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.
BamaBob and Stiksandstones I see we are all in the same boat.I paid my mortage off early and refused to give in to the insurance company when they tripled my insurance after about 30 or 40 years with them.
I don't have an insurance horror story, but I do have something I would like to throw out here. I drive an older Ford truck that I paid cash for. I have had insurance through State Farm on it since the day I bought it. I have never made a single claim nor have I EVER had a single ticket in the truck since I have owned it. I was adding up all of the insurance payments that I have made on the truck over the years and I have come to the realization that I have paid TWICE as much in insurance payments than what I paid for the truck. Keep in mind, I OWN THE TRUCK...I paid cash for it and I have the title. It's kinda silly that it bothers me, I know, but it's just crazy. I could have bought TWO more vehicles (not that I would) for what I have paid out in insurance alone. I realize that we are all pretty much in the same boat together...but does anyone else find this to be a tough pill to swallow? Don't get me wrong, I know insurance is an absolute necessity and I am glad to have it in case I ever need it...but does anyone else think that there should be some kind of pro-rated discount available AFTER you pay out the equivilence of your vehicles value in insurance payments? I realize that the monthly fee that I pay covers more than just vehicle damage...medical...uninsured motorist...etc... but jeez...can they not give us a break? I'm sorry...I guess I probably shouldn't have even posted this, but I just had to vent a little.
Razorsharp, I'm still in the same boat as you. I could have bought another car or two and another house with the insurance payments I have made over the last 40 years.Not only is a tough pill to swallow it will put you in a rather bad mood thinking about it. It finally got to the point where I had to say "No longer can I afford this". It's definitely prudent to have insurance on the home if possible and of course it's required on you auto. I don't see any breaks coming for us in the near future. One of the major points the insurance companies made when pushing mandatory insurance for autos in the state was "It will make everyones rates cheaper". It hasn't, they have only gone up,and now they are saying because of the high risks they have to insure, it make everyones rates higher .I could go on about how I think they are using our police as collecting agents for the insurance agencies and other things but I better stop. We're there with you,keep bailing and paddling.
The problem with the insurance is that the risk is not spread out evenly. We are on the coast, but the counties that are north of Mobile and Baldwin have had how many tornadoes this year??? I read where insurance companies thus far in 2008 have paid out 13.9 BILLION dollars in catastrophes.....this year!! There have been no hurricanes to blame that on!! So why does the insurance premiums not go up for those people? They need to spread the risk a little better. You cannot punish 2 counties in the state, its not fair.
Alfa dropped us and claimed we are located south of Interstate 10. Interstate 10 runs to the west of us and to the south of us. We are south of Interstate 65. I cannot find insurance because they either don't want to insure us according to their map and our location or they want over $3,000.00 a year. Why are they allowed to make up their own map? My home is NOT south of Interstate 10.
We have had excellent credit all our lives, but unfortunately we have had to file bankruptcy and we are struggling just to keep the mortgage and utilites paid.
Gas is at high, groceries are high, utilities keep going up.
We bought the house I grew up in from my parents years ago. This house has been in the family since 1974. It has been home to four children, 14 grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren. Most of this family has lived in this house at one time or another.
WE NEED INSURANCE THAT WE CAN AFFORD.
The people in Montgomery don't have to worry about this because they weren't affected by the hurricanes.
They do get tornadoes up that way. What if the insurance companies started dropping them because of tornadoes. How would they feel then. What if they had hurricane damage from winds that reach Montgomery when there is a hurricane near the Mobile area. What if their insurance wouldn't pay for wind or water damage due to a hurricane or their insurance company dropped them because they made a claim due to a hurricane or tornado. I bet they would be jumping on the band wagon to help us out if it hit closer to home.
Thank God my husband is a home builder. He did the work on our home that the insurance company would not pay for. They want their money every month and have made millions off all of us, yet they don't want to pay out anything. Until Katrina, we never made a claim and we've had insurance on this house with ALFA since 1997.
Does anyone know where I can get insurance for a price we can afford? It should be against the law for insurance companies to get away with this. They made millions off of the people.
If I knew anything about running an insurance company, I would love to open my own insurance company and help out the people on the coast that have been screwed.
WE THE PEOPLE, in the constitution should be deleted since WE THE PEOPLE have no voice.
I appreciate channel 5 for trying to do something about this. I just wish something could be done in a hurry. I worry every day that something will happen to our home and there is no insurance on it at this time so we would be homeless.
CRIMCKEOWN, There is quite a few in the same situation as you, Mine is real similar to your's.Our home is about 45 years old and we have raised about the same number of kids,though all of them are not blood related. The insurance company didn't drop us they just made it too expensive to keep it and that way it wouldn't count as a dropped customer.When we tried to get a less expensive policy,with all the highest deductibles and at a value of coverage we wanted,we wanted $60,000 maximum on the house,They said $130,000 would be the only thing they would sell a policy for,for this house. Another words take it or leave it.
