Homeowners Insurance - who do you like?

[jkust]

Re: Homeowners Insurance - who do you like?

Wow. I didn't even know they ran auto policies through Foremost. Thought it was just boats. Learn something every day. One reason I like Farmer's so much is my agent. He always answers my call with "what'd you do now?".:laugh:

I get a laugh out of the view of insurance agents. The way the polls go is that overwhelmingly people think insurance agents underperform unless you are talking about theirs. Theirs is good...everyoneelses is bad. In my case my guy is nearly an idiot for a guy that has done it all his life. I can't figure out why they don't pick up the phone and try to cross sell you other insurances. I hadn't even heard of Foremost before this experience.

 

[lakelover]

Re: Homeowners Insurance - who do you like?

The way the polls go is that overwhelmingly people think insurance agents underperform unless you are talking about theirs. Theirs is good...everyoneelses is bad.

Just like your federal and state representatives!! Funny!

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Homeowners Insurance - who do you like?

That is why I like USAA...no agents.

 

[southkogs]

Re: Homeowners Insurance - who do you like?

Could be worse, you could live in SC and be insured by Allstate.

...very interesting. Thank ya' sir.

 

[Redneck_Randy]

Re: Homeowners Insurance - who do you like?

I've been meaning to try out USAA for years. Apparently you can be the child of a military person as well which if true qualifies me as my dad served in Vietnam.

I married into USAA as my wifes father was an officer in the Air Force with SAC.

 

[captmello]

Re: Homeowners Insurance - who do you like?

My insurance guy told me I should bundle my coverages (home, auto, boat, etc) to get the best deal. He said having the policies start/end at the same time makes it easy to shop the bundle periodically. That makes sense...I guess.

 

[lakelover]

Re: Homeowners Insurance - who do you like?

I used to have all my homeowners, car and boat insurance bundled at State Farm. About a year ago, all I had left with them was the car ins. I listened to the gecko, checked GEICO, and got my car insurance there and saved a bundle on that, about $700/yr. on 3 cars.

 

[Bamaman1]

Re: Homeowners Insurance - who do you like?

Nationally, Amica and USAA are top rated. Amica has very few agents and are very conservative on underwriting. I was never in the service, and ineligible for USAA.

I have MetLife replacement value homeowners' insurance, and they went up 30% this year. All insurance companies will write the policies at low prices the first year, but give them about 3 years and they're upping your amount insured for "inflation." They put the description and size of your house in a national computer, and say it costs "X" to rebuild your house--presently about $100K more than my house is worth.

I started shopping around for homeowners' insurance last week. I've been getting quotes $400-$1000 more than my present premium. With so many disasters costing insurance companies so much and a general lack of investment income, the whole homeowners' insurance industry is in turmoil.

And as it has been said, put your cars in with homeowners for the best deal. A clean driving record and a great FICO score certainly helps to qualify with a new company. Bad FICO = high insurance risks = high premiums.

 

[jkust]

Re: Homeowners Insurance - who do you like?

I started shopping around for homeowners' insurance last week. I've been getting quotes $400-$1000 more than my present premium. With so many disasters costing insurance companies so much and a general lack of investment income, the whole homeowners' insurance industry is in turmoil.

Most folks don't realize that there is a gigantic hidden market called reinsurance behind almost all insurance companies that in many cases actually pay for most of the actual claims. It's a complex system, think Lloyd's of London, but the insurance companies have to price their products based partly on the reinsurance cost as well. When the reinsurance market takes a bath as in large worldwide catastrophees, the cost for reinsurance goes up and so does the primary insurance policy sold on the street. Same with health insurance and life insurance and most other insurances. For example in the health world Obamacare will push large health claims up tremendously because there soon will no longer be limits on health insurance policies. Hospitals will have relative carte blanch to bill. Reinsurers will bear the brunt of those costs and of course health reinsurance costs will skyrocket as will the need for the primary policies pricing to increase (this is ignoring all of the other issues). Insurance is astronomically complex behind the scenes. The folks that become actuaries that price the products or set the reserves actually have to study as long as it would take to become a specialized surgeon to get to the point of being considered competent. If you want to write your own paycheck for life, and are one of the nearly handful of people on the planet that make it all the way, an actuarial career is great. Most folks fail out of actuarial programs even the smartest of the smart don't make it.

 

[lakelover]

Re: Homeowners Insurance - who do you like?

Thanks, jkust, very interesting.

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: Homeowners Insurance - who do you like?

If you are military or retired military, USAA.

Yeah. I have had USAA since 1979.

 

[jkust]

Re: Homeowners Insurance - who do you like?

Yeah. I have had USAA since 1979.

Lots of folks in the insurance industry need to stay state licensed and so the government mandates continuing education every two years. One of my colleagues continuing education classes read a case study on a huge shortcoming/deficite in the USAA Homeowners policy. I need to ask him the specifics since I've now forgotton but USAA was the only company that had this massive flaw that leaves the policyholder with a large liability exposure. I need to ask him next time I see him.

 

[HT32BSX115]

Re: Homeowners Insurance - who do you like?

