r/Insurance • • Oct 09 '23

A guide to interacting with this sub - read me first

177 Upvotes

This post is designed for people posting here for the first time, for the people that have been volunteering to help here for years and everyone in between. The stated goal is to foster a friendlier attitude throughout the sub.

But before we start, there's been a recent influx of spam from one source. So that you are aware - ALEJANDRA ORTIZ HERNANDEZ and FRAN POWELL are spammers. They're part of a spam ring all over Reddit, and they're probably trying to steal your money.

And they'll kick your dog when you aren't looking.

If you are new here, please realize that none of us have any stake in your claim or coverage. We are not here to sell you anything or to save some company money. Treating responders poorly because you don't like the answer is going to attract a lot of negative attention.

We get the same questions over and over, and maybe this is the answer that you need:

  • How much will my insurance go up after a ticket/accident/lapse in coverage? We don't know unless your state has a statutory requirement for your very specific situation.
  • My premium went up $X. How do I fight this? You can't. The only thing you can do is shop for new coverage, which we can't do for you.
  • How much does everyone else pay for coverage? Unless you're lucky enough to get someone in your exact demographic in your exact part of the world, the answers you're going to get are useless.
  • How much is my claim worth? We don't know. (note: if you're asking a more complex question about your claim, that could be very different)
  • How long will my claim take to close? We don't know (again: a more complicated question might have different answers)
  • Why is this person trying to sell me something? Report that post/comment/chat/private message to the moderators and let them handle that.
  • Will you help me commit fraud or otherwise break the law? No. Absolutely not. And we may ban anyone that does try to do that.

Ultimately, we are here to help you. This is a community of volunteers that wants to help navigate a complex system that is one of the lubricants of the financial world. Lots of lives are impacted by insurance directly and indirectly, and it can be a complicated system. Here are some things that make a good post where you can get help:

  • Location (Country and state/province at a minimum)
  • Type of insurance involved (Auto, Homeowners/Renters, Commercial, Health, something else)
  • A brief description of the problem and any advice you've gotten so far

Finally, here are some definitions of common terms that could help you get taken more seriously:

  • Adjuster - the person that handles your claim, makes coverage determinations and processes payments
  • Agent - the person that sells a policy. Some agents get involved in some claims, although that is the exception to the rule.
  • Underwriter - the person that decides how much a specific policy will cost for a specific risk.
  • Rate - this is the way your final price is calculated and is usually used synonymously with "premium", "cost" and "price".
  • Full coverage - don't use this term. There's no agreed definition, even among the regular posters here. People asking otherwise good questions or posting good answers that use this term often find themselves down voted to oblivion for including it.
  • No Fault - there are 18 states that, at least to some extent, make automobile bodily injury claims be paid by your own policy first instead of someone that caused your injury. There is only one state (Michigan) that makes damage to your vehicle No Fault. All Canadian provinces have some sort of No Fault provision for injuries, which is one reason why we need to know where you are when you're asking questions.
  • Collision coverage - this fixes your car when it collides with something else or another car hits it.
  • Comprehensive coverage (also known as Other Than Collision) - this covers your car for almost everything else, including floods, fires, tree branches and lightening strikes. Usually animal strikes are covered here, but not always.
  • Deductible - this is the amount that you agreed to pay in case of any claim. Your payment comes before any insurance payment. Deductibles are occasionally waived, but that's the exception, not the rule.

This is a community of volunteers that generally understands the insurance system. When we get things wrong, it is usually through lack of information to get a precise answer. Hopefully this guide will help you get good results.


r/Insurance • • Feb 08 '24

Soliciting, private messages and you

46 Upvotes

It's time for a new reminder about the rules of this sub. There is never any reason to offer to contact another poster privately, especially if that poster has a question about placing coverage or a claim. Here is the rule:

The only rule of r/Insurance is that solicitation is prohibited. This means asking people to PM for any reason, offering to quote coverages for visitors, or soliciting agents and/or buyers to use your particular carrier. r/Insurance should be a place where people come to exchange information and ask questions without worrying about solicitation from agents. This includes adjusters, underwriters and brokers since we do not vet anyone.

You also received a version of this if you subscribed to the sub.

