What Homeowner's Insurance Claims Have You Made?

[meierlde]

Quote:

Originally Posted by panacea We're at $2,500 but thinking of increasing it to $5,000. I wouldn't make a claim anyway unless it was something catastrophic. More claims just get you higher rates anyway.

In Tx State Farm raised the deductable for non windstorm events to 1% and the deductible for windstorm events was already 1%. (Even 200 miles inland and 2000 ft in elevation). Last year it was an offer and was about $300/year for the difference between 1000 and 1%. I expect insurance companies to start a campaign that insurance is for big things not little things, so raising deductibles to make this so.

[Ally]

We had a $5000 claim when our basement flooded once and another claim to replace a roof after a hail storm. We had just paid to replace our roof and a year later it was totally ruined by hail. Both were with State Farm.

[Walt34]

Wow, a long list of calamities!

I feel lucky. We've never had to file a claim.

[zinger1457]

Wildfires came through the part of Arizona I live in last summer causing my entire neighborhood to be evacuated. The insurance company was helpful, paid for a hotel to stay in for a week (deductible waived). The fire came close enough to the house causing some windows to crack from the heat but the damage was below my deductible so didn't bother to file a claim, I was happy that my house was still standing. The paid hotel was the first time I've ever gotten anything back from my homeowners insurance.

[John Galt III]

Thanks for all the replies !

[JOHNNIE36]

Just about a year ago I filed my first claim ever on my homeowners policy. It was kind of strange. Our neighbor came over after a short visit to the community mailbox. She was wearing high heels, carrying her mail and had her dog on a leash. It had been raining. After her visit during which we discussed going out to dinner and upcoming parties, she left for home. Fell down in our driveway and broke her wrist. I wanted to take her to the hospital but she had somneone waiting at her house and had to take the dog home so I was excused from that job. That hospital visit indicated she had broken her wrist. Then I called my insurance company and reported the incident. After giving the insurance company the basic information and determining that she had Medicare, my insurance told me they would cover up to $1000 of her expenses without any questions as a goodwill gesture. Anything over and above that $1000, she would have to file a lawsuit and then show negligence on our part. She wouldn't be able to do that as she has been to our house many times, was familiar with the driveway and in fact had the same driveway at her house. The insurance company sent out one of their investigators, took pictures and statements from us. Company told us to treat the incident as a normal accident, not offer any details about our discussions and let the chips fall where they may.

As ot turned out, our neighbor had good insurance coverage, informed our insurance company of her costs (which were under $1000) but they paid her $1000 anyway.
Goodwill they said. We are still best of friends. Neighbor said she would never put us in a bad situation and didn't want us to tell our insurance about the incident but I felt it was our responsibility to do so. It worked out great.

Then that insurance company raised our rate, said it was not due to the incident, I shopped around and changed companies. Such is business life.

[Koolau]

Had the same ins. agent (my cousin) for HO and Car for over 25 years. No HO claims until DW lost diamond from her ring. I suggested she simply get another, but she insisted that, since we paid premiums, we should turn it in. The ins. would only cover $500 (max) of the $1500+ value to replace. Cousin took me aside and suggested (strongly) that we not make another such claim - EVER or ANY claim for a few years. He didn't want to lose our business when were were dropped! I'd say they are WAY ahead on premiums over the years, but I'm convinced. NOW, I go with very high deductible and will only make the ins. co. pay for catastrophic stuff. If they drop me for actually making them lose money, I guess it's okay. For piddly stuff, it's not worth p*ssing them off. What a racket! YMMV

