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My first & last boat leans up against back garden shed. I paid all of $100 for 11'6" flat bottom v hull. Many enjoyable hours spent fishing ! To each his own.
My first & last boat leans up against back garden shed. I paid all of $100 for 11'6" flat bottom v hull. Many enjoyable hours spent fishing ! To each his own.
For fishing I never thought it made much difference what size boat. Over 45 years I owned both an aluminum 14’ and a deeper wider 16-footer. Was crazy enough to troll out on Lake Michigan with that 14-footer and just a single 15 HP outboard during the 70s & 80s. The larger boat had a second engine.
Back to fishing … I think size is overrated. Have enjoyed catching bluegill from the edge of a pond in the spring just as much as hauling in 30 lb + salmon on the great lakes in August. You could argue the bluegill taste better.
@hank and @Derf For Michigan, yellow perch; light batter. Bluegill and Sunfish great, too. Five pounds of perch fillets at $189 + 6% tax = $40 per pound.
When I was researching insurance many years ago I found that Mercury had some pretty poor reviews. I remember finding at the CA Dept of Insurance official site an extensive ratings/ complaint report on all companies operating in CA at the time, but I can't find a similar link now.
I do remember that some sites like the ones you mention had much conflicting information, and if you read between the lines some of those sites have "associations" of one kind or another with the companies that they are supposedly "evaluating".
American Family Insurance (through Costco) has favorable reviews. I called them and unfortunately, they are no longer writing new policies in CA. With both auto and home, given many existing players are not writing new policies, I can not imagine increases in premiums will ever abate.
@Old_Joe, I'm curious. Deductibles seem to be a big lever for insurance companies. If you were to ask for say a $50k or even a $100k deductible, would they do that with lower premiums? Obviously this would only be for catastrophic occurrences, but that's how I see HO insurance anyway.
When my auto insurance went up, I did increase my deductible. So, that is a valid idea. The level depends on what hit one is willing to absorb.
BTW, at least with auto insurance, if a small damage, don't even call insurance. That will count against you even if you decide not to file a claim. So, call insurance only when damage is clearly much more than the deductible. This should be similar for home insurance.
BTW, at least with auto insurance, if a small damage, don't even call insurance. So, call insurance only when damage is clearly much more than the deductible.
Agree @yogibearbull. Same with HO insurance. Make a claim and they will raise your rates. I set my HO deductible at $2000. I didn't ask if I could go higher but maybe I will down the road. I know when I was with State Farm, the deductible wasn't a specific $ amount but a percentage of home value or replacement cost. Can't remember which.
It's pretty certain that if an insurance company finds out about a loss it will affect your rates (unless you have accident forgiveness).
Except for the smallest of collisions, an insurance company will find out about an accident even if you don't inform the insurer directly. Assuming you obey the law. Insurers check police reports and most if not all states require you to report a collision if the estimated damage exceeds a certain threshold. For example, that is $500 in Florida:
Section 316.065, Florida Statutes, requires the driver of a vehicle involved in a crash involving injury or death to a person, or at least $500 estimated vehicle or property damage to immediately contact local law enforcement.
There's some wiggle room there (that dent to the fender sure didn't look like it would cost $500 to fix). Still, if you are following the law, the insurer will find out.
It's different for comprehensive and for home insurance. AFAIK, there's no obligation to inform the insurer. (Though one should check one's policy terms to be sure.)
Many many years ago I was a property and casualty insurance agent. In California we were required to notify the carrier of any accident the insured mentioned to us,,, even if their intention not to file a claim. When writing new business we were required to report anything we were aware of that might impact the risk,,, even if the applicant didn’t disclose it on the application. So when applying for a new policy watch what you say to the agent,,,
In one of my first posts in this thread, I reported approaching my insurance co re increasing deductible by 2,500 to $7,500. The premium would go down by $80 on a $1,800 renewal which was not much of a decrease. The choices I have are stay with current Co. which does not feature among the best companies for customer satisfaction and the alternative I could find (because not too many are writing new policies) is Mercury at $1500 with below average customer satisfaction.
