge rate differences you see on quotes are actually very common just because you are getting segmented differently by each carrier because they use different variables to price the policy, and one might group you into a preferred bucket while looking at a different set of variables you might not be as preferred by another carrier. That's why you should always shop around every few years.

[clyde]

Of the 8 companies I have solid quotes from, Geico is the cheapest by far. But, they're geico and fuck geico. But they're really, really cheap. A few years back there were reports of them trolling results of certain events and dropping people wih the same names. Not completely sure if they were true and reports of new instances dried up after that one period. Geico was also the company that tried to deny coverage to drivers that used radar detectors in the late 80s and the MD and CA insurance commissioners told them to take a flying fuck.

What I'd like to see before I commit to anything is the full policy, especially its exclusions, and be able to see it without directly asking for it and probably prompting questions.

[lip277]

A simple way it was explained to me a while back - The more you see advertising for an insurance company, the less desirable they are to have.

Not totally true necessarily, but an interesting rule of thumb.

[SARAFIL]

A simple way it was explained to me a while back - The more you see advertising for an insurance company, the less desirable they are to have.



Not totally true necessarily, but an interesting rule of thumb.


It's all about the distribution channel. Direct sellers like Geico and Progressive spend hundreds of millions in marketing to create buzz and awareness, but you know what? They still have a lower overall expense ratio and lower rates than most other carriers. The carriers that sell through independent agents focus more on selling business insurance and let the agents do marketing to get customers for personal insurance. But you know what? The money they aren't spending on TV ads, they are paying out in very healthy agent commissions to pay them for their time and effort generating business.

At the end of the day, I wouldn't let a TV ad turn you off. But I'd also be very cautious about buying from Gecko or Flo. There isn't any one right answer- the rates are so different for everyone that what works for you will be different than what works for someone else.

[Pinecone]

To me, service is more important than rates.

So take a bit to look at any of the surveys of clients about how they feel about how their insurance company treats them

State Farm normally gets very high marks. I have only dealt with them when filing a claim against one of their covered drivers, but it was EXTREMELY smooth and actually a pleasant experience.

I am with USAA, and have been for over 30 years (on my own, I have been covered by them from the first day I drove). I don't shop insurance, I just pay the bill. :) But something like 98-99% of USAA customers have no intention of switching.

[Biggins]

State Farm has worked for me. I had a car stolen ~10 years ago, and they were great throughout the process.

They're probably slightly higher than some, but I got a quote from them on the Civic a few months back that was $30 less than her Geico policy with similar coverage.

I understand but get annoyed at the difference in rates from my Baltimore City ZIP vs. my old County ZIP despite having several more car vandalism/theft/etc issues when I lived in the county where it always seemed much less safe.

[wdc330i]

We have USAA. I haven't always loved their decisions, but they've always eventually paid and covered OEM parts.

[lip277]

It's all about the distribution channel. Direct sellers like Geico and Progressive spend hundreds of millions in marketing to create buzz and awareness, but you know what? They still have a lower overall expense ratio and lower rates than most other carriers. The carriers that sell through independent agents focus more on selling business insurance and let the agents do marketing to get customers for personal insurance. But you know what? The money they aren't spending on TV ads, they are paying out in very healthy agent commissions to pay them for their time and effort generating business.

At the end of the day, I wouldn't let a TV ad turn you off. But I'd also be very cautious about buying from Gecko or Flo. There isn't any one right answer- the rates are so different for everyone that what works for you will be different than what works for someone else.

It's not about the money....
For me - It's more about the 'need to replace customers who leave because they are pissed off' - so to speak.

I don't care if my premium dollars go to marketing or commissions. The bottom line to me is how they treat their customers.

For those of you in the Seattle area (and maybe not even...) - take a look here if you can. A discussion on insurance companies by the owner of an auto body shop here (known for working on high end cars) and a lawyer... Both of them long time BMWCCA members...
If you have the time - Read through this.... (http://www.bmwpugetsound.com/vbb/threads/the-great-insurance-policy-review-thread.43257/). It is a few years old now - but still interesting....

My two cents...

[lupinsea]

Thanks for the heads up. I'll certainly be looking through the thread.

Good customer service at the time of an accident is worth it to me not do deal with nickel and dime BS.

