The TMB Insurance Thread

Definitely an odd place where a complete overhaul/reset is needed. I'm just doing my humble job of pointing out that blaming the insureds/lawyers for all the problems is stupid.

 

so it’s been a while but I randomly checked my homeowners insurance account and saw a “Loss Run statement” posted to an old closed claim.

The interesting part is the loss run statement shows 17k was paid, but insurance company paid me 6k. So I’m sure that means the other 11k was paid to contractor. Kind wild though. I emailed insurance agent asking for confirmation of who the payments were sent to and how much. I just want to learn more so I can handle this shit better next time. Next time Probably contacting CF3234 instead of handling it all myself

 

could I cancel all insurance plans and just invest that money each month?

 

do you have a mortgage? If so, no your lender will require it.

Self insuring is an incredibly unwise move.

 

sure yeah I have a mortgage
but what do they do to “require it”?

and what about auto, health, life, etc insurance

 

This. Unless you have the value of your home liquid to put in a 4% CD, self insuring is a very bad idea.

 

Your mortgage requires that you provide them a copy of your policy and that they be listed as a payee on any payment you receive. If you don’t provide this info to them. They force place insurance on you at 2x the normal cost and it’s shit coverage at best.

 

They will force place insurance on you and charge you for it. The bank will charge you a higher price for less coverage typically and it typically only extends to your loan value without liability coverage.

Auto your state probably has some level of a requirement for.

Going without health insurance is putting you a single mistake from bankruptcy (really the same is true for auto and home).

 

what are the most common types of home insurance claims?

I feel like I end up paying everything out of pocket bc I’m afraid to make a claim and have my rate skyrocket but I might be doing this wrong

 

I’m gonna guess roof and water damage

 

plumbing leaks are most common.
And it all really depends. If you are having small issues that are completely solved for a couple thousand dollars? No claim needed.

if you have water damage all over your cabinets, you are throwing away money by not reporting it.


Assuming you are up north. Would also see hail damage to your roof. Those should always be reported.

 

Generally speaking an act of god claim you’re not going to see a surcharge or rate change from

 

Thanks. 100+ year old house so shit is always breaking

I paid like 32k for a new roof a year and a half ago. The company claims they provide a lifetime warranty so should be good there.

my second floor sunroom casement windows are wood and rotting, with some visible water damage coming down into the ceiling of the room below. I’ve tried my best to plug up the holes with wood restorer and even bondo, but I need to address that situation long term. A rebuild of the sunroom will be like 40k out of pocket and if I try to convert it into an addition instead I was quoted like 80k.

i guess I’ll see how bad the damage gets before I can afford the long term solution

 

I would be careful about the advice you’re giving about water claims. Two things worth knowing always:

1:What’s the amount of damage? Get an estimate before you file a claim. Water claims are often looked at poorly if you go to change carriers in the future. You can’t unring the bell once you call your insurance company, if you have a good agent call them and talk things through with them before filing a claim to cover your deductible, and more importantly the stuff in number two below.

2: Check your policy language on a house that’s 100 years old. There may be a water coverage limitation or even in some cases exclusion.

 

I was trying to be as easy to follow as possible. But yes. 100%. You don’t want a bunch of water claims on your record. That’s why I said to only file a claim if there’s a bunch of damage. Getting a quote from a contractor is definitely a safe way to know whether it’s worth it or not.

2. great point I didn’t think of. I don’t deal with many houses older than 1950 and didn’t even think of that potential issue.

 

I never saw an age exclusion on a policy but I’m not an expert in that category. IIRC, refrigerator water lines were the #1 cause of water losses for SF.

Lip I’d be wary of a warranty in the way you’re speaking about it. Read/interpret it closely. A warranty is for manufacturing defects and I can’t imagine they’d replace your roof for hail damage. Hail resistant shingles may be an outlier here but they’re few and far between in the grand scheme. And wildly expensive. You would, however, get a break on your premiums with a roof of that nature.

 

Those warranties are almost always for either manufacturer defect or “workmanship,” and good luck getting a contractor to admit their workmanship was the issue.

 

yeah it says 50 year manufacturing or workmanship guarantee

then has this disclaimer:

As you would expect, there are limits to these warranties such as trees falling, tornadoes, cousin Vinny installing a satellite dish, and other such factors beyond our control.

 

Property policies require a covered cause of loss. Rot or corrosion is always excluded.

 

glad my insurance will cover cousin Vinny’s shenanigans!

 

Any auto policy people in here that can help me understand how a catastrophe claim is different than a normal claim? My wife is 1500 miles from home with a hail destroyed car. Progressive keeps saying an adjuster will be assigned within X hours and then nothing happens. Call back and it’s like nobody took notes and you go through the whole thing again. Trying to figure out if they will cover $1500 for a windshield to get home so we can deal with it here instead of in a differnt state halfway across the U.S.

 

How old is the vehicle? I’d mainly be worried whether the policy covered OEM glass or only aftermarket. If you got a decent agent, I’d call them and see what they say. With CAT claims, you likely have less adjusters in the area than needed and they’re triaging too many claims at a given time. Windshield is gonna rate as a lower priority than flood/wind damage claims so you’re getting pushed back in line because of that if I had to guess. Hope they get back to you soon. Worst case, I’d take as many pics of the damage as possible and just submit the receipt for reimbursement

 

Less than 1 year old Lexus TX. The whole car is damaged and looks like a golf ball. Trying to get the windshield done so she can make it home since she can’t fly, has our pup with her, and a car full of stuff. Has already stayed 2 extra days in the hotel.

 

If you got hail damage all over, you might have a total. Sounds like she’s not racking up storage at a tow yard, which may be why they’re dragging their feet. I would make sure you take pictures of all the damage, keep any receipts. If they give you shit about it, tell them you were attempting to mitigate your damage as required by the policy

 

Thanks you both. I’ll tell her to get it replaced tomorrow so she can start the drive back and we can deal with it here.

Those Texas hail storms are no joke. She is stuck in College Station so she is understandably ready to leave.

 

I got a buddy who does auto glass and he has told me before that “OEM” glass is significantly thicker than AM. I have no idea if that’s true, but I would generally take his word

 

2nding GFA here. Great advice

 

after a bit over 2 years, insurance finally came through and made a large payment to the hospital.

next up is the 40k bill from rehab.

family working on this is tired but we ain't giving up

 

Hello there. I need someone experienced with homeowner’s insurance & contractors to reach out to me. Please and thank you!

 

@CF234 & zachary are good peeps. The best peeps some might say.

 

Bert was just about to help!

 

just after the next tee shot and 4 more beers, I promise!

 

What happened a.tramp ?