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Goober Peas posted:I have an insurance question! Most places give you a relatively low introductory rate. For example if you are a new home owner, you get a break on the insurance that doesn't really show up on every policy, but its there. Same if you are married or have certain protective devices. Remember, credit is a huge deal too! Plus your area may be a place where Allstate really wants to increase their book of business, so you're consistently getting good rates. Shopping insurance and switching every other year can actually HURT your insurance score with the larger companies, Allstate included. So yes, its common for one company to be in that "sweet spot", and if it isn't terribly out of line, I"d be wary of switching unless the savings were really significant with another company.
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Aug 30, 2014 19:56
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Jastiger posted:Medical its a bit more up in the air. The other coverages are liability, which will pay out only if someone else is liable, and thus assignable damages in court. Its money that can be recouped through that process. In some states you can double-dip and obtain damages from both your own insurance company (directly paying for the medical bills) and the other insurance company (compensating you for bills you "paid") as well as the general damages from the at-fault company. In other states your first party insurer is REQUIRED to provide PIP coverage (which may or may not be recoverable) before the claimant carrier pays out anything - this doesn't apply to general damages. Basically, the best way to ensure you're covered is to use the coverage you pay for. Just because you have a claim doesn't mean it will impact your rates. Edit: Also note that since your first-party coverage (PIP/Medpay) is a contract, in most states they will be a lot more free with what you can seek as far as treatment, timeframes, etc. With a third party insurer you're likely going to have a little bit more trouble. Also, if the third party insurer has any kind of issue with their limits they may withhold payment until your treatment has been completed (and you'd be stuck with a lot of medical bills/late fees). RebeccaBlackFriday fucked around with this message at 23:36 on Aug 30, 2014 |
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Aug 30, 2014 23:29
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Jastiger posted:Sorry to hear it was a raw deal. To be fair, Allstate is probably not bad if you get ALLSTATE. But there is a reason Allstate is separate from Encompass. They offer lower rates in exchange for crappier service. More I google, the more I find, Allstate is rated the #1 worst insurance company. Just switched all my insurance to USAA.
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Aug 31, 2014 17:47
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Csixtyfour posted:More I google, the more I find, Allstate is rated the #1 worst insurance company. Just switched all my insurance to USAA. Whoa really? I hear they were like 4th in satisfaction. Link?
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Aug 31, 2014 17:58
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For what it's worth, my experience with Allstate the past 10 years has been pretty good. I've had 2 homeowners claims and 1 auto claim - Lightning strike, wind damage, and recipient of Hit-and-Run. In all 3 incidents I had a check in hand very quickly, and for an amount that was more than fair. I attribute at least part of this to having an awesome local agent who goes out of her way to interact with all of her clients at least twice a year. Progressive, on the other hand, I had problems with. They like to toot their 'rolling adjuster' horn, but their rolling adjuster missed about $5000 in damage to my car and drug his heels approving the repairs because I didn't use their 'approved' shop (which has a long reputation of doing lovely repair). They also hassled me about a rental car. This was another not-at-fault accident where the other party also had Progressive insurance. When I was shopping recently, Progressive had great rates on auto, ok rates on homeowners but they also had a $1500 minimum deductible on homeowners, and a separate 20% deductible clause on wind damage. They also didn't offer a personal protection cap greater than $100k.
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Aug 31, 2014 18:22
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I would never do homeowners through an auto carrier like progressive or geico. They farm it out to a third party and the policies are never as good as a dedicated home owner place.
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Aug 31, 2014 18:46
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Yep - Geico farms out to Liberty Mutual and at least on my quote, charges an extra 25% over whar Liberty Mutual quoted me.
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Aug 31, 2014 19:01
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Jastiger posted:Whoa really? I hear they were like 4th in satisfaction. Link? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allstate#Criticism
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Aug 31, 2014 20:46
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Jastiger posted:I would never do homeowners through an auto carrier like progressive or geico. They farm it out to a third party and the policies are never as good as a dedicated home owner place. USAA's boat coverage is through Progressive 
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Aug 31, 2014 21:02
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RebeccaBlackFriday posted:USAA's boat coverage is through Progressive That isn't bad. It's the hone where they are weakest. To put it in perspecro, Progressive only writes boat, rv, bike, and auto policies themselves. And they are the LARGEST insurer in the us
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Aug 31, 2014 21:07
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I was in a bike accident where the driver of a car doored me. I just received an EOB saying that I might owe a grand for the ambulance ride. The kicker is, the EOB is from Blue Cross Blue Shield and the plan they are talking about is from a previous employer I haven't worked for since February 2013. Even weirder, my current employer does not insure through BCBS. Needless to say, I am pretty confused. Edit: Fixed the year, it was actually Feb 2013 secular woods sex fucked around with this message at 01:36 on Sep 1, 2014 |
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Aug 31, 2014 21:44
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Hotdog In A Hallway posted:I was in a bike accident where the driver of a car doored me.
