danglerb

I am doing some surfing about insurance, and posting tidbits in this thread, mostly California specific, but anything that looks interesting I will add, and hope others do as well.

This from an injury lawyers site;
Full value can be recovered in cases once an insurance company rejects an offer to settle for policy limits, providing that settlement offer meets the requirements of California law for "good faith settlement offers." When an insurance company fails to follow the law, it becomes liable for the full value of the claim even if full value in that case exceeds the policy limits.

Ugh, this next link says were are stuck with whatever insurance offers.
http://law.freeadvice.com/insurance_...nsurance/1005/

Here is a site discussing law, post a question, maybe get an answer from a real lawyer; http://www.laborlawtalk.com Frequent answer is get a lawyer.

This thread covers various totaled insurance issues and buy back, http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.ef315a3

Ugh, bad news in Texas, insurer gets car if totaled; http://www.mdjwlaw.com/TIN/Newsbrief/May_24,2004.htm

This one says its in the fine print of your policy, read it good points; http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/arch....php/t-79.html

Another good one, read this Rog, damage after leaving for service; http://www.expertlaw.com/forums/arch...php/t-370.html

Surfed out for now, next I probe AAA and ca.gov

BC

A reputable insurer will do you more justice then a fly by night or "low low cost" company that specifically will fight a claim tooth and nail to keep their premium. By reputable I do not mean State Farm or Farmer's either, who are sued regularly for improprieties in numerous states for trying to screw the customer.

High Limit, High deductible polices are best. AAA is an INSURANCE COMPANY, please remember. They are not your advocate, and neither is the state. This is a state that has decided that zip codes should not count in the rating of auto insurance, which is BS, and will only cause MORE harm to the customer. Garamandie is an idiot Politician who wants to be governor.

danglerb

I'm a 45 year AAA member, carry $1000 deductible and comprehensive on all cars, a 87 928 as of yesterday would add $487 (one all the multi car discounts kick in). My coverage is

250/500 $153
PD 100 $83
unin 30/60 $32
Comp $61
coll $181

But I still need to talk to the claims people about issues like totalling etc. that the writer isn't privy to. What good is the insurance if they total your 928 and want to keep it?

funxman

I use the Hartford. They are very specific and strict about who drives my car. However, they are about 40% cheaper and 120% better and faster with claims than anyone I have ever had. Their moto is to make me as comfortable as quickly as possible in the event of a claim.

BC

Your 30/60 uninsured motorist is WAY too low. Do you have a job? Do you make money for your family or does your wife? how long would you job be there for you (unpaid) waiting for you to come back? What if it wasn't? You would make your bi 500/500 and jack your UMBI to 500/500 as well. Thats the cheapest disability insurance you can buy. Its more then just injury insurance - its lost wages and time.

Ron_H

Brendan said: "By reputable I do not mean State Farm or Farmer's either, who are sued regularly for improprieties in numerous states for trying to screw the customer. "

Amen

danglerb

Judge insurance by how they pay, not what they charge.

OTOH my view is that you can't predict the future, or what a big company may do when its faced with serious cash outlay. Insurance companies facing a known loss at or near the liability limit may decide to settle instead of fight it out in court and that can leave you in the position of large personal liability AND if you don't cooperate with the insurance lawyers position that can release the insurance company from any liability. Insurance is really for peace of mind and all the stuff in the middle.

BC

If you have a personal liability policy that augments the underlying coverage, then they will send a lawyer to protect the 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 million that they insure your assets for. The legals cost is separate from the total liability claim and you pay nothing, or possibly a 1000 deductible. You WON'T have any monetary outlay if you insure properly. If you don't, the premiums you pay on insufficient limits will simply be a down payment on your bankruptcy.

danglerb

You missed the point, the insurance company has no incentive to force a settlement lower once it exceeds their liability limit, and typically won't go to court for your benefit alone, AND the terms of your policy require you to cooperate so if the insurance company wants to settle for 1.2 and that .2 million comes out of your pocket, tough bananas. You have to weigh the benefits of higher policy limits vs the cost, vs what assets you have and how well protected they are. First step in a lawsuit these days is an asset search.

My search isn't to find an appropriate level of liability for myself, its to find out the rules for totalling a car and the salvage rights.

