DaveInDaytona
Pro
Posts: 1696
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posted October 14, 2002 05:24 PM
All State Farm agents aren't created equal.
I had a shock in May when I received the six month policy renewal for my bike from Allstate. It included a new "special group" surcharge of $614.80. At that time I was pissed and after talking it over with the local Allstate agent I decided it was time for a change. I went to the local State Farm office and asked for a motorcycle quote. The agent told me that in order to quote a policy they would have to write the auto and home too, so I gave them the info and they gave me a quote that totalled within $100 of my Allstate total but warned me that any tickets or claims in the first year would cause the policy to be cancelled. I passed and went on my way, now not happy with Allstate or State Farm.
I recently got my renewal for the Allstate policy and this time the "special group" surcharge had risen to $847.90 and they also added a "driving record" charge of $381.70. I emailed Allstate and they told me the driving record thing was from my recent claim and would be dropped after 3 years with no other claims. Now I have been with Allstate since 1986 and have had no claims until this one. I informed the "Good Hands People" what I thought of the policy and that $3000 a year for a $9000 motorcycle was a bit extreme but I still needed a way to find insurance elsewhere.
I remembered what Sherman and others had said about shopping State Farm agents and thought I'd give it another try. I went to statefarm.com and searched for agents in my area. I got 20 hits and each had an email address. I emailed a copy of the same note requesting a new policy for my motorcycle and 18 of them said -
"State Farm does not write new policies for motorcycles only. You would also need to have an auto policy with us."
Each of the 18 had their own variation of that same lie.
Two of the agents said sure, we'll write a policy for your motorcycle so I contacted the first one that said yes and got the policy today.
The moral to the story ? Well you could interpret it a few ways. It pays to shop around, even in the same company. Or maybe..18 out of 20 State Farm agents will lie to you.
Just thought it might help someone else out shopping for insurance.
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TurboBlew
Moderator
BUSY DOING THE SCHIAVO
Posts: 4590
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posted October 14, 2002 06:39 PM
Yes Dave...insurance is a game. When I bought my 2000 model, rates were fairly cheap because the stock market was booming. Everyone was like water....liquid as hell. Insurance Cos. didnt need that much cash flow. Now times have changed and Enron & Martha Stewart scandals have left their pockets empty, so guess what?? Its back to letting the masses pay again.
My agent tried the old "change the policy parameters" on me trying to get me to risk a $1250 deductable. No dice I said. I was gonna walk on him too. Anyway, it costs me $345 every 6months for $250 deduct, 150/300/150 coverage. Progressive too.
Moral of the story?? Shop around!
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beansbaxter
Needs a life
Posts: 5911
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posted October 14, 2002 10:40 PM
Lucky for me I live in WA state where insurance is not required. I wont be so lucky if I ever get pulled over while riding out of state. I still wont be so lucky if anything ever happens to my 12 (knock on some wood).
Using the drivers liscence I do for insurance, it has a perfect clean record. But because I'm 24, and rent an apartment, no one will insure me. Reminds me of a certain post, where I received a lot of great advice, but none of it ever worked out for me. Poor me.
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redelk
Moderator
Please... speak to the hand.
Posts: 3212
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posted October 15, 2002 05:43 AM
I've heard some folks with State Farm getting "dicked" recently by their agents. So far, my rates still continue to go down on my bike's policy. Not only that, but after I switched my home insurance to the same agent (a year after I got my 12R), it too has continued to drop. It's tied in with my mortgage payments and they have dropped over $30 a month.
Some of these agents never learn. Since mine gave me a good deal on my bike, she now has my home, my trailer, my car, my daughter's new car, my son's new car, my daughter's boyfriend's car and will soon get my company's truck, building and workman's comp policies as well (AR State Farm agents can't write new corporate building policies till probably the first of '03). All these agents gotta do is "the math". My agent does me right, she scores NINE more policies and countless referrals (the majority of which get policies)! If she were to screw me, she loses them all. Just ask my FORMER Farmer's agent. DUH!
A funny story about my agent...
