Ever score on an insurance company?
- Thread starter cydnote
- Start date
Hope your wife is doing okay.
Not to sidetrack things, but it’s why I’ve never cared for some of the arguments around buying life insurance. “Winning” at life insurance usually means you died prematurely.
Insurance is a risk management tool. Not an investment or gambling. Ideally you never have to use it, but it’s important to have in place should the worst happen.
We had a storm go through but I didn’t think it was that bad. My insurance agent told me to turn it in anyway. Adjuster showed up and said the roof of my house had no damage. He asked if he could look at the shop roof. It’s a 72x80 steel building that I didn’t think would have any damage but he looked anyway. After looking at it he went to his car for about 15 minutes. I figured he would just leave after not finding anything. He steps out of his car and walks over and hands me a check for $30k. Says the shop needs a new roof. I was floored. Contractor that built the shop came out and looked at it and said it doesn’t need a new roof and keep the check. Had a little extra fun that summer with the money.
I didn’t really “score” but I was pretty concerned when my 2 year old pickup was struck by lightening in 2022 at the height of the vehicle market inflation. At the time I could have sold that one for more than a new one would cost because new ones were taking a year to come in. I had a number that I thought was fair market value and they were within $100. I didn’t ask but I still wonder if I just happened to do the same thing they do to value them. That said, my insurance agent went through a lot of work to get that thing totaled because I was pretty adamant I did not want it back. Had it gotten fixed, I was going to be in a bad spot with the options of selling someone a pickup that I knew could be a massive issue or having to go through that myself. I was very happy with the resolution.
Insurance is a continuing scam perpetuated on the gullible and/or the defenseless
It didn't start out that way. And there still is "value" in it for those that can afford the losses. But in its current state, it's absolutely a negative value proposition.
Got caught in a flood in ‘99 3 months after getting drivers license. Car w 300k miles totaled after being underwater for an hr+. Think I got 3.5k for it which felt like a huge win at the time.
It's required if you want to finance a house or car, the law requires liability if you want to drive on the street, and good luck being able to afford a major medical procedure out of pocket if you need it, so I guess that puts most people in the defenseless category.
Glad you can afford to lose $300k overnight if your house burns down, and you can rebuild from petty cash and its no impact to your finances. I thought i was doing well, but must be a pauper.
Some insurances are indeed, "not good value", but to absolute it like that... well that is just dumb.
They have very smart people they pay a lot of money to make sure they come out on top most of the time. They also have a lot of other well paid people working for them.
Even at the agent level, have you ever encountered a struggling agent?
Even at the agent level, have you ever encountered a struggling agent?
Maybe I don't understand what you mean by "negative value proposition". Doesn't insurance have to be that on average you pay in more than you receive? If not where does the money to reimburse people with large losses come from?
I once executed a reverse score.
To save money, I dropped the comp/collision on the Mazda GLC I drove after graduating from ISU. Totaled it on a deer a week later. I can still in my mind's eye see that deer spinning through the air into the ditch.
To save money, I dropped the comp/collision on the Mazda GLC I drove after graduating from ISU. Totaled it on a deer a week later. I can still in my mind's eye see that deer spinning through the air into the ditch.
About 25 years ago my dad had an old grain bin damaged by hail. For some odd reason, the bin was made out of aluminum instead of galvanized steel. At that time, the price of aluminum was very high and dad had full replacement cost coverage on the bins. The insurance company paid him for the value of the aluminum, not for the cost of replacing the bin with a standard steel one. Since a dented grain bin still functions fine, he didn't replace it but got around $20K from insurance. I was a young married guy with a second child on the way so he gave me the $20k to buy a minivan. There wasn't any fraud involved -- this was just a lucky score.
Yeah is someone backs into my parked car and does $2,000 worth of damage I'm being totally gullible.
What was that, 40 years ago?? Can't fathom that happening today, especially with a larger insurance company.
Similar at work. Our building is basically a steel roof pole barn warehouse. Spring before the derecho, we had a hailstorm. Though it only caused cosmetic damage, it was still a coverable loss. They said we COULD pocket the money and not do the replacement, but then any additional future damages would NOT be covered. So we kind of had to do something.
The short version is we upgraded and put EPDM roof over the existing steel roof. Insurer was informed and 100% OK with it, they only paid for the equivalent of the steel replacement. We paid the overage, and after getting a discount from the roofer on the rubber... we basically got a EPDM roof over a solid steel roof for <$1.00 per square foot. It will last 50 years and never leak. I am confident the increased value of the building with the rubber roof is much more than our cash out of pocket. And it felt like such a waste to tear off all that good steel, throw it away, and then put on new steel - my inner tree-hugger didn't like that at all.
So I wouldn't say we "got one over" on the insurer, but I think the way it worked out was a massive win.
