My family has been a long time customer of ALFA insurance. We have our home and cars covered with Alfa. Now the house we live in is in my grandmothers name as well as my husbands name but the insurance was only in my grandmothers name. When we had the house put in both names we checked with Alfa and they said that everything would be fine and to leave it the way it is. So for several years things go along fine. We have an insurance update, choose not to take the 2% hurricane deductible but to pay a little more and have a flat $250 deductible. Well we thought this was going to come in handy when Ivan hit till we went to make our small claim on some minor roof damage and our evacuation expenses. Alfa refused to pay for evacuation even though we were in mandatory evacuation, would not pay to have a tree removed even though it was on an outbuilding that was covered by insurance and only paid $4.75 a sq. ft. for the roof. Anybody who had to have a roof replaced after Ivan knows that the going price was 8+ a sq. ft.
Then the prices for insurance starts to jump and Alfa starts to talk about canceling insurance policies south of 98. We received a letter of cancellation from Alfa and called to find out why. The first response I got shocked me. I was told that my grandmother was dead! Well since I was sitting there looking at her I have to say that I was confused. So I asked the agent to repeat what she had just told me. Once she said again that my grandmother was dead, I told her that she needed to send help and fast. She asked me why and I told her that if my grandmother is dead that I have a dead woman sitting on my couch looking at me and I am scared. Well she didn't take that to well so she came up with the excuse that my husbands name was not on the Insurance policy. So? Put him on it. Well that will call for a credit check. So? Do it. Took a while but I won that round.
Then a few months later we get a notice that they are no longer going to honer the $250 deductible and that there is now a mandatory 5% hurricane deductible. There is also no longer any coverage for wind damage. WHAT?!?! Why have insurance during a hurricane if there isn't wind coverage?
Well this is all fine and good, because this dropped our Insurance payments from almost 8 grand a year to 2.5 grand a year, but if another hurricane hits and we have any damage to your home we will not be able to afford to fix the damage.
This is just the crap that I am going through with Alfa with homeowners, I wont even go into what I have been going through with them since I was in an accident back in October, but I can say it has been pure hell.
I forgot to mention after the deal with them saying that my grandmother was dead, the insurance company then made us "clean up" around our house and also repaint our house before they would renew our insurance. Said the lumber that was stored under a lean-to next to the house had to go because it could be a projectile during a storm (was where we stored the plywood and lumber we used to board up the house during a storm) and the paint *shrug*.
They made you PAINT your house before they'd renew your insurance? Why? That just doesn't make sense to me. At least the clean-up and wood storage might conceivably be a reason based on what they told you (though it certainly seems like crossing the line where insurance is concerned). But what right would your insurance company have to force you to do something to your home that amounts to nothing more than cosmetic work?
How absurd.
Alfa was going to drop my wind coverage, after thirty years of premiums paid to a company to which I'd never filed a claim. So I found another carrier, Farmers, who told me they were trying to "grow their business in Alabama" so they certainly wouldn't be dropping anyone's coverage. Of course then they came back the second year with a huge jump in premium cost. Like I've said before, we can't win.
stiksandstones, I'll bet lots of people would like to do what you did. But the mental stress of worrying about having to replace everything I own if my house burned to the ground would put me in an early grave. Well, too late for that I guess, but put me in a grave nonetheless. Of course I'm going to be cremated, so I guess that old saying just won't ever work for me again.
My house was insured by the "good hands people". No claims during Katrina. September 15, 2007 a drop letter appeared. Since then I have priced insurance. ITS TRIPLED!
This year, the "good hands people" were declared to be guilty of illegally dropping policys and ordered to take us back. I called my agent who told me i would soon get a letter. A month later, no letter, so I called her back. she then told me I don't qualify.
It appears the "good hands" are around my throat.
Guess who owns alabama? Not the citizens.
I may have to sell my house, i cannot afford the insurance now.
Remember, I had NO CLAIMS!
I often think about just taking the gamble myself. I have never made a claim against my homeowner’s policy and have made any small repairs needed myself. I don’t like the feeling of someone using fear to rob me and then tell me tough nookies!
Our insurance has quadrupled over the past few years, even though we've never filed a claim, and live nowhere near the water. How can we "not" have insurance, if our mortgage requires it? If we drop insurance, the lender calls the loan, and we are on the streets.
I've said it before and I'll say it again:
Fact: many insurance companies no longer write policies along the Gulf coast. (I guess they don't want to risk the losses they suffered in 2005 after Hurricane Katrina.)
Statistic: Property & Casualty insurers had profits of $65,000,000,000.00 in 2007, and $67,600,000,000.00 in 2006,
but "only" $48,800,000,000.00 in 2005.
Someone's not being honest about the "losses" they supposedly suffered.
p.s. My friend's mother lives on a slab in Mississippi. She can't rebuild because the insurance still, years later, will not pay her claim. She cannot live in a FEMA trailer, because it outgassed formaldehyde and made her physically ill. This woman is STILL making mortgage payments each month for a SLAB of CONCRETE! In my opinion, there is a special place in Hell for insurance executives.
True enough...the only folks with the luxury of actually dropping their coverage are those with no mortgage.
If only I had all the money back I've paid in insurance premiums over the years, invested wisely, I'd have so much money now I could retire and live far more luxuriously than I've ever lived before. Alfa took from me, and took from me, and took from me, and never gave me anything in return but a headache and disappointment.
I hope every single Alfa employee chokes on their record profits.
It is a real dilemma and Katrina really opened many of our eyes. We think we are covered for catastrophic damages and we pay extra for hurricane coverage. But, when it gets down to it we are at the mercy of the insurance companies.
About 14 years ago I bought my home on a 15 year mortgage and I managed to pay it off early. So, I am not strapped with a mortgage company dictating what I do. But, if I lost everything tomorrow, without insurance I would be in one helluva boat without a paddle.
I've also had problems with Alfa. My family has carried auto insurance with them for 20 years. We carried homeowners insurance with them (before Ivan) for several years and moved to Birmingham where we continued to be faithful Alfa customers. When we moved back home to Mobile (after Ivan) we tried to get a policy on our new house but were told we'd be put on a waiting list until a policy was available. Well, mortgage companies don't let you "wait" for insurance. This was pretty surprising and frustrating to us since we were already an Alfa customer.
We ended up going with Farmers who was pretty reasonable with prices and easier to work with (even during Katrina). This year, Farmers was raising my rates a lot so I started shopping around and decided to give Alfa another try. Since I still had my autos with them it was going to save me money by getting homeowners with them as well. Well, I went through the hassle of having to "wait" for a policy again. But it got worse.... my agent wrote up my policy, it was paid for, I was told I'd have wind protection since I had auto coverage with them. A few weeks later she called me and wanted me to come in a sign a waiver stating that I would not have wind coverage afterall.
Apparently, Alfa makes there own maps to determine wind zones and I live just south of I-10 (not in a flood or wind zone by anyone else that I can find). Isn't it nice - they make their own maps to determine who they want to cover rather than going by goverment issued maps for wind/flood zones.
I was very lucky and was within 30 days of my cancellation with Farmers so I was able to get my policy back with them. I also dropped my auto policies with Alfa and never intend on doing business with them again. I want to do business with a company that doesn't make you wait, doesn't make their own maps/rules, and that I can trust. So far, Farmers has been great to work with. I hope that remains the case.
