Let's talk insurance

[Medsker]

I am not happy with my current insurance company. When my Jeep burned up they really low balled me. I'm wondering if there are any insurance companies out there that cover mods you've made. I'm willing to pay extra. Also ones that cover you off-road.

I'm just wondering who everyone uses.

 

[Mouse]

Good question. I'm under the general impression that all insurance agencies are for profit, not for protecting what I want insured. Because of that, I assume they all want to pay out the least in a claim, provide the most fine print as possible and find ways out of providing a service they seem to be advertising. With that said, USAA has generally done OK with me and my family over the past 20-some years and a couple of minor accidents.

I think most insurance companies would be willing to adjust for mods if they are given receipts and maybe a chance to look at them or have a second party provide an indepent valuation estimate

 

[moab_cj5]

I was with Farmers and they allowed me to "over" insure my land cruiser. I think I had $10k in extra coverage to help cover all the money I had in it. It got too expensive to stay with them for all my other stuff so I switched to State Farm and resigned myself that if my cruiser dies an unfortunate death I will do what I can to replace it with what I get.

When I had a vehicle totalled a few years ago, I did my own comparisons that I sent to the insurance when I felt they were trying to screw me. We met closer to my valuation in the end. I used Craigslist and KSL to come up with the year and mileage, but it was a stock explorer so no modifications to account for.

Dealing with insurance companies sucks! You have my empathy.

 

[Stephen]

When I had a vehicle totalled a few years ago, I did my own comparisons that I sent to the insurance when I felt they were trying to screw me. We met closer to my valuation in the end. I used Craigslist and KSL to come up with the year and mileage, but it was a stock explorer so no modifications to account for.

Dealing with insurance companies sucks! You have my empathy.

Yeah, you have to really hand feed them the data, because the insurance company is always going to lowball. Anytime I've dealt with insurance, I've got all my receipts for anything that I've done to the vehicle that might add value (lift, bumper, tires, ect) and then do my own comparison shopping to show the real value of the vehicle. When they tried to total out one of my cars, they were using the base trim level as the comparison point, which was not even close.

 

[ID Bronco]

Even with receipts it's very hard to get reimbursed and if they pay they will prorate the heck out of it.

 

[1969honda]

I went thru the same thing as @Stephen when the TJ was totaled and when my wife's escalade was totaled a few years earlier. After digging into their valuation I found base model trims, missing factory options, incorrect mileage and several other things. After going back and forth we settled in both cases a lot closer to my estimate.

 

[UNSTUCK]

When I was in Utah I used Lance Anderson of Anderson GMI. All my vehicles were stock or close to it so I didn’t need any extras. He let me insure my boats and trailers at my own price point. They were all pretty modified. I was extremely impressed at how well he handled the couple issues we had. I didn’t have to do anything. Might be worth a call.

 

[Medsker]

I just saved his info, thanks. I emailed AAA to see what they covered. They said they would cover off-road as long as you're not racing. They all said they pay for well documented extras. They are working up a quote for me. We'll see....

 

[Tonkaman]

I have talked to my insurance broker about this before. They charge x amount per $1k of “accessory” coverage. You can decide how many thousands of “accessories” you need coverage for and pay that on the premium.

 

[Trate D]

When my truck got stolen State Farm corporate was terrible to deal with. They lowballed me for weeks even after providing 10k in receipts. They used trucks from out of state with double the mileage as comps then found a reason to deny any that I sent them.

After a discussion with a friend that is an attorney he’s said you will get more in the long run but it’s going to cost you double what you will get. I ended up settling for about 60% of market value for the truck at the time. My agent bent over backwards though trying to get me more value and ended up cutting me a check as well stating “You’re getting screwed on this deal.” .

Seems the best thing they said I could do in the future is document the condition of the vehicle top to bottom inside and out. That way they can have a better understanding of its condition compared to market average. My take is no matter what I do it will be the same situation if it ever happens again!

 

[ID Bronco]

When my truck got stolen State Farm corporate was terrible to deal with. They lowballed me for weeks even after providing 10k in receipts. They used trucks from out of state with double the mileage as comps then found a reason to deny any that I sent them.

After a discussion with a friend that is an attorney he’s said you will get more in the long run but it’s going to cost you double what you will get. I ended up settling for about 60% of market value for the truck at the time. My agent bent over backwards though trying to get me more value and ended up cutting me a check as well stating “You’re getting screwed on this deal.” .

Seems the best thing they said I could do in the future is document the condition of the vehicle top to bottom inside and out. That way they can have a better understanding of its condition compared to market average. My take is no matter what I do it will be the same situation if it ever happens again!

I worked with State Farm when my truck got stolen. Corporate was as you described but after I did my own research they finally settled pretty close to what I wanted. I did lose out on the snow plow mount which totally sucked like $2200 sucked. They did cover my tools pretty well.

 

[Trate D]

I worked with State Farm when my truck got stolen. Corporate was as you described but after I did my own research they finally settled pretty close to what I wanted. I did lose out on the snow plow mount which totally sucked like $2200 sucked. They did cover my tools pretty well.

Did they cover those through the auto claim? They told me I’d have to file a homeowner’s claim on any personal items. I remember I added up around $2000 worth of stuff and my deductible was $1500 so I just replaced my own stuff.

But I think I remember yours was stolen in Vegas? I wonder if it was cause mine was stolen from my home?

 

[ID Bronco]

Did they cover those through the auto claim? They told me I’d have to file a homeowner’s claim on any personal items. I remember I added up around $2000 worth of stuff and my deductible was $1500 so I just replaced my own stuff.

But I think I remember yours was stolen in Vegas? I wonder if it was cause mine was stolen from my home?

Come to think of it, yes, the tools were under my homeowners policy. I had forgotten that. Two checks, probably two deductibles. My tool bill was much larger due to the activity we were doing at the time. The place they screw you is on the depreciation. If you disclose you had a hammer for 15 years, it's worth nothing even though I have to buy a new hammer, and so on. I still need to replace some of those tools.

 

[jackbrit3]

Come to think of it, yes, the tools were under my homeowners policy. I had forgotten that. Two checks, probably two deductibles. My tool bill was much larger due to the activity we were doing at the time. The place they screw you is on the depreciation. If you disclose you had a hammer for 15 years, it's worth nothing even though I have to buy a new hammer, and so on. I still need to replace some of those tools.

How many hits can a 15 year old hammer have left in it. The insurance company knows it has no value after 7 years.

 

[Kevin B.]

The place they screw you is on the depreciation.

When I had some bikes and tools stolen out of my garage, Allstate never said a word about depreciation. About half of it I had bought used and I told them that and they still gave me full replacement value. Which was awesome at the time and I thought they had a customer for life, but they've spent every month since screwing me over a little more with every renewal, so...

How many hits can a 15 year old hammer have left in it. The insurance company knows it has no value after 7 years.

That's a load of crap. What are you, an insurance adjuster? I've got plenty of tools older than fifteen years that are doing just fine, and if they go gone then I gotta pay new tool money to replace them, and if I'm paying an insurance company every damned month to insure them in case they go gone then mister insurance company damned well better come through.

 

[Kevin B.]

Insurance is a scam anyway. But the law and the bank says I gotta pay it, and as long as I'm paying it and the policy says that stuff is covered, I damned well expect it to be covered.