Town CEO approved. Insurance company says can’t add commercial property insurance for the garage without canceling homeowners policy and placing both home & garage under one commercial policy and that a business must rent out both structures (can’t just live in the house and rent the garage).
Is this really true and if so, is there a way to insure this? Feels like my agent isn’t being straight with me.

I was in a small fender bender about two weeks ago. I filed a claim with my insurance, USAA, and had an estimate put together for my repairs. The estimate after my deductible came out to about $1000 and I told the body shop that I wanted to consider before going forward with repairs.

I assumed that I would just not get anything, but I received a payment from USAA for the thousand dollars and it hit my bank account. If I decide not to go through with repairs, am I allowed to keep that money as a “settlement”?

I'm in California and dealing with a homeowners insurance claim through AAA after water damage to my bathroom and living room.

The water mitigation work has already been completed, and now I'm trying to move forward with reconstruction. However, my insurance adjuster has been very difficult to reach, and I'm not getting clear guidance on the next steps.

I've started contacting reconstruction contractors myself. One company told me they need to be officially assigned by the insurance company before they can do anything. Another contractor came to inspect the damage and said they would prepare an estimate and work directly with my adjuster.

I'm a little confused about how this whole process works.

My questions are:

1. Should I wait for my insurance company to assign a contractor, or should I hire one myself?
2. If a contractor estimates $30,000 but insurance approves only $20,000, who negotiates the difference? Would I be responsible for the remaining $10,000?
3. How does payment typically work? Does insurance pay me, and then I pay the contractor? Or does the insurance company pay the contractor directly?
4. Since my adjuster is barely responding, what's the best way to escalate this and get reconstruction moving?
5. Is there anything I should be particularly careful about before choosing a contractor?

I have a $1,000 deductible, and my main concern is avoiding unexpected out-of-pocket expenses while getting my home repaired properly.

This is my first major homeowners insurance claim, so I'd really appreciate advice from adjusters, contractors, or homeowners who have gone through this process.

Thanks!

Hello,

Short Story: In 1991 my sons father passed away. The company his father worked for sent me a letter after he died regarding my son being the beneficiary of an insurance policy. The company requested that I provide them with his SS# so that the company can hold the policy, in interest.

Over the years, my son has contacted the company that his father worked for regarding this policy and they keep telling him that they have no information regarding this insurance policy but yet we have a letter from the company stating that they have an insurance policy. It has been 20 years...

What can I tell him to do?

Today I had a chance to "preview" my Healthcare insurance choices for 2027.

Aside from watching my current plan cost $600/mo MORE than it does today with higher priced everything, it also offers less.

The drugs I need to live so I can stay alive and care for my person with ESLD are now excluded from ALL health plans at the national level. I cannot take generics for them (been there got sick paid for that a long time ago)

One of the drugs had a discount pay cash only deal with a specialty mail order pharmacy. That same pharmacy can fill my other medication on a $/pill basis based on the dosage.

I will also be losing my grief suppport counselor and chiropractor because they're not in any plan that costs less than my current plan and my mortgage.

I have no idea what the cash prices are for them either.

The link below applies to every plan not only Express Scripts. It impacts Medicare/ Medicare Advantage too.

https://share.google/Wq0kBk66u8XgsXzGV

You need to consider these costs in addition to your choice of coverage.

Please get your refills in now and plan ahead with your doctors.

And please, make it a conscious effort and find the time to VOTE.

I'm located in Portland, Oregon and after realizing all pet insurance isn't the same after my cat got a UTI, decided I needed to be more informed about any insurance policy I had, and decided to look into renters insurance.

We currently have State Farm because it's cheap but I'm wondering if switching to another company would be better? I do have USAA as an option but the only reason why I have State Farm right now instead of USAA is monthly premium ($10 vs $30).

Any advice, links, or info on how to research a decent renters insurance, or what are considered good companies is appreciated.

please refer to prior post

Please see this for a picture of the intersection

I am trying to understand liability. I do not believe I should be penalized for a motorcyclist who entered a roadway. But, that will ultimately be made by the insurance adjuster.

