My daughter told me by phone tonight that she thought that I was "nuts" to post this on Fodors but after reading the above-you people are amazing. Keep them coming...........seriously, my "friends" on Fodors always seem to have great answers!

Dutyfree...I don't know how long you've been posting but I'm finding that family members generally don't "get" the Fodors experience. Sometimes just the word "Fodors" spoken out loud results in eye rolling in the uninitiated. lol

amatters, car insurance is very expensive in South Carolina. If you do not have car insurance, the Highway Patrol will come to your house and take your plates off your car.

I use Geico and have a $500 deductable. My insurance for my car (a pseudo luxury sedan) and my husband's extra large SUV is around $2800 a year.

Assuming you are under 25 and drive a Honda Civic, expect to pay about $1200 a year for insurance. Add another $200 for that violation.

Thanks go travel, why is car insurance so expensive in Sc? 1200 0r 1400 a year, i wish! i was getting quotes of 1200 to 1500 per 6 months!!!! My younger brother has a sports car and is on high risk (he totalled 2 cars) and he only pays about 100 more per year!
I did call geico and they do have the cheepest i have seen so far around 1600 per year. You were kind of close with the civic i have a 2002 hyundai accent.
Thanks again!

Yes Patrick, I believe that you are correct as long as the driver legally resides in the state in which the car/driver is registered and insured. But you can bet your bottom dollar that if you're insured in FL and have an out of state accident your insurance company will try to tell you they aren't obligated to pay an out of state claim. The emphasis and try.

Here's another one: a young female passenger was hit by a drunk driver and seriously injured. Her family did not know for a week if she was going to live. When the shock wore off and they contacted their carrier to file and uninsured motorist claim, it was denied because the claim was not made within 48 hours of the accident; what the language actually said was the claim SHOULD be made within 48 hours and the company had to pay. Then, facing potentially one million dollars in health care costs from the accident, their health insurance provider sent them a check refunding their premium payment retrocative to before the accident thus considering themselves removed from any obligation to pay. That one spent four years in the courts before they finally paid.

You may have seen on the news last week that a man trying to return to his home on Sanibel after the hurricane was "tazored" by the police. The road to the island was still closed and apparently he tried to force his way through. Our paper reported that the man was desparate to get to his home because his insurance company told him that any or all damage had to be covered and protected with tarps etc. to prevent further damage in the days following the storm. Otherwise, they told him they would not pay any claim he might have. Of course they knew that no one could get to the island in the first place and this threat was absurd.

Don't ever take an insurance company's word as the last. If they deny all or part of a claim, keep pushing and hold their feet to the fire because they are likely 100% obligated. If in doubt, have your attorney read your policy.

I realize there is no love lost generally with the insurance industry, and sometimes for good reason, but this is truly disheartening to read. I know Jayne you don't think every company is out to get you, or even most of them...but that's the way it has come across, unfortunately.

I truly bent over backwards in my claims to pay them fairly and to fairly determine liability in the case of a wreck. You have to...what good would it do to deny liability and have the claimant end up with an atty. That'd only be making more headaches for yourself. Heck it was far easier for me if I did pay fairly and well, and fast (!)...I didn't enjoy having people knock me over the head day in day out, and there were days that's precisely the way it felt. It was the job from hell. People hear stories like this and assume they are going to get "screwed", pardon the expression but there's no better way to put it, and that just isn't the case.

I worked for two excellent companies, and my 2nd one AMICA was fabulous. Pay pay pay....but they were also very careful about who they took on as an insured, as is USAA, so their risk was lower. Policyholder happiness was first and foremost though, seriously, and not how to take someone to the cleaners. There are flip sides to every story. Consumer was #1 with AMICA (and they were #1 in consumer satisfaction in Consumer Reports as well, even over USAA which is usually thought to be king of the hill).

Are there some bad companies and/or adjusters wandering around. Yes, and one of the worst we found is one with one of the biggest names. Difficult for us to deal with so I'm sure it's difficult for their policyholders and claimants as well.

Re the Sanibel incident Jayne. Yes they want you to do your best to prevent further damage, but that homeowner could very well have been talking to an adjuster somewhere else (outside FL) who had no idea what Sanibel was or that the people were not allowed on. Even the "baddest of the bad" would not say in that case...sorry, you left it all open so we won't pay.

Let's have a flip story...a senior housing area there was ruined and it will be at least January before the residents can go back. Policies provide for living expenses while you are out of your home for an insured loss, and they are all being housed in a 4* in Tampa, and fed 3 meals a day at the insurance company's expense. They didn't need to stick them in Marriott Waterside...they could as easily have found a lesser property, No Tell Motel. It isn't all black. It isn't even mostly black, and not everyone is out to take everyone else!!

