Any Homeowners Ins Agents on here (American Family)

[JOHNDEEREGN]

Well a friend of mine had a kitchen house fire,,,,, it smoldered a long time and they want to fix it, repair all internals etc.

The home repair bill is soon to excede 75% of a new home. Wouldnt they (Ins. Co.) be better off buying him a new home?

He has replacement value insurance BTW.

Just curious....

 

[V8Assassin]

Here's one for ya........

House fire in Hoover, Al http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2007/08/fatal_hoover_house_fire_kills.htmlOne woman dead, house completely gutted. Six month investigation ensues which requires the property to be locked down, at the conclusion it is determined it was an electrical fire beginning in the crawl space. Lengths of wire are found to be "fused due to arcing". Over the next couple of months contractors and insurance adjusters go in and out to determine what should be done. The contractors say it is an unsafe work environment and the structure needs to be leveled (four independent contractors), insurance adjusters determine the cost to rebuild will be 69% of the total value of the policy. Meanwhile, the neighborhood powers that be petition the local goverment to have the house cited as a public nussiance. Now with the insurance company offering 69% and the city breathing down their throat with letters and "official documents", the family and their lawyer go ahead and tear the house down with the assurance of the insurance companies lawyer that all cost associated with tearing down are covered and will be issued once the work is complete. Needless to say no funds are issued and the family is left holding a $25,000 bill for demolition, which they pay promptly. To date the insurance company is holding out saying the house could have been rebuilt and will not pay anymore than the original offer of 69%, not include reimbursment for demolition. Even though four independent contractors, the cities engineer, and now two other experts have all concluded the house could not have been rebuilt. BTW it was my Mom that died in the fire :frown:

How's that grab ya??

 

[V8Assassin]

don't know why the link won't work, google "house fire hoover al august 12, 2007

 

[stack1]

My experience is in auto claims adjusting, so I'm not familiar with home owner claims. We use an 80% threshold for auto claims. Some companies don't have any and will go up to 99%. State law might regulate this also. The information on any total loss threshold should be in the policy. If you can get a copy emailed, I'll check it out. Those insurance policies are tough reading if you're not familiar with the legal mumbo jumbo.

V8, very sorry to hear about your family's tragic loss. I'll run this across one of our property adjusters to see if he has any advise. I'd have to think that if you have that many contractors saying it's not safe then there should be some recourse. I may need to see your policy also.

 

[V8Assassin]

Don't mean to hijack, just thought I would share how ridiculous a situation like that can be.

Any help would be appreciated, I forgot to mention the house was only eight months old and we have offered to settle for 89% of the face value of the policy.

From what I have seen, the ins companies know they can hold out longer than the insured. They try to force the insured into taking less than is owed by stringing it out over long periods of time in which the insured is sure to incur losses. Fortunately for us, we are in a position to wait and fight. The whole thing has been nuts.

 

[rtviper]

I just went through similar situation with Insurance Co. Happened in 12/2004. Insurance Co. resisted paying for damage until 07/2008. They never had a case but will wait you out hoping you run out of money and accept their offer. As for taking them to Court it takes even longer then that to get into Court. Went to the Gov, Attorney General, Senators, Representatives they all said what do you expect us to do? I am out over $100k a year in income from the damaged property.
But when they run into trouble like AIG they get bailed out. Gotta love the system

 

[V8Assassin]

I just went through similar situation with Insurance Co. Happened in 12/2004. Insurance Co. resisted paying for damage until 07/2008. They never had a case but will wait you out hoping you run out of money and accept their offer. As for taking them to Court it takes even longer then that to get into Court. Went to the Gov, Attorney General, Senators, Representatives they all said what do you expect us to do? I am out over $100k a year in income from the damaged property.
But when they run into trouble like AIG they get bailed out. Gotta love the system

We may not agree on politics, but we certainly agree on insurance companies

It's the biggest scam ever perpetuated on the American public. A friend of my Father's told me the day after it happened to get ready, his words were "ins companies are all alike, they take joy and give pain."

We have two fish to fry in this situation, the builder and the ins company. Not sure if it will ever get resolved. You are exactly right, when it's just some individual, they get screwed if they can't hold out. If it's some big ins company the goverment (both sides) go running to them with our tax dollars!

I can't complain, I have a successful business, my sister is well educated and my brother should finish college next year. We owe it all to the hard work of our Father who taught us how to get through hard times and just keep our noses down and fight on.