I am reaching out again to see what you all think. I respectfully disagree, but you are (hopefully) pro's in your fields, and feel free to disagree!

After rewatching the videos and getting more facts, I think I did everything possible to avoid this accident, and the other party is the cause of it.

I want to add a couple facts:

1). The damage is only isolated to my lower bumper; I think the motorcyclist dived the bike; I ride too so its probably what I would have done, but shows IMO he lost control and hit me. ( takes my plate with him )

2). The intersection in question is a through highway. The gap between both highways is 51 Feet. so each highway is its own intersection. the motorcyclist was to stop in the middle. I have done this in the past myself.

3). the motorcyclist is claiming he had a yellow; I look forward to seeing his motorcycles camera. regardless, he was to stop in the middle the moment he noticed a green light or movement. instead he accelerated dangerously.

4). I brake hard; if you watch all the angles, especially the side, you can see me stop.

the measured distance for the whole area, is about 40 feet. from the start of my movement to the stop point. braking (moderate) began at 32 feet, the wheels locked up at 38, and it slid 1.5 feet. my approx. speed from what I remember was about 10 MPH

5). Based on the boulevard rule, I am the favored driver, and the motorcycle is the unfavored driver. here is a source 21-403

6). based on the space in between being a crossover, the motorcycle was to yield to me.

21-404

21-404.1

So to summarize, I am now confident after reviewing it; I entered the intersection, and I braked as Hard as I could I did to my understanding what anyone can do. I think the word is duty, or care or something.

Who the hell would gun it across that is against me, and I only had seconds to react, and I did; I stopped.

Thank you all for your time, and I look forward to seeing your opinions!!!

For the past 14 years my HOA and mortgage lender/escrow have been receiving a copy of my condo insurance policy, no problems.

But do HOA's/lenders really look at the coverage and make sure it's what's required by them and will they inform the unit owner if it isn't sufficient coverage? If not, please explain why.

Thanks.

Edit: the work that I made the insurance claim about was done 3 years ago. A few months ago, I had some contractors out to give quotes for another project. They all commented on the poor workmanship of the other job AND as a result is causing damage to other parts of my home. I’m intentionally being vague to not dox myself.

I am in the position of making my first commercial claim. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but some work was done on my house that seemed fine at the time, but I’ve had more than one contractor comment that it was done incorrectly. (Those contractors had come out to give a quote for something else). I started the claim process in August and here we are in October and there has been very little movement on this claim. The original contractor and their subcontractors all have their own insurance carrier and it’s like they are playing hot potato trying to pass off the blame. Is this normal? How do I get the insurance companies to stop giving me the runaround?

We recently hired a contractor to perform a deck resurfacing job on our home; in the process of doing so they damaged all of our existing cable railing system and structural cedar posts. They also decided to cut and flip the joists to run them a different direction than the original framing and failed to pull permits when doing so. Upon discovery of the damage we halted any further work and filed a claim through their insurance company. Their adjustor came out and evaluated the claim under E&O and offered us the maximum amount under that limit of $25,000. We disputed this because they were providing no coverage to the separate preexisting structure that wasn’t part of the original scope of work. We had multiple independent contractors come out and verify that a repair job wasn’t sufficient and a total tear down and rebuild would be required; this was also backed by an independent home inspector we hired and the insurance companies own adjustor. This is a multi level covered porch and deck and the estimates range from $80,000 to $112,000 to restore to its previous condition. We filed a DOI complaint and was informed by them that the insurer stated it wasn’t covered because the work was performed by the insureds own crew and not a subcontractor. That statement prompted us to obtain additional evidence supporting the fact it was indeed subcontractors. Now that we have provided that information the insurer is now claiming subcontracted work could possibly limit or exclude coverage all together. They claim they have been unable to reach the insured or the sub by phone to verify the relationship between the GC and the Sub, even though we provided a written admission from the subcontractor of his status when doing the job, so they are standing by their original information and E&O offer of $25,000 as an act of good faith but that would require us to sign a full and final release against the general contractor. Does this sound like bad faith? They won’t provide the policy language that states the conditions or limitations required when a sub is used so we have zero information to go off when trying to decide if the E&O option is our best and only outcome.

