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Mortanis posted:How can I not get completely screwed getting personal insurance when I quit my job later this year? Well you can start shopping now with an independent agent to find out what costs may be for you and your family. Independent health insurance is pretty expensive. I would definitely look at what resources your state has. Remember Obama care and the exchanges? They go live in some states as soon as 6-9 months. Things will perhaps open up for you then that we can't answer now. Remember yo cant be denied for pretty existing....only charged for it. I'd just shop around and see what prices can be and see what you can do to alleviate it maybe with wellness programs.
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Mar 27, 2013 04:33
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Life insurance - worth taking out whole life policies as a healthy, married, financially secure 27-year old with no kids? At this point the only real value to whole life for me is building the cash value + having a consistent premium vs term where the premium will spike as I get older, but it just seems like a worse investment than paying off my student loans at this point. I guess what I'm looking for is whether it's generally worth it to pay out the butt for whole life to "futureproof" against high premiums later in life? You weren't kidding in the OP when you said life is one of the more complicated insurance types. EDIT: Sorry if this has been discussed before. Lord Of Texas fucked around with this message at 14:23 on Mar 27, 2013 |
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Mar 27, 2013 14:19
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Lord Of Texas posted:Life insurance - worth taking out whole life policies as a healthy, married, financially secure 27-year old with no kids? At this point the only real value to whole life for me is building the cash value + having a consistent premium vs term where the premium will spike as I get older, but it just seems like a worse investment than paying off my student loans at this point. Well it depends on what premiums you're looking at. Do you have significant debts that you would want paid off? A family member or future kid you would want a large amount for? Do you have a job that supplies term life for you? What does your wife think? Remember whole builds cash value and doesn't change on the premium. If you have a significant amount you would want to leave behind for kiddos or your wife I'd get a healthy term policy and a smaller whole policy for the long term. If you're going to have kids you want to remember that your term will likely be up by the time kiddo would most need it. Lastly, what have you looked into so far?
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Mar 28, 2013 00:46
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Jastiger posted:Well it depends on what premiums you're looking at. Do you have significant debts that you would want paid off? No, we're considering using our savings to clear out my student loans, which would leave only a $7k car payment at 0.9 APR, with such a low interest rate is like borrowing money. quote:A family member or future kid you would want a large amount for? Do you have a job that supplies term life for you? What does your wife think? Yes, but term could fulfill that death need. My benefits are great but don't come with included term life. My wife is as clueless about life insurance as I am. quote:Lastly, what have you looked into so far? We've talked with Northwestern Mutual, State Farm, and Liberty Mutual and gotten recommendations from each of those agents. Northwestern Mutual recommended $1M in whole life on each of us, which would be around $1400 a month - seems excessive and they were very pushy about getting us on the expensive stuff. Our net income is around $8.5k/month (with a $1200 mortgage payment) so it's not like we couldn't afford it, but $1400 a month just seems excessive to let the insurance company invest our money for us, essentially. State Farm and Liberty agents both recommended $200k-$300k in term on each of us and maybe some in whole, which seems a lot more reasonable, but of course you run into the problem that term expires like you said. The line that Northwestern Mutual kept giving us was "use your good health now to lock in a premium", which makes sense, but I just don't know if that humungous price tag is worth it. Lord Of Texas fucked around with this message at 14:18 on Mar 28, 2013 |
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Mar 28, 2013 14:08
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A million? For that much? Ehhh... My advice, and this is without knowing all the details, is to listen to the liberty mutual guys. If you were my client I'd have you do $300k in term band $50k or so in whole. This is minimum. You'll protect yourself short term with the term and have the life building value for when kiddos come and/or you stop working. I wouldn't expect you to pay more than $500 a month if you're both in great health for both policies for both of you. All this life talk is tempting me to put out my own shingle. I have a little one at home and working from home would be perfect.
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Mar 28, 2013 20:20
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Double post.
