Opinions On Insurance.

red_cedar

Had to get additional umbrella coverage to meet the requirements to work in a particular village.

My insurance guy gets the coverage for us. A little pricey due to it being an addition to the workers comp.

3 months later, the actual policy shows up and I notice that it is not an umbrella, it is just excess liability for the commercial liability policy, not the workers comp.

I call up my insurance guy to state my observations and look into it. He says he missed it. But on the application for the umbrella it clearly shows the workers comp being asked to be covered as well.

We have coughed up almost half of the years premium already.
I cancelled the policy due to it not being the coverage that was applied for. The job was complete in the area that the village needed it

How much of a refund do you feel we are entitled to, some, all, or none.

I say we should only pay for the amount that it costs for the duration of the job. apx. $200

Insurance guy will refund some out of his pocket, but wants us to pay $460 for coverage that was supoose to be but was not.

pdh2100

If you have a relationship with the ins. guy...I'd pay it... if not, I would reconsider. Relationships are all too important in this business.

p

Peladu

If he had a relationship with this guy, his post wouldn't exist.

karma_carpentry

I got a liability policy recently, and told the agent clearly that I would be doing some incidental roofing, as when I built a dormer or other small addition. I would not ever be doing just roofing jobs.

The insurance company called me for a phone audit, and I stated when asked that I may do some incidental roofing. They threatened to cancel my policy because it didn't include any coverage for roofing.

I rolled with it, and faxed over a statement that I would sub out all roofing work to insured roofers.

Had to roll with the agent's mistake - or maybe his 'wishful thinking' or dishonesty. And my policy didn't get any cheaper due to the limitation in coverage. But what else can I do until I have a track record and can shop around for coverage? Nobody around here is taking new clients for residential remodeling. Too many claims recently by newbies making stupid mistakes, they say.

But your case is different. I think you're 'entitled' to a complete refund, but in the real world, how far do you want to press this? Is it worth $260 for your hassle to fight it?

Another question -- why did it take 3 months for the actual policy to show up !!

Grumpy

My opinion of insurance? The biggest waste of my time by far, not to mention a huge waste of my money and a collosal scam perpetuated on the American peoples every day by massive corporations and their puppet politicians.


Red, If you got a policy you didn't apply for, I feel in heaven you would be refunded 100% of that policy cost and then charged for the true policy you wanted. How ever in the real world it all comes down to the documents you signed. You may have asked for policy A, and your broker drafted the papers for policy B, and you signed papers for policy B... you're F**ked.


Karma, I had a very similiar experience with my insurance company as well. These brokers wow the inexperienced (Me) with a low premium and forget to explain exactly how the whole audit thing works and then we have to pay huge premium adjustments and get cancelled for doing roofing. Hmmmm I do recall telling the broker I was going to do primarily roofing and sub it out to insured subs. It's really not my fault he signed me up with a policy that, though covers all "general trades" excludes roofing. My hypothesis is that this a ss hole broker knew I couldn't get covered as a roofer but wanted his commission anyways and sold me a worthless policy knowing after the first audit I'd be canceled.... but hey, he got his first years' commission off my novice self.

Now I am much much more educated in how these things work and very very defensive with insurance people. Karma, I would have done what you did, and "rolled with it" but at the same time I would immediately begin to shop around and cancel as soon as I found someone to cover me as I want coverage, not as they want coverage. If you cancel, you will be refunded unused monies that you have paid towards your policy.

Peladu

Grumps,
If it makes you feel any better, you are not the only one. My very 1st insurance stealsman was told exactly what my business would be doing. He then took my check, cashed it, and in return I received a policy that was nowhere close to what I wanted. After looking through the policy, I was left unsure if I had any coverage at all. So I called corporate who agreed to a 100%. I called the stealsman, and he blamed it on corporate. When asked to see the filings he sent to corporate (just to prove a point) he said that he had already destroyed all of the information. Some stealsmen need to be strangled to death.