Bill Ball

My insurance tidbits...

If you have major assets, you need major liability coverage that protects them. The standard car insurance liability limits become completely inadequate for many people, as they move through life and accumulate assets. If you assets exceed the libility coverage limits, then you should get an umbrella policy to expand this coverage. They are relatively inexpensive. Make sure you have enough.

If you have major assets, then collision insurance is a waste of money since you can easily afford to repair or replace the car yourself. Do you have insurance to pay your grocery bills? I don't think you should buy a car that you could not afford to repair or replace on your own. I've always paid cash for cars, from my first one, a $150 11-year-old Volvo, to the present.

danglerb

Coll is the price I pay to not have to deal with the other insurance company, if I could get it with 100% deductible I would. Fact is I think if possible what might be ideal for many 928 owners is really high deductibles like $10k or more, since most intend to fix the car regardless and want ti fixed the way we want it.

JHowell37

I've never had an issue with State Farm. My family has used State Farm exclusively for the past 75 years. My 928 isn't currently insured (it doesn't even have paint at the moment.) When I get insurance, it will be with State Farm. I've briefly considered other insurance companies but when I investigated, I found that:
Geico can refuse to pay a claim if the owner of the car was using a radar detector at the time of the accident. In addition, their ads that state save as much as 15% or more are BS. The last time I spoke to Geico, the rate they quoted me was about 15% higher then State Farm. Screw them.

Nationwide has rates that are almost the same as State Farm (within a few dollars.) Here's the catch. We're talking about cars. Let's put a motorcycle on the policy. The rate they quoted me for my Ninja ZX-6R was 3 times higher then State Farm. The premium on my bike was higher then the premium for my car. I don't think so.

Progressive really got their start as an insurer for motorcycles. Their rates are tolerable on bikes, but not great. Their car rates are a little higher as well. Many body shops these days try to develop good relationships with the insurance companies. If you take your car to a good body shop, many times, the insurance company will skip their own adjuster and just accept the estimate from the body shop. It's a good business practice. The other thing many body shops will do is honor the insurance estimate without question. Many of the bodyshops around here will not honor an estimate from Progressive because Progressive lowballs them and will fight the shop to the bitter end just to save a few dollars. Progressive employs Wal-Mart tactics on small businesses by trying to kill their profit margins. Then they employ more Wal-Mart practices on their customers by not being as low-cost as they pretend they are. Corporations that try to squash small businesses and rip-off consumers don't get my money if I can help it.

Whenever I or anyone in my family has made a claim to State Farm, they've always paid with no questions asked. With State Farm, my car rate is about $1200/year for full coverage. This is a little high, but I've accepted the fact that you are allowed to discriminate against a person based on their age as long as the person being discriminated against is BELOW a specific age and male. My rate should be going down a little since I just turned 30. On the flip side, I pay about $300/year for full coverage on my motorcycle. No one can touch that rate. So even though one is on the high side, it's offset by the fact that the other is so low. My total cost is less than any other company will give me. Before anyone questions my driving record with regard to my rates, my last ticket was a 1 point violation for speeding, over 3 years ago. My last claim was on my motorcycle for an accident where I was found to be not at fault. That was over 3 years ago as well. My most expensive "at fault" claim was over ten years ago for about $700. It's fair to say I'm a safe driver.

H2

When I was comparing insurance on my shark last year, I really wanted a local company (State Farm was at the top of my list) but they could not come close to GEICO's prices. Nor could any of the other companies I spent dozens of hours investigating. I have 6 kids and, cumulatively, over the years they have had more than 6 accidents. GEICO has never messed us over yet. Although they did raise their rate for a couple of years when my one daughter had her third wreck. Now they're all married off and my insurance costs are settling down. The smaller companies tend to be the difficult ones on pay outs. With drivers under 25 years old in the house, you may pay more whether they're on your 928 policy or not.

Harvey

BC

You are incorrect. Are you an agent? Are you a lawyer? I'm the first. But as you said, you are not concerned about this, so comtinue your search for what you are looking for.

BC

Sometimes companies have certain specific info that leads them to uprate certain entities or people. I have watched Honda Civic Coupes go up and up in the last 6 years, for obvious reasons.