Jastiger fucked around with this message at 20:31 on Mar 28, 2013 |
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Mar 28, 2013 20:20
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Weird insurance question here.... I'll leave out all the intrigue and drama, which would take up a few pages. Thank you in advance for any assistance. Just found out that my X was the owner on a policy that his father set up for our son, and my X changed himself to beneficiary and took all the money. The other 3 grandchildren had different Owners on their policies, so they received their insurance money. This happened when my X father-in-law passed back in 2009 and my son was then 16. What luck do we have winning an insurance dispute in this situation? I would have helped my son to dispute this sooner, but I didn't know the policy existed. I can't find any articles on the internet about this type of dispute. Son = beneficiary, father = owner (because son was a minor), Grandpa was insured. If you need more information, please feel free to email me at lilalovecraft @ gmail .com
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Mar 31, 2013 04:52
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nakedmolerat posted:Weird insurance question here.... I'll leave out all the intrigue and drama, which would take up a few pages. Thank you in advance for any assistance. If you don't mind, I'll try my best at this one on the forums so maybe others can learn or chime in. The reason is because this is getting into lawyer territory. Outlook: Not good. Everything I'm going to put below is a stretch. An important question is whether the policy was purchased after you two were married and if it was intended to be for your son, or if it was in existence before hand. Really the reason this is important is because I believe in some states something like that may count as community property and need to be addressed at the time of divorce. IANAL, but I think there are consequences for hiding assets from a spouse during a divorce, especially if he cashed it out for himself. LEGALLY when we look at owners on insurance policies it means that they are the owner. The buck stops with them. If I take out a million dollar policy on myself and then transfer all ownership rights to my mistress, then technically she owns the policy and can do whatever, not my wife. Now, where the agency comes in is that most companies wouldn't let you do such a thing without getting a written statement as to who my mistress is, why I'm doing it, etc. Just to cover their legal behinds. In this case, the owner was the legit father of the 16 year old. It doesn't look odd at all, so it was probably correctly changed over and there is nothing you could do that way since he was the legitimate owner. What I would do here if you could, is try to get a copy of the policy. This could be hard to do for obvious reasons. He's your ex, not likely to give it to you, he may not have it anymore, the insurance company may consider you persona non grata since you're not married anymore. But if you can get a copy, like maybe your son has one, you want to read through that with a fine tooth comb. It is very possible that grandad had a special provision that the money go to the son. Maybe the father didn't provide the appropriate information to cash out the policy, or told the company it was being claimed for the son, but never made it to him. Look for the words "Per stirpes" on any documents. If your son is 18 now, you could potentially have him contact the company about the policy. It very well could be the case that he is the one that has to do all the leg work and paper signing since it was his money, not yours at one point. This is where the lawyer stuff comes in since the law differs from place to place and we're talking about a 2 year time period. Almost any information you get on the policy is dependent on the company cooperating with you or your son,(honestly, they probably won't) and there being a legal reason for you to go back and make a claim on the policy. Unfortunately this is a lovely situation that people can sometimes get away with. It all depends on so many factors too, like was there a will, was there fraud, was there misrepresentation, and sometimes just a company wanting to do the right thing within their legal power. If you feel I would need more specifics to better answer, you can absolutely email me at jastiger1@gmail.com
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Mar 31, 2013 08:04
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Jastiger posted:If you don't mind, I'll try my best at this one on the forums so maybe others can learn or chime in. The reason is because this is getting into lawyer territory. I slept on it overnight and realized that I gave you incorrect information. When the policy was written, son was both beneficiary and insured. Grandpa set up the policy and made all the payments. Father (my X at the time), was the owner. Grandpa did the same for the 3 other grandchildren, only they had nicer Owners, who did not steal their $. They all got their insurance money. These policies for all the grandchildren were meant to go to the grandchildren. I'll try not to get longwinded.... I was married to X for 14 years and son came along in year 6ish. When son was 5, father had a big fight with grandpa and took the original policy and cashed it out then took the $ and bought himself a motorcycle. So I was married when the original policy was taken out. Soon as the divorce was final (I think it was final or darn near final), Grandpa sent his agent to me to sign