Rant against insurance agencies

[5030]

Rates NEVER go down, only up. What a racket.

 

[M59]

Perhaps we should start the TBN Mutual Insurance Company specializing in tractors and off road equipment.

 

[dfkrug]

All is well as long as there are no claims. All insurance companies, the worst included, will happily process your premiums.

Another supporter of Auto Owners Ins here, but long time State Farm customer.

Auto Owners Insurance processed and paid out my only at-fault auto claim promptly. That was in AZ in the early 80s. I also had them when I lived in MI.

Wish I could get Auto Owners Ins to come to CA....

 

[EscapedSuburbia]

We finally gave up our umbrella policy because a condition of it was that we had to have high coverage on anything that floats or has wheels. It just got to be too much carrying insurance on everything, even those that never left our property.

 

[mjonesnh]

We finally gave up our umbrella policy because a condition of it was that we had to have high coverage on anything that floats or has wheels. It just got to be too much carrying insurance on everything, even those that never left our property.

Currently have umbrella policy in effect. Company requires max liability on all other policies in effect, so farm, autos, and homeowners max on liability. Helps me sleep better at night with extra liability coverage

 

[WinterDeere]

Rates NEVER go down, only up. What a racket.

When I was young and idealistic (naive?) I got irritated that Allstate would raise my rates every year, despite zero claims in 20 years, and then magically be able to drop them every time I called and threatened to cancel. I'd always think, "if you had the ability to offer me a better rate, then why did you instead raise my rates last year?"

Of course, that's the whole game, small incremental increases over millions of customers adds up to substantial revenue growth. And the name of the game is pushing those increases until someone squeals, before dropping the rate to avoid loss of zero-claims customers.

Anyway, being so idealistic, I decided to switch to a new insurer when I sold my first house and had to arrange insurance on the second. Then I learned the new insurer was working from the same playbook, as they all are. After that, I decided it's probably best to just choose your insurer based on the one that will give you the least hassle with a claim, should it ever happen.

 

[JRH02]

The ins rider for the tractors, atv and utv is pretty inexpensive. The woodmill too. Where we are located in remote forest, of course fire/theft/vandalism is one thing but to get a heavy machine back upright or retrieved and mechanically restored would be a huge expense - we're not talking about a lawn tractor situation. The coverage doesn't apply to any maintenance aspect. Just getting the LBH to a trail and 1 1/2 mile to the nearest place get a lowboy and then get it loaded, whoa. Of course the smaller stuff is a different story.

 

[EscapedSuburbia]

The ins rider for the tractors, atv and utv is pretty inexpensive.

True, but it all adds up. What finally got us to drop our umbrella was the requirement to insure our ebikes. I wasn't opposed to that since they were expensive and I'd have liked theft coverage, but they wanted to treat them like motorcycles at $40/month each. These are not electric motorcycles - they don't have throttles and the motors only provide power in proportion to peddling effort. That was the final straw. When we added up all the excess coverage on everything with wheels we just couldn't justify keeping the umbrella. We didn't make the decision lightly because I do feel that if I caused a life altering injury to someone I want them taken care of but there's a limit. We're retired and our 401k is federally shielded from lawsuits and our state protects our IRAs and, to some degree, our house so I don't have huge financial exposure but I'd still like an umbrella if it wasn't for all the additional insurance it requires.

 

[JRH02]

True, but it all adds up. What finally got us to drop our umbrella was the requirement to insure our ebikes. I wasn't opposed to that since they were expensive and I'd have liked theft coverage, but they wanted to treat them like motorcycles at $40/month each. These are not electric motorcycles - they don't have throttles and the motors only provide power in proportion to peddling effort. That was the final straw. When we added up all the excess coverage on everything with wheels we just couldn't justify keeping the umbrella. We didn't make the decision lightly because I do feel that if I caused a life altering injury to someone I want them taken care of but there's a limit. We're retired and our 401k is federally shielded from lawsuits and our state protects our IRAs and, to some degree, our house so I don't have huge financial exposure but I'd still like an umbrella if it wasn't for all the additional insurance it requires.

All of that over ebikes?!? Those things sound like a stress heart attack let alone burning your house down.

Just teasing....

 

[buckeyefarmer]

My agent really worked to get me the best possible payout when my son totalled my subaru, Wasn't SF.