[Mulligan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Koolau Had the same ins. agent (my cousin) for HO and Car for over 25 years. No HO claims until DW lost diamond from her ring. I suggested she simply get another, but she insisted that, since we paid premiums, we should turn it in. The ins. would only cover $500 (max) of the $1500+ value to replace. Cousin took me aside and suggested (strongly) that we not make another such claim - EVER or ANY claim for a few years. He didn't want to lose our business when were were dropped! I'd say they are WAY ahead on premiums over the years, but I'm convinced. NOW, I go with very high deductible and will only make the ins. co. pay for catastrophic stuff. If they drop me for actually making them lose money, I guess it's okay. For piddly stuff, it's not worth p*ssing them off. What a racket! YMMV

Oh it is a racket alright. I wonder if the low interest rate environment is hurting them on investments causing them to squeeze more profits out of claims reductions. I made a big mistake last year, as I backed into a car causing their rig $500 in damage. I should have tried to pay them myself, but figuring it was a small claim and my excellent driving and claim history I just let the insurance deal with it. Well they smacked a $20 a month accident surcharge on my premium for 2 years. So guess what, the surcharge covered the cost of the accident, and they still get to keep my premium. I swear, I would be hundreds of thousands of dollars to the good, if I had self insured everything my whole life dealing with insurance. A worthless knee scope that was unnecessary and unhelpful, and 2 rear car backends is what I have to show for insurance payments my whole life on everything. Rant over, and yes I know I should appreciate the fact that I haven't needed to use it, but my wallet doesn't.

[PawPrint53]

We filed a claim when our daughter ran into our garage door and ruined it. That was quite a while ago. We filed another claim about 8 years ago a month after we changed insurance carriers--that was embarassing. The dishwasher started pumping out water when we were gone, ruined the floor in the kitchen, family room and dining room.

When I worked for an insurance company office for a few months I enjoyed reading the claims. One of the more memorable ones was someone who had stored a can of spray paint (among other things) in her oven, and someone turned the oven on. As you can guess, the resulting explosion did some damage. The homeowner didn't cook much so she got in the habit of storing stuff in the oven. Rather a bad habit.

[FreeAtLast]

I had 2 claims in the 25 years that I lived here, both were from hurricane wind and water damage from major storms here in Florida. I have a $2500 deductible.

[Dimsumkid]

I had my first ever HO claim after 22 years in late 2010. Insured by Allstate for 5 years at the time. I had increased my deductible from $1k to $2.5k months before. Someone used a crowbar on front door, slider door and a window. Damage of $14+k w/full replacement value. Allstate put me under investigation claiming I possibly staged this! I was fixing up the house to put it on sale. When I mentioned the deductible increase from $1k to $2.5k, I told them if I did the damage, I would decreased my deductible! I guess my response killed that theory. It took over 6 months to get reimbursed and full replacement was about $5500. For Allstate, full replacement = 50% of value since the items (doors and windows) were deemed "old". My agent barely lifted a finger to help me with my claim, while in dispute, he did ignore my request and asked if he could insure my new home. I dropped Allstate as soon as the house sold.

[ShortInSeattle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dimsumkid I had my first ever HO claim after 22 years in late 2010. Insured by Allstate for 5 years at the time. I had increased my deductible from $1k to $2.5k months before. Someone used a crowbar on front door, slider door and a window. Damage of $14+k w/full replacement value. Allstate put me under investigation claiming I possibly staged this! I was fixing up the house to put it on sale. When I mentioned the deductible increase from $1k to $2.5k, I told them if I did the damage, I would decreased my deductible! I guess my response killed that theory. It took over 6 months to get reimbursed and full replacement was about $5500. For Allstate, full replacement = 50% of value since the items (doors and windows) were deemed "old". My agent barely lifted a finger to help me with my claim, while in dispute, he did ignore my request and asked if he could insure my new home. I dropped Allstate as soon as the house sold.

We also dropped Allstate after our one and only claim with them. Huge windstorm, several trees came through our roof, broke windows, and so on. The insurance adjuster spent most of his tour telling us what wouldn't be covered. We were sad, cold, and without power for over a week, and when the representative finally arrived he acted like we were trying to steal from him.

