The name of the insurer doesn't matter for purposes of this poll. I'll probably reveal it in a day or two.

I've been a homeowner for 25 years and have my first ever claim which is hail damage on my roof. Nearly the entire 25 years I have been insured with the same insurer. This includes my time living in Canada as well as five states in the USA. Additionally, I bundle policies with them for homeowners, auto, motorcycle, and umbrella. On top of that, it's not a budget insurance option but instead it's a 100% replacement cost all-risk covered policy.

Historically, they have always received high ratings from both Consumer Reports and AM Best. They still charge premium prices, but in the last Consumer Reports Homeowners update they've fallen to bottom half of the rankings.

Since filing the claim, I've found out why they've dropped as they're now notorious for deny, delay, defend claim tactics. I've had 4 roof inspections (1 by my insurer, 2 by contractors, and 1 by public adjuster). The ones I hired are all were over $30k, but my illustrious insurer estimated $700 (not a typo) which is well below my deductible. The public adjuster and both contractors all independently told me that this insurer will take a minimum 6 months, but meanwhile people with different insurers in my neighborhood already have new roofs installed.

I decided to involve my agent as supposedly that's one of the selling points of having a premium insurance policy with an agent at the entrance of my neighborhood. However, he has turned out to be useless.

Question:
All 4 policies are all up for renewal in 6 weeks. What would you do if you were in my shoes?

Choices:
Keep all 4 policies with same insurer while claim is open
Keep homeowner's with same insurer while claim is open, but move auto, motorcycle, and umbrella to another insurer
Move all 4 policies to another insurer
Other (please explain in a post)

 

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
I decided to involve my agent as supposedly that's one of the selling points of having a premium insurance policy with an agent at the entrance of my neighborhood. However, he has turned out to be useless.

Yep. I recently tried to get my local agent to assist with a vehicle claim. I was told that all claims are handled by the national claim center, and the agent has nothing to do with it.

Another time I had a question about why my bill was suddenly different one month compared to the previous months. Local agent said they didn't know, and to call the main national billing number to ask.

Gone are the days of your local insurance agent being your go-to person to help you out. They're quite literally just salesmen now, feeding newly sold policies to the mothership and collecting a commission.

And I guess to potentially assist with making changes to your policies, though you can just do that online these days too. Or to answer basic questions about coverage or how something works, though you can look that up online yourself as well.

"Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there... if you want us to sell you something, otherwise you'll have to call the national number because I can't help you."

A well written letter to your Insurance Commisioner is worth ten minutes of your time.

Can you move to a new carrier & still process the claim?

Sounds like it may be time to move on if they're being that much of a pain.

I'll text you my agent's info, if you want a source for an independent.

I would be surprised if another company would write you a policy at this time . They all belong to a common database and they know what's going on with your property . I went shopping for a cheaper policy and kept hitting roadblocks because I had a claim a couple of years prior . More than one told me to check back in another year .

Contact your state’s insurance regulatory agency together with your insurer’s district agent.

The days of your agent getting involved when a dispute arises have passed long ago. As has been said, most of them are just looking for their commissions.

"What is Allstate?"

They have been taking somewhere around a two billion dollar bath due to the January fires in California

Well, you always have this option: Legal help

What ZSMICHAEL said.

Write a complaint to your state insurance commissioner. Attach the estimates from the contractors and public adjuster as well as whatever correspondence from your insurer offering $700. Be sure to copy your insurer.

Bad faith claims practices are something that gets the attention of state regulators and may well shake something loose. At the very least, there will be an entirely different unit at your insurer looking over the adjuster’s shoulder and asking questions.

-Rob

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:
What ZSMICHAEL said.

Write a complaint to your state insurance commissioner. Attach the estimates from the contractors and public adjuster as well as whatever correspondence from your insurer offering $700. Be sure to copy your insurer.

Bad faith claims practices are something that gets the attention of state regulators and may well shake something loose. At the very least, there will be an entirely different unit at your insurer looking over the adjuster’s shoulder and asking questions.

-Rob

Another vote for this plan of action.
I'll be interested to see who the insurer is. I've been having second thoughts about my long term carrier (40+ years for me) due to too many highly public issues like yours.
My situation is complicated because I have some land ownership issues in various states that make my Umbrella Policy a challenge and my current carrier handles it without too much whining.

quote:

Originally posted by mrvmax:
Well, you always have this option: Legal help

You can send a notice to the insurance commissioner, it's always a good idea, check their consumer complaint website

Link TDI Consumer Site

You should also look for an attorney to represent you.

We had the same issue here, every roof in the neighborhood was replaced, except the ones who were insured with one carrier, I think it was State Farm.

