Insurance Costs…House, Car, Whatever

Parent Cafe
41

I was initially unable to get HO Ins on our previous home which we bought newly completed from the builder. We’ve never made a claim on HO Ins. USAA referred me to Chubb, which wanted to insure the house for far more than we paid at an exorbitant cost. Fortunately, our RE broker had a friend who was a State Farm agent/office manager, and he worked with us, so I moved our car insurance to SF as well. Several years after he died, his successor informed me that the company was about to drop our car insurance due to H having just made a third claim. I was able to move our car insurance before the company officially canceled us. After three years with no claims, we went back to SF.

We have SF for our cars and new house, as well as an umbrella liability policy. I would consider going uninsured if not for the concern about a possible liability claim. When H finally looked at what it cost us to keep his truck in addition to our cars, he decided to sell it. Delivery from Home Depot is pretty cheap in comparison.

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42

Technical/certified mechanic service prices are much higher than body shop prices, even at a dealer’s body shop. (And insurers pay accordingly.). That said, dealers in CA that I’m familiar with contract out the body work (air regs are such that you better be doing a lot of body work to pay the licenses), and return the car for any mechanical or electronic (such as calibrating sensors).

So, when someone in my family has a body issue, my first call is to the dealer to ask who they use/refer to. For example, when my Ds Audi got hit in a parking lot, we went to a body shop that is linked to Euro manufacturers (Audi, BMW, Mercedes). Insurer went ballistic: ‘we’re not paying those rates since they aren’t our contracted companies’. Me: uh, yeah, you are, as CA state law allows me to take the car to any approved body shop. That forced them to negotiate a small discount off of the rack rates of $150/hr. (Insurers contracted body shops were $75-$95.). The also had to pay near $1k to send the car back to Audi for sensor calibration.

43

Sorry was talking about service techs. Most but not all collision centers are outsourced, not owned by the dealers. Some are but yes it’s a different labor scale. But certified by the OEMs as authorized.

State Farm is not aligned with them. As you note. They also threaten the consumer like they did with us that we’d have to pay a differential. In some places it’s not legal.

Insurance is a messy business. And oftentimes not profitable.

But they have huge amounts of pricing power - and where it’s not allowed they simply bail.

44

Wouldn’t a leased car be expected (maybe required) to be serviced at the dealership, and/or isn’t is included in the lease agreement? (I have no clue- never leased a car). And if an employee of a car company is provided with a vehicle, it would seem that it would be expected that the car would be serviced (probably at no cost to the employee) at the dealership.

We used to call our dealership servicing our $400 cup of coffee, because they’d always “find” something that they claimed needed attention, or recommended some $$ service. Once we had some repair done at the dealership, and when we switched to using a great local mechanic, when he discovered what repair had been done, he told use we were seriously overcharged and we should contact the corporate office. So we did- and corporate gave us a large credit towards more servicing at the dealership. So of course it wasn’t as an option as just being credited the $, it was better than nothing.

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45

I’ve posted this question in the past… but also appropriate here.

We’re eligible for USAA. Last time I called (approx. 4 years ago), it was a very difficult process.

Securng a bundled quote for both home and auto was not easy. It was as if the auto and home insurance sales divisions never talk to each other. On one call to the auto division, they could not quote any discount to bundle. On another call, they evidently could give an estimate - but mentioned the discount could change once I started with home coverage.

For home coverage, USAA also insisted on a home visit to verify conditions. They would give me a probable estimate, but it might change depending on the home visit. I have no problem with a home visit, EXCEPT they insisted I first switch to USAA before they would even schedule it. I have never had another insurance company require a home visit, so very curious why. Is this common practice for USAA?

I also verified with my current insurance that I would no longer be eligible for their “long-time” client discount if I started w/ USAA, and wanted to come back.

Since in reality, I had no firm quote from USAA for either home or auto, I decided to stay with my current insurance.

I may try USAA again this year, but wanted to compare my experience with anyone who has recently switched to USAA.

Is this a typical experience?

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46

State Farm said I could go to any body shop I wanted.

47

California, Maine, Minnesota, NJ, NY, Oregon have special State Farm rules. That might be why.

For others this is the language - and we got a letter stating similar. There’s a reason the shop in AZ gave an estimate that said add two weeks for SF and those I call on with body shops the dealer owns

  • one said they refuse the work and others hope it doesn’t come to them.