One of my family members has been with the same insurance company for 30 years. When he bought a 4 unit rental 5 years ago, his agent’s quote was materially higher than another agent’s quote for the same insurance company. His original agent could not match the second agent’s quote. So he has all his policies with the same insurance co. but through two different agencies. That is how strange insurance market is.
@BaluBalu. My experience was that rates were filed with the state and agents used the same carrier supplied software to provide a quote. The only way my quote would be different than another agent quoting the same carrier would be either failure to apply all applicable discounts or to misrepresent risks to the underwriters. One agent could ignore the condition of the property to make it seem a better risk.
@Old_Joe, my question really is, is it possible to have a $50,000-100,000 deductible HO policy with any of the insurance companies available to you? Basically self-insuring for anything other than total loss of your home burning in a wild-fire storm or wiped out by mud slides or whatever other calamities make insurance in California so expensive or even prohibitive.
Insurance and work from home are two of the biggest reasons for services inflation. The second cause is slowly subsiding as more and more employers are requiring full time office work, which hopefully will also cause the wild swings in individual stock prices to subside. I have no clue on the first one.
I never made an insurance claim and so not the reason for the > 50% premium increase in my renewal letter. I am self insured for earthquake and am not in flood or mudslide risk.
@larryB, from experience, we know health and auto insurance rates are higher in poorer zip codes. It seems even house insurance is the same but difficult to say so for sure. Since you were in the business, any insight into this?
What is work from home “subsidizing”? Both my daughter and son in law work from home. They use less gas, drive less miles, don’t use dry cleaners, don’t eat lunch out, buy less clothes,,,, not inflationary at all.
How do we [investors] solve / decrease the burden of rising insurance costs through targeted [personal] investments? Any ideas and discussion would be great.
How do we solve / decrease the burden of rising insurance costs through targeted investments? Any ideas and discussion would be great.
OJ wrote: When entire large contiguous communities are at risk because of one single loss situation (especially weather or fire related) that model simply doesn't work.
There are two approaches to dealing with the risk from these types of losses, adaptation and mitigation.
Mitigation: Invest in green. Low carbon emission technology, clean power, etc. Adaptation: Invest in infrastructure (sea walls, flood control, etc.), high ground real estate.
What is work from home “subsidizing”? Both my daughter and son in law work from home. They use less gas, drive less miles, don’t use dry cleaners, don’t eat lunch out, buy less clothes,,,, not inflationary at all.
I fixed the Apple auto correction. It is "subsiding", also used at the end of that sentence - for all the glory of AI the apple autocorrection irritation has not subsided!
Good points on the disinflationary effects. But the work from home crowd is also travelling a lot for pleasure, keeping the inflation in the relevant sub-industries elevated.
Let us know your experience with correlation of premiums for home insurance and wealth of zip codes (addresses). Though this does not help with where we currently live, it would help in future decisions. (I am not looking to discuss societal issues.)
Clearly someone who has never looked at earthquake insurance (10%-20% deductibles)
Well @msf, obviously living in upstate NY, I don't look very often at earthquake insurance policies. Okay, well, actually never, but thanks for the insight. Not sure where you live but I'm guessing you had to Google that info yourself.
I also believe insurance coverage is based on rebuild replacement cost, not property value. Building materials can't be that much more in California than the rest of the country. My guess is the 10-20% earthquake deductible you Googled is likely based on claim-probability more so that property cost.
Not every work from home job is literal. I know a guy that works at his home but drives to an airport 70 miles away to take a flight 800 miles to the office of the company he works for. And then returns the next day. He does this every week or sometimes every two weeks. I don't know exactly what his job is or if he pays for this commute or if his employer pays for it because, I figure, it is none of my business. He says he does this because the pay is so good he cannot afford not to. I imagine his carbon footprint is greater now than when he lived near his job.