[JST]

I had multiple claims with Progressive, who I used for many years. In each case, the body shop owner would bitch and moan about how much of a PITA they were, but from my standpoint I didn't have any trouble at all (other than having to listen to the body shop guy complain when I dropped the car off).

At some point I switched to Chubb, and had a number of folks tell me that they were really good. I had a couple of claims with them, too, and they were much more irritating than Progressive. Delays in getting inspections done, snafus with getting claims initiated, etc. My favorite was how if you called on the weekend, they would set up a temporary claim…but if you called back on a weekday, the normal claim people had no idea how to locate the temporary claim.

When I bought the Tesla, Chubb quoted me a premium essentially double what I'd been paying for the wagon. Progressive's premium was half that, about the same as what I'd been paying before. I didn't regret switching back.

[SARAFIL]

Ok, so I'll admit I'm surprised to hear you guys put service that high on the list vs price. Kind of refreshing... Seems like everyone is about $$ these days.

USAA generally has a great reputation but requires military connection to join. Chubb is top-notch for high value homeowners insurance (they are #1 in service and product offering if you have a high value home or other valuables) but they don't have a strong auto product and it's not really a priority for them. Besides that, there are good and bad carriers and it really depends on where you are and what you need.

Happy to share my thoughts on any other specific companies if you are wondering

[Terri Kennedy]

Chubb is top-notch for high value homeowners insurance (they are #1 in service and product offering if you have a high value home or other valuables) but they don't have a strong auto product and it's not really a priority for them.
I had Chubb for my Atom (via the Grundy car collector program) for a couple of weeks, but then they sent me a letter that pretty much said "We just looked at what an Atom is and paniced. Here's your premium back, have a nice day."

Grundy was baffled by this (apparently Chubb is covering at least two real Formula 1 cars for them), but moved the policy to another carrier.

I should probably frame the cancellation letter. :eeps:

[zach]

Ok, so I'll admit I'm surprised to hear you guys put service that high on the list vs price. Kind of refreshing... Seems like everyone is about $$ these days.

USAA generally has a great reputation but requires military connection to join. Chubb is top-notch for high value homeowners insurance (they are #1 in service and product offering if you have a high value home or other valuables) but they don't have a strong auto product and it's not really a priority for them. Besides that, there are good and bad carriers and it really depends on where you are and what you need.

Happy to share my thoughts on any other specific companies if you are wondering

Eh, it doesn't shock me that this group is willing to pay a bit more to get decent service and have the repairs done correctly. We care about our cars 10x more than the average person, even within the same income brackets.

I switched to Liberty Mutual for home / umbrella / automobiles a few years ago. My auto premium went up a ton when we moved (for stupid reasons, I think), but we got another increase last year and I just didn't have time to shop around. Might be time to do so. This is a helpful thread.

[lupinsea]

Ok, so I'll admit I'm surprised to hear you guys put service that high on the list vs price. Kind of refreshing... Seems like everyone is about $$ these days.
$$ is important but part of that is what you get for what you are paying for. Sounds like many here value a higher level of service or customer satisfaction so the $$ is well spent.

I like to save money on many things but I don't always buy the cheapest thing out there. It's a valance of value. Somethings I don't value much, others I do. :dunno:

[wdc330i]

Ok, so I'll admit I'm surprised to hear you guys put service that high on the list vs price. Kind of refreshing... Seems like everyone is about $$ these days.

USAA generally has a great reputation but requires military connection to join. Chubb is top-notch for high value homeowners insurance (they are #1 in service and product offering if you have a high value home or other valuables) but they don't have a strong auto product and it's not really a priority for them. Besides that, there are good and bad carriers and it really depends on where you are and what you need.

Happy to share my thoughts on any other specific companies if you are wondering

Yes. We used to have Chubb for homeowners' insurance, but their auto insurance was always crazy high (through a third party, I think.) So we stuck with USAA for auto. We just recently dumped Chubb for homeowners' too, because of a big bump in premiums.

[John V]

I think Progressive has gotten a bad rap in general, but I've had to make exactly two claims with them - one for a rock into the windshield of the Mazda and another just a few weeks ago for some road debris that got thrown from a pickup into the Mazda, destroying the bumper.

