SW17LS

Yeah I'm a firm believer in you get what you pay for when it comes to insurance. I have Allstate, and I pay more than I would elsewhere but I know my agent and I know they will stand behind me if I have a claim because they've done it before.

I wouldn't switch until the claim is closed.

Bass Mech

^^^ both of you should read this article and ask yourself if you still feel the same way about those companies.
if you have spent any time in the insurance industry as I have you hear these same names come up over and over and over with the same silly games.
I could tell you a hundred stories about how those companies nickel and dime you to death rather than just paying like they are supposed to.
and pay special attention to the use of colossus software amongst the companies listed.

these companies will never get a penny of my money!
http://www.justice.org/docs/TenWorst...eCompanies.pdf

alexlude

Well, i will just go by personal experience - every time i got into an accident , car theft situation, home situation, I was paid out what I expected or more.

i.e. when my previous car was stolen, I was expecting around 10k but received close to 14k because of my kept receipts. And the process took no longer than 30 days. I was given a free rental car as well $25/day max budget even though I didn't have rental car insurance based on the default theft policy.

Another situation where I was rear ended, my body shop guy estimated everything to be fixed and new paint job and the entire estimate down to the penny was paid out, no questions asked.

So i'm pretty happy with them from my own experiences...

SW17LS

All that is well and good, but I've known my agent for 10 years and he's always gone to bat for me. I've argued with Allstate over claims, but once he gets involved the argument is over and it goes my way.

Bass Mech

well just wait till your on the recipient end of a liability claim. property damage like your both describing is child's play. wait until you get sued for a million and see how good your agents coverage is.

and FWIW I'm glad you have a good relationship with your agent, friendship doesn't mean anything because he is powerless to do anything if the company drops the ball. he is not the one who writes the claim check!

here is the true test of a good agent, post a copy of your insurance declarations page for your car insurance, you can blank out your name, address, agents name, vin number everything but the actual coverage limits.
you'll get a free insurance review from yours truly! never hurts to get a second opinion does it? you might thank me someday if you ever get into a wreck your insurance won't pay for.
if your limits check out, then you get a gold star, if not you may want to take the advice and have your agent cover you properly.
the only reason I ask you to do this is simply the odds.. I've been at this 10 years. ive seen claims go into the millions! and less than 1% of the folks I meet actually have the coverage they need to protect their income and assets.
in actuality I place a lot of blame not on the company but the agent, because he or she is the trusted advisor who prescribed the coverage to you in the first place. 99% of agents think selling is simply price matching your coverage! few actually insure people with the limits they need to protect themselves.
its not the insurance companies fault directly in most cases but indirectly they need to teach their agents how to protect peoples income, assets and property. a shame really any good agent would see the value in the coverage they sell.
and until you've had a client roll in your office in a wheel chair who almost died in a car accident to thank you for the coverage you insisted that he have, and without it would have lost his home and used up all his health benefits, paid the rest out of pocket most agent's don't really understand the importance of good coverage.

my agency didn't get to be in the top 2% of my company across the nation just by accident!

so go ahead, post it! I dare you! lol I might even be able to make a suggestion or 2 to make a more cost efficient solution to your coverage, get you better coverage and for less money than you pay now without even changing companies.

alexlude

Well i'll give you an estimate of my payments and coverage and let me know what you think... a question i have is do you think a $1 million umbrella is enough or you recommend 2 million? (difference is about $150/year extra). what have you seen in the past?

Coverage car 1:
- $250 deductible
- full comprehensive
- rental car coverage
- $500k liability
about $1,250 / year payment for '14 lexus is350

Coverage car 2:
- $250 deductible
- full comprehensive
- rental car coverage
- $500k liability
$900 / year payment for other '11 vehicle

home warranty
- $1k deductible
- $100k liability
- $600k dwelling coverage
- $700 / year payment

1 million dollar umbrella
- $220/year

Total payments per year for 2 cars + house = $2,850 (includes $500k liability on each car + $1 million umbrella), so basically i'm covered 1.5 million on the cars and 1.1 million on the house liability-wise)

SW17LS

Thats a great accomplishment, truly...but that doesn't mean my agent's agency is not successful and is not client focused. I'm in sales myself, and I deal with many different insurance companies and agencies through my work so I have more than a passing ability to identify a good insurance agency and people who have the right mindset when I see them, and I have that.

I've had many discussions about my coverage both with my agent, other agencies, and financial advisors. I'm confident that I have adequate coverage.

Bass Mech

Alex get's a green star! The only thing I would suggest for you is bump your home liability to 500k (that coverage for my policy is a whopping 10 bucks a year!) this way all your coverage maxes out for liability at 1.5mil
you could go to 2 mil on the umbrella but most claims I see settle for a million or less and your home is your biggest asset so I think your good there.
but far be it from me to tell you not to increase your limits, if you feel better with the 2 mil and are ok with the cost, then get it.
The other suggestion I would make is you mentioned nothing for uninsured motorist liability coverage! that's why you get a green star only because of the fact you have the umbrella and the higher limits I would be really surprised if you didn't have UIM coverage. but that limit should be the same as your primary limits of 250/500.
also I noticed you live in California, in my experience the closer you get to the boarder of Mexico the more uninsured motorist's you tend to find. also you tend to find more people driving who do not actually reside in the US if you know my meaning. if they leave the scene of the accident you have only your uninsured motorist coverage to rely on for pain and suffering.
with that said if your looking for some additional coverage from the umbrella you might want to add the uninsured motorist endorsement so you have the same limits for bodily injury and uninsured motorist BI as well.
also in your state I don't know if PIP is offered or medical payment coverage, it's never a bad idea to have about 5k in medical and or PIP coverage for you and your passengers.