On a beautiful Saturday afternoon, WAAAAAY out in the middle of nowhere, on a twisty Arkansas back highway, my riding buddy's father crashed his SLK while following us. After getting the SLK out of the ditch and back on the shoulder of the rode, we had a chance to assess the damages and make a few phone calls. Within about 10 minutes, guess who drives up? MY AGENT! Her and her "boyfriend" cruise up to see if everyone's okay. It turned out that I had blew past them on a double yellow sweeper, about a half hour earlier. OOPS!
She thought it was "cool", but her Harley riding boyfriend (they were in his PT Cruiser) wasn't real keen about it. She was pleased to see me in full leathers and told me to have a fun ride (after they picked up the SLK). When you go into her office, the three nice "older" ladies there make you feel like your a "forth for bridge" at your mother's house. Go figure.
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There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.
-Ernest Hemingway
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ddpete3
Pro
Posts: 1189
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posted October 15, 2002 06:00 AM
I got hotties at my office who told me where the good clubs are in SD when I moved there.
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pat830
Expert Class
Posts: 135
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posted October 15, 2002 07:05 AM
Insurance agents try to make the most profit possible so some will write the policies, and some won't. Here is a tidbit if info I read on MSN the other day concerning home insurance policies. It sounds like collusion to me.
The Basics
Insurers keep a secret history of your home
A huge database not only tracks claims, it also looks for risks such as toxic mold. That's why homeowners with even minor water damage are being canceled -- and are sometimes unable to sell.
You probably know that it's not a good idea to make too many claims on your homeowners insurance policy because your insurer could drop you.
What you might not know is that making a claim could make selling your home more difficult down the road. What's more, you could find your home's value damaged or a sale jeopardized even if a previous owner, and not you, made a claim.
Insurers increasingly are using a huge industry database, called the Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange or CLUE, to drop or deny coverage based on a home's history of claims or damage reports.
Insurance companies are terrified of rising losses from water and mold damage. So a single report of water-related problems may be enough for insurers to shun your home.
Jan and Kevin Garder of Bremerton, Wash., discovered this the hard way. The Garders thought they were doing the right thing when they told their insurance company, State Farm, about some minor water damage caused by a rainstorm last year.
Consumers held hostage
The couple, who say they had been with their insurer for 30 years without filing a claim, ultimately decided not to file one this time, either.
That didn't stop State Farm from dropping them as customers, they say. Not only that, but they say State Farm also shared the damage information with the CLUE database. When the Garders applied for coverage elsewhere, the other insurers cited State Farm's damage report as the reason they wouldn't write a policy, Jan Garder said.
"Until then, we didn't know anything about the CLUE database," she said. "We really didn't have a clue."
State Farm declined to comment on the Garders' case, citing privacy concerns. Spokeswoman Lisa Wang said the insurer shares only claims information with CLUE, not damage reports.
But the company that operates CLUE, ChoicePoint of Alpharetta, Ga., said that the database collects damage reports as well as claims. The information stays in the database for up to five years, said James Lee, ChoicePoint's chief marketing officer.
The Garders say they finally secured bare-bones fire coverage for about $1,000 a year, more than three times what they paid previously for full homeowners coverage.
What's more, the problem is derailing their plans to sell their home. The Garders say they have been told by their real estate agent and others that they may have a tough time getting a good price for a home that's already been rejected by many insurers.
"You are totally blackballed," said Jan Garder, 49. "They should not be able to hold a consumer hostage like this."
Insurance companies get aggressive
In previous years, insurers used the CLUE database in large part to watch for fraud and for consumers who had a history of filing numerous claims.
After losing nearly $9 billion on homeowners insurance last year, however, insurance companies have become more aggressive about screening for other risks -- including damaged homes that could spawn future claims.
State Farm, which lost $5 billion last year on its various insurance lines, has been among the most aggressive in weeding out unwanted risks. The nation's largest property insurer has dropped thousands of policyholders from coast to coast and stopped writing homeowners insurance in several states.
So far, insurers' increased use of the CLUE database has not caused serious problems for the booming real estate industry, said George Tribble, a member of the National Association of Mortgage Brokers' board of directors.
But Tribble said he has heard a number of anecdotal reports of residential sales falling through at the last minute because of CLUE-related problems in securing insurance. He fears the problem could get worse if insurers begin to shy away from homes that have had even minor damage.
