JP76 said:

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My issues with germania and farmer's claims were never on hail damage claims. They were on water damage caused by a roof leak, and on 2 separate pipe busting flooding claims. On hail roof claims germania has never been an issue for me but Farmers has been on multiple cases.

So you were denied a hail claim on your roof ?

What was their reasoning ?
Not enough strikes in a 10x10 ?

How old is the existing roof and when was the hail storm that did this ?

How many of the other neighbors have gotten full roof replacements since March of 2018 ?


Are you in BCS ?

If so the 3 major hail storms we have had since 2018 were

March 2018
August 2020
April of 2021

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We claimed it from the most recent storm we had which was June 8th of this year. It is on the older side but not quite to the end of life yet. I want to say 12 years old, maybe 13. There's 28 houses on my block and at least 6 have gotten new roofs in the last year, those are just the ones I've seen close to my house, there's been a lot more get replaced within the last two years in my neighborhood coming from my roofer and our inspector on our new house. That was the reasoning they gave us. But there were many strikes that the first guy wasn't ruling as strikes and he was just ignoring my roofer that was trying to help him point stuff out. He would call one spot a strike but then wouldn't call something a strike that looked exactly the same 2 feet over. And then the same thing happened with the supervisor who came out for the second inspection (which we had to fight tooth and nail to get and the original adjuster STILL came back out on). There was some granular loss which was "wear and tear" that they don't cover, but after seeing that on the north side of the roof they pretty much neglected any other damage they had seen.

But there claims supervisor was literally arguing about what a hail strike was and was saying "Anyone who has seen enough hail damage knows what hail damage looks like!" But then started back tracking by saying "oh I'm not trying to say you don't know what you're looking at though". My roofer was saying if he would've taken 10 other adjusters up there, 8 of them would've easily approved it, and the guy admitted it too.

I get that they're not in the business of handing out free money and what not, but it was the fact that they were actively trying not to approve me is what pissed me off. That and how the original guy treated me over the phone multiple times while trying to get the second inspection.

I see your point but did you ever get your agent involved with the claim or was the agent also not returning your calls

I am gonna say again and Hell I could be wrong but my interaction with Lance Snider and Tyler at state farm has been excellent Again a big contract and a good haul of money for them but they both have been easy and attentive to work with

979-703-1011. Here is there number if you want to at least talk with them. I have lance cell if you want to do it today He answered a text last night at 930 so I would assume he would today also

NM. Reading comprehension problem this AM

maddiedou said:

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I see your point but did you ever get your agent involved with the claim or was the agent also not returning your calls

I am gonna say again and Hell I could be wrong but my interaction with Lance Snider and Tyler at state farm has been excellent Again a big contract and a good haul of money for them but they both have been easy and attentive to work with

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Yeah, she did, to the best of her abilities. We were in touch with her but the best she could do was see where our claim was in the process.

JP76 said:

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As a remodeling contractor I deal with companies from time to time on claims. Here are my ranking from best to worst on resolving claims. The last 2 are very difficult to deal with and drag out claims and also send adjusters that write estimates that make zero sense at all. Such as will pay $13.75 to haul demoed drywall from a 12x12 bedroom to the landfill or $18.50 to apply spray can texture to a wall patch when the texture can alone is close to $18.


Farm bureau
Horace Mann
USAA
State Farm
Allstate
Germania
Farmers


Maybe Classic Doug will chime in on the auto side as i have been out of that industry since 1996 but my personal experience on auto claims over 30+ years has always good with State Farm, Farm Bureau and Progressive and bad if they are at fault and have Geico or Allstate.

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I'm not as familiar with Farm Bureau. Are they all that? Do they do auto as well? Any special membership requirements or anything?

As far as auto insurance goes, Geico is the absolute worst for paying to get your car fixed correctly. Pretty much every body shop in town, even the chain shops, will tell you that. You get what you pay for with Geico.

Best paying is Farm Bureau, Germania, and some of the smaller ones like United Fire and Horace Mann.

All of the others, State Farm, Allstate, USAA, Progressive, etc. are ok, but I wouldn't call them good. They have all gone downhill as far as quality of service and what they will pay for. Progressive still has adjusters in the area and have to look at every car and part needed. All of the others have adjusters working from who we deal with for repair approvals. These adjusters don't know a car or part from a hole in the ground. It's frustrating as a repair shop. And, as GrimesCoAg95 said, they take forever to get back to us. They don't care if you only have 30 days of rent car, or if you're walking because your car is in the shop. It's not uncommon for these insurance companies to take 2 to 3 weeks to get back to us after submitting a supplement to them.