permission for another policy to be set up for my son. I signed. Like a dumbass I didn't write down the company, but thought I remembered the name. Grandpa was pissed at me for divorcing his son, so I didn't dare ask him NOT to make my X Owner (again) or give me a copy etc. Grandpa was a combination or grand old European Pa-Pa, who liked to run everyone's affairs and also very idealistic (but nice in his crazy way). When Grandpa passed in 2009 I wrote to the company that I thought had the policy and they said they had no information. I wrote to all the other big ones and no luck. Now I'm thinking maybe they refused to give me information, even though I signed my son's name (with his permission) to the letters. Maybe they figured that since my son was out of the picture, they didn't have to reveal any of the stinky details. So then I thought, well, Grandpa maybe didn't get around to setting up a 2nd policy since he was so pissed off at me for the divorce. I was never allowed back in their house after the divorce and used to sit outside in my car in the snow, when I sent my son in to visit, because my X never took our son over there to see them. Now my son just ran into one of is older cousins. (X rarely used visitation and never took son around his family again after Grandpa died, so this is the first time son has seen anyone since the funeral.) This cousin ranted and raved on how son's father stole son's insurance $ and how she wanted to help get it back. Probably the same agent or company was used for all of the grandchildren's policies, so she might be of some help. Another wrinkle... X just served me, asking to be relieved of child support, saying that son is emancipated. Our son is still in college, nowhere near emancipated, and since he has high functioning autism and ADD, it will be a while before he stand on his own 2 feet. He turns 20 next month. In NY, where this all takes place, the standard is for child support to go until 21, unless the kid becomes self-supporting. (I'll be helping out son for years with college etc... -- long after age 21.) I also was served to move the family court thing from my NY County to X's and all sorts of allegations about me "absconding with child" and "fled somewhere maybe Florida." I moved to Florida in January. My lawyer told me it was legal to move out-of-state once kid hit 18, provided I kept X and Court informed of address and phone etc... This I have done and have proof in emails etc... X is making it all up. X also changed the health insurance from NY Empire, which works all over the country to an HMO, what works only around his county. This after he's had Empire since 2000. So it's a humungous mess. Actually, he's in violation on the health insurance thing, because he didn't give notice he was planning a change, and it's required that he do so, and it looks like a stinky move. Not sure if it's just stinky or illegal. I am now going to counter-file and ask for a child support increase (I've only requested 1 increase since 2001). I will also in court bring up the insurance policy and ask for full disclosure on it, since he could be taking incremental payments. That way at least I can find out what was in it (maybe). I'm also going to bring up the $ from the house he rents out under-the-table (and doesn't pay tax on). I doubt he paid tax on the insurance $ either, which I think he had to as Owner. Not sure. One of the cousins received around 70K, but I think my son's is a lot less because it was drained once and he is 9 years younger than this cousin. I don't want to hire a lawyer unless the amount is worth going after. So I'm hoping in family court I can get disclosure. Anyway, I might hog up the entire forum, so after this will email you and then maybe one of us can make short updates from time-to-time on how the fiasco unfolds.
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Mar 31, 2013 15:20
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nakedmolerat posted:I slept on it overnight and realized that I gave you incorrect information. When the policy was written, son was both beneficiary and insured. Grandpa set up the policy and made all the payments. Father (my X at the time), was the owner. Grandpa did the same for the 3 other grandchildren, only they had nicer Owners, who did not steal their $. They all got their insurance money. These policies for all the grandchildren were meant to go to the grandchildren. Your son couldn't be the insured if there was a payout when Grandpa died. If son was the owner and insured, but dad cancelled the policy and took out any money that was in there then we're kind of back to square one. The owner can do whatever they want with it, even if its lovely. Unless there is a legal reason they should not have like fraud or misrepresentation. This sounds like a pretty complicated matter that extends beyond simply insurance though. You'll want your son and potential lawyer to go through this. The insurance sounds like a whole policy and as such is often considered an asset. Your son sounds like he will have more legal standing than you do concerning any lost benefits and/or insurance claims. Bring it up in court and I'd seek legal advice at that point if it is shown he has it or if you figure out the company. Sorry I'm not more help, but I know about insurance products, but not well versed in divorce court. The baseline rule to remember is that the OWNER has OWNERSHIP of a policy and controls it. Even if that OWNER is crummy. I"m sorry:( Bring it up in court! They may make him present a copy of the policy to show he doesn't have it anymore.