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Aug 31, 2014 22:41
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SiGmA_X posted:Contact all providers used. You may not have updated every company with your new info.
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Sep 1, 2014 01:37
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Car insurance question: A few weeks ago I scraped another car pulling out of a parking lot at the school where I teach. At the time, the other car's driver was in the car but did not feel the impact (neither did I). She came by the school the next day and talked to the campus safety officer, and he got me and we compared damage to our cars. There's white scratches on my green car and green scratches on her white van, and I remember it being super-tricky to pull out of the spot, so I agreed I was to blame (I totally was - the pulling out problem was due to a blocked lane behind me and not her parking. So the campus safety officer said most of the damage would buff right out and suggested we not bother with insurance. The driver of the van (who has been totally cool so far and nearly apologized for my scraping her van while she was parked just fine in her spot) agreed, and has been looking for quotes. A professional body shop wants ridiculous amounts of money, but she can get it done by a friend for $250.00 and paint. I make a decent amount of money but am far from rich. Should I take this offer, or turn it over to GEICO?
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Oct 3, 2014 15:36
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Gumby posted:Car insurance question: A few weeks ago I scraped another car pulling out of a parking lot at the school where I teach. At the time, the other car's driver was in the car but did not feel the impact (neither did I). She came by the school the next day and talked to the campus safety officer, and he got me and we compared damage to our cars. There's white scratches on my green car and green scratches on her white van, and I remember it being super-tricky to pull out of the spot, so I agreed I was to blame (I totally was - the pulling out problem was due to a blocked lane behind me and not her parking. Couple things tho. Is it a scratch or paint transfer? It really may just buff out and she should talk to a detailer not a painter. I have gotten lucky on the receiving end of that damage a few times. Next, get a written quote from her friend first. It doesn't have to be super formal, but just so you know it's "$250+$100" vs "$250+$2000 cuz paint means labor plus material, the $250 was a hookup fee" or some shens.
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Oct 4, 2014 01:52
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If my wife and I are covered under her company's health plan, and then I get a job with a better plan, is there going to be any problem switching both of us over?
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Oct 6, 2014 16:07
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Doghouse posted:If my wife and I are covered under her company's health plan, and then I get a job with a better plan, is there going to be any problem switching both of us over?
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Oct 6, 2014 17:35
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Jastiger posted:That isn't bad. It's the hone where they are weakest. To put it in perspecro, Progressive only writes boat, rv, bike, and auto policies themselves. And they are the LARGEST insurer in the us huh? http://www.naic.org/documents/web_market_share_140303_2013_property_lob.pdf
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Oct 7, 2014 01:47
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I've been recruited for the State Farm RPX program. Any agents available to answer questions? I don't really even know what to ask.
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Oct 9, 2014 15:28
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Question about COBRA: I quit my job on 9/26, started a new one the following Monday. My old company's insurance was good through 9/30. This new place doesn't offer any healthcare coverage for the first 90 days, so until January 1 I'm on my own. That means two options, COBRA or private insurance. I'm not signed up for either one yet, I only got my COBRA paperwork on Friday. From what I'm reading, COBRA has the ability to be retroactive. Meaning, if I break my leg tomorrow, before I get signed up, I'm still technically covered. What I'd have to do then is sign up for COBRA, pay my bill for this month, then submit my broke leg bill for reimbursement. Still with me? Am I right so far? COBRA is so outrageously expensive that I'm pretty sure I can find a private plan that's cheaper. So here's my question: can I simply not sign up for COBRA this month, and then sign on with some private insurance plan next month, and incur no penalties or gaps in coverage? It seems to me that this is the one golden moment in my life that I can avoid paying for insurance unless I hurt myself, due to COBRA's magical retroactive nature. Please understand, I only want to do this if there is ZERO RISK involved. I'm not looking to play the "I'm healthy, I probably won't get sick" game, that's not what I'm doing. And I don't want to get a kidney stone or something ten years from now, and have someone decline to pay for it because of this one month that I didn't pay for anything. Also, my son's covered under me, too, so that doubles the whole "no risk at all" thing. It's completely possible that I'm misunderstanding this whole thing, and I have to pay for COBRA regardless just to maintain my continued coverage. Thoughts? Edit: basically, this is where I'm getting this from: http://www.mymoneyblog.com/cobra-and-retroactive-health-insurance-coverage.html. quote:You have 60 days after you lose your benefits to elect to pay for COBRA coverage. However, even if you enroll on Day 60, your coverage is retroactive to Day 1. Of course, you’ll have to pay the retroactive premiums for that period. Thus, you could technically waive your COBRA coverage initially, and then wait to see if you incur any medical bills. If you manage to get on a new health plan on Day 30 or Day 55 with no medical bills, then you’ll still be guaranteed full coverage going forward and you won’t have paid anything during your gap. If you can’t find new coverage within 63 days or rack up medical bills higher than the premiums, then you can rescind your waiver and retroactively activate your COBRA benefits. Effectively, you get a do-over. jackpot fucked around with this message at 01:52 on Oct 13, 2014 |
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Oct 13, 2014 01:50
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FizFashizzle posted:I've been recruited for the State Farm RPX program. This might be a stupid question, but do you have insurance industry experience?