They handled everything extremely well. The car was fixed quickly and the paint quality, installation, etc is top notch. They even fixed some other plastic shields under the car that were damaged but not from the road debris (I didn't ask for them to be fixed, either). When I pointed out that the whole front of the car had stone guard film on it, they told me to go get it done, get a receipt, and they'd cut me a check after the fact. They did exactly that. They followed up a week later with a call to make sure everything was right and we were happy.

So, a pretty minor claim, but it was still about $1200 in damage when you include the stoneguard re-do. And the films have improved a ton in five years, so the front of the car looks a lot better now.

[ZBB]

Here's my insurance carrier history:

1) State Farm -- from '97-'99. Had an auto and renters policy when I was in CA
2) Electric Insurance -- an Auto policy on the '01 325Ci for a few months when I was in AZ in '01
3) Progressive -- I moved to GA in Sept '01 and went with Progressive since they were 1/2 the cost of Electric. Both auto and home
4) Electric Insurance -- Moved back to AZ in '04 and moved the policy back to Electric since it was less expensive than Progressive. Auto and Home

I've only had claims with Electric -- a few glass repairs, a windshield replacement (we have full glass coverage, and being in the desert means rocks on roads...), a couple on the Porsche (one was covered by the other guy's insurance, but Electric handled everything, the other was when I backed into a tree...), and one on the Tesla. They've been fantastic to work with.

[Plaz]

I've been with State Farm for decades across multiple states. Claims have always gone smoothly, even a few big ones. Very happy with my agent and the policy. A little more expensive, but worth it, I think, in the big picture.

Had Chubb homeowners for our last house (State Farm wouldn't insure us because of an underground oil tank). Was also pricey, but crazy good when we had storm claims due to trees coming down on our fences and roof. Fast, no hassle at all, paid our claims with no pushback whatsoever... they didn't even send an adjuster. A few iPhone pics was all they needed. Made me think it would have been really easy for unscrupulous people to defraud them. But of course that would never happen here in New Jersey.

[SARAFIL]

Your experience with a $1000 or $2000 physical damage claim should be pretty easy with just about any company. It gets trickier when you have valuable car with significant damage or worse yet when there is a big claim for bodily injury -- that is where you start to see the difference. Progressive is very aggressive in fighting bodily injury cases in court while many other companies are more liberal in settlements. That's part of the reason why Progressive had lower rates, they fight more claims and pay out less on average. Of course that's a broad generalization and all claims are different.

[SARAFIL]

Chubb has great property claims service. They even go above and beyond before claims- for example in the past few years there have been wildfires in Colorado in some high end communities and Chubb hired private crews to go out to their insured homes and clear brush & debris and take other preventative actions to help reduce the risk of fire.

[clyde]

Like most things in life, service matters to a point when it comes to cost, but after that point... :dunno:

If Geico quoted me $100 for six months where I was currently paying $400 for a company I've had good experience with and trust to take care of me better than Geico if something happens, I'm probably not going to think much about switching for $300 even if that means paying 4x as much. If the difference was $1,000 vs $4,000 for six months, I'm not sure I'd say the same.

[Josh (PA)]

Just to add my $0.02, we have USAA and are pretty happy. We've had a few relatively minor car claims and one home owners claim and never had any trouble getting reasonable settlements. None of the settlements impacted our rates much (if at all), either. Adding a 16yr old driver to the policy.... now that effected our rate, Holy Moly.

[Alan]

Clyde you're doing too much of the work yourself spending all that time quoting and trying to determine the differences in coverage.

I would suggest you make a couple of calls and find yourself an independent agent who has been established for many years.

A good independent agent should be able to rate your cars with multiple carriers and they should come back to you with multiple quotes and explain the differences.

Some companies might have the best rate but they might also be hard to deal with at claim time which is what I think is the most important part of insurance. Having the power of an agent behind you can make a difference

[SCA]

I have USAA for home & auto. For over 23 years no one has been able to beat the premiums on either policy.

Adding a 16yr old driver to the policy.... now that effected our rate, Holy Moly.

This is why my son is already a USAA member. At 16 he will have has own auto policy so mine is not affected.