Comments
To each his own.
Back to fishing … I think size is overrated. Have enjoyed catching bluegill from the edge of a pond in the spring just as much as hauling in 30 lb + salmon on the great lakes in August. You could argue the bluegill taste better.
OK..........enough topic drift !!!
https://content.naic.org/cis_consumer_information.htm
https://content.naic.org/cis_refined_results.htm?TABLEAU=CIS_COMPLAINTS&COCODE=27553&:refresh
https://wallethub.com/profile/ci/mercury-insurance-13013247i Customer Reviews at the bottom of the page are not good
https://www.thezebra.com/insurance-companies/mercury-insurance-reviews-coverage-options-and-ratings/
https://www.bankrate.com/insurance/reviews/mercury/#home-insurance
https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/insurance/mercury-home-insurance-review#:~:text=Mercury home insurance star rating&text=our editorial team.-,The scoring formula incorporates discounts, coverage options, website transparency,,determined by our editorial team.
I do remember that some sites like the ones you mention had much conflicting information, and if you read between the lines some of those sites have "associations" of one kind or another with the companies that they are supposedly "evaluating".
BTW, at least with auto insurance, if a small damage, don't even call insurance. That will count against you even if you decide not to file a claim. So, call insurance only when damage is clearly much more than the deductible. This should be similar for home insurance.
Except for the smallest of collisions, an insurance company will find out about an accident even if you don't inform the insurer directly. Assuming you obey the law. Insurers check police reports and most if not all states require you to report a collision if the estimated damage exceeds a certain threshold. For example, that is $500 in Florida: https://www.flhsmv.gov/insurance/involved-in-a-crash
There's some wiggle room there (that dent to the fender sure didn't look like it would cost $500 to fix). Still, if you are following the law, the insurer will find out.
It's different for comprehensive and for home insurance. AFAIK, there's no obligation to inform the insurer. (Though one should check one's policy terms to be sure.)
One of my family members has been with the same insurance company for 30 years. When he bought a 4 unit rental 5 years ago, his agent’s quote was materially higher than another agent’s quote for the same insurance company. His original agent could not match the second agent’s quote. So he has all his policies with the same insurance co. but through two different agencies. That is how strange insurance market is.
https://www.libertymutual.com/insurance-resources/property/home-insurance-deductibles-faqs
I never made an insurance claim and so not the reason for the > 50% premium increase in my renewal letter. I am self insured for earthquake and am not in flood or mudslide risk.
@larryB, from experience, we know health and auto insurance rates are higher in poorer zip codes. It seems even house insurance is the same but difficult to say so for sure. Since you were in the business, any insight into this?
Clearly someone who has never looked at earthquake insurance (10%-20% deductibles)
https://content.naic.org/article/what-are-earthquake-deductibles
That's $100K-$200K on a $1M tear down in California.
Headline: What does $1M get you in the Bay Area? It's official: A burned down home.
https://www.sfgate.com/realestate/article/bay-area-burned-home-sells-1-million-real-estate-16398674.php
There are two approaches to dealing with the risk from these types of losses, adaptation and mitigation.
Mitigation: Invest in green. Low carbon emission technology, clean power, etc.
Adaptation: Invest in infrastructure (sea walls, flood control, etc.), high ground real estate.
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/hazards/sealevelrise/sealevelrise-tech-report.html
Good points on the disinflationary effects. But the work from home crowd is also travelling a lot for pleasure, keeping the inflation in the relevant sub-industries elevated.
Let us know your experience with correlation of premiums for home insurance and wealth of zip codes (addresses). Though this does not help with where we currently live, it would help in future decisions. (I am not looking to discuss societal issues.)
I also believe insurance coverage is based on rebuild replacement cost, not property value. Building materials can't be that much more in California than the rest of the country. My guess is the 10-20% earthquake deductible you Googled is likely based on claim-probability more so that property cost.