disturbing Sprint policy facts, learned the hard way

My father has State Farm and in less than 9 years has filed 4 claims:

1 tornado
1 theft of someone stealing remaining items after half of house was gone

approx. 5 years later, different location:

1 fire
1 theft of someone breaking into shed and stealing contents of house that
were locked up while fire damage was being rebuilt and he was in a rental
house


I don't know to the penny of all the claims but it's in the neighborhood of
$200,000

His insurance premiums are the same today as they were before the tornado.

They've either suspected fraud from you or he's a ****ty rep.




"Thomas T. Veldhouse" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Bob Smith" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> >
> > "Richard Zellmer" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> > news:[email protected]...
> > > Yes but filing an insurance claim for a $300 phone is a stupid idea.
It
> > > puts a record in the C.L.U.E database which is like your credit report
> but
> > > for insurance. If you file a $300 phone claim it will cost you
> thousands
> > > later in higher fees.
> > >
> >
> > Bull**** ... I'm an agent myself and if there's no high frequency of the
> > number of claims on the policy, it won't have an effect on the rates.
>
> No? Tell State Farm that. I had a single claim on my record (I have only
> ever made one claim) and when I switched insurance for a new home
purchase,
> I was given a hard time about that and they were not even going to insure
> me. I took quite a bit a little bit of "conversation" to get them to over
> look it. And in that case, it turned out to be an $850 claim with a $500
> deductible. As it turns out ... hardly worth it. I had to learn from
> experience what should have been obvious in the first place. So, I am
> flinging the bovine feces back to you.
>
> Tom Veldhouse
>
>

---

› See More: disturbing Sprint policy facts, learned the hard way

"Bob Smith" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Bull**** ... I'm an agent myself and if there's no high frequency of the
> number of claims on the policy, it won't have an effect on the rates.

Please try to keep up to date with your own industry. As few as two claims
within three years can not only raise one's rate but even cancel the policy
entirely:

http://stacks.msnbc.com/local/ose/m187626.asp

"State Farm recently implemented a policy that says customers in its
mid-Atlantic region may be dropped if they file two claims within three years."

The article cites a case in which a home suffered wind damage to its roof, which
then led immediately to water damage (presumably from rain falling into the
house). The claims adjuster filed two separate claims, one for roof damage and
another for water damage. The result: The insurance company cancelled the
policy at its first opportunity. The homeowners had to get coverage elsewhere,
at almost twice the premium.

"Thomas T. Veldhouse" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> wipes out the claim. Further, making a claim on your home these days puts a
> BIG mark on your insurance record that they don't forgive until you have
> sold them your soul and then some. So .... I wouldn't try that.

Yes, this article

http://stacks.msnbc.com/local/ose/m187626.asp

advises that

"Generally, an insurer will forgive one claim in five years."

Do you really want to use up your once-in-five-years silver bullet for anything
less than a major (<$1000) loss?

"newguy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> They've either suspected fraud from you or he's a ****ty rep.

Or he may live in a region of the country that State Farm is no longer eager to
serve:

http://stacks.msnbc.com/local/ose/m187626.asp

"State Farm recently implemented a policy that says customers in its
mid-Atlantic region may be dropped if they file two claims within three years."

On Fri, 05 Sep 2003 14:49:33 GMT, "Bob Smith"
<[email protected]> said:

>
>"Richard Zellmer" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>> Yes but filing an insurance claim for a $300 phone is a stupid idea. It
>> puts a record in the C.L.U.E database which is like your credit report but
>> for insurance. If you file a $300 phone claim it will cost you thousands
>> later in higher fees.
>>
>
>Bull**** ... I'm an agent myself and if there's no high frequency of the
>number of claims on the policy, it won't have an effect on the rates.
>
>Bob
>
I just went through this exact situation with State Farm homeowners.
I see another State Farm story in this thread but I don't think they
any different then the others. I've had them for over 13 years. I
had two claims in 2 years but none the previous 11, one for vandalism
(mysterious pool liner damage) and another for storm damage (60 ft
section of 6ft high privacy fence ripped to pieces by a storm). Both
claims were under $1000 each. I don't know if this qualifies for
"high frequency" but after reading various articles online and on a
few of the national news shows, I called to ask about my policy
status. An underwriter called me back to assure me I was not going to
be cancelled but my agent later suggested that I raise my deductable
to $1000 from $500 to maintain the roughly the same yearly bill. I
did. Maybe State Farm is handling this differently then other
companies but there is a change going on in the insurance industry on
how they are dealing with claim filers. The Senate and House have
each introduced a bills to try to help homeowners with respect to
claims that you had no control over (storm damage) and previous owners
claims on the same property and use of credit scores to determine if
you can be declined a renewal. The insurance industry used to think
the more customers they had, the better off they were, now they are
selective and using a different scoring system that may include
statistics not directly related to insurance to weed out people who
may file more often. Knowing what I know now, I would not have turned
in the pool damage claim and paid out of pocket.