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Oct 21, 2014 20:19
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I just got my renewal notice. A 11-20 over speeding ticket dropped off and my rates are decreasing ~12%!
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Oct 21, 2014 20:26
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If I stop getting auto insurance through my carrier for a few months between when my car lease expires and when I get a new car, does my new policy start as if I've never existed with that carrier? Or does my seniority continue when I get the new car? I'm thinking about biking to work for 4-5 months when my lease expires next spring, and then I'll get a new car in the fall. I've had successive cars with the same carrier (Geico) for many years, so I've never had a break in policies. If waiting means my premiums increase, I'll get the new car right away.
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Oct 21, 2014 21:57
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EugeneJ posted:If I stop getting auto insurance through my carrier for a few months between when my car lease expires and when I get a new car, does my new policy start as if I've never existed with that carrier? Or does my seniority continue when I get the new car? It probably depends on the company, but they'll know that you've been with them before. If you have seven years of claims-free or low claims history with them a few month gap shouldn't mean much. You should call up Geico and ask them.
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Oct 22, 2014 14:17
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EugeneJ posted:If I stop getting auto insurance through my carrier for a few months between when my car lease expires and when I get a new car, does my new policy start as if I've never existed with that carrier? Or does my seniority continue when I get the new car? Most places will consider a lapse in coverage for ANY reason to be a lapse, and will subsequently make your next purchase more expensive. Non standard companies don't care so much since they will insure anyone. A standard or preferred company will definitely want you to have NO lapses at all. For example, my company Nationwide will consider you ineligible if you canceled, bought a car, then wanted to start up again. A lapse is a lapse is a lapse, and its often cheaper to pay for a non-owners policy than it is to cancel and then try to restart again.
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Oct 31, 2014 14:16
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EugeneJ posted:If I stop getting auto insurance through my carrier for a few months between when my car lease expires and when I get a new car, does my new policy start as if I've never existed with that carrier? Or does my seniority continue when I get the new car? Obviously state laws vary, BUT I can tell you what would potentially happen in my state. Any lapse as someone else said is seen as a lapse. Not having insurance in OH (and likely other states) will then make getting insurance again cost twice as much. My advice would be to do one of these two things if you want to hold off on getting a new car and doing the bike thing: 1) Get a Non-Owned Auto Policy. This is a policy on YOU not a vehicle and would just be bare minimum liability in the event that you were to drive a vehicle. This means you would have insurance even when you don't have a vehicle...cost in my state is fairly minimal. 2) Call your agent (or Geico direct) and tell them to put your car in storage coverage. This should drop all liability coverage and just leave Comprehensive on the car. Even if you don't have the car this should leave the policy open for when you get a new car...then you simply swap the new car in place of the old. Don't tell them you sold the car...just say it is in storage or not currently running. These are probably the two best options if you ask me...I do these types of things for customers all the time. FizFashizzle posted:I've been recruited for the State Farm RPX program. Also to you. I worked for SF for 5 years and know almost everything there is to know about being an agent and running an agency (my agent made me do everything and spent all of his time jerking around outside the office). I know the money he made, the goals he had to hit, his expenses, his bonuses and everything. If you REALLY want to know about SF I can probably answer most if not all of your questions. OssiansFolly fucked around with this message at 15:14 on Oct 31, 2014 |
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Oct 31, 2014 15:12
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OssiansFolly posted:Obviously state laws vary, BUT I can tell you what would potentially happen in my state. What if I add a Renter's Insurance policy through Geico for my apartment and keep it while the auto coverage has lapsed - would that make a difference?