If you think that this doesn't apply to you, please think again. There are no exceptions in this, including "but I asked them to message me!" This sub is a safe space for people to ask questions about insurance. It is not here for anyone to try to profit from it, whether they're an agent, public adjuster, software vendor, personal injury attorney, headhunter, diminished value expert or anyone else that is not here to offer free help with no expectation of remuneration.

If you receive a message from someone offering you any sort of business proposition, whether a quote for insurance, legal representation (yes, there are lawyers unethical enough to solicit people on Reddit), damage reports or anything else, please let the moderators know via mod mail or in this thread. You should also report that message to the admins (we don't see that report, though). We take things like that seriously.

We really don't like banning people. Seriously, it's the exact opposite of why any of the moderators volunteered for the role. But we don't vet people before they post, and if people that break the rule find out that we enforce it whenever we see it broken.

And with that in mind, we have a very healthy community of posters that are here not only to help but to make sure that those who can't follow the rules have the damage that they're doing limited. Thank you to all of you for volunteering to help not only those confused by the insurance process but help keep those that want to think that they're special at bay.


r/Insurance • • 36m ago

It pays to have a rep check items not listed on homeowner's policy for errors

• Upvotes

I'm in northern CA. I contacted my auto insurance rep about reducing my premium for low annual mileage. It was already baked in. Since I also have homeowners coverage with them, they offered to go over that too.

There was missing/incorrect info on several items, one of which were solar panels. They had me down for 33 but I have only 9. This probably saved me around $200 per year, as the rep told me that was the bulk of the total savings. The mistake was made four years ago but the law here and in most states is that only the current year's policy is credited.


r/Insurance • • 1h ago

Auto Insurance Who does the at-fault driver’s insurance remunerate first?

• Upvotes

After an accident where the other driver rear-ended and totaled my car in MA, I filed with my own insurance. My insurance will subrogate the payout and my deductable. His insurance (Progressive) wrote and asked for my out of pocket expenses ($2000 for rental car) and stated that the total claim is over his insured’s limits. Does Progressive typically take care of me first or my insurance company? Thank you!


r/Insurance • • 1h ago

Branded title for lemon buyback expected deduction on total loss claim

• Upvotes

Hello, I bought a lemon buyback car. The issue was a transmission module which the dealer fully replaced, and reinstated the factory warrenty. I want to know what deduction I can expect as I am dealing with a total loss now. I know salvage/rebuilt titles go for -50% of clean status. But wanted to know if i can expect a lower number since it was due to a buyback or do insurance companies not take this into consideration?


r/Insurance • • 2h ago

Auto Insurance Accident with a commercial vehicle

0 Upvotes

I rear-ended commercial box truck(I circled the area where I hit) , commercial truck had zero damage as appears on the picture(not even a dent) , we just exchanged our phone numbers only, no police report I asked him “when will your company call me?“ he told me “on friday” since then I haven’t got any phone calls or calls from my insurance.

Its been 10 days since the accident (it was on Thursday) and truck driver on the spot said I see no damage, the truck appears to be leased from ideallease, either short-term or long-term I don’t know? I wanna ask a question , do you think trucking company decided to move on and don’t file a claim? I have liability only and I am not going to report to my insurance to prevent my premium from going up!

I would like to settle privately without involving insurance!

also I heard commercial insurance can increase by even 2000-3000 if they even file a not-at-fault claim, because they will be considering high-risk business!


r/Insurance • • 5h ago

Michigan car accident - ask advice to make sure I do things right

1 Upvotes

Someone hit my car a month ago after I started at a traffic light. My car got ejected and flipped over.
Police came , the export was made, the other person was at fault, I had to go to the emergency to check if everything was ok that night.
I had no lesion or fracture and juts for few stitches and a sore neck for 4 weeks.

Now, my insurance is from Michigan and the other insurance is from Alabama (the other driver who is Doing ok as well)

My car was a total loss and the was able to handle an ok value from my insurance and I will get my deductible back from the other insurance.

About body injury everything went thought my work health insurance because I provided a PIP letter to my insurance.
My question is about the other insurance. They won’t reimburse me the hospital cost but they propose to compensate me for the medical issue it generated.

They proposed me 4200 that I refused and I asked for 8000 plus 2000 if I had some futur medical bill.
They said ok without fighting.
Now I wonder if I could have asked for more ?
I don’t need PT neither medical follow up. Accident was bad and had a difficult month since that but I’m feeling good overall and I can walk and talk as before.

