Does dishonesty pay? I hope not.

[petersonra]

Perhaps the insurance industry isn't doing a good enough job of informing clients what is and isn't covered when they sell policies?

We buy insurance for the unknown, yet it is unknown what will come up and you later discover it wasn't covered by the policy.

I might tend to agree that insurance agents on the whole do not do a very good job of explaining what is being sold. They just sell on price and that is often the only thing a lot of people look at.

Most people could not tell you what form the HO policy is they bought, or what the difference between the different forms even is. I certainly could not, at least off the top of my head, but I also know that I made sure I did not buy the bare minimum coverage.

Incidentally, I think I read somewhere that the insurance industry changed from the old Form HO1-2-3 to something else a few years back, but I don't know what it is.

It is like people who depend on the default insurance provided by moving companies. What they do not realize, but what is always plainly stated, is that the coverage is based on so many cents per pound. This is not so bad in the aggregate but if an expensive item is broken that weighs only a few pounds, you will get your claim settled promptly for 5 or 10 cents a pound. You can get extra insurance for the pricier things you are shipping, but it costs extra.

Some people buy the bare minimum coverage and then find out when they have an accident that the liability they incurred was more than the limits of the cheap policy they bought. These days you should have at least $250k and another million umbrella policy. The umbrella policy is usually really cheap but covers you for things that might go past your liability limits like if someone falls and incurs $1 million worth of injuries on your property. if you do not have enough coverage for that, you will be owned if they can get a judgement against you. It is really easy to be in a car wreck and cause more damage in injuries to someone else than the bare minimum policies cover.

 

[Fulthrotl]

Some people buy the bare minimum coverage and then find out when they have an accident that the liability they incurred was more than the limits of the cheap policy they bought. These days you should have at least $250k and another million umbrella policy. The umbrella policy is usually really cheap but covers you for things that might go past your liability limits like if someone falls and incurs $1 million worth of injuries on your property. if you do not have enough coverage for that, you will be owned if they can get a judgement against you. It is really easy to be in a car wreck and cause more damage in injuries to someone else than the bare minimum policies cover.

yep. a while ago, i got sideswiped on the freeway.
the second car to hit me, hit me while i was motionless
in the center of my lane. they sideswiped me.

i ended up being found responsible for creating a hazard,
sitting there broken in the car. it is what it is.

i have a good insurance policy, with a $1M umbrella on top
of it, covering house, car, everything. if you have a minimum
policy, and bad poo happens, the insurance company just writes
a check, and walks away.

if you have a large policy, they stay and negotiate on their/your
behalf. think of that premium as simply an attorney retainer.

the guy who sideswiped me had a pregnant fiancee. the pregnant
fiancee had a mother. the mother had an attorney. the whole passle
of them descended on my claims adjuster, like stink on poo, for six
months.

they wanted to keep the claim open until the unborn child was 18,
in case there were any defects of birth i could be held accountable
for. they had other demands, as well.

i heard nothing about any of this, until half a year later, when the
case finally resolved. then the adjuster and i talked about it, after
they settled.

is good insurance worth it? you betcha.

 

[petersonra]

the odd part is that many times the better policies cost about the same as the lesser ones. some times even less. sometimes a little more. but it is usually not all that much difference for most people.

The other stupid thing people do with insurance is buy it from fraternal organizations. or buy it from fellow church members or fraternal order members. you rarely get a good deal that way.

 

[zbang]

The other stupid thing people do with insurance is buy it from fraternal organizations.

Depends. At least one, "Woodmen of the World", basically started as insurance for it's members (I'm not) and is well-rated.

Like anything, read the fine print before signing.