[Pinecone]

Yes. We used to have Chubb for homeowners' insurance, but their auto insurance was always crazy high (through a third party, I think.) So we stuck with USAA for auto. We just recently dumped Chubb for homeowners' too, because of a big bump in premiums.

Why would you not use USAA for home also?

I remember when we bought our house, we went to closing with a telegram from USAA stating the house was insured.

When we arrived, the closing agent was talking to us, making sure we had everything we needed. And he got to an insurance policy, and I told him I had a telegram. He started into how they needed the policy, we could not close without it, etc, etc, etc. I said I have USAA, he smiled and said, "That's the one exception." :)

[rumatt]

Bump. My rates kept going up (despite never filing a claim) so I finally shopped around for insurance.

I was shocked at how much variation I saw in the prices. Amica wanted 2.6X (yes, almost three times) what I'm currently paying. :confused: I asked the guy if something was wrong and he said, "Well you're a single person who owns 4 cars. What do you expect?" :? :? :?

In the end, Geico destroyed everyone else. My home insurance is also Geico (outsourced to Liberty Mutual) so bundling dropped the home insurance bya full 20% :eek: and the auto by 3%.

So I signed on the line and switched both houses and all the cars (except the porsce) to Geico. The total savings was 26%

I am baffled by the people who say service matters more than price. It's clearly critical that the company is real and not a scam. But the odds are incredibly likely that you will be paying far more in your life than you ever ask for back. Optimizing for the (statistically) smaller number makes no sense. Also, googling any insurance company produces hundreds of people saying they are evil and refuse to pay, as well as reports of them being very positive experiences (including Geico). How valuable are these anecdotal stories?

[bren]

Last year my broker guy actually called me out of the blue to ask if I wanted to cut my bill by 1/3 and switch to a new company. Um, yes please.

[wdc330i]

I think you just want a solid rating. State Farm, GEICO, AIG, Chubb, USAA are all decently solid. And there are probably more.

We always go with a high deductible, because it makes no sense to file small claims. Also, a trail of claims will come up when you try to sell your house. Especially risky to claim are water issues, etc. Because then your next buyer may not be able to get a mortgage or their own insurance for fear of mold issues.

At any rate, bundling is usually the way to go. We recently unbundled our umbrella from our homeowners because my spouse got a better rate through her law firm. Our cars are with USAA because their rate is better than bundling with our homeowners. AIG is our homeowners because USAA caps out on maximum home value (to answer Pinecone's two-year-old question :lol:)

Congrats on saving 20%. That's huge (reasons to keep the Cayman are growing :))

[rumatt]

Congrats on saving 20%. That's huge (reasons to keep the Cayman are growing :))

That was just the house savings. The total insurance bill drop was 26% The Cayman part of the bill dropped by 54%

I'm thinking of keeping it. :eeps:

[JST]

Bump. My rates kept going up (despite never filing a claim) so I finally shopped around for insurance.

I was shocked at how much variation I saw in the prices. Amica wanted 2.6X (yes, almost three times) what I'm currently paying. :confused: I asked the guy if something was wrong and he said, "Well you're a single person who owns 4 cars. What do you expect?" :? :? :?

In the end, Geico destroyed everyone else. My home insurance is also Geico (outsourced to Liberty Mutual) so bundling dropped the home insurance bya full 20% :eek: and the auto by 3%.

So I signed on the line and switched both houses and all the cars (except the porsce) to Geico. The total savings was 26%

I am baffled by the people who say service matters more than price. It's clearly critical that the company is real and not a scam. But the odds are incredibly likely that you will be paying far more in your life than you ever ask for back. Optimizing for the (statistically) smaller number makes no sense. Also, googling any insurance company produces hundreds of people saying they are evil and refuse to pay, as well as reports of them being very positive experiences (including Geico). How valuable are these anecdotal stories?


Given the number of claims I've had to file, I'm actually not sure how the economics work out for me. But I've found that shopping around for insurance every few years is a good idea, especially on those occasions where your situation changes.

[Josh (PA)]

We have USAA. I haven't always loved their decisions, but they've always eventually paid and covered OEM parts.

Us too. I doubt they're the cheapest, but they have taken care of every home and auto issue we've had with a low degree of hassle (especially for insurance). I recommend them to anyone that can use them.