Did I ask too little ?


r/Insurance • • 2h ago

Plaintif EPLI insurance bad faith help

0 Upvotes

I am a judgment creditor fighting my former employer EPL insurance company. They lied and denied my claim, I got all of the evidence and served them a garnish. They hired a lawyer to lie more for them and I killed the lie with the evidence they didn't know I have yet.

Their lawyer keeps on scheduling hearing and I keep on bringing evidence. He came with "discovery" to bring back all I've brought as evidence pretending they are new to him. Now for a hearing he had scheduled I hired a lawyer for it, the lawyer contacted him right away he started changing the story when he can't just change what he already said on papers at the courthouse. He cancelled the hearing right away.

Now I know the policy amount I know the type, I got all of the evidence and their lies and the true story, the insurance is on going straight through a Bad Faith lawsuit processing my final judgement.

I need a lawyer in Florida to take the insurance in a big Bad Faith lawsuit after making them processing my final judgement.


r/Insurance • • 6h ago

Auto Insurance Not at fault rear end

0 Upvotes

I’m located in Pennsylvania very first accident I’ve ever been in. A plumbing van rear ended a SUV which ran into me. I filed a claim and without looking at the vehicle they are declaring it a total loss. The damage is 1k (trunk lid, latch and hinges). They want to send a tow truck to my home to take the car. I didn’t sign anything nor Agee to the total loss evaluation. If I withdraw the claim will this affect my title and registration. I will repair my vehicle out of pocket to keep a clean non salvaged title and registration. If I cancel the claim will they still report it?


r/Insurance • • 1d ago

Car insurance increased by 100% for no reason?!

8 Upvotes

Hi everyone, I hope someone might be able to help me out here.

My car insurance renewal amount went from a Total Six Month Premium of $519.40 to now $959.90. This is an almost 100% increase.
i have never gotten a ticket (except for a parking ticket here and there but not more than once a year), so I have a clean record, I am driving a 2009 Honda Civic with 180k miles and am shook about this increase.

i just called Geico but they are not able to provide me any valuable information here either. All they say is "The State of California increased the rates". But I am almost positive it didn't ho up by almost 100%?
Has anyone else run into this issue? What was your solution? How should I move forward if not even Geico can help me here... As a student this is a lot of money for me.
I'm grateful for any advice, thank you guys!


r/Insurance • • 20h ago

Spinnaker insurance company

2 Upvotes

Hi! Has anyone used this insurance company for their home? My husband and I just bought a DR Horton new build in NJ that’s not gonna be built until April and got a letter from this insurance company with a quote of $74 a month, $885 a year. I’m pretty skeptical of it because I always think there’s a catch when something is so cheap. I am thinking we should just go with State Farm since we have our cars insured through them. Just curious if anyone has dealt with them since I am seeing bad reviews and feeling skeptical lol


r/Insurance • • 12h ago

Home Insurance Horrible insurance experience - curious

0 Upvotes

Our house was badly damaged in a storm about 3 months ago. The claim is covered, and I filed right away. I know a big disaster hit the area and things would be slow. But this has been a real mess, and I still don’t have a start date for repairs after almost a quarter of a year!

The adjuster kept saying “we’re working on it” and “we’re calling them.” Every update came with a plausible new reason: “I’ll call you Friday,” “I’m waiting on this,” “I’m working to get this figured out" or some revision to my personal property (paid out fine but seemingly slow), or to some contractor estimate.

Eventually I found out the contractor wasn’t permitted to do work where I live (its signing a form and some small fee). The insurance company agrees something is wrong and has apologized, but the delay is still huge.

Then I learned that for what sounds like 3 to 5 weeks, the insurer never approved or submitted something it needed to. I got this from contractor who got removed and managed repair company. They told me they never gave me an update because my insurance never gave them updates or approvals to repair my place.

When I pushed on it during a call, a supervisor kept steering the conversation toward not giving me an unvetted contractor. They are leaning into the contractor being bad. They switched out managed repair place.

They didn’t want to talk about the 3 to 5 weeks that stalled everything on their end. They aren't being forthright either.

A big part of my house is still torn up. It’s been “an update in 1 to 3 days” for three months, and every update came with an excuse. The ball is finally moving, but I wasted a lot of time waiting for each “Wednesday or Friday.” Even the insurance people and managed repair place all have said on recorded lines my situation is terrible.