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Mar 31, 2013 17:58
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I am sure it is BS, but what is "You can save thousands on car insurance with this one easy trick the insurance company doesn't want you to know"? I know this is a scam, and I refuse to click the link to find out.
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Apr 2, 2013 15:55
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Homeowner's insurance question. I am buying a house in Alpharetta, Georgia, and everything seemed fine until I went to purchase my homeowner's insurance. My renter's insurance has two claims filed against me, one of which I was not notified about until I went to verify all of my information for the purchase of the homeowner's policy. These quotes are for water damage, which was caused by the apartment's pipes bursting. The second claim was an attempt by the apartment management to file the same exact claim again and hope that it was paid out. Neither policy was paid out, because it was not our fault, and we were not deemed liable. Now however, these are still counted as two claims, and even though they are not paid out, they reflect negatively on my history, and none of the places that I have contacted thus far have been willing to write a policy for me. (Geico, Progressive, Farmers, State Farm, still waiting to hear back from Nationwide, but I have a feeling I know the answer). Are there any companies out there that will pick up these policies? I understand that it would probably be more expensive than a typical policy. Also, if it wasn't filed by me, I was determined to not be at fault, and no money was paid out, why does this still count against me when it comes time for me to pick up a new policy? I have been in contact with progressive and they are supposed to talk to a representative and have them call me about making these claims go away.
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Apr 2, 2013 23:19
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Nerdfest X posted:I am sure it is BS, but what is "You can save thousands on car insurance with this one easy trick the insurance company doesn't want you to know"? I know this is a scam, and I refuse to click the link to find out. As I've mentioned before, I could ALWAYS save someone money. You can almost ALWAYS strip out some form of protection to lower the premium. Just like anything else, you can buy less. The way they get away with that though is they take average rates in a certain segment, they don't tell you which segment, and then say "Aha! We have a lower underwriting amount for this segment, saving overall THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS". When individually it may be like $30 bucks less or whatever. And probably isn't the same apples-to-apples coverage. General rule I'm sure we're all aware of- if you can only find it exclusively as an internet ad, its probably not worth while. kevin stoley posted:Homeowner's insurance question. I am buying a house in Alpharetta, Georgia, and everything seemed fine until I went to purchase my homeowner's insurance. My renter's insurance has two claims filed against me, one of which I was not notified about until I went to verify all of my information for the purchase of the homeowner's policy. These quotes are for water damage, which was caused by the apartment's pipes bursting. The second claim was an attempt by the apartment management to file the same exact claim again and hope that it was paid out. Neither policy was paid out, because it was not our fault, and we were not deemed liable. Now however, these are still counted as two claims, and even though they are not paid out, they reflect negatively on my history, and none of the places that I have contacted thus far have been willing to write a policy for me. (Geico, Progressive, Farmers, State Farm, still waiting to hear back from Nationwide, but I have a feeling I know the answer). Are there any companies out there that will pick up these policies? I understand that it would probably be more expensive than a typical policy. Also, if it wasn't filed by me, I was determined to not be at fault, and no money was paid out, why does this still count against me when it comes time for me to pick up a new policy? That is pretty strange that they are still on your policy after contesting them. It sounds like you've contacted the existing company before. Have you asked about expunging them from the record? Are you buying the same place you're renting now? If you're not, I don't see why they would be so up in arms about it. Sure they could count a claim on there, but it shouldn't red flag the place, especially since the pipe burst in another location. But, this is important and I haven't mentioned it before HOME OWNER CLAIMS FOLLOW THE HOMEOWNER, NOT THE HOME, unless more detective work is done, which isn't often. What this means is that if the place you are buying had a massive pipe burst, a fire, and all that, then its repaired, and then you move in...you have a fresh slate. The old owner has that on their claim, not the home. Interesting eh? This is why its important to work with the companies you use instead of just signing the dotted line. The key here is that you weren't found to be liable, and nothing was paid out. Kind of strange they'd hold it against you. Are you working with an agent? How is your credit? Have you had ANY other claims filed against you homeowner wise?
