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 Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 3:55 am Post subject: Pre-existing windshield issue? |
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I'm switching car insurance companies soon, the new company will be inspecting my vehicle and taking photos before the policy goes into effect.
I have had a very small chip in my windshield for almost a year now. It can't be fixed since it's on the drivers side, and it's not worth replacing the windshield for. If the chip starts to crack or I get other chips, then I will replace it. Question is, will my new insurance company refuse all future claims regarding the windshield because it had this tiny chip before they started covering me? Even if a rock cracks the passenger side or something?
note: I'm in a state that requires insurance companies to cover windshields without cost to the customer.
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egnar 1
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| Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 5:02 am Post subject: |
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| If you are in a state that your existing company has to cover the windshield, then I suggest you get it replaced before you change policies. At least that seems like the best choice to me. New windshield - and this is no longer an issue. Most glass companies will even come to your place of business and replace it while you are working. |
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justdiana
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| Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 1:17 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | I'm switching car insurance companies soon, the new company will be inspecting my vehicle and taking photos before the policy goes into effect. |
Boy how I wish they all still did this...most do not...you've found a relic, and will likely be a terrific agent... | Quote: | | will my new insurance company refuse all future claims regarding the windshield because it had this tiny chip before they started covering me? Even if a rock cracks the passenger side or something? |
Shouldn't if its on the opposite side, if the agent sees or notes the chip then ask about this...
Justdiana gave you EXCELLENT advise...have your current company replace it NOW
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Lori
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| Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 1:51 pm Post subject: |
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I can not believe ther are even comapnies that inspect a vehicle. I have seen homeowners insurance come out and inspect a home but insurance comapnies inspecting a vehicle ...wow. Hope they go this far when protecting their insured.
Egnar, It is best to replace it now. Sometimes all it takews is a higher outdoor temperture or even something else as little to send this little chip into a long scary crack. I once had an escort that had a chip for a long time. One day it was hot out and I had all the wndows rolled up and by the time I went to the car this chip had sent a crack the whole way down the windsheild. It can happen at anytime. Best to just protect yourself now. |
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fireyone
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| Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:10 pm Post subject: |
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Hi egnar 1,
| Quote: | | will my new insurance company refuse all future claims regarding the windshield because it had this tiny chip before they started covering me? Even if a rock cracks the passenger side or something? |
I think you're lucky to have come across such a nice carrier!
If they're measuring so deep down while signing up, hope they'd not be able to turn down your claim without any inspection. If it's a rock cracking the passenger side, I'm sure they'd need to check it's impact. Once they'd be convinced of a deeper impact it wouldn't be easy for them to blame it on a tiny chip.
Roddick |
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roddick
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| Posted: Tue Mar 03, 2009 2:46 pm Post subject: |
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Maybe its NY law but Geico and Allstate needed to inspect my car and I know State Farm does it too. And I also recall Geico needing it too in FL if my car wasn't new.
My mother didn't need her car inspected with Geico in PA tho. |
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CrazedEpidemic
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| Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 2:19 am Post subject: |
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| Wow maybe it is state law where you are from. I never heard of this in all my ears of car insurance but my state is different. Maybe one of the experts will read this post and inform us. |
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fireyone
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| Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 4:33 am Post subject: |
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| I think all the carriers should inspect what they are covering before writing the policy. It’d help the parties, the insured and the insurer, to avoid complications in the future. Now, if its governed by the state law, then all the states should have it implemented right-away. |
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RupertWBradson
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| Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 4:37 am Post subject: |
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| It is a hassle tho but it takes less than 20 min and overall it should bring everyone's premiums down in reduction of fraud. |
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CrazedEpidemic
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| Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 4:45 am Post subject: |
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I have seen it done both ways. There is plenty of statistical evidence that doing inspections on vehicles before binding the coverage will reduce losses. There is also plenty of evidence that it is a huge burden on the applicants and the agents. It would make it just about impossible to bind business through the Internet. Even with in-person appointments, most people drive one car to the agency for their appointment; they do not drive all three or four cars that they own. This is one of those cases where the product people have to choose between the lesser of two evils.