But again everyone has their experiences and what works for them is great. State Farm has a zillion customers so they’re doing something right.

“You are free to select repairers who don’t have agreements with State Farm®. Not all repair facilities charge the same amount for vehicle repairs. You may be responsible for any amounts not agreed to by State Farm.”

State Fam is a business. Every business seeks to or should seek to purchase optimally I supppse.

48

No answers for USAA, but MetLife also sent a rep to look at the house, inside and outside.

49

Our new insurance also is sending a rep to look inside and outside to make sure there are no issues.

50

We also switched home insurance and they sent someone out to access the house.

I also needed to provide a receipt of our recent roof replacement

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51

that’s kinda a misnomer. If you leave they’ll cut you a check for the $$ in your subscriber’s savings account, so if you come back, your SSA account balance is starting from zero. (But then you already received the cash.)

52

Us too but just the outside. We get a letter they’re coming. Never know when they do.

Perhaps Inside is based on age or feature ?

53

Inside inspections are usually done in areas where there can be a big variability in house conditions and finishes. When we lived in a subdivision with similarly finished houses, MetLife never bothered with inside inspections because all homes were built at the same time and presumably had similar inside features. When we moved out to the more eclectic suburb with run of the mill split levels, dilapidated shacks, nice homes, and mega mansions scattered around a large area with horse pastures and woods, MetLife sent a rep pronto.

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54

But… is the ‘home inspection’ BEFORE you get a final quote or after you start? Again, I’m open for inspection. I just don’t want a surprise increase because they didn’t like something. Too easy to quote low, and change later.

55

It’s probably unlikely based on the detail you provided to them but I would be equally bothered and concerned.

After all when you gave up another policy, you might not be able to get one back if it does go sideways.

56

After we canceled our first policy and paid for the next.

Never thought about it, we were told that it would be happening.

Sorry for any confusion but the inspection was outside only

57

We have USAA for home and auto. Never had them ask us to do a home visit. Maybe it depends on if you are in a hurricane or tornado area, or they want to see the age of your roof?

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58

We are in the ‘throws’ of major insurance claim right now. Actually have two insurance claims, as had a plumber leak also affecting same house area/wall - sure it is from plumber use of a wide very long snake April 2024.

Our claim was 5-18 (at discovery of water leaking) - most was from extreme hail damage on roof with a hole developed next to drain line vent for master bath. Insurance guy (hired/contracted by insurance) came the following Wednesday (glad no rain in-between discovery) and declared the roof to be replaced but was terrible on his assessment of interior damage - and didn’t even look at 2nd floor or crawl space (which both had damage). DH immediately caulked around all the roof drain line vents after this first guy came through so we could be sure no further water coming in. And we would have had a lot more water in based on some of the heavy rain and wind we had since 5-18. Insurance was handled very badly at the start by insurance company - and that first insurance check (they issued a check 6 days after 5-18 and wanted to close the claim on day 7 – had to write on their ‘claims communication center’ adamantly that this claim was in the very early stages of being handled. Insurance took their time to bump up to better involvement on their end. Insurance company has since canceled that insurance check as it was incorrectly done. Senior Property Field Adjuster arrived 6-13, found out name and contact info of our Dedicated Catastrophe Claims/Senior Adjuster on that date from him.

Received one ‘good’ insurance check so far - the exact amount for the packing/storing company - it took time to get this service lined up when first packing company didn’t provide a timely estimate after waiting days and re-contacting them. Took a packer one full day (6-24) to pack up two rooms (formal dining and living rooms - continuous flooring required both to have everything removed); 3rd affected room Master Bath on 2nd floor only had 3 boxes and some rugs (I had to move the stuff we use down the hall in bins to our 2nd floor full bath and hallway); moving company took 2 men 2 hours on 6-26 to move furniture and goods into truck to go to off-site climate-controlled storage. 6-27 formal dining room tear out and treatment, and dry-out start (heaters and de-humidifier within plastic sealed area). Delay on master bath for a contractor to find out if secondary source of water (determined 6-27), tear out people got instructions from insurance adjustor on break out for 2 insurance claims of work estimation on master bath and tear out and treatment of master bath done on 7-3 (also with heaters and de-humidifier within plastic sealed area). After dry-out completed 7-10, equipment removed that day, and total invoices for their services provided 7-12. I have contractor/estimator coming 7-18, and awaiting feedback on questions for insurance. Mold limitation of $10,000 per each of the two insurance claims. Had to wait for Gutter Guard contractor to quote and remove gutters (finally received written quote this week and also they removed the gutters and stored them in our back yard). We had new Gutter Guard system put in 4 years ago (at a cost of about $6400), and Gutter Guard offers ‘remove and replace’ service with having a new roof system – we have endorsement for IBHS Fortified Roof system - offered in our state since 2022 and we picked up that endorsement - it helps against higher winds/storms, but will not help us with hail. Worth checking into with your state and insurance company. This extra endorsement only costed $90/year on our homeowner’s insurance premium. We built our home in 1992, had a new roof in 2009 due to hail, and now this current roof work. If our home was going to ‘pass down’ to family, we might have considered a metal roof (like banks and some other smaller commercial properties have in our area).