There is a point coming with auto insurance where the customer will have more than a deductible as an out of pocket expense. The insurance companies don't care. Our local Geico and Progressive adjusters are really good at saying "we don't pay for that." We usually make it work, at my expense, but I've got to be able to stay in business......

classicdoug said:

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As far as auto insurance goes, Geico is the absolute worst for paying to get your car fixed correctly. Pretty much every body shop in town, even the chain shops, will tell you that. You get what you pay for with Geico.

Best paying is Farm Bureau, Germania, and some of the smaller ones like United Fire and Horace Mann.

All of the others, State Farm, Allstate, USAA, Progressive, etc. are ok, but I wouldn't call them good. They have all gone downhill as far as quality of service and what they will pay for. Progressive still has adjusters in the area and have to look at every car and part needed. All of the others have adjusters working from who we deal with for repair approvals. These adjusters don't know a car or part from a hole in the ground. It's frustrating as a repair shop. And, as GrimesCoAg95 said, they take forever to get back to us. They don't care if you only have 30 days of rent car, or if you're walking because your car is in the shop. It's not uncommon for these insurance companies to take 2 to 3 weeks to get back to us after submitting a supplement to them.

There is a point coming with auto insurance where the customer will have more than a deductible as an out of pocket expense. The insurance companies don't care. Our local Geico and Progressive adjusters are really good at saying "we don't pay for that." We usually make it work, at my expense, but I've got to be able to stay in business......

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That's so dang frustrating. I hate just stating the obvious of insurance just being a scam, but with my experience over the last month, it really is.

I think you are dead wrong that insurance is a scam,

I get about a million dollars' worth of liability protection counting my umbrella on my vehicle plus comprehensive and collision for about 380.00 every 6 months.

I get my home totally protected for about 1300 a year.

I get my 50K RV protected for about 360 a year all from State Farm

The best peace of mind I could have

happyinBCS said:

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I think you are dead wrong that insurance is a scam,

I get about a million dollars' worth of liability protection counting my umbrella on my vehicle plus comprehensive and collision for about 380.00 every 6 months.

I get my home totally protected for about 1300 a year.

I get my 50K RV protected for about 360 a year all from State Farm

The best peace of mind I could have

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I'm glad you're happy with it, just know if you have to file a claim, State Farm will probably do everything they can to not approve it.

put a new roof on in February, all went well

happyinBCS said:

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put a new roof on in February, all went well

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Congratulations, thanks for your recommendation.

happyinBCS said:

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put a new roof on in February, all went well

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Most people think the local chain body shop fixes their car right too.... I'd beg to differ after seeing (and being paid to correct) some of their work. It's really interesting getting the insurance companies involved after they said they would "guarantee" their preferred shop's work. Preferred to the insurance company usually means they get a discount. It has nothing to do with quality.

don't know about body shops thank goodness I have never had a wreck!! .

trouble said:

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I have farmer's and Frank LaBarbera is my agent. I've been with them for almost 30 years.

I had Leire give me a quote a few years ago but they couldn't beat what I was paying.

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I have been with Frank for 21 years, myself. When I wanted a better price a few years ago, I asked him what he could do for me because I was looking around. He beat the quotes that I had gotten, as well.

Also, I filed a claim back in 2020 due to a hail storm. No issues and prompt payment.

I've never had an issue with any claim I filed with him. I've had a hail claim at all 3 of the houses I've insured with him and they were all handled quickly and easily.

We had Germania home and auto insurance for years through Dexter Insurance in College Station. It went up quite a bit this year. Dexter found us some much cheaper insurance,

Homeowners, 3 cars, RV and umbrella policies with Progressive through Goosehead. ALL went up significantly this year. Only 1 claim from 3 years ago (metal rod on road bounced up and scratched the side of my truck). Progressive claims adjuster basically called me a liar because we had only had insurance with them for 4 months at that time. He sucks. Goosehead sucks. But, I shopped with Leire and Rollo, and the others mentioned on here...nothing less expensive. So still with Goosehead. But they suck.

75AG said:

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Homeowners, 3 cars, RV and umbrella policies with Progressive through Goosehead. ALL went up significantly this year. Only 1 claim from 3 years ago (metal rod on road bounced up and scratched the side of my truck). Progressive claims adjuster basically called me a liar because we had only had insurance with them for 4 months at that time. He sucks. Goosehead sucks. But, I shopped with Leire and Rollo, and the others mentioned on here...nothing less expensive. So still with Goosehead. But they suck.

