My home insurance company is The Mercer Insurance Co., but I think that they only write policies in NJ. However, Mercer is owned by The United Fire Group–based in Iowa–so it is very possible that you can get a policy written by one of United’s other divisions.
I have to say that I am very impressed with this company, as a result of them making a very fair payout and then not raising my rates any more than they have risen in the past.
My experience has been relatively good with collision claims. A few months ago I had an email from a friend whose daughter had her car totalled. She really loved that car and thought the payout was too small. I researched various sources both on line and printed and found the payout for that area and the car mileage was exactly right. My friend thanked me.
Maybe local insurance companies are better. When I hit a deer, mine (the Cincinnati Insurance Company) just said, “Get it fixed wherever you want,” no inspection. They paid quickly (minus $100 deductible). I’m sure I pay a little more but I don’t worry about it.
I used to calculate how much money I was willing to risk if I didn’t carry collision insurance. I would factor in the scrap value of the car as well as what it would cost to fix a car with used parts. Also, the loss can often be deducted from taxes. Often, a body shop will cut a break if the customer does not have insurance and pays in cash. These were the days when good used cars were more plentiful. We didn’t have a lot of money, but did have a reserve for emergencies, so I saved money by dropping the collision at a certain point.
Thanks. Sometimes local laws may require that a company have a subsidiary for that state. GEICO, for instance, insisted that we have a separate policy for my daughter when she went to college in SC. They said it was a subsidiary even though they operate under the same name in SC and MD.
If the replacement cost of the house is accurate, there should be no incentive to collect. If you want to live in a house just like that one, it will cost that much to rebuild. More, really, because you have to live somewhere else while rebuilding. The inconvenience of having to find new housing and losing your personal goods are strong deterrents to torching your house. The insured value looks high, but housing is expensive. In my neighborhood you can’t get anything for less than $500,000. Our 3-bedroom condo is estimated at 1.5 million. I hope our insurance is keeping up with costs. We just had our 3-unit building painted. Even that cost $30,000. Owning a home is expensive.
Car insurance should also have no incentive to wreck your car. That’s why they can declare your car totalled and pay you it’s current value instead of what it would cost to repair. Makes sense. You’ll either get a repaired car or a check to go buy something similar. If you want to spend the money on something else, you can.
I have State Farm and had a little hail damage on my roof in Minnesota a few years ago. I pooh poohed it but when roofs were being put on all over the neighborhood, I asked to have an inspection. The adjuster came out and gave me a check that morning for $12,000 for 75% of the cost of a full replacement. The other 25% would be paid after the work was done and the invoice submitted. This was on a 20 year old roof but I had full replacement value.
Incidentally, I always have an extra bundle of original shingles just for any necessary repairs. 12 years later I was also able to get ten bundles of the exact match shingles for repair. True after 10-15 years, the same shingles won’t match exactly due to wear, but I had to patch wind damage over six times on the original roof without a big problem. Just use main stream quality shingles.
xaml
I have a granddaughter that is an auto damage claims adjuster for a major insurance company and believe me, the collision shops cannot “charge whatever they want”. The insurance companies beat them up on price all the time. Cars are expensive to repair, the shop owner has to pay wages and benefits, social security, comp, disability and liability insurance, the cost of a building permits, electric,heat, property taxes all before he makes a penny.