"Right now, it's still a pretty isolated problem," Tribble said, "but that could change if they (insurers) continue to do this. ... If you're not able to get insurance, you're not able to close the deal."
Tribble thinks it's particularly unfair that a home could be blackballed because of one claim, let alone a single report of damage that didn't lead to a claim.
"Insurance companies want to keep their costs down, which is understandable," Tribble said, "but this is what you have insurance for -- to cover you for accidents."
The insurance industry is notorious for its manic-depressive cycles. In profitable years, companies will slash premiums, boost coverage and take on big risks in hopes of gaining market share. When those risks start costing real money, the companies sound the full retreat -- hiking premiums, dropping customers and shunning risk.
What's notable about their most recent mood swing was how quickly it happened, spurred in large part by last year's losses and the massive increase in mold-related claims, especially in Texas and California.
How to protect yourself
While you can't do much about insurers' overreactions, you can do something to protect yourself in this particularly difficult time. Among them:
Keep your home in good repair. A solid, watertight roof, good plumbing and a decent paint job can protect your home from various water disasters -- the kind of damage that's scaring insurers the most these days. It's a good idea to regularly check the hoses on your clothes- and dish-washing machines, since cracked or burst hoses often lead to serious water damage.
Keep your deductible high. Pay for smaller expenses out of your own pocket. Homeowners insurance should be reserved for the big disasters, not the little problems you can easily pay for yourself.
Think twice about water-related claims. This is especially true if you plan to sell within a few years. You could be better off paying to repair the problem yourself rather having your home be branded as high risk.
Don't tell your insurer about problems unless you're sure you'll file a claim. This last piece of advice is unfortunate, because insurers and insurance agents can be a decent source of counsel on whether it's worth filing a claim. Since any damage you report could get passed on to the CLUE database, however, it's smart now to err on the side of caution.
Consider getting a copy of your CLUE report. If you've been denied insurance, you can get a copy of your home's CLUE report for free; otherwise, you'll pay about $8. You have a right under federal law to dispute any erroneous information on the report. To get a copy, contact ChoicePoint. Currently, you'll need to mail in your request, although the company hopes to have an online version by the end of the month.
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ZHooligan
Moderator
Post Whore Extraordinaire!
Posts: 3829
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posted October 15, 2002 07:30 AM
Pretty pathetic. The insurance companies are the mafia. We are screwed with or without it. And the interesting part about when they post losses is that isn't real. They use creative book keeping to show losses. When ever the insurance companies go to the State Insurance Comission, they use data that shows that based on their "model" at the rate they are collecting money today, they will experience a loss 20 years from now. When convenient they will show that they have paid out more then they collected. Even though they collected more from the insured parties then they paid out over a 5 or ten year period of time. Of course when they are selling you their stock or life insurance or 401K etc. they will show you what a sound investment they are and how consistantly they make money. Smoke and mirrors!!!!! They claim to be in the risk business and that is about as far from the truth as possible.
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has touched them in the past and how much it can hold in the
future; -- Youth is forever.
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Phil
Expert Class
Posts: 420
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posted October 15, 2002 02:26 PM
That ChoicePoint thing sounds familiar. When my kid lost his license State Farm didn't get his driving record from the state but got it from a private company, ChoicePoint I think. They supplied not a driving record but a driving history going back to when he started driving, and half the stuff they had wasn't even right. Bastards makeing a business out of watching us.
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beansbaxter
Needs a life
Posts: 5911
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posted October 15, 2002 02:29 PM
Do insurance companies give rates, in regards to motorcycles, based on engine size in cc's or by the actual make and model of the bike??
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Phil
Expert Class
Posts: 420
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posted October 15, 2002 02:40 PM
StateFarm if I remember just wants to know engine size, but I had to give em my pickup to.
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Scooter
Zone Head
Posts: 899
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posted October 16, 2002 03:51 AM
 Edited By: Scooter on 16 Oct 2002 04:52
cycledirect.net beat Progressive(and everybody else) by at least 1/3.
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DaveInDaytona
Pro
Posts: 1696
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posted October 16, 2002 04:19 AM
quote:
cycledirect.net beat Progressive(and everybody else) by at least 1/3.
I guess they save money by not putting any information on their web site. How do you find them ?
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