Edit: I stopped reading when I saw WDC's post and didn't realize this thread was sooooo old and that I made basically the same post in 2015... Oh well.

[ff]

My rates kept going up (despite never filing a claim) so I finally shopped around for insurance.
Mine have gone through the roof. I'm paying in the neighborhood of 250% more than I was 10 years ago. Despite having a clean record and being claim free. Part of that is due to going from married to single (why should that matter?), and the other, bigger part is living in a state with lots of accidents, and an endless supply of auto accident-related lawsuits.

In the end, Geico destroyed everyone else.
I need to request a quote from them.

[wdc330i]

Of course, this thread caused me to look up what we pay for car insurance. It's about $3,000 a year for three high-value cars in a high-claims area.

$1,000 deductible for each.

$500,000 per person/per accident bodily injury;

$100,000 property damage liability.

These numbers are causing me to double check our new umbrella liability policy to make sure there is no scary gap. Because ATL has some very high value cars zooming around.

We have rental reimbursement on everything but the Boxster. And we have a 20% "car replacement assistance" rider on all three cars. This is added onto the 'actual cash value' of the car, should a "total loss" occur. That's about $100 a year for all three cars.

My 2 is the cheapest to insure, followed by the SUV (which is a year older), then the Porsche.

[ff]

Of course, this thread caused me to look up what we pay for car insurance. It's about $3,000 a year for three high-value cars in a high-claims area.

That doesn't sound bad. I pay $1860 a year. For a Honda Accord.

[wdc330i]

That doesn't sound bad. I pay $1860 a year. For a Honda Accord.

Wow. That does seem high. Are Hondas still the "most stolen vehicle in the US"?

[rumatt]

Mine have gone through the roof. I'm paying in the neighborhood of 250% more than I was 10 years ago. Despite having a clean record and being claim free. Part of that is due to going from married to single (why should that matter?), and the other, bigger part is living in a state with lots of accidents, and an endless supply of auto accident-related lawsuits.


I need to request a quote from them.

WTF that sounds terrible.

Geico's business model seems to be to give great rates to the lowest risk customers (older, clean record, etc) and overcharge everyone else to make up the difference. A single ticket can jack you up quite a bit.

One warning: Geico is super shady when you're buying the insurance. They give you a quote as if it's final and ask you to pay, and only then do they run your DMV report. If anything occurs on that report they jack up the rate at the last minute and try to slip it past you as if nothing changed. You can still back out at that point so it's fine, you just have to pay attention. They will not run the DMV report until you put a credit card on file because it costs them money to run it. It's best to call to get the quote so you understand when it's truly the final number.

[wdc330i]

We have "accident forgiveness" with USAA for five years of "clean driving." Not sure if GEICO offers something like that. But they don't mention what speeding tickets, etc. do to premiums...

[bren]

Of course, this thread caused me to look up what we pay for car insurance. It's about $3,000 a year for three high-value cars in a high-claims area.

$1,000 deductible for each.

$500,000 per person/per accident bodily injury;

$100,000 property damage liability.

These numbers are causing me to double check our new umbrella liability policy to make sure there is no scary gap. Because ATL has some very high value cars zooming around.

We have rental reimbursement on everything but the Boxster. And we have a 20% "car replacement assistance" rider on all three cars. This is added onto the 'actual cash value' of the car, should a "total loss" occur. That's about $100 a year for all three cars.

My 2 is the cheapest to insure, followed by the SUV (which is a year older), then the Porsche.
That's not even close to enough. 2 BMW's and you are done.

Edit:
We got bit by this when our (then new) x3 was creamed. The at-fault party had some discount Geico policy that didn't cover all of the damages and our policy had to cover the difference and go after her.

[wdc330i]

That's not even close to enough. 2 BMW's and you are done.

Edit:
We got bit by this when our (then new) x3 was creamed. The at-fault party had some discount Geico policy that didn't cover all of the damages and our policy had to cover the difference and go after her.

That's for other people's property per accident, not our collision or comprehensive.

We have an umbrella beyond that. But you have me thinking about what happens if we are at fault in an accident that causes a chain reaction. Oy.

[bren]

That's for other people's property per accident, not our collision or comprehensive.