Can we still be friends Jayne, even though I was an adjuster? :)

OO - you'll always be my Fodors friend! As my mom always told me, if you can disagree and still remain friends then a true friendship it is!

Sorry if I offended. :-[

This just happened to be a "hot button" topic for me and I should just have stayed out of it. I admit that I usually only hear the war stories given DH's profession and on top of that our own negative experiences. Having two teenage drivers these days is an insurance nightmare in many households!

I realize where you are coming from, Jayne, and besides, already know you as one of the good guys, so no, no offense. We have reverse hot buttons, that's all, and that would go without saying considering the professions. :D I doubt you knew I had been an adjuster and I didn't know your DH was an atty--of which there are plenty of good, yet the twerps reputation is what sticks with us both on both sides of this coin. Both our perspectives are skewed. At one point all my claims were BI claims with attorneys on them. :( There is every end of the spectrum playing the game on both sides, and it was sometimes difficult to keep it all in the proper perspective. All of us!

Good companies...and attys, are worth their weight in gold. There is a difference. I just tried to find Consumer Report info online and came across one intereting article. http://money.cnn.com/2004/08/11/pf/saving/willis_tips/ Scroll down to #3 "Pick a Winner". They surveyed 14,000 people who had filed claims between 1-2000 and 4-2003. Scores reflect the overall satisfaction with the claims handling and settlements. 100 meant completely satisfied, 80 meant very satisfied.

Amica Mutual Ins 95
Auto-Owners Insurance 90
Cincinnati Insurance 89
Chubb Indemnity Ins. 89
USAA 88

So...you see where I'm coming from as an adjuster for Amica and why I was startled by some of the earlier statements. USAA, which has a stellar reputation, comes in with a lower satisfaction rating even. I know we were fair and know many many of the others are as well. I also know that not every company handled claims in the same manner. It's a necessary evil--we all have to have it. Just make sure you are with one of the good guys and pray that anyone who hits you is as well.

If not...get a (good) atty. :D I can't believe what I just said! LOL

OO-

OK OK--my blood pressure is coming down!!! Yes, there are good players in the game and we've just had the misfortune to come across the not so good. The same as any profession--Dr. atty, contractor and on and on.

Believe me, being married to a lawyer I know how it feels to get "ragged" on! My husband finds most lawyer jokes pretty amusing. A couple of years ago I had carpal tunnel surgery with just a local so I was awake. The surgeon, who knows DH and knows he's a lawyer told lawyer jokes for the duration of the surgery. One was so good I had him repeat it to DH in the recovery room! Our best friend is a cardiologist and offers to perform surgery on lawyers for free--but only without anesthesia!

The suit I mentioned that was filed against us when our daughter "rear-ended" someone is a good (or should I say bad?!) example of the proverbial apples that that spoil the whole bunch. The "professional" plaintiff went to two lawyers before he found one that would take his case (you've probably seen his picture on the back of a bus). Among the ailments he claimed the accident caused him to develop was carpal tunnel sydrome--WRONG thing to tell me!!! CT is a progressive condition not "caused" by one incident. The guy was a mechanic--duh! He was suing us for lots of $$$--hundreds of thousands above our coverage. Although the insurance company investigates the plaintiff, we hired our own PI--too much at stake to take a chance. It was like a bad episode of Matlock! He had the guy on video doing all the things he said he could no longer do (except for loss of consortium thank gawd!). Add that to the prison time, forged check charges and drug issues--it was probably enough to dismiss all or part of the case.

As you know, the insurance company assigns counsel, so DH wasn't the atty of record. Long story short and I don't understand all the details, but apparently the adjustor had withheld some major piece of information from his/our attorney thus tying his hands which resulted in our insurance company paying a six-digit settlement twice the amount of our coverage!

Now of course we've been cancelled and DD has to figure out a way to pay the 3K increase in her premium or walk!

Pretty ironic for me to be whining about lawyers, but shame on the attorney who took that case and then took advantage of the circumstances; and shame on the adjustor for the part he played in the whole fiasco. My point is, and one that I should have acknowledged earlier, it only takes a few to give a profession a bad name.

Having "known" you here and through our emails over the years, you are obviously a straight-shooter who sees all sides. I wish you had been the one to handle our case!

PS--and no, I had no idea you'd been an adjustor in a previous life. Talk about foot in mouth disease!

OO I was surprised (not) to see that a certain company was not shown in your listing of "good companies" as you appeared to be starting at "A" and running nearly alphabetically. Maybe we are not in such "good hands".

