I hate listening to people talk about insurance. My wife and brother in law both have their own agencies (father in law before that), so this is an issue.
I’ve got a few friends who claim that the “hail damage” trick actually worked for them. Bullshit or no bullshit?
They hand out new roofs around here all the time. Make a claim because a storm rolled through and you aren't sure if your 5 year old roof with 50 year shingles is going to make it, so an adjuster comes out and confirms that you do indeed need a new roof and he knows several companies willing to oblige. Now you have a new roof for "free", but still complain next year when your wind rates go up 20-30% and have no idea why. Unless you know a general contractor or can do it yourself, roofing companies have no interest in making a $500 repair that will work just fine, nothing short of a complete replacement every time will do.
I used to work for Progressive insurance as an auto adjuster manager for 15 years, I can answer any questions honestly since I am no longer in the industry and also tell you we covered so much fraudulent bullshit it made me sick. People are such scumbags when it came to insurance claims along with body shops, rarely did we deny coverage even when it was pretty obvious it was bullshit. Best decision I ever made get out of the industry at least in my area where I live.
thousands of “stolen” and “burned” cars and cars that got “vandalized” were the most common………hundreds of staged accidents edit: there was tons of fraud rings like Russians in Sacramento area was really bad……Armenians in LA were the most prevalent fraudsters We caught some shops in San José enhancing damages or not repairing customers cars and cashing the checks all kinds of garbage
Correct. Wind insurance is crazy down here, companies raise rates constantly, and not single digit percentage points, mine went up 33% this year because of storms. I know this isn't how insurance works but I've never made a claim.
if you have had a hail storm with more than about 1” hail it is probable you have some hail damage. it can be very difficult to see and takes a trained eye on the roof to find it if it’s light. the “trick” is to have legitimate hail damage. if you have had a hail event in the last few years it is worth having an honest contractor check it for you
yup there are mobile hail repair guys that come from Europe that chase hail storms they had all the lights and line sheet grids that could catch the reflection of all the hails damages, was crazy the damage you could find that was hard to see to the naked eye
the average person can’t see minor hail damage on a car in sunlight, especially if it happens to be white or silver. I see it from a mile away but it’s because it was my job for a long time and people say I’m nuts because they can’t see it. house roofs are even harder because obviously they’re not at ground level and it can be easy to confuse hail with blistering, heat damage, wear and tear, etc. A lot of times that’s a judgment call and good adjusters give the tie to the runner and pay for it
this would take me a while to think about. it’s just part of the industry. you have to realize carriers don’t look at claims through a moral lens, they look at them through a financial lens. if it is cheaper to pay a fraudulent claim than it is to investigate and deny that claim, they will pay it. so for this reason many folks who commit low end fraud get away with it. this sounds backwards but it is technically the best way to fulfill the fiduciary duty to your insureds because it is the more cost effective option I should say “get away with it” in the sense that they get paid, but if you present a claim with indicators of fraud, even if it is paid, it is almost definitely flagged both internally and with one of several insurance organizations and it can affect future claims and eventually impact your ability to get a policy. for this reason I highly recommend against committing fraud this burns out adjusters more than probably any other part of the job because the job is to pay claims accurately and you sometimes have to hold your nose and pay a shithead
in California they Department of Insurance was so on the side of the consumer that we had to be 100% fraud was committed or else we could get sued for a shitload for bad faith, so yeah we ended up paying claims but yeah you would get flagged in our system and a database called ISO
On the roof stuff in Florida, a number of carriers will decline a new policy applicant if they delayed the reporting of a claim. A ton of the roof claims here were being filed 9 months to a year or more later with the same dates on all the claims when “conditions for hail were present in the area.” I’ve seen people come into my office whose Progressive policies tripled or quadrupled, and it’s almost all on the non hurricane premium because all of the roof claims were filed as AOP rather than hurricane claims.
Odd question, I’m sure. My girlfriend and I live in a unit of a quadriplex, which we own. That said, because we live in a quadriplex, the HOA is on the hook for any roof damage. Should any adverse weather event occur, what would one of our insurance gurus suggest to make sure we don’t get screwed by the HOA?
your HOA should be in charge of the policy. you should be able to ask about the policy and the carrier. you are typically just responsible for “studs in” or “drywall in” depending on the agreement. it would be good for you to at least know the deductible because you may be responsible for a share of that if the HOA doesn’t have funds on hand for it
Just had our internal meeting to kick off property reinsurance negotiations and YIKES. Shit is gonna be brutal out there. Makes the liability hikes look flat.
fwiw this is how I was always trained to approach it and how I feel it should be. you don’t go denying claims unless you’re completely sure. I worked for a Cali company so that was part of it
TIV through the roof because of inflation + rate hikes + a bunch of capacity bailing + a realization that the schedules are wayyyyyy undervalued is fucking everyone. We’re relatively OK (no exposure in the bad states, good evals, etc.) and still probably gonna get 20%+. Hearing some in SE/FL and Cali are 60-80% increases.
The funniest is cyber coverage, which everyone in the industry thought was going away forever 3 years ago, is the only flat renewal we have.
California is going to get interesting. State Farm just stopped all new fire policies (homeowners, renters, etc). Massive underwriting losses and DOI wont let them raise rates like they need to. Wouldn’t surprise me to see some of the other bigger companies follow the lead. Will be interesting to see what happens to the housing market if other companies stop offering new policies too. New auto policies could be next.
Ooh sleeper pick AIG did last year too. it’ll be interesting to see what happens. they either need rates or some sort of state wildfire program like CEA or FHCF or whatever. really hard peril to model even outside just the rate and renewal issues. and reinsurance excludes it so this is all on carriers to figure out.
Florida currently has the following companies not taking new homeowners business or with significant business restrictions: Completely closed for new business: Allstate Travelers LIMU The Hartford Farm Bureau Nationwide (assuming here but I haven’t seen one of their policies in years) Geico hasn’t had new paper in Florida for years that I’m aware of Significant restrictions: Progressive will technically take new business but good luck with their guidelines currently, non renewed 56,000 policies last year and have the biggest rate increases I’ve seen. State Farm will do 2003 or newer only I believe
the little capitalist fiefdoms that are insurance companies sinking florida before it actually sinks into the ocean is kinda funny
This is 100% accurate. Our OIR is an absolute mess, and our state CFO Jimmy Patronis is universally viewed as worthless. He’s sat on his hands while citizens exploded their policy counts and just absolutely watched fraud and bad faith litigation run rampant for years.
getting rid of AOBs will help a lot. tbd on how the reforms shake out after the last crush of suits. I hear cautious optimism from Florida carriers, generally, but we’ll see where it goes