Right, so only every hit 1 expensive car. ;)

[wdc330i]

Right, so only every hit 1 expensive car. ;)

Umbrella policy. But I am going to read the fine print on that one.

[ff]

Wow. That does seem high. Are Hondas still the "most stolen vehicle in the US"?
The really old ones still are. As far as I can tell, the new ones aren't so much of a target.

WTF that sounds terrible.

Geico's business model seems to be to give great rates to the lowest risk customers (older, clean record, etc) and overcharge everyone else to make up the difference. A single ticket can jack you up quite a bit.
I just got a quote from their website which came in at $432 less per year. I do need to compare apples-to-apples later, though. I just made educated guesses at the coverage levels.

[bren]

Umbrella policy. But I am going to read the fine print on that one.

Right. Good point. It would probably behoove me to read the details on mine as well. Seems like that's where all the angry comments come from...people think they have coverage, but the ins.co sneaks all kinds of stuff in the fine print to nullify.

[rumatt]

Has anyone ever considered earthquake and flood insurance, for those not in a risk zone?

I imagine the chance of my house being destroyed by an earthquake is zero... but WTF would I do if it were to happen? Pay the mortgage for the next 25 years on a house that doesn't exist?

Isn't this what insurance is supposed to be for? To protect me from rare, crippling events?

[bren]

The really old ones still are. As far as I can tell, the new ones aren't so much of a target.


Even thieves don't like the new Hondas. :lol:


Actually, keyless-entry on newer cars in general is causing a major up-tick in carjacking rather than simple theft.

[ff]

Even thieves don't like the new Hondas. :lol:

:lol:

[wdc330i]

Has anyone ever considered earthquake and flood insurance, for those not in a risk zone?

I imagine the chance of my house being destroyed by an earthquake is zero... but WTF would I do if it were to happen? Pay the mortgage for the next 25 years on a house that doesn't exist?

Isn't this what insurance is supposed to be for? To protect me from rare, crippling events?

So, it's not crazy to think about these things. Sewer back up insurance should probably be first thing on the list.

But, back in 2011, we owned two houses 80 miles apart from each other with no earthquake insurance in an area with seemingly no/super-low risk factors.
Then this happened: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/what-caused-dc-earthquake-2011-180959019/

DC had a 5.8 earthquake and both of my houses were within 70 miles of the epicenter. Fortunately neither sustained any damage that I knew about. But, is past prologue?

My house built with typical wood framing swayed enough that our Ikea bookshelves on the top (third floor) chucked some shelves and books.

I thought at the time, "Hey, great, my weekend house is made of light-gauge steel framing. Surely, that's even stronger/better."

Then, I learned that the rivet patterns or whatever were conventional construction wisdom PRIOR to the Northridge earthquake in California. Those joints failed in great number then and new code was written to address the issues.

But, whew, that house seemed OK too.

I didn't get the earthquake insurance afterward. But maybe I should have. And then we moved. Who knows what the likelihood is here. But now you're gonna make me look. :lol:

[clyde]

These numbers are causing me to double check our new umbrella liability policy to make sure there is no scary gap.

Umbrella policy. But I am going to read the fine print on that one.

Umbrella policies usually require carrying minimum levels of coverage on your primary policies. As long you meet those minimums, there shouldn't be any gaps.

Our umbrella carrier has us send them our declarations once (twice?) a year.

[Theo]

I have had GEICO for many many years. I had USAA in the past when I was still eligible from an ex.

At my age on a 15yo BMW I still pay $1300 a year.

[lip277]

I have Encompass for all the regular cars (and house, boat, trailer... umbrella)

This is what my rates are... with full coverage (250k/500k) and $100 comp / $ 500 coll deductibles

Yukon - $410
F250 - $490
740iL - $520
911 - $580
Esc - $570

From there, the total bill is pretty decent, but not 'per car' as such (compared to what I see others here saying)

[rumatt]

So, it's not crazy to think about these things. Sewer back up insurance should probably be first thing on the list.
Good lord, that isn't covered either? Kill me now.

[rumatt]

This is what my rates are... with full coverage (250k/500k) and $100 comp / $ 500 coll deductibles

Yukon - $410
F250 - $490
740iL - $520
911 - $580
Esc - $570

Is that for 6 or 12 months?

