My Insurance Premium Just Doubled With National General !!!!

[jjhepkin]

I decided to go with National General a couple of years ago for my Born Free insurance carrier. Since they were recommended by FMCA I thought them a good choice. Their premiums were lower than the company I had used for prior coverage and they allowed me to put my coach in storage and reduce the premiums even further.
Life was good and I was so pleased I added our other 2 family vehicles about 8 months ago. The total 6 month premium at that time for all 3 was about $800.
Little did I know when my wife and I had a little accident on our trip to charleston, sc in january our good life was going to come crashing down.
Unfortunately, while there I backed into a small car and busted their headlight out. I had little damage myself, and since the car was parked in a remote spot and the owner was not present, I left my name, address, etc. and contacted him upon returning home about a week later. After getting his name, etc. I called National General and put in a claim for repair to his car, but nothing for my born free since little damage was done. The claims adjustor was very nice and everything was handled promptly and the damaged owner was pleased with the result.
This all happened in January 2014.
Yesterday when I got notice of my new policy National General had raised the total 6 month premium to over $1800. Their reason: " I had gotten 5 points on my driving record from the minor fender bender and this had caused an increase in my rates."
That minor altercation was the first time in over 15 years we have had to file an insurance claim; and of course I wonder now why use the insurance if this is the result!?!
Now begins the search for another carrier.
Just wondering if any of you have experienced anything similar with National General or another carrier?
I do plan to contact FMCA on monday and "bend their ear"; I would think they need to know how their members are being treated by a company they are promoting so hard.
Any other ideas or comments would be appreciated.

[Ray]

Sounds like something strange there - never heard of anything like that.

Although, I learned a long time ago that you have to sometimes bite the bullet (especially on boats)

Over the years I have not filed claims to avoid rate increase or cancellation - just paid out of pocket

Years ago I had a building that had two separate and what I thought to be cover-able damage claims - so I filed claims each time - turns out there was fine print - I was not covered - my agent called and said I better be careful I was close to having my insurance terminated - I told him the company had not paid me a penny in many many years - he said it didnt matter - they count filed claims

# never considered - yes a squirrel is a member of the rodent family

# i though if water came from the roof through your ceiling the roof was damaged - no so - there has to be visible physical damage to the roof

Kinda catch 22

[ebaron]

I think you are better off paying for the small stuff. I believe in insuring for what can break you. Raised every single one of my deductibles to $1,000, probably saved enough to pay close to a $1,000 in small claims a year.

Only problem is you can't always trust the other driver, and a police report may needed to cover yourself, be sure the story is straight and they don't come back with some bogus claims.

[shilohdad]

We have National General, also. We have had only one claim. During Hurricane Sandy a tree fell and grazed the left rear corner of the coach. Total damage about $3,500. The adjuster came out in about a week - not bad considering the case load at the time. Our premium did not go up a dime, perhaps because it was a comprehensive rather than liability claim where fault can be apportioned.

[Dallas Baillio]

It may be National General wants you to cancel. Just speculating. Perhaps they are pulling out of your area, or even your state.

My premium with USAA did not increase even though I had an $8,000+ claim last year. If you have served in the military I advise getting a quote from USAA. For RV's they now use Progressive Insurance. I am grandfathered in with USAA unless I buy another RV.

[jjhepkin]

Just an update and thanks muchly to you Dallas for the tip on USAA.

I have been on the phone since early this morning and know much more about the insurance business now than I wanted to.
What a crappy, dishonest, underhanded business model!!!!!!
No matter how long and clean your driving record is….just have one little claim, (in my case it totaled $1600.00) and it gives them a license to steal. In my case a 2,000.00 yearly premium increase.
Apparently the industry has a data base that they put their insured on and any and every time a claim, ticket, etc. happens they put that in your file. As a result, this data base is available to any insurance company and they use that to determine their prices.
Once you have a claim on file, they jack up the rates by varying amounts depending on the company, and it takes in most cases 3-4 years of a clean driving record to reduce these "penalties."
So as a word of caution to drivers…..dont file claims against your insurance unless its for a major loss; otherwise you will end up paying more in added premium costs than the actual amount of the repair if you paid it out of pocket.
I did find one company that has some integrity and concern for its customers, USAA. There may be some others…..certainly not many.
In the case of USAA, you must be active, retired or honorably discharched from the military to buy its products…They now also include enlisted people (used to apply only to officers.)
They are much more forgiving and realistic in assessing premium increases.
After I got their premium quote, I will now end up paying $50.00 less for a year of coverage than I was originally paying, BEFORE NATIONAL GENERAL hit me with the GOD awful increase. I am still in a state of shock about that!!!
So thanks to you Dallas for the tip. What started out as a wall of worry to climb, ended up as blue sky and green pastures.
john

[CuJo's Pride]

After reading all this insurance stuff I have a question. Our car was stolen out of our garage not to long ago and it was totaled. We bought it back from the insurance company. Are our rates going to go up and if so from what you've read will this affect our RV insurance when we renew up next January even though it wasn't our fault? Just curious..

[Ray]

Curt - Jo

I think it really depends on your insurance company, they all look at different variables. Many years ago I had an accident, it wasn't my fault and the others guy insurance paid. And my rates went up a little, agent said the insurance company looks at it as I was a higher risk cause I was involved in a accident, even if they didnt pay. I guess thats like being penalized for just being there. Although, that was when I was a young driver with a fast car - so there were probably other factors taken into consideration.