State Farms investigator was brought in from Oklahoma, where hail is the size of baseballs, he denied several homes claims possibly because hail here doesn't typically get that large and he was looking for bigger damage, or, he was just denying claims in the hopes that people wouldn't fight it... Most don't.

Even with digital images of the roof, physical inspections with several roofers and independent adjustors (same as you) HO keep denying the claim.

It finally came down to suing the carrier, and my neighbor is just the guy to do it, and he hired a good attorney.

And they fought tooth and nail to deny the claim, so have your documents ready, record everything you can, and write down everything, dates, time, who was involved.

In the end he won, the insurance company ended up paying for the roof, his attorney fees and their attorney fees, it cost them $100K to fix a $30 K roof.

Get an attorney and get all your stuff together and expect to go to war...

Oh and he was advised to stay with them for coverage during the process, the minute the claim was finalized and the roof paid for he dropped them. like you 30 years with them..

Just heard another article about the fires in California and State Farm.

Rates in CA are going up, as much as 40%.

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
Just heard another article about the fires in California and State Farm.

Rates in CA are going up, as much as 40%.

Californians did it to themselves, Prop 103's regulating of insurance rates artificially kept them low, which means that carriers can't raise rates to keep up with inflation of property values and costs to repair/replace. All good until you get a catastrophe like the Palisades fire.

Californians did it to themselves, someone proposed limits on premiums and everyone jumped on the bandwagon. It's why Props and Constitutional amendments are very risky.

At some point they have to pay the piper....

And now they'll blame State Farm for raising rates....

First State Farm Rate Hike in History

Insurers are NUTS about roofs right now, they must have gotten burned in the past few years.

I just went through a broker to get a possible better deal for homeowners and car insurance and move away from State Farm and they gave me a better quote for our cars but declined to accept us for homeowners "because we had a flat, non shingle roof".

I have one small dormer on the third floor of our house that has a non shingled roof and is not pitched, it's maybe 10 foot by 12 foot.

They insisted on seeing pictures of it and went back and forth before declining to cover me for my house.

quote:

Originally posted by mrvmax:
Well, you always have this option: Legal help

When it comes to these type of claims, public adjuster is first route. They're not selling a roof so they're more neutral than roofing contractor. Their incentive is they get 10% of claim above my deductible (ie 0.1 * (claim - deductible)). The hope is they're negotiating a settlement faster and cheaper than lawyer (ie billable hours or large percent of claim). These guys take months whereas attorneys take years.

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:

quote:

Originally posted by LS1 GTO:
Just heard another article about the fires in California and State Farm.

Rates in CA are going up, as much as 40%.

Californians did it to themselves, Prop 103's regulating of insurance rates artificially kept them low, which means that carriers can't raise rates to keep up with inflation of property values and costs to repair/replace. All good until you get a catastrophe like the Palisades fire.

Californians did it to themselves, someone proposed limits on premiums and everyone jumped on the bandwagon. It's why Props and Constitutional amendments are very risky.

At some point they have to pay the piper....

And now they'll blame State Farm for raising rates....

First State Farm Rate Hike in History

No argument there but, the business(es) will likely spread a percentage of their costs across all customers, regardless of state / county they live.

$700 estimate is for what? Replacing just the shingles showing damage? $30k estimate, is roof is too old or requires total tear off? Upgrade to hail resistant? Indemnifying hail damage often has a percentage deductible placed on policies. Is there prior damage they are not covering? Just spit-balling, you might find out how much they value you as a customer if you state you're switching before it is all settled.

How old is the roof and what was its condition prior to the storm?
Is it as simple as them backing out your deductible and the useful life left on the roof?

quote:

Originally posted by Powers77:
How old is the roof and what was its condition prior to the storm?
Is it as simple as them backing out your deductible and the useful life left on the roof?

It was 7.9 years old and had 20 year shingles. It was in very good condition before the hail storm. No, it's not as simple as backing out the deductible. Their $700 estimate is a joke and $350 of it was fence damage I didn't claim.

quote:

Originally posted by SigSentry:
$700 estimate is for what? Replacing just the shingles showing damage? $30k estimate, is roof is too old or requires total tear off? Upgrade to hail resistant? Indemnifying hail damage often has a percentage deductible placed on policies. Is there prior damage they are not covering? Just spit-balling, you might find out how much they value you as a customer if you state you're switching before it is all settled.

$700 is their estimate of all hail damage which covers every surface of roof. If they were honest it'd meet their 5 hail strikes per square threshold. I watched their inspector photograph the same damage my 2 contractors photographed. Both contractors and public adjuster state it's a total tear off and over $30k.

It was 7.9 years old at time of storm and no damage. Their adjuster is in Atlanta and has never set foot on my property. He is only looking at reports and photos from Atlanta and practicing deny, delay, defend claim tactics.

Deductible has nothing to do with the difference between $700 and $30k.