Insurance Debacle

[SawyerTed]

Back in the fall I got a letter from our homeowner's insurance company that they were going to a site inspection.  So I thought no big deal, they have to do their risk management stuff.   They sent a contracted representative to visit the property and did a satellite image review.  

In December I got another letter, they had some items they wanted corrected.  The things they cited were pretty petty or 100% inaccurate.  We supposedly had trees touching our roof, no self latching latch on our pool gate, the pool is not fenced and less than 1,000 feet from the next nearest property.  The kicker was they cited "miscellaneous debris".

The only items that were remotely accurate were there were small limbs from crepe myrtles over the roof and there may have been miscellaneous debris - but I don't know what that means.   I believe they couldn't recognize stuff from the satellite image so they called it miscellaneous debris.  

I switched insurance companies this month.  I got another letter informing me the new company is going to conduct a site visit. They are using the same contractor.  

[doc henderson]

Sorry Ted.  I would be inclined to demand an onsite inspection.  and might even inform them the contractor that did the satellite inspection is why you changed companies.  good luck.

[Southside]

Property insurance is a mess right now and it's getting worse in a hurry.  We got a letter that an insured building "does not have windows" - well it's called an open air milking parlor, is USDA recognized and one does not want windows where a cow will stick her head through.  Does not matter - they dumped us, oh and suddenly everyone hates sawmills.  Fighting that battle now.  

[chet]

A few years back I had a home inspection done while I was installing a new entrance door. They canceled me because the exterior trim wasn't finished, even though they had a pic of me installing it. 

My brother once got a cancelation notice because he did not have steps in front of his patio door. The patio door in question was actually a picture window. 

[Ianab]

Do you guys have insurance companies that specialise in Rural Cover?

Our Insurance is through a NZ Based Co-op Company that mostly does Rural. Even though I'm now town based, that's cool with them. I think I first took out a policy with them in like '81, when I left the farm to go to Uni. So yeah, they have my history on the file. I've had cover with them for various houses / cars / farms over the years.  While they might not be the cheapest, and may be a bit selective about who they insure, they "know" rural. If your clutter isn't an obvious safety or fire risk, they don't care.

[Ljohnsaw]

I had an inspection several years ago and the only problem was my driveway. It was full of trailers as it was winter and they'd get damaged up the hill from snow. I just had to rearrange them temporarily to get some clean photos to submit.

Had another one in January. Whole list of items and pictures that don't support all the items. Big one is my deck I was just about to rebuild with my own cedar. Not allowed. Has to be Trex, concrete or tile. And the joists need to be steel or wood with a top tape to retard fire.

Oh, and my hill with leaf mulch to retard weeds needs to be cleaned up!

[21incher]

The big one now is they are dropping people that install solar panels on the roof or have a Lithium  battery backup. So much for pushing green energy. 
They just did a re assment up here and the company that did it used satellite pics along with their appraiser pics. They thought  my garden area that has gravel was a 40 x 50 deck 😬 and added to my value.  

[SawyerTed]

Just in case, I spent yesterday doing some cleanup.   That included moving logs off my property onto the farm property.  It sounds worse than it was.  Our house sits on 3.5 acres we surveyed out of the farm.  The logs had to be moved 100' across the property line.  

I had the mill setup in the back yard, so it's taken down and in the shed.  My lumber stacks are organized and out of view.  The sawdust pile is disposed of and slabs are cut into firewood.   So stuff is generally straightened up and there's no sign of sawmill operations on the property.

We'll see how it goes.   

[SwampDonkey]

Guy up the road just lives in a shack. He has solar and a small windmill. All do it yourself install type of thing. Well this winter he was out getting firewood and noticed smoke coming from the shack where it's not suppose to. Goes and opens the door to the shack and the battery bank blew up in his face and burnt the place down. I suspect insurance is seeing some of that in places. Fire department had to go there 3 times to put out fire. He spent 3 days in hospital. Wasn't burnt, just the blast and smoke off it. Smoke inhalation from trying to salvage stuff before it was all engulfed. The only things he got out was the gun and the cats. Tossed all his seasoned firewood because they doused that will retardant, toxic substance.

