Homeowners Insurance

[lil_Blue_Ford]

don't get State Farm or AmFam. they will not cover storm damage. had state farm for well over 10 years and they kept creeping up and up after I moved to Indiana in 2008, and one crappy agent to another. the 5 years I lived in IL they were great. the final straw was when they canceled my then wife off of my Ranger (did not cancel her off of the other two cars) told them to get bent and went with Am Fam. dropped my premiums on both my house and three vehicles over 50 percent. this was in 2017. Now this past year, Am Fam has gone up considerably, had hail damage on my roof they did not cover it, got screwed for a whole new roof. No prior claims in three insurance companies over a 25 year period. so Am Fam can go get bent. also Am Fam rates have went up over 50 percent as well in the past few years. partly because property values have also went way up but still... gotta agree with Shran, they all suck.

Looking at going to Erie at the first of the year. Anyone have any experience?

AJ

Erie doesn’t like paying claims and if they do, expect to be immediately dropped

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

Erie doesn’t like paying claims and if they do, expect to be immediately dropped

I think that is almost standard practice anymore.

 

[Rick W]

@Jim Oaks

Another afterthought, coincidentally I just filed my paperwork away and I took a peek. I took a high deductible, $5000, on my roof which lowered the premium considerably. If I have 100 or 200 ft.² that gets damaged, that’s pretty easy to fix. I just need the catestrophic coverage in case the whole thing gets blown away.

Also, don’t you qualify for USAA? Isn’t that the veteran to prevent insurance? I always heard that was the best deal for a veteran.

 

[Shran]

AmFam is at the very top of my shit list. I've never been a customer of theirs but two of their customers destroyed two of my vehicles at different times. The first claims adjuster was exactly like one of those high pressure car salesman type people, he kept calling and stopping by my office and my house to get me to settle. The second one was just a total dick, he tried telling me that it was my fault that someone pulled out of a parking lot and ran into the side of my truck. He just wouldn't let it go and the phone calls just got more & more rude. I had to file a complaint with the state insurance board before they finally gave up and admitted that it was not my fault.

 

[Rick W]

AmFam is at the very top of my shit list. I've never been a customer of theirs but two of their customers destroyed two of my vehicles at different times. The first claims adjuster was exactly like one of those high pressure car salesman type people, he kept calling and stopping by my office and my house to get me to settle. The second one was just a total dick, he tried telling me that it was my fault that someone pulled out of a parking lot and ran into the side of my truck. He just wouldn't let it go and the phone calls just got more & more rude. I had to file a complaint with the state insurance board before they finally gave up and admitted that it was not my fault.

Progressive and GEICO are famous for those tactics as well. When a drunk pulled out in front of my son through a red light, the first thing the adjuster said is that the claim would be based on an 80% liability because of my son‘s 20% Cause of the Accident. I immediately went to the insurance commissioner, that was jersey. I’ve had to handle several claims with them, and they are totally unscrupulous and unethical.

 

[SenorNoob]

The impression I'm getting here is that there isn't a single "good, honest" insurance company. I get that they exist to make money, but maybe insurance shouldn't be trying to make money. A non-profit insurance agency of some kind...

 

[Shran]

IMO anything that is mandated on us by the government should not be provided by a for-profit company... making them non-profit has its own set of issues (basically they can take in whatever they want and spend as much as they want on material things and employee pay as long as they don't show a profit.) You would need some sort of impartial oversight board to keep their internal spending reasonable.

Deductibles, co-pays, all that crap is a total scam too.

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

IMO anything that is mandated on us by the government should not be provided by a for-profit company... making them non-profit has its own set of issues (basically they can take in whatever they want and spend as much as they want on material things and employee pay as long as they don't show a profit.) You would need some sort of impartial oversight board to keep their internal spending reasonable.

Deductibles, co-pays, all that crap is a total scam too.

Govt over watch worked wonders for healthcare...

 

[Rick W]

I think it’s obvious that the consensus of the group is that insurance should be centralized and run by the government. What could possibly go wrong?

 

[85_Ranger4x4]

I think it’s obvious that the consensus of the group is that insurance should be centralized and run by the government. What could possibly go wrong?

I mean, they are with the government and are here to help?

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I mean, they are with the government and are here to help?

I think that means to cover your wallet with one hand and your butthole with the other and hope for the best...

 

[stmitch]

IMO anything that is mandated on us by the government should not be provided by a for-profit company... making them non-profit has its own set of issues (basically they can take in whatever they want and spend as much as they want on material things and employee pay as long as they don't show a profit.) You would need some sort of impartial oversight board to keep their internal spending reasonable.