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Apr 3, 2013 06:27
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Just these two claims. (These are the same claim, word for word, filed twice by the apartment complex, I'm assuming they tried to file again and hope that they would get paid the second time around) No I'm not renting in the same place that I'm buying. These claims are actually from a previous residence. The problem is that they are so close together, or so I'm told. Because they happened within two years. I am currently in the process of trying to get the claims expunged from the record. I was not working with an agent, but I am now. She's looking into a program called Georgia Fairplan. Kind of a last resort, more expensive but they won't turn anyone away. My credit is fine, in the 750's.
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Apr 3, 2013 19:30
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kevin stoley posted:Just these two claims. (These are the same claim, word for word, filed twice by the apartment complex, I'm assuming they tried to file again and hope that they would get paid the second time around) Still keep me posted. It seems strange the company isn't willing to cut you some slack since the claims were never actually paid out.
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Apr 6, 2013 03:39
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Question: I acquired renters insurance, but someone from the insurer came out and only photographed the exterior of the house I am renting, and did not come in and take photos of the what I'm actually paying to insure - my stuff. Is this some sort of sleazy tactic to allow them to get away with contesting items/screwing me if I make a claim? Should I call and demand they come take photos of my stuff? I don't still have receipts for all my electronics and furniture that are past warranty, and I haven't bought much since acquiring insurance.
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Apr 8, 2013 13:02
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That's already way more attention than I ever got when I had renters' insurance. They aren't going to come take pictures of your poo poo. You can do it yourself if you want, and store them somewhere for evidence in case there's a dispute someday.
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Apr 8, 2013 16:35
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Chris Christie posted:Question: What the poster above me said. You can keep records on your own or send them a copy for them to have, but it isn't necessary. Renters insurance is usually pretty straightforward. They may have taken a picture to make sure there are no obvious risks like falling in roofs or things like that. When in doubt document your stuff. Generally renters policies are easy going. In the event of a total loss, they are generally willing to cut a check for the amount purchased more questions asked unless you give them a reason to question. Check your coverage, make sure what you want is covered, and you're good.
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Apr 9, 2013 06:12
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Renters insurance question - I brought this question up in this thread. Bedbugs. My question is this: vermin is typically not covered under rental insurance. My concern is if I ever bring bedbugs back to my apartment, don't discover them in time, and it causes an infestation to spread, and my landlord sues me for damages outside of my apartment. (To be fair, this is probably less likely since I am more aware of the risks, know to report a suspected problem immediately (instead of waiting or trying to fix it myself), and my landlord knows how to respond.) Is there any part of renters insurance coverage that would protect me in that situation, maybe even something like umbrella coverage for personal liability? I've heard of some lawsuits and cleanup costs exceeding $100k. (Those are probably pretty rare, but it would absolutely suck to be sued into bankruptcy over bringing home a little bug.) If you're curious, no, I have no current problem, nor do I expect to have a problem, but I just like to keep my bases covered. And those little bastards are everywhere in Ohio.
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Apr 13, 2013 18:57
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Three-Phase posted:Renters insurance question - I brought this question up in this thread. As far as I know this isn't something that would be your fault unless it was proven that you specifically did something to allow in bedbugs.However, as far as damage to your stuff, I'm not familiar with any policy that explicitly covers bedbugs. Since you're in Ohio, I'd hit up a broker and ask them if they have specific coverages for that, but I'm thinking not. Keep in mind that a basic renters policy would protect you for any damage to the rental property, so if you were found liable for bed bugs, it should cover you unless otherwise stated. Make sure you get a "Special" coverage policy, as any reputable company offers.