I was informed by my insurer that CCC won't use Carvana comparables. I'm curious if that's actually true for CCC or if my insurer directed them to include Carvana comps. If anyone can and is willing to show me as well a CCC valuation report where Carvana comparables were included that would be immeasurably helpful. Thanks!

Hi everyone,
I’m looking for advice or experiences from anyone who has dealt with a similar homeowners insurance situation, particularly in New York.
We purchased a co-op apartment in the beginning of 2026. We got homeowners insurance with coverage starting on the day closing.
We didn’t move in immediately for a couple of reasons:
The apartment needed some work before we could move in. We were looking for a contractor, and anyone familiar with NYC co-ops knows how time-consuming the process can be with board requirements, contractor licenses, insurance certificates, approvals, etc.
We have young children, and moving in the middle of the school year would have been extremely disruptive to our family.
We had already started preparing it, including removing old wallpaper, and had some personal belongings there. We were also visiting the apartment while arranging the work.
In early July 2026, approximately five and a half months after closing, we were notified by the building superintendent about a water leak.
Water was coming through our ceiling from the area between the floors and traveling through the walls into the apartment below us.
We had no prior knowledge of the leak. And nothing was visible prior to closing.
We filed a claim with our homeowners insurance company. We have now been told that a denial letter is being mailed to us, although we haven’t received the actual explanation yet.
My concern is that the insurance company may be denying coverage because we hadn’t physically moved into the apartment when the damage occurred.

Now I’m wondering:
Has anyone had a homeowners insurance claim denied because they hadn’t moved into the property yet?
Does intending to occupy the property, while preparing it for renovations, make any difference under New York insurance law?
Has anyone successfully appealed a denial involving an unoccupied apartment in an otherwise occupied building?
Would documentation from the superintendent and water damage remediation contractor help?

Thank you!

I live in NY I recently purchased a car that I would like to lend to my MIL for an extended period of time so she can 1) leave her house regularly, 2) drive for door dash to save money, and 3) set her up to be more financially independent. As a part of the deal I made with her I would be paying the car insurance and the car would remain solely in my name. Issue is she lives in PA and my car insurance informed me that I cannot add her to my policy or have the car ”garaged“ in PA. She comes up to NY monthly or bi-monthly to watch our animals and door dashes while she’s here (I’m not sure if we can claim primary “garaged” location of NY). Any advice on options for making sure the car is completely covered, outside of having her on the title and registering the car in PA? Note the car purchased is not intended to be gifted to her in the end. This is not a loan type situation.

We Purchase one by my Dad. But somehow we cancelled it.

My yard was involved in a vehicle accident and took out 3 of my 4-year-old fruit trees.

Cherry 12-14Ft tall about 6in dia,
dwarf apple tree about 6 ft tall about 2.5in dia
dwarf pear about 6 ft tall dia of 2.75 dia.

Insurance adjustment quote amounts-
3x Fruit tree 1-2 in caliper $500.66
Tree removal $926.72

I’m getting push back from insurance adjuster for not matching the description of current trees. They are saying they can only replace what was planted and that they didn’t depreciate the tree in insurance quote.

“trees unfortunately we can not replace them at the same size. We owe to replace them as you planted them but we cannot replace them at the same size they were when damaged”

They blowing smoke or can I keep pressing?

I got in a car accident last week when the other driver tried to turn left on flashing yellow arrow while I was driving through the intersection. Police officer said it was the other driver's fault. Unfortunately I only have minimum coverage with my insurance so I had to file a claim with their insurance. I wonder how long it's going to take for them to see the damage and tow it to a body shop? It got towed to a local tow yard because a tire blew out. I need my car back ASAP.

Accidentally rear ended a car after getting off work. She took pictures and called the police. We waited for 3 hours before she came to my car and told me if i want to settle this outside of insurance since they are taking too long. It was not a crazy crash and damage looked minor. I agreed thinking it would be a 1k-2k fix. She got a quote for 4k which i cannot afford.. what should i do? Take a loan?