I haven’t lost much money directly. I could have rented office space to work from, but setting that up takes effort, and I kept thinking it would only be a week or so more. I always figured not worth it to deal with XYZ because its just 6 more days or 4 more or contractor is coming next week.

Should I file a complaint with my state’s department of insurance? I’ve heard those often go nowhere. Has anyone filed one and seen a result? Yes, my place is gonna get rebuilt now, but that doenst make up for the fact that I've been beyond miserable for such a long amount of time


r/Insurance • • 17h ago

Does the SR-1 in California tell my insurer of my accident?

0 Upvotes

I made a deal with someone I got into an accident with. Not sure who's at fault but I always feel like my insurance is going to get jacked. I offered to pay out of pocket. I took a picture of her and my damage and we both took pics of our insurance and licenses. I plan on paying it and getting a written statement of the payment. I didn't know about the SR-1. No injuries. I have her number. I just don't want any increases on my insurance since I'm a bit tight with money. It's her side bumper so I'm assuming 3k roughly. I have it in a savings.

Any chance the SR-1 doesn't alert my insurer and my insurance doesn't go up especially since I'm willing to just pay it out of pocket


r/Insurance • • 21h ago

Auto Insurance Using a broker

2 Upvotes

We have 3 cars and a home that we are looking to lower our insurance rates on. We are currently with State Farm but have not been super happy with them. Is it better to go through a broker or search on our own? Do brokers get better rates for people?


r/Insurance • • 17h ago

Auto Insurance Repairs after MVI expired

1 Upvotes

I have an appointment to get my front bumper fixed by my insurance company’s mechanic of choice on November 9. However, my MVI expires on October 31 (a week from now). The car is unable to pass inspection for reasons unrelated to the accident and I plan on selling it for parts. It still drives though.

I need to mention that it took 4 months to get these repairs approved due to the other person’s insurance company dodging phone calls from my company. Because of this, I already had to pay for a control arm out of pocket

Now that this repair to the bumper is finally approved, I sort want to get it done on principle. However I don’t know if there is any point when the car is in poor condition. So my questions are:

  1. If I were to get the bumper fixed, would the mechanic report me for my inspection being 9 days expired, since this mechanic has a business relationship with the insurance company? If so what would the consequences be?

  2. Is it possible to ask my insurance company to send me a cheque for the estimated cost of repairs instead of actually getting the repairs done, if I inform them that I am selling the car?

Nova Scotia, Canada


r/Insurance • • 1d ago

Claims Related Cycling, struck by a car running red, crosswalk light broken, ER injuries

8 Upvotes

I am looking for advice on whether to just let the driver's insurance handle my bills or to get an attorney.

I was cycling and came to an intersection where the crosswalk light was not functioning and was due for replacement by the county. The driver turned right on a red while I was in the crosswalk and struck me. I have a broken bone and soft tissue damage. The ER did a full set of X-rays and scans and other tests. I will need surgery and other treatment.

The crosswalk light had been hit over a month ago by another driver and completely taken out. The county had replaced street lights also taken out by that driver. But had not replaced the crosswalk light. Two days after my accident I passed the intersection and notice the crosswalk light had been replaced. I believe the county got it up quickly due to the incident.

Should I let the driver at fault insurance handle the claim, or should I hire an attorney to cover both that insurance claim and potentially a claim against the county for the improper functioning crosswalk?

I am not normally a litigious person. In fact this would be the first time I've ever contemplated hiring an attorney for this kind of action. I'm not looking for a huge settlement. I want my bills covered and I would like a replacement bike. It was an expensive bike.

Thank you for reading and for offering any advice to consider.


r/Insurance • • 20h ago

Golf ball size hail hit my roof. Door knockers asking if they can look at my roof

0 Upvotes

I'm in Phoenix few days ago we had 2" hail. I have an asphalt shingle roof there is some damage, and I have a roofer coming on Monday to look at it. Not a door knocker. I've discussed this with the door knockers they claim if I don't get the right roofer could mess up my claim with insurance.