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Apr 14, 2013 08:04
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Jastiger posted:As far as I know this isn't something that would be your fault unless it was proven that you specifically did something to allow in bedbugs.However, as far as damage to your stuff, I'm not familiar with any policy that explicitly covers bedbugs. Since you're in Ohio, I'd hit up a broker and ask them if they have specific coverages for that, but I'm thinking not. Keep in mind that a basic renters policy would protect you for any damage to the rental property, so if you were found liable for bed bugs, it should cover you unless otherwise stated. Make sure you get a "Special" coverage policy, as any reputable company offers. Wouldn't I also be able to claim, assuming I notified them immediately, that I did everything I could to contain it? (This wouldn't be bulletproof, but I think it's a drat good point from a legal standpoint.) Plus, that's true as well that for all I know I could have picked one up in the hall, laundry room, and soforth. I don't think CSI could determine exactly where a bedbug came from. What confused me was the fact that "vermin" wasn't covered under the policy. So that means damage to my personal items from vermin aren't covered, but if I'm sued for damage from vermin, I would be covered for liability? (Am I following this right?) What is the "Special" coverage policy? I Googled that, and I can't determine what that exactly is. I can see this becoming an additional point of coverage in the next few years.
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Apr 14, 2013 13:16
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I have a question about homeowner's insurance. We got a non-renewal notice in the mail Friday. The reason the company gave was 'lack of underwriting information: no photos of dwelling'. Some background: we bought a house last June and a week or two after we moved in, our roof got blown away in a storm. We filed a claim and sent photos of the damage to our insurance agent twice because he lost the first set. Since then, we've had the roof replaced, the insurance paid the claim without incident and we've heard nothing further. No one has asked us to provide any other photos, prior to the damage or after the repairs. Does this sound like some kind of weird mix up that can be resolved by sending whatever pictures they need or do we need to start shopping for a different provider? If we can't fix this, is a non-renewal going to make it hard to find new insurance, or make the rates skyrocket? Some advice would be great...this is our first house and we basically know nothing about insurance.
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Apr 14, 2013 23:58
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Three-Phase posted:Wouldn't I also be able to claim, assuming I notified them immediately, that I did everything I could to contain it? (This wouldn't be bulletproof, but I think it's a drat good point from a legal standpoint.) Plus, that's true as well that for all I know I could have picked one up in the hall, laundry room, and soforth. I don't think CSI could determine exactly where a bedbug came from. Well if it could be shown it was YOUR fault that there is vermin, then yeah, it'd possibly be your liability. As you say, it's hard to prove YOU caused the bedbugs. As for your stuff...that is a real iffy one. I'd definitely clarify with your carrier about that one. "Special" coverage: there are a few types of coverage. There are Basic, which is usually bare bones. This covers, usually, fire, wind, hail, explosions, and a few other things. Basic coverage is ONLY the basic items, nothing more, nothing less. Generally you avoid these policies since they are kind of porous. They are usually offered on places under construction maybe, or a place that is vacant (if they'll do it at all). Special are policies that cover "everything but what is excluded". You'll see a list of exclusions at the back of these policies. They are the way to go most of the time, since there is way more that IS covered than isn't. misunderestimated posted:I have a question about homeowner's insurance. We got a non-renewal notice in the mail Friday. The reason the company gave was 'lack of underwriting information: no photos of dwelling'. Yes on both counts. It sounds strange that they would have your pictures, and then say they don't have pictures. If they wanted pictures of the new repair to show that it has been properly repaired, I can see that. But to non-renew just because they didn't properly ask for them seems strange. I'd get in touch with your agent and see what you can do to get the photos to him. If not the agent, call claims with the company. This is big, because yes, it can definitely impact your rates and eligibility with other companies. Get this taken care of pronto!
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Apr 15, 2013 05:44
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Thanks for the response. We spent all weekend worrying about this. Called our insurance agent first thing this morning and he kind of blew it off, saying its no big deal, underwriting needs a photo of the front of the house. Nothing to do with our claim, just a photo that should have been taken when we bought the place. He said 'yeah, I've been meaning to come out and do that, just haven't had the chance.' I'm sending him the picture this morning and I'll follow up with the insurance company to make sure they got the photo, but I'm very tempted to take my business elsewhere.
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Apr 15, 2013 13:25
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His "meaning to get out there" set you up for a cancellation. Its possible it slipped through the cracks but its still a big deal. Make sure it gets done.