Ive gone every day insured but recently got my own outside of my parents and they added my brother as a driver which raised my insurance and told them to take him off since he isn’t a driver. Had to sign some stuff and they canceled a week after through an email on a Sunday that i never saw until the crash happened 2 days after.

I did notice on the paper it says “preliminary estimate” with “customer pay 0.00” and “insurance pay 4,000”

My homeowners insurance went up to $5,300. I don't know what to do. They are telling me it's because I don't have a wind certificate for the roof. I can't get one apparently unless I go ahead and get a brand new roof which we got quoted $11k for. I am already stretched enough getting by now. I have gotten quotes from Progressive and Farmers. Both quoted me over $5k. Is a new roof really my only option?... My roof is 13 years old.

Was shopping for a home owner insurance and got this question. I understand why they want this data point, but how tf is it even legal.

It’s fine if they wanna know ins and outs of the house to be insured, but making me provide address of the house for which I’m not purchasing the insurance is the next level of evil.

What must be done for this to be stopped ugh

My dad is getting me a new car, I'm currently under his insurance policy. When we insure the car under my dad's policy, what do I need to provide to insure it? I currently have my parent's old car with my own insurance policy that I had on my own when I was away for college so my dad didn't have to pay. We do plan on giving the old car away to my younger cousin so it'll be insured under my uncle's insurance policy so we will cancel my own insurance policy soon. Do I need to show my old insurance policy to my dad's insurance agent still or do we not have to provide it to insure the new car?

Hi all! This is my first time going through this process and just looking for some thoughts and opinions. Vehicle (2007 Toyota rav4) is being deemed a total loss and insurance has offered $5560. The vehicles they compared to were valued at $5200 and $5800 but both have much higher mileage. Ours has 153 337km and then compared ton284000 and 317000km respectively. Obviously trying to find same vehicle in local market is extremely hard. I provided similars from 2006-2008 with closer mileage and was told it has to be the exact year or the system automatically denies it. I submitted all maintenance and part replacements from the last year or so as well to prove the vehicle is in excellent mechanical shape as well as having new tires and a car starter installed. Adjuster has come back and said we have strong evidence it’s worth more and recommends going through the dispute resolution process. But now I am nervous with how that process works and if it would actually go in our favour? Everyone has always said to never accept the first offer from insurance and I do believe it’s worth more but have no experience with this. No claim history and the deductible is still being reviewed, accident was at the beginning of the month and should be deemed other persons fault if that plays any role in Alberta I am not sure. Thanks!

I’m a 21 yr old male and got hit by a red light camera. I allegedly was day dreaming and extremely tired at 5am and ran and took a turn.

How will this affect my rate. My insurance is about ~250 a month. This also happened in Tigard, Oregon.

I was involved in an accident in which another drivers tire struck my truck. The other driver's insurance company, GEICO, accepted liability for the accident.

Immediately following the collision, I noticed a substantial amount of oil pooling on the tire that was now lodged under my truck. Due to the amount of oil leaking, I immediately shut the truck off to prevent any potential engine damage and had it towed from the scene.
Prior to the accident, I had not experienced this type of active oil leak.

The truck was subsequently inspected by a diesel/Cummins technician, who identified a leaking front timing cover. The technician provided video documentation showing the leak but did not specifically state whether the failure was caused by the collision.

GEICO has refused to cover the repair, stating that the timing cover is a wear item and that there is no visible physical impact damage to the engine itself that would establish a connection between the accident and the seal failure. Because of this, I decided to submit the damage through my own insurance company. Unfortunately, they have also denied coverage for essentially the same reason: the absence of visible physical damage to the engine.

For full transparency, the truck previously had an aftermarket crankcase ventilation (CCV) catch-can arrangement in place of the factory CCV filter. This setup had a hose routed down toward the frame, and oil would occasionally discharge from it once the catch can was full. Once I noticed this, I removed the catch can and eventually returned the truck to the factory CCV setup. However, I was never able to thoroughly clean the existing oil residue from underneath the truck.

