With all the destruction from the storms lately we hear of all the disappointment when working with insurance companies but have you ever felt like you came out on top? My best was reshingling my home and another unattached garage after a hail claim. A buddy and I shingled as a side gig for years so I had all the tools (nail guns, compressor, toe holds ladders etc.) so I decided to tackle it myself as it was fall and he was busy harvesting. At age 65 it took some time to tear off 40 square from my cape cod with 10/12 pitch roof and tote 120 bundles up the ladder. I at times questioned my own sanity and my wife wanted me to hire someone to finish when I was only halfway done., but my pride wouldn't allow that to happen. End result I got a new roof done to my exacting standards and pocketed $17,000 dollars--the difference between the insurance check and the cost of materials. We bought some toys!
Ever score on an insurance company?
- Thread starter cydnote
- Start date
There is an obligatory your mom joke based on scoring in here somewhere...
Before you proudly post all of your insurance fraud stories just remember that this is a public forum.
Got insurance to total out a car for $15k that I paid $12k for after a hail storm. This car was eating oil like crazy … I was pretty happy to see that POS loaded on the tow truck.
I'm beginning to understand why insurance is so damned expensive.
Not insurance, but I bought a steel building and we put it up ourselves and cleared enough to pay for a 6000 pound construction lift and had $10k left over compared to having a contractor do it.
no fraud involved in mine but I'm all in for hearing it from others
I wouldn't say that I scored off of this, but I was appreciative of my insurance company. In 2022, a semi totaled by 2015 car. I was a bit worried about the settlement since I had less than 80,000 miles on the car. I also wasn't sure if it was best to try and go through the semi's insurance company first or mine. I got 17,000 back for the car, which seemed very fair. And getting my ER and ambulance ride paid for was pretty seamless. I had most of my money before the semi's insurance even called me back. My only regret is I probably could have gotten a little money for the day and a half I had to take off of work from the semi's insurance. But I gained appreciation for those that have to deal with that stuff after an injury or have to deal with a really tough insurance company. Because even though the whole thing was pretty simple for me, it still took a lot of time.
25 years or so ago, our aluminum livestock trailer got picked up by a storm and thrown into a hog yard on its top. The insurance claim agent offered to total it out for some reason, but my father declined. The repairs were like $800 and I still use it.
Enough of the "my wife bought the ingredients and baked a cake for $4.37 and the store -bought one was $6.00". I want to hear about besting the man! 
Got $12k when my car was totaled in college. Found basically an identical car 2 years newer and like 20k less miles for $8k. So thank you to the ISU employee who ran a red in a university truck and t boned me at the University and Jack Trice intersection. Paid for most of my semesters tuition
Yeah, I thought of that quite a bit later. But it's probably bad karma, right?!?! I wasn't hurt at all---the ambulance ride was strictly on the recommendation of the nurse that stopped and helped me get out of the car. At the ER, they told me I'd be very sore the next few days but I was fine and only took one of the muscle relaxers they gave me. (There was a car that hit me at the end of the accident---the semi sent me through 3 lanes of traffic and spinning and a car hit my drivers door at the end of it all. That driver had just gotten a new car 6 days before and he called me the next day because he also was having trouble getting a hold of the semi's insurance. He was sore and asked how I was. I didn't think it was the time to say that I felt great. I'm guessing he doesn't look back at the whole thing thinking how lucky he was.)
If you "come out ahead" against an insurance company it's usually a hollow victory. At least in my case it was.
My wife started a new job and signed up for an aflak indemnity policy. Paid maybe $30 into that policy then was able to cash in on it for $10k. The downside? It was because she had cancer.
House always wins (big time) with insurance. Gotta pay for all of those commercials somehow (so that the balance sheet meets the criteria for not-for-profit).
My wife started a new job and signed up for an aflak indemnity policy. Paid maybe $30 into that policy then was able to cash in on it for $10k. The downside? It was because she had cancer.
House always wins (big time) with insurance. Gotta pay for all of those commercials somehow (so that the balance sheet meets the criteria for not-for-profit).