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Apr 15, 2013 23:51
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Is there any reason to go with any particular life insurance company? I use Amica for auto/home and am happy with them. I received a life insurance quote from them recently, since I decided it's worth looking in to. The quote I received is a bit more than what it looks like I could get from aggregation websites like Zander. Going through the state department of insurance though, it looks like those companies also have more complaints per policy dollar, though the number of complaints is very low regardless. I'm wondering though, is life insurance a commodity where you find a creditworthy insurer with the lowest price, or are there other fees/perks/problems that make people pick any particular company over another? edit: I think part of the difference in price is COLA included in the policy. Does this increase the premium accordingly? It seems as I age, my needs decrease, and I wouldn't need a COLA. They also advertise "no fees," but I don't know what fees I might be seeing elsewhere and their significance. Finally, they offer the ability to convert to whole life, but I don't see that I need that unless I have a special needs child to provide for. There are situations where whole life is nice, and I guess it's good that it's an option, but probably not worth paying much extra for. Tewdrig fucked around with this message at 22:01 on Apr 23, 2013 |
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Apr 23, 2013 21:56
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misunderestimated posted:Thanks for the response. We spent all weekend worrying about this. Called our insurance agent first thing this morning and he kind of blew it off, saying its no big deal, underwriting needs a photo of the front of the house. Nothing to do with our claim, just a photo that should have been taken when we bought the place. He said 'yeah, I've been meaning to come out and do that, just haven't had the chance.' I'm sending him the picture this morning and I'll follow up with the insurance company to make sure they got the photo, but I'm very tempted to take my business elsewhere. I don't know about the insurance company but your agent sounds like a retard. I'd drop him.
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Apr 24, 2013 05:22
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I got pregnant. This is so very unplanned. Because ~sequester~, my husband's either going to lose his job or start taking pay cuts very soon. I have an internship for this summer, but it didn't come with insurance. I'm really worried about maternity being a 'preexisting condition'. Is there any way we can switch to private insurance / do something [anything] to avoid being completely hosed if he loses his job before I pop?
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Apr 24, 2013 17:40
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meanieface posted:I got pregnant. This is so very unplanned. I'm 99.9% sure that pregnancy can't be a pre-existing condition for health insurance, but I don't know what kind of advice to give about actual coverage...depending on income levels, perhaps a Medicaid program if it comes to that
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Apr 24, 2013 17:58
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meanieface posted:Is there any way we can switch to private insurance / do something [anything] to avoid being completely hosed if he loses his job before I pop? Save for COBRA. It'll probably be crazy expensive, but still cheaper than uninsured labor & delivery.
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Apr 24, 2013 19:22
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I made a thread in Ask/Tell about it. I have a couple questions about switching from State Farm to Esurance/Geico/some other internet insurer. I've been with State Farm since I was 16, as that's who my dad used and I just always stayed with the same agent. My homeowner's insurance went up about 7% this year, apparently because my state has had so many homeowner claims (everyone's increased, they told me). That got me interested in shopping around. For auto insurance, Geico and Esurance both come in at about ~$420 for 6 months for my 2 vehicles, with identical coverage as I have with State Farm. I'm currently paying roughly $670 to State Farm every 6 months. Significant savings to switch to Esurance or Geico. I also have my homeowner's insurance with State Farm, which so far has been cheaper than Esurance or Geico. My homeowner's insurance will increase by 20% if I take my car insurance elsewhere, which still nets me a savings to switch (homeowner's goes from $1000/yr to about $1200). I currently have a 10-year accident free discount on my truck, and a 3+ year accident free on my wife's car. No accidents or traffic tickets on either of our records. Just 3 years on her vehicle because her policy is only 3 years old, as she switched from wherever else to State Farm 3 years ago. My concern is that if I switch to Geico or Esurance, I will be getting some sort of an introductory rate and find my rates increased after 6 or 12 months. Esurance told me I would have a $23/6 month "new customer" discount that would last me for 12 months, so a very meager increase after a year. Geico didn't tell me any such information about discounts. Do these companies really increase rates for no good reason after a period of time? People in the thread I linked made some good points, and mostly told me that "no, they won't just increase your rates just to sucker you into switching to their company." True/false?
