pascal

I have a car in the shop as we speak, with a lot of mods...
If you're not at fault, the other party's Insurance will cover damage mods as long as you can provide invoices for them... If not, you're schit out of luck.
Sometimes, that can total the car.

In my case here, out of $7800 in damage on the car, $1500 were modded parts that got destroyed.
Geico tried to screw us with putting used sheet metal on the car instead of new (would have saved them about $1200).
They didn't budge with the $1500 in aftermarket parts because they don't have grounds on that one.

jmose77

Very true the smaller companies are much better to deal with. The larger companies State Farm, Allstate, etc. are not worth dealing with.

kingsofcrunk

I work for Nationwide, and I actually have SafeCo as my insurance company. For the most part, most insurance companies are the same. They are all going to have rate changes, they are all going to raise rates, and they are all going to save you "XXX" dollars when you switch to them. At the end of the day, it's the same thing. A company has to make money to survive, and the more money they make, the happier they are. To me, ALL insurance companies are a huge scam for the most part. It's not fair that a $1,500 accident will cost more than that over 3 years in increased premiums. I mean, hell, why do we pay so much into these damn things if we end up just paying our claims outright over a set period of time? Insurance for the most part is nothing more than an advanced VERY HIGH interest loan. Think about it this way:

You pay $200 a month to fully insure your car. Over six months, this equals $1,200. Over a year, this equals $2,400. You go without an accident for 3 years. So, in 3 years, had your premium not changed, you just paid $7,200 towards your policy. Now, you have a $2,000 accident. You pay your deductible, we'll say $500, so the insurance company paid $1,500. Now, for the next 3 years, your rates go up $300 per six months (So roughly $50 a month increase). So, that's $600 a year. In three years, you just paid $1800. Thats over the total cost that the insurance company just paid. Well, what the hell happened to the $7,200 you put in all those years? Hmm....

To answer why you should tell them about the s/c, well, if something happens and it's aftermarket, they usually aren't going to cover it. Why should they cover a s/c if to their understanding they were insuring a car without one?

bluovalguy

USAA is the best insurance company I have ever used. Sometimes the rates can be abit higher, but you pay for what you get, and their service is super hard to beat.

Pascal, have you ever worked with them on your end? Any issues? Just wondering.

pascal

Yes I did and it's always a straight forward shot.

I only heard one person that had problems with them in all my 20 years in dealing with Insurance business in this Country...
The guy is a member here and I think the problem was the appraiser being a d#ck.
They eventually corrected the problems if I remember well.

I'd be with USAA in a heart beat if I qualified.

bluovalguy

Thats good to know. Thankfully I have never had a claim with them. Now I feel even better about them if I ever need it.

pascal

They're like a credit union if you will...
You own what you put in.

bluovalguy

And every year we get a little dividend check. Its usually not much, but every little bit helps. I cant say enough good things about em, which is saying alot for an insurance company.

Sorry for jacking your thread OP.

Art161

You didn't jack the thread. I think it's great that members are sharing the experiences they have had with their insurance companies.