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Oct 31, 2014 15:23
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EugeneJ posted:What if I add a Renter's Insurance policy through Geico for my apartment and keep it while the auto coverage has lapsed - would that make a difference? Nope. Auto Insurance is the only insurance that matters in your scenario. Geico will appreciate you having policies with them and the longevity may come into play in a claim scenario, but as far as lapsed auto coverage goes they only care about the auto portion.
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Oct 31, 2014 15:31
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EugeneJ posted:What if I add a Renter's Insurance policy through Geico for my apartment and keep it while the auto coverage has lapsed - would that make a difference? Nope. Ah already answered. FizFashizzle posted:I've been recruited for the State Farm RPX program. As noted, I'm an agent for Nationwide right now, and worked as an independent before that with several different companies. I can help, but the guy that was a SF agent is probably a better resource specific to that question.
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Oct 31, 2014 17:38
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Do you know any information specific to AAA? Specifically, my question is do you have to have a AAA membership if you have AAA insurance? My agent told me that was the case when I got my policies. Secondly, I just realized that he has me as a AAA Plus member instead of just a standard member which is quite a bit more money. I'm pretty sure he was full of poo poo and I've been paying way more than I needed to but was hoping for confirmation if anyone knows.
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Nov 12, 2014 02:27
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Scrapez posted:Do you know any information specific to AAA? Well, AAA is for most people a way to save money on roadside assistance and/or hotels. Most people I talk to that DO have it pay like $50-80 a year. It isn't uncommon for different groups to partner with AAA for bonus deals and stuff like that. They should be able to product a membership over view for you, and if you're really concerned, I'd contact AAA directly instead of relying on the agent.
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Nov 12, 2014 02:52
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Scrapez posted:Do you know any information specific to AAA?
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Nov 12, 2014 03:08
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Appreciate the responses. I did figure out that instead of the Plus membership he had signed me up for the RV membership, which, near as I can tell is due to the fact that we have a boat and motorcycle, neither of which are covered under the basic membership. Regardless, when I was with State Farm, all of it was covered for like $35 a year as part of my policy and with AAA it is $134 a year. I guess because they give you such other great benefits on hotels and restaurants that are either available elsewhere on the internet to anyone or are worse than what is available elsewhere. :facepalm: I guess I should have asked more questions when I got the policy. All of that said, I am going to shop for a new policy on house/car/truck/boat/motorcycle. Is there a certain company that is the darling of the thread or is it just very dependent on the insurees and the items being insured? I feel that AAA is expensive but I'm a bit biased because I moved from Iowa to Oklahoma and the insurance is much higher here in Oklahoma.
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Nov 12, 2014 05:07
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Scrapez posted:Appreciate the responses. I did figure out that instead of the Plus membership he had signed me up for the RV membership, which, near as I can tell is due to the fact that we have a boat and motorcycle, neither of which are covered under the basic membership. Har har I'm in Iowa, and yes insurance here is much lower than most other states. Oklahoma is just dumb with insurance. Its going to be expensive no matter what. As mentioned in the OP, I work for Nationwide. We write in OK, otherwise there is Progressive. Most people I hear from OK have bad experiences so I'd just say shop around until you find a company you like. Do your best to maintain higher limits in that state, especially on UIM/UM. A lot of people there do NOT have insurance.
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Nov 12, 2014 05:40
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Jastiger posted:Har har I'm in Iowa, and yes insurance here is much lower than most other states. Oklahoma is just dumb with insurance. Its going to be expensive no matter what. As mentioned in the OP, I work for Nationwide. We write in OK, otherwise there is Progressive. Most people I hear from OK have bad experiences so I'd just say shop around until you find a company you like. Do your best to maintain higher limits in that state, especially on UIM/UM. A lot of people there do NOT have insurance. Yeah the uninsured/underinsured portion of our auto policy went through the roof when we moved from Iowa to Oklahoma. We're in a nicer house here so that combined with the higher price of insurance in OK was quite the sticker shock when we got the quote but I was in a hurry as we were moving so I stupidly didn't shop around. Will get some quotes and see how everything shakes out. Thanks for the info Jastiger.
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Nov 12, 2014 06:29
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Scrapez posted:Appreciate the responses. I did figure out that instead of the Plus membership he had signed me up for the RV membership, which, near as I can tell is due to the fact that we have a boat and motorcycle, neither of which are covered under the basic membership.
