I agree that car insurance is very high in NJ, but I pay $858 per year***** with a $2k collision deductible, but also with an extra $500k of Umbrella Liability coverage. You might want to look into New Jersey Manufacturers Insurance Company, which is consistently ranked as the #1 or #2 insurance company in the US for both customer service and payment of claims.
And, their price tends to be good. Maybe not as cheap as what “the lizard” offers, but with superior customer service and a claim-paying record second to none.
$858 is the nominal cost, but because it is a mutual insurance company, there is an inevitable rebate every year. The amount of the rebates varies, depending on how many claims they had to pay-out over the year, but it is usually somewhere in the range of $50-$80.
I cannot believe that homeowner’s insurance would cover rodent damage to your car–even if such damage occurred while parked outside your home. However, car insurance would certainly cover such damage assuming that you have comprehensive and collision.
I’m not making it up! It really does happen on a regular basis. Chev Equinox, Toyo Highlander, Lincoln Navigator, Toyo 4 Runner, Subaru Outback 3.0, those are just the ones in my recent memory (the Outback was just 3 weeks ago). Out of these 5, 3 were able to have their homeowner’s kick in and help with repairs. The Equinox and the Navigator were both around $2000.
Look at it this way, if you’re wife’s wedding dress is properly stored and secured in your attic, and rodents chew through it, your homeowner’s will pay to repair or replace it, right? If your car is properly secured in your garage, carport, driveway, and it gets vandalized, insurance will pay.
I’m not sure about car insurance. The lady with the Equinox said her car insurance denied the claim as an Act of God, but not sure if she had comp/collision as the car was 10 years old.
How old is your house? I remember moving from a 1500 sq ft house that was 35 years old to a 2700 sq ft house that was 6 years old, and my homeowners insurance went down by half. Agent said the reasoning was a newer house is less likely to have structural, electrical, or plumbing failures.
Last year found that a mouse chewed up a fuel injector wire on No. 3 cylinder. Found said mouse dead on the intake.
Does that mean General Motors is at fault? No.
Few years ago rats decided to nest in the trunk of my Lincoln.
Ford’s fault? No.
One of the most beaten to death cliches’ on the planet. “I will be talking to my attorney”.
An attorney will bring suit against anything; as long as a retainer is provided to get the ball rolling.
If the actual problem is soy based wiring then they all should be looking at alternatives that arent
so attractive to rodents . This wasnt always a problem .
A reasonable attorney would tell a prospective client up front that they have no case, that the odds of winning are too low, etc. My father was an attorney, and he certainly turned away plenty of prospective business, and told the client very bluntly that their case was a loser, that legal action was not appropriate, etc.
The same concept of business ethics applies in other industries as well. For example, I am an HVAC technician, and I am not going to waste a customer’s time and money trying to salvage a unit which is unrepairable, just as I am not going to waste a customer’s time and money trying to sell them new equipment which isn’t legitimately needed. A professional auto mechanic would do the same thing–if the car is a loser, they would (hopefully) tell the customer that sinking further time and money into it would be a mistake and to buy something else instead.
As the owner of a 70 year old house, I can certainly vouch for this. Even so, I would much rather pay high homeowner’s insurance and high utility bills than deal with the hassle of being in an HOA (which nearly all newer homes are). I can think of zero benefit to being in an HOA.
I live in a 24 year old house that we bought new. We have a home owners association and there is no cost. When there is a HOA, it is typically because common areas need attention. My first house was a townhouse with a big parking lot. The HOA dues paid for plowing in the winter and eventual parking lot repairs. These days my parking lot is a driveway and I’m responsible for all the costs.
My house is 104, only claim is for neighbors dead tree for patio table and cleanup. Had 2 buds surprised by HOA, one they were required to put up christmas lights, the other grass could only be cut 9 to 5 Monday through Friday.
Rodents chew on wires… And almost everything else. The way for Hyundai to have prevented this from happening would have been to avoid using wires in their cars, but that would mean you’d have to accelerate and brake Fred Flintstone-style.
It always kind of amuses me when someone threatens to pay a lawyer $5,000 to recover $600… Erm… OK. I guess you can then sue the lawyer for overcharging, but I’m not sure who you’d get to represent you. Maybe a mechanic?
Kidding aside, it’s not Hyundai’s fault that rodents exist or that they chew things. Rodents have been chewing on car wires since long before soy insulation was introduced. You don’t generally sue your general contractor when a mouse gets in the house, either.
Hi Asemaster:
I’m curious what would motivate electrical work to be 1.5x higher than the regular labor rate.
I welcome any reasons you can share.
Thank you.
Maybe where you live. Very very few HOA’s around here. There are a few and I don’t mind them if there are reasonable bylaws. The one advantage is they do keep property values up.
+1
From this forum (I think…) I found out last year that there are HOAs in regular Single family homes housing situations in other parts of the country. In my state, they are only found in Condo developments and in gated communities.
Here in Oklahoma you may not even find a housing develoment that does not have a HOA . Mine will fine you for the wrong color shingles , a mail box that does not meet the covenants , a fence that is not see through or over 6 feet , the vent pipes on top of the house have to be painted to match the trim color or the gutters , and the list goes on.
Friend of mine lived in one in Salem NH. Wasn’t gated, but the homes were on the high-end. Smallest home that could be built was 2,600sq/ft. A few homes were well over 5,000sq/ft. Some of the bylaws were annoying- No clothes lines, no more than 2 cars parked in driveway for more than 2 days in a row. No above ground pools. But some were helpful - “No construction equipment parked in driveway or road that isn’t working on home.” This law was very helpful in getting this homeowner who owned a construction company from parking his big-rig and other construction equipment to not park in this nice residential neighborhood. Today those homes start at $850,000 and go up from there. If you bought a home there in 2000 and sold today for $600,000 more then you paid for it in 2000.
It really does happen on a regular basis. Chev Equinox, Toyo Highlander, Lincoln Navigator, Toyo 4 Runner, Subaru Outback 3.0, those are just the ones in my recent memory (the Outback was just 3 weeks ago). Out of these 5, 3 were able to have their homeowner’s kick in and help with repairs. The Equinox and the Navigator were both around $2000.