As for my deductibles. I went through them for my cars and homeowners
and I actually raised them all. Its a chance you take but the amounts
seemed reasonable compared to the returns I'd get with lower premiums.
For my cars and homeowners, I changed them such that I'd break even
in about 2 years if I don't have any claims. There is no right and
wrong for these amounts.

On Fri, 05 Sep 2003 09:30:17 -0500, Steven J Sobol <[email protected]> wrote:

>Scott <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> 1) *I'm* responsible for all usage of the stolen phone for
>> the first two days (Monday and
>> Tuesday) because I 'failed" to notify Sprint before then. Well,
>< given that Customer
>> Service was TOTALLY CLOSED on Monday (I tried every backdoor
>> number I've ever
>
>That's bull****.

No it isn't.
Employees who post here can verify.

In fact, when I got back into town and went into my local store, they
were NOT happy that they had to work on Labor Day while the
entire CS force was off.

>> 3) my fallback for the moment is to use ny old Neopoint in the meantime. Despite having tried
>
>That's stupid.

Bite me. I'm not going to buy a whole new separate phone for a week, or less.

"Phillipe" <[email protected]> wrote:
> Another trick - Remove the "M" medical coverage on your car insurance,
> if you have Health Insurance where you work. Its redundant and unneeded.
> Agents always say "But it pays regardles of what other insurance you
> have". Maybe, but if you break a leg and you car insurance pays you for
> setting it, your Health Insurance won't.

In some states (like NY) the medical coverage is required. I tried removing
it once, when I was living in NY state for the exact reason you mention, and
the agent said it was required by law in NY.

She may have been lying, but since it was only $20 extra for 6 months, I
didn't press it.

"Thomas T. Veldhouse" <[email protected]> wrote:

> While it may be covered, the deductible on even the best policies nearly
> wipes out the claim. Further, making a claim on your home these days puts
a
> BIG mark on your insurance record that they don't forgive until you have
> sold them your soul and then some. So .... I wouldn't try that.
>
> Tom Veldhouse

The big insurance debate...Almost as guaranteed to be in every newsgroup as
Top Post vs. Bottom Post, Why so-and-so is/is not a troll, PC vs. Mac, Me
Too!.

"Agent Blue" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> That's strange...I've had State Farm for many years. I had a DWI once,
> rates never went up. I totaled a car once, rates never went up. I had a
> fender bender in a parking lot once (my fault), rates never went up. If
> they went up at all, it was such a small amount that it wasn't
> noticeable. When I had the DWI, I was ready to get slammed on insurance
> but they apparently never found out about it.

I said this once already. My rates did not go up. It affected my ability
to get new insurance however. I switched carriers to State Farm from Safeco
because I did not like my Agent (and I was purchasing a new home). The flag
was set because I had a claim (which was at most $350 out of pocket for
Safeco) in the last two years. I was able to insurance without a rate hike,
but it took agreeing to a higher deductible to do so .. which is fine with
me, because I prefer a higher deductible anyway.

Tom Veldhouse

"Lawrence G. Mayka" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "newguy" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > They've either suspected fraud from you or he's a ****ty rep.
>
> Or he may live in a region of the country that State Farm is no longer
eager to
> serve:
>
> http://stacks.msnbc.com/local/ose/m187626.asp
>
> "State Farm recently implemented a policy that says customers in its
> mid-Atlantic region may be dropped if they file two claims within three
years."
>
>

They are not fond of Minnesota any longer either. Lots of hail, wind and
flood damage over the last decade. I have been fortunate, but I know a few
people that have received new roofs from the insurance company, and that is
really the crux of the problem. Insurance companies have paid for damaged
roofs that were in need of replacement anyway (A friend of mine got a
completely new roof and his old one was starting to peel up anyway ... but
hail damage is hail damage .. a Mexican roof gang came by and asked to take
a look at his roof ... the rest is history).

Tom Veldhouse