Jayne...My career path has been a dichotomy: I was a social worker in another life too. These things get driven by need sometimes: get married, move to another state, and NEED a job right away. Too bad. Don't hold it against me! ;)

I'm sure you know, there is a data base for professional claimants, and hopefully yours is in it now. All the insurance company need do is look. I've told my husband there should be a similar base for hotels, not claimants because the professional "slip and falls" are in the insurance data base, but the professional "I found xyz in my room/food/elevator/corridor/swimming pool and your staff had attitude/didn't care/ignored me/insulted me/lauged in my face and I now demand my room 1/2 price/free/10 future visits free/food free/ my and my wife's food free/. lol It's a growing plague...I was getting my hair cut and someone came in to return a bottle of shampoo she'd bought but didn't like. It was a big bottle, 3/4 gone...and she wanted her money back!!

Roy...I don't want to get deleted! ;;)

I still do not understand this "stacked and unstacked" UM business and the PIP thing. Could someone give me the Cliff Note version? Thanks!

dutyfree, I don't believe they have much of a bearing on what is going on with your premium increase. Certainly UM doesn't. You don't even have to carry UM if you don't want it. I wouldn't recommend that however! If you insure two cars you can elect to have "stacked" UM. If you had 100,000 worth of UM coverage on both cars and had elected to have "stacked" UM, if you were hit by an uninsured motorist you would be eligible for 200,000 in benefits, (100,000 from each of your insured cars) rather than the 100,000 you would have had in unstacked coverage. Simple, and not an issue here.

What could possibly be a source of increase, PIP, is personal injury protection, which is required by FL law and may not be in your state. It will pay in event of injury resulting from a an auto accident <i>regardless</i> of fault. You may have that coverage on your own policy under that name or one similar, but if not, it will have to be on the car that will be garaged in FL. It pays 80% of medical expenses. 60% of lost income, and a death benefit.

PIP isn't that expensive...checking our policy it's $45 for one of our cars, $27 for the other for 10,000 worth of coverage. Your biggest increase is most likely going to an area of higher risk than the one you live in.

Truly the <i>best</i> place for these questions is with a USAA agent, someone who knows policy inside out, backwards and forwards. Call them back again--you'll get someone different. Ask for a better explanation of the policy increase and precisely what coverage will be required.

Good luck and safe travels. :)

That teacher's com website just reminded me of something. Back in the dark ages when I just started working, the magic age for decent priced car insurance was 26. My insurance on my old clunker Ford was to be over $700 a year (a lot in those days). I had just started teaching and someone put me on to the idea of leasing. I went to the NEA (National Education Association) and ordered a brand new 1969 Olds Cutlass S, loaded. The lease included full insurance -- and it didn't make any difference that I was only 21. The total price was $69 a month for two years with no down payment. So do the math -- I had a brand new car for two years for a total cost of $128 a year more than I would have paid for insurance only on my old clunker I was driving, which I managed to sell for $350, so I actually made money on the deal and had a new car too.
I'm not sure how all leases work today, but that could be an option.

No--at the time I didn't know about the list but DH did so I'm sure that's taken care of. For eight months we didn't even know that the suit existed. The guy just got lucky this time but at least it won't happen again. Maybe he won't need to sue anyone else--now he can pay off the mortgage that had been foreclosed upon one month before the &quot;accident&quot;!

I quess since we just flew my daughter back home after her 3rd evacuation from her college that the car will &quot;enjoy&quot; its insured stay in the TPA international airport during this next hurricane? Long term parking ie .&quot;covered&quot;;parked above the second floor for storm surge and near the middle of the parking lot for protection of falling palm trees!This last evacuation for hurricane Frances and living at her roomie's aunt's house for 6 days(half the time without electricity and the A/C) did her in....&quot;I need to get back to the land of the snowstorms!&quot;It was so great to pick her up tonight.All she talked about was how really tired,scared and frustrated she is with the hurricanes.

Welcome to Florida: Land of the tired, scared, and frustrated. Tell her to hang in there--we aren't usually this inhospitable!

Her car should be fine where it is. Mine will be in similar parking a stones throw away and I'm comfortable with it. Did you get the insurance issue worked out?

Advise is you call agin your insurance about this, cuase i think in everystate insurance companies has different policies. Better conatct other insurance about this though pretend you are shopping for insurance. Anyway to get free instant insurance quotes to brokers at http://www.insurancepaylite.com. They can surely help you decide which insurance company is best for your insurance needs.

I don't know, but I can't imagine your &quot;husband was taken by&quot; a uSAA agent.