In our state (AL), insurance has to pay us and we have to pay contractors. This is a change from when we had homeowner damage in the past here in AL, and we didn’t have to be as involved as we are now. Now we have to make certain what we are contracting with – whereas before we selected the contractors and managed things at the home front, but did not have to sign contracts or make contractor payments. We now need to be very careful on what we sign and contract for – what insurance is paying, and what we are out of pocket beyond our now two deductibles ($2,000 for first claim which includes roof replacement, and $1,000 for second claim).

IDK if at the end, our insurance company will go after plumber’s insurance for the damage/repair when all is completed. If not, we might go after them in small claims court for our deductible.

So here we are with clutter through our house and 3 rooms unusable. We have the door shut to our master bath area due to the heat there, and we don’t want to cool that area down until we actually can use it. But we want the interior work done right, and our contractor’s estimator did have some days off and we now have him coming for interior estimate work. Should know about roof estimate payment and the restoration invoice, along with the Gutter Guard remove and replace estimate – talked to our adjustor a few days ago and also put in a message on their claims communication center yesterday. A big insurance check should be coming, but will find out more with what we can expect out of pocket with our interior estimation quote. We are doing a few ‘engineering change orders’ for upgrades, but a lot is unknown even at this point in time.

It is quite a job to get everything coordinated with right people to do the job and for insurance to approve. They approved 100% payment on the packer/storage company. Happy with the packing company, and happy with the tear out/dry out company.

I will find out how things move from here as this coming week evolves. Roof work may begin soon - contractor says he can start with about 5 days lead time, but we want to make sure insurance check is issued.

My brother (a civil engineer in Alaska) estimated our home claim to perhaps hit $100,000. I know the roof is going to be almost half of that, with the roof we are getting under our new endorsement and the estimate submitted by our contractor.

Thank goodness we have had work with this contractor before, and the estimator has been with them 18 years (young fellow) - we had work done by them about 14 years ago. Knowing things from them, and having their professionalism in their work and their abilities with insurance claims.

59

Will see how USAA does with our home claims. See separate post for details.

I am also going to ask our contractor this week if we have enough insurance on our Coverage A, Dwelling Protection. I believe we need to bump it up based on construction costs.

60

On our homeowner’s insurance policy, under ‘characteristics of your home’ - there are several sections where the answers are “above average” on various things.

I had to remind our insurance adjustor of this documentation, and our carpeting (the flooring in formal living and dining rooms) has previously had an industry carpet evaluation “Itel Carpet Evaluation” which I have a copy and have provided in this insurance claim - the specific benchmarks on the tested carpet are the same, but the benchmark price analysis will need to be adjusted for current replacement. We had the same carpet in our family room, and insurance replaced that in 2014 – we did an ‘engineering change order’ to having wood floor (as we had in room next to family room), and the cost difference was almost nothing because our carpet is so high-end. At that time we had State Farm Insurance, and they told our contractor that they had never seen carpet rated so high – it is Robert Shaw ‘top of the line’. Mill, Aladdin by Mohawk, Wunda Weve By Mohawk, Weardated Durasoft ultra strand. Price per sq yard dec 2013 was $33.40 and pad $6.12 for $39.52/sq yard not including installation. At the time we purchased it, we were told it would not wear out - and it looks just like when it was installed (doesn’t show wear as the pile is so dense). We are going to have wood flooring to replace the carpet in the formal living and dining rooms with our current insurance claim.