[ff]

Good lord, that isn't covered either? Kill me now.

It's much easier to just rent, and not have to worry about such things.

[rumatt]

Renting has its own world of misery. But it's certainly the right choice in many situations.

[wdc330i]

Good lord, that isn't covered either? Kill me now.

:lol:

[kognito]

Has anyone ever considered earthquake and flood insurance, for those not in a risk zone?

I imagine the chance of my house being destroyed by an earthquake is zero... but WTF would I do if it were to happen? Pay the mortgage for the next 25 years on a house that doesn't exist?

Isn't this what insurance is supposed to be for? To protect me from rare, crippling events?

I considered it when we lived in Monroe Wa. We were about 10 miles inland, but very close to sea level. Living in between Mt Baker and Mt Raineir there was always the remote possibility of earthquakes/volcanoes? / tsunami's. Heck, as the crow fly's, we were fairly close to the Oso mudslide. (not as close as Kevin, but shit does happen on "the ring of fire")

I don't remember the exact figure, but State Farm's quote was ridiculously high for disaster coverage.

[kognito]

Due to my father serving in the Korean War, I used to have USAA for a while.

I found it hilarious that they covered me, but dropped him due to his claims.

[wdc330i]

Due to my father serving in the Korean War, I used to have USAA for a while.

I found it hilarious that they covered me, but dropped him due to his claims.

Wow. He must have made a lot of claims...

[Alan]

This is definitely a well educated group on this board .... I do this for a living and the responses here are right on ...

Matt ... one other report that gets ran by the Carriers in NY is a clue report which gives them all of your past claim history, who lives in the household, etc.

I’m not a fan of Geico at all but then again I am an independent agent and geico is a direct market.


I have some different beliefs such as having a Carrier long term will have its advantages especially once you have a claim or two ... as a broker we can get on the phone with a Carrier and get them to reconsider non renewals and rate increases in some cases depending the type of policy

[SARAFIL]

Also in the business (opposite side of the house as AF) and have lots of opinions here but will keep it to a few...

1) Water backup from sewers and drains is not covered on a standard home policy and you should consider adding it (the flood exclusion also excludes this unless you add it back). Most will offer it for a small fee.

2) Earthquake, flood, and sinkhole are generally excluded but can be added back in most areas. Up to you if it’s worth it in a lower risk area, might be worth asking for a quote if you want piece of mind.

3) Insurance is a “cost-plus” model and heavily regulated. While people think carriers make a killing by overcharging them, the average profit margin is pennies on the dollar (an unnamed “best in class” carrier that you’d all be familiar with regular cites to their investors that they target $0.04 profit per $1 of premium.). However insurance companies also generate additional profit from investments due to the lag between when you pay your premium and when they pay out claims on average across their book. (Ex. why Buffet loves insurance companies)

4) So why do I get such a huge range of prices? Lots of reasons. Carriers are trying to predict the future based on past data. They bucket customers into similar classes based on risk profiles (state, city, age, gender, claim history, driving record, credit profile..) Every carrier has different models for how they split up customer segments so you get grouped into different buckets. For this reason it pays to shop around. Some carriers are more likely to offer lower prices due to lower cost structure but it’s no guarantee they’ll be cheaper for you because another carrier might bucket you into a more preferred tier. Only way to know where you can get the best price is to shop around. And carriers also update models every few years, so the cheapest today might not be cheapest tomorrow.

5) Why is car insurance so expensive? Why are my rates going up if I have never had a claim? Auto insurance has had a tough run over the past 5 years. A huge spike in miles driven due to cheap gas and rising employment, increase in distracted driving, more expensive vehicle repairs (all those sensors), plus record number of motor vehicle fatalities. It’s a pool so when costs go up everyone pays more. But trust me that drivers with bad records (accidents or violations) are feeling it even more than “clean drivers”. Also keep in mind today’s “clean” drivers could still have an accident tomorrow so they still have to charge them more to account for rising cost of auto claims.

[lip277]

Is that for 6 or 12 months?

Full year.

[kognito]

Wow. He must have made a lot of claims...

Yeah, and he has an incredible talent of picking the wrong people to let drive his car(s)