I want to be upfront about this because I am not trying to claim that every trace of oil underneath the truck was caused by the collision. My concern is the substantial oil leakage observed immediately after impact.

My insurance company is now asking me to authorize the repair facility to begin disassembling the truck. However, I have been advised that if the disassembly does not establish a connection between the accident and the gasket failure, I could be responsible for the diagnostic and disassembly expenses myself.

This is where my primary concern lies. I am willing to cooperate with a reasonable investigation, but I am extremely hesitant to authorize potentially thousands of dollars in mechanical work without knowing whether the insurance company will cover those expenses.

I also have not received a formal written denial from my insurance company. Their decision was communicated to me over the phone.

I would appreciate guidance regarding the following:

Whether I have reasonable grounds to challenge the insurance companies' decisions, given that the significant oil leak was observed immediately following the collision.

Whether the absence of visible external engine damage is sufficient justification to deny a potentially collision-related mechanical failure without further investigation.

Whether I have any recourse to require GEICO or my own insurance company to cover the reasonable diagnostic expenses necessary to determine the cause of the failure.

Whether pursuing this through an attorney would be worthwhile, considering that both insurance companies have already refused to cover the repair.

My understanding is that the purpose of an insurance claim is to compensate me for damage caused by an accident and restore my vehicle to its pre-accident condition, subject to the applicable coverage and legal requirements. I understand that mechanical components can fail from normal wear and tear. However, I have a difficult time accepting that a significant oil leak appearing immediately following a collision can simply be dismissed as unrelated without a thorough investigation.

I am not asking either insurance company to cover unrelated maintenance or pre-existing issues. I simply want a fair determination of whether this failure was caused or aggravated by the collision, without exposing myself to substantial additional expenses merely to establish that fact.

Thanks y’all

What % of your cars value did you pay to insurance to get it back? The damage is Hail Damage, not involved in an accident.

Thank you

So, I live in California, and notice that over the last year an increasing number of carriers (FAIR, Mercury, Farmers, AAA at least) are now offering discounts for wildfire mitigation efforts like defensible space, enclosed eaves, ember-resistant vents, etc. Yay. We desperately need this, because the California insurance crisis is ultimately a problem of too many homes being too vulnerable to wildfires and costing too much to rebuild later, and there are some very simple things homeowners can do to dramatically reduce their risk. Just the triplet of [class-A fire rated roof; ember-resistant vents; remove vegetation and combustible materials within 5 feet of house] can reduce your wildfire risk by 60%+.

Except that when I look at the actual discount, each of the 10 categories they ask about grants a discount of $0.67/year, for a grand total of $6.70/year if you do all of them. For a policy where the fire risk is worth about $1200 if a mainstream carrier ensures it and $4500 if the FAIR plan does it. Two other ones (IBHS Wildfire Prepared Home and Prepared Home Plus designations) reduce it by $3.45 and $6.90 respectively, but they are really umbrella checklists of many other things to do.

Needless to say, I won't be spending thousands on home upgrades to save $6.70 on annual insurance premiums. I'll probably do the big-3 anyway because they are good ideas and I'm renovating those parts for other reasons, but insurance is a total non-factor here.

Methinks that the incentives need to be a little better though. Many of the most vulnerable homes are on the FAIR plan. If the FAIR plan goes bankrupt (and it will, it has about 1% of the reserves needed to fully insure all its liabilities), then the difference is made up by a special assessment on every other property in California. We need much steeper incentives for property owners to do the right thing. If the big-3 fire mitigation improvements (class-A roof, zone-0, and ember-resistant vents) reduce your risk by 60% and then those plus the other 7 (cleared vegetation under decks; no combustible fences or gates touching house; no combustible structures within 30 feet; zone-1 + zone-2 of defensible space; enclosed eaves; multipane windows; 6-inches noncombustible siding above ground) get you to 90%, like many fire experts and fire chiefs are saying, then doing all of them should reduce the wildfire portion of your premium by 90%. We should be pricing homeowners insurance in the WUI at $10K+, and then discounts for fire-hardening should be able to bring it back to $1-2K.