a suggestion, when is the last time you had an auto claim?

your example is somewhat rare, usually people who have low limits also have low deductibles, doing that means a lot of your premium dollars are going to the comp and collision who's limits are puny compared to the liability limits.
if your a good driver you may want to consider a 1 k deductible for comp and collision. living in CA its not likely your going to get any hail damage. also not likely you get broken windshields. figure the cost of an average windshield is about 300 bucks if you pay cash and not claim through insurance.
ask your agent what the difference is raising your deductibles to 1k each, if the savings is more than 300 per year I would suggest you do that. the money you don't pay in premiums will buy all your glass repairs.
keep in mind insurance companies are a little like casinos, the house always wins! don't think for a minute that they loose money giving you a low deductible! they will most certainly make more money or it wouldn't make any sense to do that.. would it? and if they make money selling you a lower deductible you certainly aren't saving any either are you?
any financial expert will tell you that if your able to self insure for a little more you'll easily make up for it in the long run.
while I don't advocate people getting into debt here's a suggestion. for the next couple years take the difference in cost of the 2 deductibles and put that money in a savings account. when the account reaches 1,000 your deductible has been met! if you ever need it, you have already saved that money. until then should you have an accident a credit card can be used to get the 1,000 in a pinch if you don't have the cash.
my guess is that based on what I see here a 1,000 deductible wouldn't be a problem for someone like you. am I wrong?

alexlude

that's right the UIM coverage is also 250/500

i also made some edits to the cost of home ins. as well after looking into it more detail

What insurance company do you work for and how competitive are these prices?

EDIT: sorry to OP for hijacking this thread

Bass Mech

I can't say how competitive we are in California. and I don't exactly work for them I am 1099 contracted.
but the company is American National insurance.
UNFORTUNATLY California insurance laws suck, but most of the rest of the country we offer a cashback refund if you go 3 years without claims. my refund each year is 1300 bucks. it easily pays my home insurance for the entire year with change left over.
they actually write a check and mail it to you. it's 25% refund of all your combined home and auto premiums you paid 3 years ago. all you have to do is remain claim free for 3 years and then every year going forward you get a refund.
I think California and 7 other states don't have it..
you can go to www.anpac.com and look up your zipcode to find an agent. or I can recommend one close to you. most of the agents who have been around a while know me quite well. some of which I highly recommend, others I get frustrated with because they rarely answer their phone!

sorry to tell you all this great info about something not offered in your state, but someone else may be interested in another state.

the OP and I have had several phone conversations and text messages, he is a nice guy, he won't mind lol

Bass Mech

hang in there dude! i am sure they want it done and get paid as bad as you want it done!

we drove over to the dealer to see if any new cars showed up. no such luck!

i did have some moron try to run me off the road on my way home. good thing i have my accident cam installed.
he was pissed that i had to change lanes in front of him. of course he thinks he owns the entire road for 100 yards in front of him and had to give me the high beams.
then he decided to come up along side and wandered into my lane.
didn't continue enough to justify a call tot he police department but i did get a few of his license plate.
you know road rage is another good reason to get an accident cam. so if you haven't got one yet, you might want to get one ordered.
you'll thank me someday.

Bass Mech

sweet did you get the blackvue dr500gw?

Bass Mech

i have not bought mine for the IS yet, someone posted about their GS i think with rear shade saying the rear shade was going to be hitting the rear camera if mounted at the top of the window where i want to put it. i really don't want it down by the brake light. so i figured i would wait to see if there was any way to fit a camera anywhere in the rear window before i buy.
tonight was a perfect example of why i want a rear window camera. someone flashes their headlights and starts driving aggressively would make a really good case if anything happened.
the other problem is i really hate to stick a camera to window tint in the rear, that will be a PITA to remove when i trade the car in.

Slust

This is really close to my accident shortly after yours. Some kid towing a truck (with no lights on at night) pulled out right in front of me to make a left turn to a side street. I think he was banking on the clearance of his beat up SUV and not the clearance of the SUV + Truck ...with 2-3 feet of distance between the two. Even if he wasn't towing a truck it was a stupid gutsy call that shouldn't have been made, but towing the truck made it flat out a retarded decision. I served to the left and slammed on the brakes but I could only go so far or I would go into on coming traffic. So the hood of my car went under the bed of the truck taking out its axel and swinging the truck into another truck stopped at the crossing street. I then hopped up into the median. Needless to say it was bad. My airbags did deploy and the car kept me safe. Was the 2010 IS 250.


I also spent a month fighting with the insurance company. Only smooth part was the cops were there extremely quick and stated on the report it was the other kid's fault. I think I been on the phone with the insurance company every single day since the accident. Doesn't help the kid was uninsured so I have to do everything through my insurance company.

Most important part is you are ok. It really sucks where we are at but remember that.

yardie876

Man I didn't realize you still were separated from your car. You came back with a vengeance though! Looking good.