Good for you, Buckeye. No access to USAA for us, unfortunately.
I'm wondering if the difference is the commission.
Good for you, Buckeye. No access to USAA for us, unfortunately.
I wonder if it could be the claim rates, or that USAA has a much broader client base with a relatively efficient claims process of fewer man-hours.I'm wondering if the difference is the commission.
Here's a comment/question I had on umbrella policies, from (!) 5 years ago.
http://www.early-retirement.org/forums/f28/yet-another-umbrella-policy-topic-25886.html#post482351
an excerpt:
-ERD50
Our daughter is getting ready to buy a car. She's nearly 20 years old with her own savings and some NROTC income, so the discussion came up with USAA on whether to keep her on our policy (until she graduates from college) or to split her out on her own policy.
They quoted a hypothetical 2004 Honda Civic sedan on our policy: minimal personal injury protection, liability for our assets, plus towing & roadside assistance. No collision or comprehensive. If the car was put on our Mom & Dad policy then she'd pay $65/month because of our honkin' big liability limits. If she paid for her own separate policy then it'd be $50/month because she essentially has no assets.
If she plowed into a schoolbus full of lawyer's kids, USAA would look at who was paying the policy premiums (our daughter or Mom & Dad) and whether we were claiming her as a dependent on our tax returns.
Although her status as a full-time student means that we can declare her our dependent, we don't need to do that. It's better for her to pay her own insurance premiums (even if she's reimbursed or gifted by us) for her to build her own payment record.
Anyone else had to parse through the legal & financial issues of this decision?
I wonder if it could be the claim rates, or that USAA has a much broader client base with a relatively efficient claims process of fewer man-hours.
They have a "skunkworks" division that tries to come up with new/faster ways to process claims. One of their ideas was a digital camera attached to a 10-foot pole for taking photos of roof damage while standing on the ground. Sounds pretty silly until you multiply the time savings, the reduced danger (of ladders or hanging out windows), and thousands of roof-damage claims.
It's a tough world out there, especially when it comes to money.
Well, in *general* these will be protected regardless of your state, unlike an IRA where the protection varies widely depending on state law.Should assets on a 401K be excluded too?
One of DW "friends" (we don't see them anymore) sued a neighbor after her kid taunted thier dog and got bit. What was once a tight group of friends on a cul-desac is now Hatfields vs McCoys. Some are MOVING OUT. Really sad.
Rumor is the insurance settlement was 6 figures ... but nobody is telling.
FWIW, I got bit by the neighbors dog in the 70's ... nearly ripped my ear off. The owner came and aplogized (with the dog). That was good enough for us. Times have changed.
One of DW "friends" (we don't see them anymore) sued a neighbor after her kid taunted thier dog and got bit. What was once a tight group of friends on a cul-desac is now Hatfields vs McCoys. Some are MOVING OUT. Really sad.
Rumor is the insurance settlement was 6 figures ... but nobody is telling.
FWIW, I got bit by the neighbors dog in the 70's ... nearly ripped my ear off. The owner came and aplogized (with the dog). That was good enough for us. Times have changed.
This is the kind of story I have nightmares about, thanks to my work with rescue dogs. I've only had two bite incidents
The commical piece is that the family who sued have maintained "the suit did not cost anybody anything" since insurance paid.
The little tot has a Harvard size college fund from a incident he'll never remember (he was 3 yo).
My response would be "Nah, she's not our dependent, we're just nice parents who gift our offspring." She has a college scholarship, a monthly NROTC stipend, and (soon) her own shared lodging and her own transportation.With regard to claiming your daughter as a dependent, the facts are the facts whether you claim her or not.
Thank you all for the guidance in this thread. It motivated me to investigate further and I found out it was a two step process.
1) Had to increase my base auto insurance to 250k/500k liability - cost additional $50/year two vehicles
2) Excess liability to $1 M cost $170/year.
Seems like a reasonable cost of $220 year. My conclusion is that Ins companies must have some pretty sharp lawyers that fight tooth and nail so that they hardly ever pay up and as a result premiums are largely icing on the cake for the Ins companies.
Your's is more reasonable than mine.
My quote is $82 to increase my home liability to $1m and vehicles to $500k and then $367 for a $1m umbrella. Still worth doing in the whole scheme of things, but significantly more than your deal
Exactly!!! This is the type of thing that worries me and why we have the policy. Could be any person on your property who gets hurt, a contractor, a friend, relative, mail carrier, newspaper delivery person, etc. The thought of losing my whole life's savings made me get a policy...which we've now had for about 10 years.When you hurt a relatively young person permanently, lifetime medical costs can roll up to a very large number very quickly. I started the process of purchasing an Umbrella policy very soon after my mock jury experience.
Exactly!!! This is the type of thing that worries me and why we have the policy. Could be any person on your property who gets hurt, a contractor, a friend, relative, mail carrier, newspaper delivery person, etc. The thought of losing my whole life's savings made me get a policy...which we've now had for about 10 years.
Not sure...we'll let others weigh in.I could be wrong on this, and it may vary by state, but if an employee of a contractor gets hurt working on your property and the contractor is unlicensed and/or does not carry worker's comp, I believe you are on your own. As in your insurance carrier will say, "sorry, not our problem." Anyone know otherwise? This is why you need to be careful and hire only properly licensed contractors.