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Nov 12, 2014 09:04
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I've heard that you should never bundle roadside assistance with your auto insurance because using the roadside assistance can then effect your insurance rates. Anything to that?
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Nov 12, 2014 12:14
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Sub Rosa posted:I've heard that you should never bundle roadside assistance with your auto insurance because using the roadside assistance can then effect your insurance rates. Anything to that? Eh yes and no. Yes: If you use it a lot over the course of a year it shows that you are willing to put in small "claims" for anything and will hurt your "claim frequency". In doing so it will impact your insurance score and cause an increase in rates. Not to mention if you have a lot (12 for example) towing losses over 2 years a lot of companies won't write you...because it just isn't profitable. No: If you are a normal responsible human being that needs 1 or 2 tows every once and a while in extreme cases you will be fine. Really it is the abuse of the system that will cause problems. Towing is for cases where you are away from home and need to get your car to a repair shop in an unknown location. It isn't a maintenance coverage for you to tow your car from your home to the shop because you don't want to pay. I always recommend people carry BOTH AAA and Insurance Roadside Assistance.
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Nov 12, 2014 14:58
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Is there any particular reason why I should tolerate an insurance company that will settle an auto accident injury claim when there is clear fraud going on on the part of the plaintiff? I was t-boned two years ago by someone that ran a red light and struck the driver side of my car; car was totaled and I had to pay the typical car financing vs. car value difference on top of getting a new car. I took photos of the accident and provided those and the police report to the insurance company back when the accident happened and was basically told the claim wouldn't be closed until the statute of limitations on lawsuits passed in my state. I didn't file a suit of my own because I couldn't afford an attorney to do it and didn't really have the spare time to do it (this was back when I was also having to sweat whether the chemotherapy I'd just finished worked or not). Also, I had zero injuries and the only reason my car was totaled was because the framing on the driver side of the car was warped and it would cost more to fix than the car was worth. Lo and behold, literally one week before the statute of limitations passes on this kind of accident the woman that hit me comes up with a lawsuit and two "witnesses" that weren't at the accident claiming I ran the red light and struck the passenger side of her vehicle, inflicting injuries in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Then she makes a settlement offer for the limits of my insurance (25,000) and my insurance company agreed to it, which leaves me open to additional lawsuits from her insurance company if she sues them for additional compensation (because they initially denied her claim because I provided them with the same evidence I gave to my own insurance company). I just got off the phone with the insurance company attorneys asking them why the hell they settled when I'd provided them with evidence that would destroy the sworn affidavits of all of the witnesses and they basically told me "if we didn't take the offer, our exposure would have been too great on the case". I basically hung up on them at this point. Is there anything I can do about this, or am I basically hosed since my insurance company settled?
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Nov 12, 2014 17:17
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OssiansFolly posted:Eh yes and no. This is a correct post. Most people I see that have AAA are elderly or have their parents buy it for them. I feel like its becoming a AARP type thing where only old school folks will even be interested. Most roadside for companies is cheaper and its easier to handle with the existing company. If you travel a lot and use the other benefits though, then AAA may be worthwhile. Wade Wilson posted:Is there any particular reason why I should tolerate an insurance company that will settle an auto accident injury claim when there is clear fraud going on on the part of the plaintiff? Wade Wilson posted:Is there any particular reason why I should tolerate an insurance company that will settle an auto accident injury claim when there is clear fraud going on on the part of the plaintiff? My guess is hosed. This is how insurance works. It was basically cheaper for them to pay $25k than it was to go to court, file motions, and then maybe even lose. They know 100% they won't lose more than a dime of $25k. A few things I'd say here. First, let this be a lesson to EVERYONE that having the state minimums is generally a Bad Idea. For most drivers it isn't much more to have higher limits to protect you from this kind of bullshit. If Wade Wilson had had say, $50/100 or 100/300 you sure as hell bet that his company would have went to bat for him against this silly claim. Second, I would look into free legal care from a nearby university as well as contact the company again. They MAY be able to supply you with some information as to what she said, all the paperwork for her claim, as well as an official reason as to why they settled. If its a situation where the statute is still active, you MAY be able to counter claim in front of the insurance company. It'd be 100% on your dime and you could still lose, but it'd save you from having a $25K claim on your record. Three, you can always go to your state insurance commissioner. Make it a big deal. Send them what you sent the companies and explain how you had a locked case against this lady and she's basically taking advantage of legal risk to get free cash. They may not be able to get your money back, but they can investigate and you can definitely file a complaint against the company. What company was this and in what state?
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Nov 12, 2014 17:36
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