Lots of folks in the insurance industry need to stay state licensed and so the government mandates continuing education every two years. One of my colleagues continuing education classes read a case study on a huge shortcoming/deficite in the USAA Homeowners policy. I need to ask him the specifics since I've now forgotton but USAA was the only company that had this massive flaw that leaves the policyholder with a large liability exposure. I need to ask him next time I see him.

Sounds like something from disgruntled competitors. USAA beats pretty much everybody. The only thing the GEICO people say when one asks if they can save 15% is...... "We cannot compete with USAA"

 

[bruceb58]

Re: Homeowners Insurance - who do you like?

Sounds like something from disgruntled competitors. USAA beats pretty much everybody. The only thing the GEICO people say when one asks if they can save 15% is...... "We cannot compete with USAA"

I have heard such horror stories of getting dumped by Geico after making a claim. I will stick with USAA.

 

[jimbo_jwc]

Re: Homeowners Insurance - who do you like?

After losing two large pine trees one at homested and the other was at rental then second home . I had Sucre guard put on to cover Barn /Man Cave items only to be told it only was to cover primary home .State Auto has been my Ins for 30 plus years and was always pleased with service and claims . Two claims in 2 consecutive years one $1800 didn't cover boat that got smashed into ground or landscape trailer , Truck was covered buy Auto policy , that amount covered 30 hrs to cut up tree , and deluxe swing set . Boat had 120hp outboard they said it only covered up to 75 hp motor boats . They always record your calls and i went in person to add better ins after friend lost guns ,wife's Jewel,.money . After asking if they had E&O insurance ,errors and omissions they upped ante . Second tree at now wife's house Secure Guard increased
Old Barn value which I only had on for $ 5,000 the whole time to $13,000 which they paid and the wife kept during divorce, Now they said that second home which was rental for 10yrs as my kids rented cheaply is my new home and they raised from about $400 per year now to $700.
looking now at met life for employer discount .Just wondered if they are trying to recoup there loss .Was standing in barn door when wind took out and was spectacular.Can't ignore signs with mother nature and women . Pics added , just had to vent and will be checking into Veteran's and yes I had to buy my other boat back from ex wife .

 

[jkust]

Re: Homeowners Insurance - who do you like?

Sounds like something from disgruntled competitors. USAA beats pretty much everybody. The only thing the GEICO people say when one asks if they can save 15% is...... "We cannot compete with USAA"

It was one of the state sanctioned continuing ed classes...Kaplan puts them on. Nobody wants to attend them as they are a waste of valuable work time and money but it is in the regs. I'll ask him when I see him...but it was a pretty big coverage gap. My renewal comes up in May and so I'm going to research and at least look into USAA. Adding up all my monthly insurances and the monthly cost is stunning.

 

[lakelover]

Re: Homeowners Insurance - who do you like?

View attachment 180788

Man, bullseye on that shed, sorry for your bad luck.

It was one of the state sanctioned continuing ed classes...Kaplan puts them on. Nobody wants to attend them as they are a waste of valuable work time and money but it is in the regs. I'll ask him when I see him...but it was a pretty big coverage gap. My renewal comes up in May and so I'm going to research and at least look into USAA. Adding up all my monthly insurances and the monthly cost is stunning.

Ain't that the truth. Looking at my budget it always looks way better than after you get nickel & dimed to death with all the added fees etc. now. NY is the "fee state".

It's creeping up on my renewal date and I haven't decided what to do yet because I had to be away last week, so I'm going to pay the minimum to keep me going another month and do a little more looking. After all the replies in this thread, I'm split right down the middle about what to do, but a little more research will tip the balance. I do have to say that Amica provides excellent coverage.

 

[rogerwa]

Re: Homeowners Insurance - who do you like?

Here's a tip. Call Ameriprise Auto and Home. They are fairly selective about who they cover, their rates are good and the claims processing are very good as well. A big chunk of their business comes from Costco as they are referred partners by Costco. If you are a costco member, I believe there are some discounts, but don't know for sure..

 

[jkust]

Re: Homeowners Insurance - who do you like?

It's funny, in 07 a hail and wind storm came through my town and destroyed roofs and siding. In a weird turn of events of course everybody got their roof and siding replaced...it was heavily populated by aluminum given the house are late 1990's very early 2000's. The weird thing was that everyone with State Farm had their roof claim denied. You could drive around and see exactly who had State Farm because of their non replaced roof. Our direct next door neighbors roof was destroyed by the hail but they had State Farm. They ended up putting all kinds of mismatched patches all over it in addition to all the water damage from the water intrusion during the storm. As incorrect as it may be now in 2013, I won't even consider them for homeowners. I hear State Farm and get instant negative feelings. Most folks ended up just replacing the roofs on their own dime including ultimately my neighbors.

 

[lakelover]

Re: Homeowners Insurance - who do you like?

It is done. I stayed with Amica and got my premium reduced by going to a $1000 deductible and getting the standard "refrigerated property" coverage. I didn't know I had the deluxe! Figured it's pretty useless to me, as we don't keep that much all at once, and even so, we have the backup generator.