Most companies land on the side of NOT requiring inspections, unless they are having profitability challenges. Sometimes the product managers will require inspections from certain agents that have poor loss ratios. (I once had to visit an agency in downtown Toledo that had loss ratio problems on physical damage. We insisted that they inspect all vehicles for physical damage. I called on them later to follow up, and I asked about the inspections. This agency was on the INTERIOR of a downtown building. They had no windows. Their door opened up into the interior of the building, like a mall. I asked to see how they went about the inspections, given their location. Finally the agent admitted, "Well ... okay, I just go out into the hallway, and look down the hallway and out the door to try to see the car as they drive by, when they leave their appointment." So that was how she was doing inspections. Okay. We cut off her authority to write full coverage.)
That being said, there are some places that state law requires it as an anti-fraud measure. It has been a while since I have done Florida, but I think they require it in certain counties--especially in South Florida. I think New York requires them. If I remember right, California used to require them, but I think they might have dropped that requirement several years ago.
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ChristyP
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| Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 5:44 pm Post subject: |
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Back in the good ole days prior to the 'net'...darn near all if not all captive agent companys required this along with photos of the vehicle...cut down on fraud? you better believe it did...it's just not possible most of the time to require this anymore apparently...in our world of 'fast fast fast'...too bad, because as an adjuster there are many many many many times, I know darn good and well that a newly incepted policy that had a claim was prior damage, but no way to prove it...IMO it should be required...but honestly doubt it will ever happen....
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Lori
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| Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 6:06 pm Post subject: |
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I know what you mean, Lori. It was very frustrating for claims adjusters to bring their files to me and show me what they had to pay, when they KNEW it was prior damage, but they could not prove it.
This is one of those cases of trying to balancing conflicting needs. It is like the story of the insurance people going to the convention. The salesman had his foot on the gas; the underwriter had her foot on the brake; and the actuary was looking out the back window telling them where to go. Meanwhile, the claims adjuster was sitting in the back seat throwing $100 bills out the window. The product manager's job is to negotiate between them all, find an acceptable course, and get them all to the convention.
We had endless debates about the whole inspection issue. Sales said it was a hindrance to doing business, while claims argued that we were paying claims that we shouldn't. When we tried to quantify how much was being paid out in undeserved claim payments, however, we could never find enough to justify the damper that it put on new business--especially in an independent agency system where our competitors did not require inspections. So we ended up being lenient on inspections in order to write more business; but secretly I was THRILLED when we had jurisdictions that required inspections for anti-fraud. Then we could get our inspections without hurting us competitively.
Now I am an agent for one of the big exclusive companies, and I do 75% of my business through phone and email. My company does not even require signatures if we get the payment by credit card. It took me a while to get comfortable with it. For the first four or five months, I refused to do business without an in-person meeting; and for anyone without prior coverage, I insisted on inspecting the vehicle. Finally I realized that the other several hundred agents in the state were not doing this, and their results would drive the overall rate level, whether or not I went along. Finally I gave in and started doing it by phone. (I still go one step beyond the requirements and send the applicant an email with the coverage acknowledgements and require them to respond "I agree" before I bind the coverage.)
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ChristyP
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| Posted: Wed Mar 04, 2009 6:44 pm Post subject: |
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It's a changed world and as you know, sales is at the top of heap, while claims and u/w are the red headed step children..   money drives the decisions in the end...and we are all selling basically the same product...so convenience and customer service (which has turned into the same thing most of the time )is key....'We' dinosaurs are a dying breed... 
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"Never, never be afraid to do what's right, especially if the well being of a person or animal is at stake. Society's punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way." Martin Luther King Jr. |
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Lori
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| Posted: Fri Mar 06, 2009 12:08 pm Post subject: |
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| That really is a shame because it would have effects on all of our insurance rates. It seems if they would require more things like car inspection (at the time of insuring) and it cut down claims that would save some money on how much it would cost to insure vehicles. I guess though your right it comes down to the almighty dollar and keeping the customer happy. I seen this a lot when I worked as a sales associate. Stand there and smile even though you knew you were hearing a line of crap. |
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fireyone
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| Posted: Thu Dec 02, 2010 5:39 am Post subject: Geico checking vehiclde - never! |
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I live in Florida. Geico has NEVER looked at any of my vehicles, ever. Just got another one, they never looked at it either.
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