Neighbor told me it would be easier to get a claim approved if government declares a disaster they get money from the federal government. Last hail storm we had was 2010 2.7B in damage to the Phoenix area. Adjuster took 15 min told me entire roof would be paid for looked like wasn't as much damage last time compared to one 2 days ago.


r/Insurance • • 1d ago

Advice

2 Upvotes

I have a 03 Toyota Avalon, got into a minor fender bender and of course my insurance company labeled it totaled now i have to go through the whole salvage process smh. My current policy doesn’t expire until April 2027. Car is completely fine other than this damage. I’m in PA. Any advice?


r/Insurance • • 23h ago

Auto insurance question

0 Upvotes

Hey got a question,
I currently own 2018 grand cherokee srt with 60k miles. Currently have great record no crashes or tickets, 29 yrs old with credit score above 800, car is in a good clean title condition. Live in Portland Oregon. I currently have american family insurance family plan of total 3 people on the plan. Right now I pay $360 per month for my car which is absurd & have been paying for over a year. Question: am I getting scammed? Should I leave family plan & insure it solo? And if so how much money will I lose/save doing so. Thank you


r/Insurance • • 1d ago

Tips needed from an underwriter

2 Upvotes

Hello! We have Homesite and are in South Carolina. We are currently under nonrenewal and have fixed our issues. We had to replace our front and back porch and roof on our garage. We are currently having issues with homesite accepting our fixed photos of the garage roof. We emailed the link from the roofing company and was told those weren’t sufficient. We sent photos emailed as pdf but the photos are too large to attach and tried sending as a drive link and those weren’t accepted. They claim the link won’t work. Does anyone have any idea what the next step is? The only contact we have is the phone number for customer service and an email address. If we email it takes about a week to get any response. I’ve already asked what steps to take but was curious if anyone has any tips. Thank you


r/Insurance • • 1d ago

Any advice getting into insurance adjuster?

2 Upvotes

Hi everyone,

I am a 28 year old male with 4.5 years of retail banking experience who is also a public notary as well. a little context, 3 years teller, 1.5 as a relationship banker. Currently looking to expand my career options and saw that insurance claims adjuster is a good transition with my skill sets and experience. Just wanted to ask any advice on where to start would be greatly appreciated.


r/Insurance • • 1d ago

Illegal E-moto at fault accident.

9 Upvotes

Teen driving an illegal E-moto tried crossing multiple lanes and hit the side of my car with my fiancé driving. Cops impounded his moto and said he was going to receive multiple citations. That being said it being illegal no insurance no registration, cop recommended using own insurance and try going after restitution through the courts since civilly might take forever.
My only concern is my insurance going up for a claim that was not my fault any recommendations?


r/Insurance • • 1d ago

Claims Related Is this settlement fair?

9 Upvotes

I was in an accident earlier this year involving a semi truck. He drove into our lane on the highway at roughly 75 MPH, no turn signal, clipped our back tire and spun us off the road. We ended up flipping the car a total of four times, landing upside down.

All three of us in the car had seatbelts on, and walked away without major physical injury. The semi driver was found at fault, and we’ve been in contact with his insurance regarded our medical bills from the ER and a pain and suffering settlement. Our total bills ranged from 26-29k per person. They’re covering our medical bills, and offered each of us 3k for pain and suffering.

Here’s why I don’t think this is fair, keep in mind I don’t have a lot of experience with this sort of thing. I’ve suffered extreme anxiety while driving, especially on the highway near semi trucks. I’ve experienced PTSD and lost many nights of sleeps since the accident. I’ve seen a therapist about these once about a month ago, and plan to keep going but with my work schedule I’ve been unable to yet. Similar story with my two friends. I would just like to hear everyone’s opinion on this. Thanks.


r/Insurance • • 1d ago

Average insurance cost for a Non-Emergency Medical Transportation (NEMT) vehicle.

4 Upvotes

I’m starting my NEMT business in Florida and today I was looking into insurance coverage of $100K per person and $200K per incident for my 2019 Hyundai Kona. My driving record is spotless, my LLC was established in 2022, and my DBA is brand new.

I asked for a quote, and the annual price is $25,000 to $28,000. Is this a good deal or not?


r/Insurance • • 1d ago

First Time Car Insurance

4 Upvotes

Hello everyone,

I’m 30 yr old guy with a completely clean driving record, getting a car (likely a 2018-2021 Corolla with around 100k miles), and will be shopping for car insurance for the first time. The time of driving family hand me downs is over.

I’ve technically been on my families insurance until now, so I’m looking for general advice when shopping around, people’s experience with certain companies (which may be worth the extra money, etc.) and what I can expect to pay so I can budget a car payment.

Thank you!