I'd been insured by the same agency for over 10 years. When I called to cancel they didn't even ask why.

SIS

[Ally]

I don't know if this is the case with everyone, but when we did the two claims with State Farm, they did not raise our rates. In fact, two years later, they lowered them. I doubt that happens often.

[meierlde]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ally I don't know if this is the case with everyone, but when we did the two claims with State Farm, they did not raise our rates. In fact, two years later, they lowered them. I doubt that happens often.

It depends on the state and the kind of claim. In Tx they can not hold weather related claims against you or raise premiums due to them, they can raise premiums for all in an area however.

[meekie]

Had to file a claim last year, the supply line to our toilet broke (plastic nut). We came home to a note on our door from a neighbor that turned off the water to the house when he saw it flowing out the front door and down the street.

It got most of the first floor, they has to replace the bottom 18 inches of drywall through about 1000 sq ft of house, plus carpet, and the bathroom vanity. We were "lucky" that we had a raised kitchen otherwise the damage would have been about double.

Including furniture and damage, and 6 weeks in a hotel, it was around 30-40k. Insurance co was great (travelers), but I think they did raise my rates. We just bought a new house, so lots of other changes affected rates too.

I'd be pretty happy with a 5k deductible, any less than that my emergency fund should cover it.

[imoldernu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by meekie Had to file a claim last year, the supply line to our toilet broke (plastic nut). We came home to a note on our door from a neighbor that turned off the water to the house when he saw it flowing out the front door and down the street.

This sounds like an unusual event, but is very common, and not well known. We had the same problem ($12k repair cost in 2009) in our mfg home. On checking around in our community of 350 homes, found the same problem in at least 5 homes in the past few years. It's caused by a combination of several factors...mostly stemming from supply line/connecting nut disintegration due to chemical reaction with chlorine. The connecting nuts are often made of acetal plastic... subject to cracking. It's especially prevalent in areas with higher water pressure.

We have since switched to newer connectors. A search for "toilet supply line connecting nut failure" brings up many discussions and explanations in Google.

Here's one the spells out the problem in detail.
http://www.stutmanlaw.com/images/Rec...11_reprint.pdf

Most of our neighbors have changed their connectors since they became aware of the problem. A small cost compared to great potential damage.

[GalaxyBoy]

I had a claim at my last house for water damage caused by a faulty icemaker supply hose. Claim was for around $10k. The reason it leaked was because the insurance company required all hoses to be replaced by steel braided hoses. They were good about honoring the claim, though, with no problems.

BUT, when I moved a different company refused to cover me at my new house (300 miles away) because records showed I had a previous claim for a sewer backup. Somebody must have coded it wrong, or they didn't know how to read the report because other companies didn't have that problem. I'm not sure how a sewer backup at a house clear across the state would affect my insurability, but I don't pretend to understand insurance companies.

[HFWR]

Two claims, both for flooding/water damage, both stemming from problems with an under-sink water filtration system...

What fun to be jarred awake by an alarm clock, slog into the kitchen for coffee, and be greeted by "squish squish..."

Insurance company was very thorough in that most everything that got wet was replaced, and fans/dehumidifiers were run until moisture levels were considered normal. First time cost me the deductible, second time the insurance company sued the water filter manufacturer, and I got my deductible back...

[ShortInSeattle]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HFWR Two claims, both for flooding/water damage, both stemming from problems with an under-sink water filtration system... What fun to be jarred awake by an alarm clock, slog into the kitchen for coffee, and be greeted by "squish squish..." Insurance company was very thorough in that most everything that got wet was replaced, and fans/dehumidifiers were run until moisture levels were considered normal. First time cost me the deductible, second time the insurance company sued the water filter manufacturer, and I got my deductible back...

Under sink "flood stops" are great for prevention. They shut off the valve if they sense moisture and are not too touchy.

[Beryl]

Zero claims in 30 years of homeownership. We are paying for everyone else's claims.