Q: how can i post a review for my insurance company?

A: We are always looking for personal reviews of insurance companies and gladly welcome yours.  To leave a review of an insurance company that you are currently with or have had dealings with in the past, click HERE. This will take you to our review page with every single insurance company in the United States. Once you find the company, click on it to be taken to their page and then scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page to leave your review.

If you don’t find the company you are looking for, which is unlikely, just drop us a line and we will gladly add it to the site for you.

Now, this is only for insurance companies and not insurance agencies. So make sure that your company submission is the company that actually underwrites your policy or is the company that you are dealing with that will write the check for the claim and not the agency that sold the policy. If you are not sure, please still send your submission and we will be glad to clarify which one it is.

There are also some rules to abide by when you leave a review:

1) No names. We get that you are upset with your agent/claims adjuster/customer service person, but we will not publish any names.

2) No swearing. I don’t think this one needs clarification.

3) Leave your stars. Reviews without stars get deleted.

4) State your business. If your review is just a long incoherent rant it will be deleted.

Other than that, review away.

Also if you look up in the top right-hand corner of your screen, there is a review box with the most frequently reviewed companies. If you see the company you want to write a review for there, just click on the name and I will take you straight to that company’s page.

Q: Can the owner of the vehicle be an excluded driver on a car insurance policy in the state of California?

A: Yes, they can. However, if the owner is an excluded driver that means that they can NEVER drive the vehicle under any circumstances. If they have an accident driving that vehicle, it will not be covered by the insurance company.

When you exclude a driver from a policy, in exchange for a cheaper rate, you are telling the insurance company that a particular driver will not be using that vehicle at all. The insurance company agrees to not rate that driver because the risk is then removed that they will have to pay out a claim for that driver.  Now, if that driver does have a car accident with the vehicle they are excluded on and the insurance company finds out, your policy can be subject to cancellation.

Also, just because you exclude a driver it doesn’t mean that you get off not having to pay anything for the driver, most insurance companies now add a surcharge to policies for each excluded driver that you have listed. So all-in-all, unless the owner of the vehicle has an atrocious driving record, in most cases, it’s just best to leave them on the policy.

Now, with all that said. These rules do vary by insurance company and there are cases where the owner of the cannot be excluded because they are the named insured on the policy. So as always, it is best to check with you car insurance agent on your company’s excluded driver rules.

How do I file a car insurance claim against the other driver?

No one wants to file a claim against their own insurance. Between having to pay your deductible to get repairs done and the hit that your CLUE report takes, it makes for a bad situation for something that wasn’t your fault. So the other alternative is to file a claim against the at-fault driver’s car insurance instead, but how do you get that done.

Steps to Take at the Accident

Being able to file a claim against the other driver’s car insurance starts at the accident scene. When you are exchanging information take a picture of the front and back of the insurance card of the other driver. The front of the card will give you the policy identifying information and the back of the card will provide the phone number to call to be able to file a claim.

If possible, call the police so they can create a police report for the accident.

After the Accident

Call the other person’s insurance as soon as you are able to after the car accident and get the claims process moving. The adjuster with the other company isn’t going to be able to do anything until they can get a hold of their insured and take a claim statement of what happened during the accident, so get the process started as soon as possible. Also please understand that if they are not able to get a hold of their client to take a statement, they are not going to be able to do anything about the claim.

This is when you provide the police report with the details of the accident. Hopefully, the report will clearly show that their client was at fault.

Claim Denied by Other Company

If the other company denies the claim because of not being able to get a hold of their insured or they do not believe that their insured was at fault, then you will be left with no recourse other than to file a claim with your own car insurance company for your damages.

Q: I have a leased vehicle. If it is a total loss the bank is paid off. Does any insurance company sell a rider to where they would pay me also so that I can get wheels to reduce my loss and down time and obtain another vehicle for my continued use. I can understand this would cost quite a lot because it would be like insuring two cars but I do stand to be disadvantaged if the leased vehicle sustains a total loss. If no normal company – would one like Lloyds of Lundon? And if so how do you find an agent?

A: The point of insurance is to indemnify, or put you right back to where you are when the accident happens. In this case, the lease is paid off and you go out and get another lease. That puts you back in the same position you were before the accident. Now, for the in between time when you are trying to get your new lease and find yourself without a vehicle, this is when carrying LOU coverage comes in handy. LOU is Loss Of Use coverage that will pay for you to be in a rental car while you are in between vehicles. There is a timeframe though, so don’t dilly-dally looking for that new vehicle.

The only coverage I can think of that would immediately put you right back into the same type vehicle is a new coverage that insurance companies are coming out with called “New Vehicle Replacement Coverage”. The name of this coverage will vary from insurance company to insurance company, as will if they offer it for leased vehicles. The good news though, you won’t have to go to Lloyds of London for that.

Q: The directions you have provided to change State Farm Agents no longer work as of 4/23/17.

A: Thank you for advising.  The directions that this reader is talking about can be found here.

This was written 6 years ago, so I have no doubt that the information may be out of date.  However, steps one and two are still valid and work for changing agents with any company, not just with State Farm .  Insurance agents are supposed to be on your side and go to battle for you whenever you things go wrong or when things need to be taken care of.  Whenever you feel that your agent no longer has your back, it is always recommended that you find a new agent. Insurance is a big deal and you need to have an insurance advisor that you can trust. So, if you are ready to look for a new agent that will work out better for you:

1. Talk to your friends and ask who their State Farm agent is and how they feel about them
2. Look at online reviews of local State Farm agents
3. Choose an agent to go visit and interview them. Seriously, interview them and see what kind of feeling you get from them.
4. Advise the new State Farm agent that you choose that you want to move your State Farm policies to them.
5. Let your new agent do their job and get your policy switched over to their office, all you have to do is sign the papers.

It’s time-consuming but simple.  In the long run, you will be a lot happier also with your new State Farm agent.