Are Insurance Companies, the worst people to work with ?

Question

Recently my town was hit with heavy rain and parts of it was flooded, my street was under water and started to come into my house, luckily just my floor was ruined and not anything else and had house insurance which i pay alot for so figured wouldnt such a big deal for insurance company, how i was wrong, as when the the rep came by, he tells me that they dont cover floods because it is a act of nature !!!! yet if a pipeline burst then i would be covered but only a bit, i wanna know how they get away with this, i do the right thing in getting insurance, pay a arm and leg for it, but when i need it, they try so hard to find out how not to pay me than to help me, why pay for insurance when the insurance wont pay for you,

Answer 1

That's not why they don't cover floods.  Homeowners don't cover floods, EVER.  Regardless of what caused it.  "Act of nature" is not referred to, in a homeowners policy.  Flood, is.  Flood is excluded.  War is excluded, too.  If you want flood coverage, you have to buy a flood policy.  I don't know of anyone who will sell you a war policy, though.

If you don't buy a car, they don't hand you one.  If you don't buy a flood policy, you don't get coverage for it.  If you don't buy a pizza, they don't hand you one,  unless it's mom.

How do they get away with not giving you something you didn't buy?  Well, that's kinda the way the world works.  Kinda like, you getting away with not repainting my house.  You're getting away with that, too.   Because I didn't PAY you to do it.

Answer 2

Your beef is with your agent or if you are a direct write, your sales rep.  Don't take your complaints out on the claims adjuster/claims department.  They are just doing their job.  If you don't have flood coverage, that is hardly their fault.

Answer 3

You can bring it to court if you have proof that your adviser told you flood is covered. His unethical misconduct behavior is sueable.But no proof, no case. In the future, it is best to know where your money goes to.

I really hate unprofessional advisers out there who ruin the insurance image.

Answer 4

The standard homeowners policy does not cover flood damage. It has not covered flood damage for over 50 years. Flood is considered water on the surface of the earth (regardless if driven by wind or not).

If the only insurance you have is a standard homeowners policy - it's not covered. The language in the policy is very clear on this.

Now, if you live in a flood plain and your community participates - you can get flood coverage from the federal government. It is sold through your local insurance company and worked by flood certified adjusters -- but the money that pays the claims is from the Federal Government. It's the NFIP (National Flood Insurance Plan).

Flood is such a costly exposure, that private companies do not sell flood coverage. The only way to get it is through the NFIP.

Here's more info: http://www.floodsmart.gov/floodsmart/pag...

The standard does cover "acts of nature" - that's what a hail storm, tornado, hurricane, wild fire are.

Answer 5

The only thing I will add to what the others have said is that EVERY word in your policy is approved by your state. If you have problems with what is covered and not covered, start with your state legislature. No insurance policy is designed to cover any thing and everything.

Answer 6

I also think its time to either A) Get a new agent, or B) Ask him some questions about your policy. You policy should have been explained to you, but also you should've have asked any questions you had after looking over your policy.

Answer 7

You have to ask questions when you purchase things.  'What types of incidents wouldn't be covered?'  Much of the country learned that basic homeowners' policies don't cover floods after hurricane Katrina because it was the flooding, not the winds, that did most of the damage.  It's somewhat common knowledge for the most part now.  BUT, you gotta ask what's not covered.

So, you can't blame the insurance company, but you might be mad at the agent.  Usually when you don't just call all over town and go with the lowest rate you learn these things.  When you work with a professional they'll take the time to explain how things work and if they didn't well shame on them.