I went shopping for insurance

debodun

debodun

SF VIP
Location
way upstate in New York, USA
After my experience last summer with my current carrier, I decided to look around. I stopped in yesterday at a local insurance office with my current policies. I told the agent about the other company not taking the claim at their office and fobbing me off on the national claims center, the errors in their report and then only allowing me pennies on my financial losses.

The agent looked at my papers, then had to see my driver's license and insurance cards, so I had to go out to my car and get them. He later called me and asked a lot of questions about the house, like when was it built, when was the heating system serviced, so I have any pets, do I have a custom kitchen, is there a fire hydrant nearby. Then he said they needed to take a photo of my odometer and I also had to provide my car service records for the past year.

It's been so long since I changed carriers. Is this normal?
 

Is this for house insurance or auto? Sounds like both? If so, then those aren't unusual questions, although I have never had them actually look at or take pictures of the odometer. I have been with the same auto insurance carrier for some years, though.

When I purchased this house, almost two years ago, the insurance company actually sent out someone to "inspect" the house. Didn't go inside. Just walked around the outside. Two weeks later, they raised the coverage and increased the rate. I called, raised you-know-what, got it settled. They wanted to insure this house for way over it's actual value.
 
I don't remember having to do that stuff when I changed insurance when I moved from Nebraska to Maryland a few years ago, but the realtor's office took care of setting up insurance policies (home & auto) for me, and its possible they already had ID info during all the other paperwork that was done for the mortgage. I don't remember insurance company requiring the odometer reading, but for the license plates from the DMV I had to have a car inspection which probably included that (not sure if DMV shares info with car insurance).

When my daughter changed her car insurance (when I moved she was no longer included on mine) I think she did it just through a phone call (I vaguely remember being forced by her to be on some phone calls with her, maybe because she used my credit card to set up the payments?).
 

When I last shopped, I was able to get quotes before they asked all the questions you mentioned, because first I need to know if their rate is acceptable. So, they gave me quotes, contingent upon the assumption that the car and home would meet their underwriting requirements.

After that, they took pictures outside the house and asked questions about when certain systems had been updated to the house, the same as yours asked, plus I needed to show proof of when the roof was last replaced. They looked at the car to make sure there was no damage, but did not look at the odometer. They shouldn't need your car maintenance records for the past year. Normal auto policies don't cover mechanical repairs.

Texas insurance companies insure the home for the rebuilding cost, which is substantially higher than the appraised value, or sale price because that is what it takes to replace the home in case of a total loss. Although the homeowner can opt for less coverage, the insurer will not pay full replacement price for storm damage, say if your roof is a total loss from wind or hail.
 
debodun said:
After my experience last summer with my current carrier, I decided to look around. I stopped in yesterday at a local insurance office with my current policies. I told the agent about the other company not taking the claim at their office and fobbing me off on the national claims center, the errors in their report and then only allowing me pennies on my financial losses.

The agent looked at my papers, then had to see my driver's license and insurance cards, so I had to go out to my car and get them. He later called me and asked a lot of questions about the house, like when was it built, when was the heating system serviced, so I have any pets, do I have a custom kitchen, is there a fire hydrant nearby. Then he said they needed to take a photo of my odometer and I also had to provide my car service records for the past year.

It's been so long since I changed carriers. Is this normal?
Click to expand...
Yes.
 
It’s normal in this day and age. I had to take a photo of my odometer a few years back for the corporate office becasue they didn’t even believe my insurance agent.

Far as pets — yes to that as well. Type of dog is a huge deal in my area and can often prevent someone from getting insurance. Thankfully my insurance agent was raised even more remotely than where I live, so we don’t discuss the type of dogs that I have in my house. I have a fenced in backyard for them and half this county knows. I am more responsible with my dogs than a lot of people are with their kids.

And sadly, at least in my area, women my age (in their 70’s) are getting picked up DUI and or with Drugs in the car. I’m not surprised that you got grilled on your drivers license. I don’t get insulted under those circumstances because I understand why they have to ask what they ask.
 
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