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Apr 25, 2013 04:29
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For what it's worth, I worked at Geico through January of this year & we were actually required to push (as a retention tool when anyone called to cancel) the fact that some companies DO include a transfer/new customer discount which may fall off during the next policy term but Geico does not. That doesn't mean they won't raise your rates in general, though. With auto the biggest increases you're likely to see for things that aren't directly related to you (tickets, accidents, etc) are overall increases in the cost of doing business in your state or zip code. This is usually justified by saying the cost for medical claims & car parts have increased or that there is a higher frequency of claims in your area. Any company will possibly do this, however. I know at the time that I left, we had just increased rates in a ton of states, mainly Florida.
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Apr 25, 2013 05:52
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Find a local independent broker and have them compare quotes for you. They have access to dozens of insurance companies and can probably do better than the online guys. They cut my homeowners in half by having access to such a large pool of insurers.
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Apr 25, 2013 05:57
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skipdogg posted:Find a local independent broker and have them compare quotes for you. They have access to dozens of insurance companies and can probably do better than the online guys. They cut my homeowners in half by having access to such a large pool of insurers. Recommending this. We did this and the broker found a smaller company to do our insurance with, saved a bundle and their customer service when we have a claim is amazing
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Apr 25, 2013 13:21
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What's the consensus on car insurance for a rental car? I'm flying into LA for six days to visit a friend, but I don't own a car (and thus don't already have car insurance). He's going to have to work some of the days I'm there so I figured I'd rent a car to get around. I was looking and it looks like in California, a "Collision Damage Waiver" is pretty standard so if I end up doing minor damage to the car, that's covered. Am I right in thinking that if I get into a wreck, I'd be hosed unless I bought the extra $9-14 a day extended protection? Would it be grossly irresponsible of me to not get insurance or is that something I would be OK without since I probably won't get into a wreck with 6 days of city driving?
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Apr 25, 2013 19:43
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I'm having a really bizarre experience shopping for home insurance. I've run online quotes through multiple insurers hoping that a multi-line discount would get me some savings. The pattern I'm finding from online quotes at least is that the people who have good auto rates are way out of line on home, and vice-versa. There must be something about my profile where some groups think I'm a responsible driver but a home in Houston that's not in a flood plain is a huge risk, and other groups think the home is OK but I'm a maniac of a driver. The variance is 300% between quotes, its crazy. How weird that my cheapest solution is 2 different insurers.
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Apr 25, 2013 20:12
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Gold and a Pager posted:What's the consensus on car insurance for a rental car? I'm flying into LA for six days to visit a friend, but I don't own a car (and thus don't already have car insurance). He's going to have to work some of the days I'm there so I figured I'd rent a car to get around. I was looking and it looks like in California, a "Collision Damage Waiver" is pretty standard so if I end up doing minor damage to the car, that's covered. Am I right in thinking that if I get into a wreck, I'd be hosed unless I bought the extra $9-14 a day extended protection? Absolutely get the CDW. If you don't carry insurance you could be completely hosed in the event of a loss.
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Apr 25, 2013 20:31
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LongDarkNight posted:Absolutely get the CDW. If you don't carry insurance you could be completely hosed in the event of a loss. Yeah, I would definitely get insurance that protects me if car is damaged or stolen (at least one rental place I looked at had it included in the normal rate) but would it also be necessary to get the insurance that covers third party injury/property damage?
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Apr 25, 2013 21:13
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Gold and a Pager posted:Yeah, I would definitely get insurance that protects me if car is damaged or stolen (at least one rental place I looked at had it included in the normal rate) but would it also be necessary to get the insurance that covers third party injury/property damage? Yes. They probably won't even rent to you if you don't carry liability coverage.
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Apr 25, 2013 21:15
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Gold and a Pager posted:What's the consensus on car insurance for a rental car? I'm flying into LA for six days to visit a friend, but I don't own a car (and thus don't already have car insurance). He's going to have to work some of the days I'm there so I figured I'd rent a car to get around. I was looking and it looks like in California, a "Collision Damage Waiver" is pretty standard so if I end up doing minor damage to the car, that's covered. Am I right in thinking that if I get into a wreck, I'd be hosed unless I bought the extra $9-14 a day extended protection? You can also check with your credit card company, some offer their own CDW.
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Apr 26, 2013 00:45
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