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Yeah, I've had multiple conversations with multiple agencies big and small, and the industry as a whole is in a hard spot and going up on rates. Majority has to do with material prices still being high from COVID. Had someone that was shopping for me say she heard from an industry expert at a conference that last year, nationally claims were down 20%, but the money they've given out for those claims are up 40%. Pretty wild!

75AG said:

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Homeowners, 3 cars, RV and umbrella policies with Progressive through Goosehead. ALL went up significantly this year. Only 1 claim from 3 years ago (metal rod on road bounced up and scratched the side of my truck). Progressive claims adjuster basically called me a liar because we had only had insurance with them for 4 months at that time. He sucks. Goosehead sucks. But, I shopped with Leire and Rollo, and the others mentioned on here...nothing less expensive. So still with Goosehead. But they suck.

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My experience has been the opposite. Have had stated value boat insurance with high liability and medical coverage with them since april 2008 but have never had to use it. I think it was around $12 a month in 2008 and is currently about $18. Had motorcycle insurance with them for a few years but never had to use it. Switched autos to them in April of 2018 and less than one week later they paid out 5 figures in auto hail damage claims with no issues. Just bought a new truck that is 3x the value of the old one and my rate actually went down $10-$12 a month with same exact coverage. Also with goosehead but I don't like shopping around to a crappy company just to save a few bucks unless a decent one can beat my current premiums

Rex Racer said:

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trouble said:

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I have farmer's and Frank LaBarbera is my agent. I've been with them for almost 30 years.

I had Leire give me a quote a few years ago but they couldn't beat what I was paying.

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I have been with Frank for 21 years, myself. When I wanted a better price a few years ago, I asked him what he could do for me because I was looking around. He beat the quotes that I had gotten, as well.

Also, I filed a claim back in 2020 due to a hail storm. No issues and prompt payment.

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I've been with Frank for over 20 years as well and just got an email that I've been assigned a new Farmer's agent. From what I can tell, Frank has moved to a new agency but I don't know anything about them. Guess it's time for me to start shopping around which given the $1300/6 months it costs me to insure my wife's 9 year old car that's worth about 15% now of what it cost when we bought it new I've been wanting to do anyway.

Just received that my Auto insurance with State Farm went up 33% and my home by 25%. Needless to say, I am now shopping around once again after switching to them two years ago.

tu ag said:

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I had USAA for decades. They lost what made them special, the customer service dropped, etc.
We had Liere shop for us and saved us several thousand dollars annually.

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I've been w USAA almost 25 years. I agree w your observation, I'm going to give Liere a call and at least have them run some numbers.

double b said:

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Just received that my Auto insurance with State Farm went up 33% and my home by 25%. Needless to say, I am now shopping around once again after switching to them two years ago.

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Please post the results of your search. I'm in the same boat but from what I can gather, this is happening industry wide. I made a few phone calls and did not find any significantly better rates. The problem is claims are so much more expensive, because everything is more expensive, because....well we all know why but this isn't the politics board so I'll stop there.

Same request to you - please let us know if you find any better rates.

I got the same email...couldn't tell if he moved companies or retired. When I Googled his office, it said permanently closed. We have also been with him for several years!

Never mind, just found this: https://www.sigbcs.com/frank-labarbera-bio/

Guess I'll be making some phone calls today...

I meant to send you that link Saturday but forgot.

We're doing the same. I'll try to get the dirt on why he moved as well.

Hittag1492 said:

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MrCoachEricTaylor said:

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I did write down rollo to try!

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Is USAA available to you by chance?

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They are so ungodly expensive now, and service has gone WAY downhill. We dropped them for auto and home in the last year.

We have germania on our house, and Texas Farm Bureau on our auto. TFB beat everyone by over 600 for a 6 month policy with comparable coverage.

histag10 said:

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Hittag1492 said:

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MrCoachEricTaylor said:

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I did write down rollo to try!

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Is USAA available to you by chance?

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They are so ungodly expensive now, and service has gone WAY downhill. We dropped them for auto and home in the last year.

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Who is your contact?

Like how am I a USAA member?

Or who is my contact at USAA? (because we have never had a contact there. Everything goes through their main lines for insurance)

histag10 said:

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Like how am I a USAA member?

Or who is my contact at USAA? (because we have never had a contact there. Everything goes through their main lines for insurance)

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No-for your new insurance provider, lol.

Oh lol. Oops!

I honestly don't even remember. The Germania is actually through an agent from back home (Midland area), but our TFB is through the Bryan office (you have to go through the office foe your county/city- there is one for College Station too)