Because the number one loss for homeowners policies – the most money paid out – is for dog bite claims. And pitt bulls are one of the five or so breeds that have the most bites.
In other words, they’ve decided they can’t charge high enough rates to cover the claims, so they don’t want to insure anyone with a pitt bull.
I hear people say that New Orleans residents don’t have home insurance, and therefore deserve what they got. Just like everywhere else in the US, you have to have insurance to cover a mortgage. The problem is the insurance companies don’t want to pay out. State Farm just started to pay out THIS WEEK. So I ask you, what is the point if you don’t get paid when you need it?
Not much! I don’t think most of us have a problem with "passing around the hat" and helping these people.
Katrina was a horrible disaster. I have no problem faulting everyone in authority with not doing enough. Like many issues, though, it is so politicized that I doubt we will ever know all the facts about what happened and who failed to do what.
Find the problem and fix it. Worry about assigning blame later – there will be plenty of time for that, before the next election. We have to make sure this human tragedy does not happen again, to the extent we can.
PS I totally misread your pollution tax credit question. (It’s a LONG story!) Sorry.
I have several eucalyptus trees on a slope in our back yard, with houses below us. We don’t want to cut down our trees, but we also don’t want a lawsuit if a tree falls and lands on a house behind us, damaging their house and/or car. What is our liability in this situation? Does our insurance company cover the damage incurred?
i would check your policy to be sure
These corporations make huge profits at the expense of millions of insured and uninsured.
Have our Presidential runners said ANYTHING about cracking down on them.
Bob b: What?!
Thanks for including links to health insurance quotes, but this was not what I was asking. Fortunately, I have health insurance.
I am concerned about the excess wealth that these corporations are making. I work in a pharmacy and see people who are spending their life’s savings and/or going broke by paying on outrageous drug prices and insurance copays.
If McCain wins no , if Obama wins to a moderate degree. Obama plans to provide universal coverage including medication to children, initially. He would eliminate the dough nut hole in Medicare Plan D, that would mean that a person would not have to spend a total of $5,100 ot of pocket, before receiving catastrophic coverage with a 5% co payment for medication. People would be able to import medications from other countries and across state lines. This not allowed at present..The Federal Government would be able to negotiate for the whole Medicaid/Medicare complex to receive bulk discounts as does the A. Bush and McCain oppose it obviously to ingratiate themselves with big Pharma. These Obama proposals although an improvement are too week to solve the problem. The only reforms that McCain would allow is to permit people to buy insurance across State lines. Also to receive a $5,000 a year, to help pay medical and pharmacy coverage. But this would be taxed and would be of no use to low income persons. Therefore McCain would maintain the status quo. Clearly Obama’s program s more progressive, and a bit of a challenge to Big Pharma and the insurance companies
My current homeowner’s insurance has the replacement cost of my home at $189,000. I’ve been shopping for insurance and I’ve gotten estimates anywhere from $250,000 to $700,000. Other agents say I am way under-insured. When I asked my current agent why they set the replacement cost so low, the agent said that I do not have to replace it with the exact same brick Victorian house, I can get a nice modular home for even less than $189,000. My question is why there is such a variation in replacement costs between agencies and why the current broker seems to think I deserve less than I have now?
$189,000 to $700,000 is a MONSTER discrepancy. I think you’ve got a big problem on your hands.
OK, first of all, it sounds like your current policy doesn’t COVER you for replacement coverage. Sounds like the policy is maybe written on an HO8 form, for "functional replacement cost" or "market value". You will need to ask your agent. The biggest problem come claim time, of course, isn’t if your house burns down – it’s if you have a PARTIAL loss. I’m sure you’re not going to want to replace your beautiful plaster ceilings with that fiberboard drop ceiling.
So, the first question is, are we ALL talking about COST TO REBUILD WITH LIKE KIND AND QUALITY. Because I’m betting dollars to donuts, with that discrepancy, it’s not really replacement cost.
Second, insurance companies are free to calculate it differently. Let’s take my house, for example. We have a house, we have a "detached" garage, and we have one roof, that goes over the house, covers part of the patio, and continues to the detached garage. One insurance company will consider everything under the same ROOF, part of the same structure – and another, won’t include the actual garage, in the calculation. So the calculation, between companies, for me, is a difference of about 500 square feet – which DOES make a significant difference in the total.
Third, agent error. newer, inexperienced agents might be using square footage of LIVING space, rather than the outside measurements of the house, in the calculations. They might be adding up the rooms, for their total, and discounting dead areas, hallways, etc. They might be deliberately underestimating the square footage, to "do you a favor" to get the lower price, or to get the lowest price to get you to give them the business. They haven’t had the experience of an errors and ommissions lawsuit due to an underinsurance claim on a partial loss. Or they’re not planning on staying in business long enough for it to matter to them.
It all comes down to communication. You will HAVE to take the time to talk to each broker, and ask them to show you the square foot calculation worksheets. Have them justify the numbers. Maybe there’s a math error there, but YOU should have a pretty good idea how big your house is (from the outside) and what the average cost to rebuild in your area is. In my area, it’s about $200 per square foot. ASK your current broker what KIND of policy you have, and IF he can get you a true replacement cost policy, and if they can recalculate the square footage. Also ask, how the loss gets adjusted, if you have only a kitchen fire with $75,000 in damages. The answer to THAT might be a major eye opener.
I received a letter requesting items to fix. Sounds like crap to me.
They can refuse to insure you if you don’t fix certain things because their risk would be too high.
ok i have 25 cupboard doors in my kitchen and 6 have been ruined with a leak.the insurance company have said they will only replace the damaged ones.the doors we have are no longer available so basically they are saying we will have to buy different ones and have a odd kitchen.is this right and is their anything i can do.should they replace all the doors if i cant get a match or do i not have a leg to stand on.advice please
Somewhere along the line they have probably got paper work saying they are right but morally they are at fault. Write to the insurance ombudsman for help or go to local citizens advice to start with. Don’t let them get away with it without a fight. Give them notification of your intentions, this often shakes them up into doing something. Good luck
I unknowingly didn’t pay my house insurance for last year (Sept 2008-Sept 2009) and now the mortgage company sent me a letter stating that they assigned $1,900 for insurance of their choice, and which is double the market rate. How can they forcefully make me pay for the past? Nothing happened to the house during that time, thank goodness. Can i dispute this? They said they will put this on my escrow, so it’s not like i can just refuse to pay the bill. I now have insurance for this current year.
homeinsurance.awardspace.us – try this one. Got my home insurance from them. As I know they provide such a service.
I unknowingly didn’t pay my house insurance for last year (Sept 2008-Sept 2009) and now the mortgage company sent me a letter stating that they assigned $1,900 for insurance of their choice, and which is double the market rate. How can they forcefully make me pay for the past? Nothing happened to the house during that time, thank goodness. Can i dispute this? They said they will put this on my escrow, so it’s not like i can just refuse to pay the bill. I now have insurance for this current year.
homeinsurance.awardspace.us – try this one. Got my home insurance from them. As I know they provide such a service.
I unknowingly didn’t pay my house insurance for last year (Sept 2008-Sept 2009) and now the mortgage company sent me a letter stating that they assigned $1,900 for insurance of their choice, and which is double the market rate. How can they forcefully make me pay for the past? Nothing happened to the house during that time, thank goodness. Can i dispute this? They said they will put this on my escrow, so it’s not like i can just refuse to pay the bill. I now have insurance for this current year.
homeinsurance.awardspace.us – try this one. Got my home insurance from them. As I know they provide such a service.