I think that people who don't have any accidents, and have a clean driving record should get their rates hiked cause sooner or latter odds are they will have a accident and traffic violation. ----- LOL. The folks that just had a accident probably wont have one for a few years so their rates should be lowered - LOL. I am guessing my insurance company wouldn't be in business long.

Goes back to; its a gamble, betting the odds --- and the house always wins.

[jjhepkin]

Curt & Joe

From my understanding of the "insurance speak" I have heard the last few days; in the case of your car being stolen from your garage and then totaled; your rates should not be affected (if you are dealing with a good company.)
I am also certain that some of the really bad companies will jump at any chance to boost your premiums.
If your rates do go up, you should be able to go to another company and get coverage without paying for a rate increase.
From what I have learned, once you do have a "bad mark" on your record, it affects all of your motorized coverage.
john

[CuJo's Pride]

Thanks John and Ray for your information. I think you're probably right. But like you said if it goes up start shopping around.

Love this forum. The experience and opinions are very valuable.

[Rob]

I sympathize with your bad insurance experience. In your case, the "penalty" was for the 5 points not the size or cost of the accident. You are lucky to be getting lower quotes...just be sure you are comparing apples to apples because what you think you may be getting may be different than actual. Perhaps it's a good lesson for all of us. When shopping for replacement (or new) insurance we need to ask what will happen if I have an accident that is my fault? Even then, you won't be able to be certain since there are countless variables the insurance company will use to get as much out of you as possible.

I learned an interesting thing about insurance companies years ago when I was an office manager for a contractor working for a large Mace-Rich "owned" mall on the central coast of CA. Mace-Rich is a subsidiary of Northwestern Insurance Company. They don't rely on our premiums or claims payouts for their earnings...it's the investments they get into using our premiums.

I did have a surprising experience about 3 years ago with my AARP auto policy plan. I was in a rear end accident that was my fault and I was sited (don't know how many points I ended up with). My rates went up the next year (not tremendously) and I expected that to be my new base rate from then on. However, 1 year later, my rates went back down...imagine that!

[Ray]

Rob - I have been very satisfied with my AARP insurance through Hartford as well

[jjhepkin]

Reply to Sam Ryan

I am a little surprised to hear your comments Re: USAA:

"many of the USAA policyholders are paying far greater rates than if they would shop for a lower priced carrier"
"USAA knows they will not lose many of their policyholders because they know they won't leave regardless of HOW MUCH THEY HIKE THEIR RATES"

"in several instances policyholders have TESTIFIED that they ENJOY paying higher rates" ???????

I would really like to know what you are basing these comments on. Is it published information or just something off the top of your head or possibly your opinion?
Why would someone enjoy paying higher insurance rates?
Do you really believe people would stay with a company no matter how much they paid?

I would suggest you go online and check the published consumer insurance surveys in the last few years. You will see that USAA has rated in the top 2 or 3 consistently.
I can also tell you from my ACTUAL EXPERIENCE in calling every major insurance brand this week, that in my own personal case, USAA quoted me the lowest premium. So I did actually shop and I did actually find USAA was my lowest priced option.

They are certainly not the only company and not necessarily the best option for anyone and everyone. I have learned many people are satisfied with a particular carrier while many others will vilify that same carrier based on a bad experience.
The only sure way to satisfy ourselves as to which one is best for us is to do our own digging and homework.
In my personal case, disagreeing with everything you say about USAA, they came out on top.
john

[Ray]

There seems to be allot of fly by the seat of their pants insurance scams out there - I keep getting offers with low introductory rates through my Credit Union - I have complained to the credit union but they say that sharing our info with endorsed 3rd party company's is a way to save money for the members - Well, I for one am about ready to switch my banking because of that.

About every two to three years I shop for insurance - I have been with AARP for 16 years - every time I check they have had the best rates for me on my vehicles where I am located.

I pay $264.00 for a year of coverage on the RV including roadside assistance and have 250/500/100 for liability, $500 deductible, and a disappearing deductible clause. The RV is bundled with the rest of my vehicles.

It does say limited Mexico coverage - not sure what that means. But I have no intention of going there.

And this discussion reminds me I need to call and check on Canada

I am not loyal to the insurance company - if I hear of a company that offers better rates I will call and switch in a heart beat if it is a comparable company with lower rates. So if you know of one pls let me know.

The place I have a difficult time is getting a good deal on home owners - They insist that since my house is about 100 years old that it needs to be insured for allot more than what it would cost to tear it down and build a new one because its very expensive to duplicate the workmanship and materials in old house (Thank Gawd!) I argue with them but they dont listen - If I ever do have a major claim I am going to insist that they use non standard dimensional lumber and mix horse hair in with the plaster (they used to do this) - Of course I wont win - LOL

[Ray]

Everyone - Just called my insurance company - I am fully covered in Canada - However they did say that they have a different proof of insurance card for traveling in Canada and they are mailing them out to me today. - Sure hope I dont need it but if I do it would be nice to have what Canada requires for documentation - I am sure it would work out either way - but may be less hassle just in case.

BTW - John, Agree with your comments 100% - I dont think I qualify for USAA - But I am still going to check it out