Holy Crap! Home Owners Insurance

Randy is a man of few words.

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Randy Wieland wrote: Here is a huge bit of advise and do with it as you will. Make dam sure you know exactly what is included or excluded and how they define things. Just because you have 500,000 of so called coverage, it doesn’t mean they cover every incident. Example- have any firearms???? Most only cover up to a couple grand. Anything more, your on your own. Ask a lot of questions and don’t ASS U ME

^Meant to quote this. Good info Randy.

Joel, I see your in the Insurance business. I’m sure you’ve seen more than your share of people jumping on lowest dollar insurance just for them to find out all the hidden limitations they didn’t read.

When I sat infront of my present day insurance agent she was looking on the computer and I asked what she was doing. I asked is all my past insurance claims and activities on your screen, she said yes. I had two fire claims and one storm damage claim and she was able too see all of them. That surprised me because I thought that was private information but it wasn’t. All insurance brokers can evidently look into you past history and see which insurance companies you have delt with and the information on each claim. I was also told that premiums go up because of damage, lawsuits etc. in other parts of the country and the rise in price is passed onto us, instead of them taking a loss, to cover their expenses.

Randy, only because I am not good enough at fishing to quit my job. You hit the nail on the head. Price generally follows quality, and insurance is no different. The cheapest and the most expensive are rarely the best options – Typically it’s the ones in the middle that provide the best value, and it’s a game of #’s.

mossydan– Would you have a problem with someone looking at your record if it meant you qualified for an extra 20% discount on your policy? Just because a claim is listed on file does not mean it counts against you. For example, we don’t rate for weather-related losses. But if you negligently burn your house to the ground, there will more than likely be a claims-factor applied at policy renewal.

Insurance policies are legal binding contracts. State law requires them to collect enough premium to be able to pay their policy holders in full at any given time (research the Guaranty Association Act – Every state has their own). I pay my insurance company be on call 24/7 and protect me when I need it.

The bottom line is you will never make money on an insurance company, you will only save it – and that is conditional on it being written correctly at inception. I assure you that savings won’t come from the company that “earns” their business spending millions of dollars on advertising or makes habit of coming in $3/month less than their competition — When agents compete for business based on price rather than value, the insured is the loser 100% of the time.

I’m off!

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Joel, its not a matter of being on a soap box and I can tell you get aggravated by the countless times people (in general) spend their money on lowest dollar. It doesn’t matter if your selling insurance or building a new home. The majority of people make decisions based on cheapest dollar proposals and not by best value. I have had a number of people sign a contract with a different builder than me because they were 15-20,000 dollars cheaper. Only to get a phone call 7 months later to ask if I can finish their home. Always the same thing…builder put in a 18,000 cabinet ALLOWANCE to cover a home that has $25,000 in cabinets in it, or they shave the carpet allowance, shave the outside costs, shave the quality of materials, and the listy goes on and on. Well, when i get that call, its a very simple answer – NO! Too many legal headaches and I’m not willing to risk having a bank or title company not pay me. One of the reasons why I am retiring from construction and working in the spring/fall goods. Life just got a whole lot simpler…well, kind of

Had some storm damage about a month ago ($20,000 worth) plus in the process of having a 36X48 pole building added to my State Farm Insurance (got everything through SF, house, boat, camper, snowmobile and atv….Be interesting to see what they will try to jack my insurance bill up to.
bestfishes – jim

Amen Randy…. See Walmart

Thanks for the information Joel, I didn’t know that it could work the other way around for benefits to a buyer. Maybe i’m too cynical because I’ believe most big business are out to get everything they can, one way or another. I know capitilism isn’t perfect but it is also the best we got and I know that the surges that sometimes results from supply and demand come at inconvient times, I just can’t see why insurance companies drop people just because of claims not of the buyers fault.

Dan, would you do business with someone if you thought there was a high risk of getting screwed? Not much different for the company looking at the person coming in. They see a high risk and either price it accordingly or say no thank you.

Bottom line Insurance is a business, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that after multiple claims a company would choose to cancel/non-renew a client regardless of longevity. Catastrophic or not a claim is going to show on anyone’s insurance history. No different than any of our driving records. Cat claims (acts of god) are rated differently then say a water damage claim. There are thresholds that each company has for the amount of a loss that they will “rate” for. Bottom line is when you have a claim you have become a statistic to insurance companies. Multiple claims will make you less attractive to companies and intern they also will charge more.
The most important recipe to the lowest rates are CREDIT – LOSS HISTORY – DEDUCTIBLES. Get with an agent that isn’t scared to be honest, have them explain your contract with set company and only make a claim when it absolutely necessary.

I know where your coming from Randy but I don’t think its right with acts of nature beyond our control, I thought thats what insurance is for, things beyond our control.