Deductibles, co-pays, all that crap is a total scam too.

Don't have to necessarily make them non-profit, but regulating them like a utility has always seemed like a potentially viable idea to me.
Encourage them to operate efficiently by allowing them to make a reasonable profit. Make them justify rate increases to a (relatively) small board of people well in advance with some small amount of public input. Keeps profiteering in check, and requires (relatively) little overhead/admin costs.

 

[Shran]

Govt over watch worked wonders for healthcare...

Not at all what I had in mind. Something more like a citizen's oversight board that can audit insurance companies and slap them if they step out of line. If they have to answer to the people rather than shareholders I think things might be better.

I think it’s obvious that the consensus of the group is that insurance should be centralized and run by the government. What could possibly go wrong?

Certainly not what I am advocating for.

 

[John97]

Insurance is nuts here in FL, both home and auto.

There are a limited number of companies who write policies down here for homeowners insurance, so having the same company for home and auto to get the bundled discount is extremely rare. USAA won't write homeowners policies here. Their auto rates which they quote me me are nuts (double every other quote I get) so even if they would write me a homeowners policy, I doubt I'd use them.

My homeowners premium was $2800 when I bought my house in 2012. I didn't even shop. I got referred by a friend to an agent and purchased a policy because I had to get it done right away for the mortgage. A couple years later, they hit me with a big increase to $3600. So I shopped. At that point, I found the original agent put together a policy with a bunch of fluff and add-on coverage that wasn't really applicable.

The new agent was able to write me a policy with the same company that had all of the same meat and potatoes coverage (replacement value of house, contents, pool cage, etc). New policy was $2200. For several years it stayed at or around that amount and actually dipped down as low as $1900.

Then came the hurricanes. We had Hurricane Irma roll through in 2017. This brought about policy spikes for pretty much everyone. Policy went up to $3000 in 2018. Then it crept up a couple hundred here and there. Then It went up to $4100 after Ian. A bunch of companies pulled out of FL after that one. One of the guys who works for me had his roof get peeled off and damage to his cars from the roofing materials blowing off the house. The company paid it all out and then they cancelled him. He was able to easily find another company with a brand new roof on his house. I have a 2006 roof. Every time I looked into another company, they tell me to replace my roof first. There's nothing wrong with it.

The number of companies pulling out of FL created an insurance crisis. My premium went from $4100 to $8200 in one year. My alternatives were to just pay it, or drop $30K on a roof so I can switch to another company for lower premiums. I just had to suck it up. Note, I have never filed any sort of homeowners insurance claim.

However, FL passed some insurance reform in the legislature. This brought in more companies who are writing homeowners policies down here along with other reforms. My 2025 premium is going down $2200 to $6000. I'll take it.

To illustrate the impact of these premiums, lets talk about my mortgage nut every month. In 2012 when I bought the place, my total mortgage payment including escrow for insurance/taxes was $1100. I was paying $300 in extra principal every month. Rates came down so in 2016 I refinanced the 30-year a 15-year which brought my payment to $1400. I paid another $100 in extra principal every month. The insurance increases brought my payment up to $1800 then to my current $2500 a month. My statement should be here in the next week or two that will tell me my new payment with the $2K drop in the homeowners premium.

 

[jballard81]

don't get State Farm or AmFam. they will not cover storm damage. had state farm for well over 10 years and they kept creeping up and up after I moved to Indiana in 2008, and one crappy agent to another. the 5 years I lived in IL they were great. the final straw was when they canceled my then wife off of my Ranger (did not cancel her off of the other two cars) told them to get bent and went with Am Fam. dropped my premiums on both my house and three vehicles over 50 percent. this was in 2017. Now this past year, Am Fam has gone up considerably, had hail damage on my roof they did not cover it, got screwed for a whole new roof. No prior claims in three insurance companies over a 25 year period. so Am Fam can go get bent. also Am Fam rates have went up over 50 percent as well in the past few years. partly because property values have also went way up but still... gotta agree with Shran, they all suck.

Looking at going to Erie at the first of the year. Anyone have any experience?

AJ

I currently have Erie. 2nd year with them, but they all seem ok the first couple of years. This is the 4th or so I've been with over the last decade. After 3 years it seems they all try and jack my rate up by 50-70% with no claims. I always call and raise hell, they always BS and I leave.
Longest run I had was with state farm. Probably had them 10 years, good rapport with my local agent then tried to double my rate. Kicked them to the curb.

My dad was with state farm for over 40 years with a large book of business. Told him about it and convinced him to leave as well, saved him thousands.

Seems they are all bad now. Just have to shop around every few years.