[YellowHammer]

I understand your pain with insurance, I got dropped so many times with our business for zero reasons given that one time I was just driving street of Huntsville, stopping in every big and small insurance company I could find, and nobody would insure me.  State Farm doesn't insure farms, Farmers Insurance doesn't "do" cattle, Progressive will do a hair studio but won't insure a lumberyard.  Say the word "sawmill" and they all have visions of Dudly DoWright getting cut in half.

I always ask for an onsite inspection from my insurance agent, every year.  As much as I pay of reinsurance, I want to meet and see them in person, it clears the air, and they can see things with their own eyes before it comes time to make a potential claim.  They can see that my roof isn't leaking, my yard is picked up, my vehicles don't have dents in them, and no, I don't own a swimming pool with no fence, that's called a fishing pond and yes, the cattle are allowed to wade in it.  I can also make sure they haven't skipped town on an outstanding warrant (State Farm agent) and that they are not retired and simply closed their company and didn't tell us. (State Farm again).  None of that should happen, but it does, been there done that. 

I have since gone to an independent that can use and find all manner of insurance companies and underwriters, and can also do the price shopping for me.  I had one underwriter that raised my rates 10% in one year, despite no claims, a couple years ago, and my independent insurance agent spotted it, made a few phone calls, found a better company, and I got the same coverage and my rates actually dropped.  The same independent insurance company found that my existing policy on our house roof had changed due to some change we didn't know about, and so only covered my house roof by a pro rated value, and he switched us to a company that covered our whole house roof replacement costs.   

If you can find a good insurance agent, life is good.  A bad one is bad.

[SawyerTed]

I was with the previous company with auto insurance since 1978, and almost all my other insurance as needs arose.  So 46 years of business with them meant ZERO.  I never shopped because I got great coverage and excellent service.   

This site inspections business showed me they didn't care.  On the other hand, my agent has been super with the change over.   The original company used to have exclusive agents who couldn't rep other companies.   About 3 years ago, they "unbound" their agents.  She now is an independent agent who happens to rep the original company.  

Overall my insurance costs dropped by a significant amount for the same or better coverage.  The house coverage is less cost, the boat went up a bit.  All of the vehicles, trucks, cars, RV, and ATV all are on one policy.  The boats on one, the house on another, umbrella etc.  It is much simpler.  

[Bert]

My day job is loss control for the 2nd largest wood products insurer in the nation. You are all correct, many companies are getting out of the wood products space entirely. Sawmills, pallet shops, veneer mills, building materials dealers, doesn't matter. But, thats our space so good for us.

Anyhow, I get whacked by the home inspection people too. Last time they sent a girl from baltimore city to my rural home in PA. She wouldnt get out of the car because there were 3 ducks in the yard. Biggest insult was to have roof evaluated by a roofing contractor. Look lady, its a 50 year steel roof installed in 2007 with zero issues. 

[Stephen1]

so far my insurance for the Buisness is good. 
I always consider insurance a great investment when you have to collect. 
My house insurance is the challenge. I have 2 buildings, my house and a guest house, which is my log cabin. They now have overland water damage and sewage damage, almost a 1/3 of my policy. they also want a $1000 deductible. And you can't have one with out the other. 
I am on a brand new septic, with it being pumped from the cabin and the house drains into it and then pumps the effluent to the bed about 50' away to the tile bed. My basement in the house is only 6' so it will never be finished. 
I have had my sewage macerator in my cabin give me problems in the past and I just replaced it and cleaned the mess. 
I want to cancel this extra touch and Cathy says "your getting old and are you going to clean it up if you have a problem?"
My thoughts are that if I have a problem and I have saved a $1000 in insurance every year and I don't have to pay $1000 deductible , I bet I can pay someone $2-3K to help clean up the mess and be ahead.