Rule #1.....no matter how nice or helpful he may appear to be,an insurance adjustor is being paid by the insurance company to settle a claim as cheaply as he can in favor of the insurance company......
Rule #2....a letter from an attorney threatening suit works wonders in making an insurance do the right thing....

Paying more for insurance doesn't mean getting better coverage. Sometimes it just means you didn't shop around.

For what I've been told by my insurer and Bob at WWM, an agreed-value policy is just that - an agreement of value between the insurance company and the policy holder about what the boat is worth. If it's totaled any time during that policy, you should get a check for that amount, no questions asked. Insurers should only be able to devalue the property on policies that aren't agreed-value.

I've had State Farm my entire life, and I will say they pay small claims very quickly. But on two large ones I had to go for the throat and contact several of our State Representatives. They finally caved and paid them, but it was a long process.

My wife and kids were in a bad wreck in June. My step father had a heart attack while driving and hit a tree. They have Hartford and we liberty and both have been real easy to work with.


A friend is in the insurance business and he say people don't shop around for insurance enough. It seems once they get locked in they just stay with that company no matter what. Shop around

Make ONE small claim with Allstate, IF they don't drop you like a bad habit---your premiums will increase-----Been there done that!!

I'm curious--You say you made a claim on your powerhead---Was it damaged in an accident somehow, or do you have some kind of policy that covers a non-damage repair??

Just wait until you have a second claim in the next ten or so years. I had one claim maybe 12 years ago on an old boat. Now two years ago I had a claim on a different boat which they covered and then I got a letter in the mail that they were dropping me. But they said they would keep me but my premium would go to $1,700 a year (I was paying $700) and my new deductible would be $1,000. So I have been paying in for almost 20 years and only two claims and they are doing this to me. I also had them for home, an personal umbrella policy and three cars. That goes back almost 40 years. Dropped everything and went with Traveler's. No issues yet.

They (State Farm) called me 6 months later and asked what they could do to get me back. I told them to "GO TO HE##". that was the end of that conversation.

In Sep 1998 I hit a log coming off plain in a very narrow creek to pass another boat. I passed him and ran about a mile or so and started hearing an alarm going off. I looked down to see my temp gauge maxed out. I came off plane and heard a knock so I shut it down and was luckily close the the ramp. Having low water pickups all but one of the water intakes were clogged with wood from the log. Took to mech who pulled it apart. I waited for over a month for the State Farm adjuster to show up. When he finally did he started making comments as soon as he walked into the shop like, "what do we have this time a plastic bag over the lower unit"?? He told the mech he was going to deny the claim because he didn't believe what happened caused the damage ($5400). Mech called me, I then called the adjuster. He said, " this didn't just happen, it's been a while because the parts are starting to corrode", I said yeah it's been apart for a month sitting in a plastic tub waiting on him to show up." And the best one, "it looks like I had been starting it in my driveway without water." I then asked if he had a crystal ball to be able to tell the difference between running across a lake without water and running in my driveway without water." I also asked him to come to my house and call me the liar he was insinuating that I was! I then called State Farms claims and told them to get their lawyer ready because if the claim was not paid ASAP I would be filing suit against them. I received a check the following day along with a letter of cancellation! I will never use State Farm for anything. I feel the same about Allstate but that is another story.

Rods and reels are NOT part of the boat.

I won't get on here arguing who's best. But my agency has a stellar reputation, and my rates are great. The power is with the broker and that's what I am. I work for my customers not the company. Call me 817-984-3094 Facebook metroplex insurance group burleson and Dallas.

I have progressive and have made a claim. Only out the 500$ deductible when repairs were done. Had to make one phone to start claim and never had to do anything besides take the boat to the shop and pick it up.

LOL----I had originally wrote a big long response to your post but deleted it because no one cares how much insurance has cost me in my lifetime. No one cares how many times an insurance company has screwed me over on a claim. The bottom line is that "ALL" insurance companies are out to make BIG profits for their investors and could care less who they screw over in the process. Regardless of who they are or what a written policy says, insurance companies are gonna do what they want to do in respect to any given claim. Make enough claims in your lifetime and you will eventually find this out to be true, just hopefully not as many times as I have had!!

I reconsidered.....they are just horrible at their jobs.

Imagine a situation where a professional in their field would allow a customer to buy their SERVICES without EDUCATING the customer as to what they are getting. Sounds great huh? "Hey doctor, I don't feel good...and I want to feel good". He would NEVER prescribe a medication or procedure without diggin a little deeper.

Insurance agents are no different.

I, as a custom car builder, have to balance customers wants, with their NEEDS and BUDGET every day. I find that balance with conversation that includes reasons for why it should be a certain way. (Called educating the customer). It is what eliminates the frustrations at the end of a job. Nobody feels as if they just got screwed...in fact, they usually are happy that you gave them the information and steered them to a correct decision.

If I just said "you want good and cheap?" ...then went along and added a bunch of fancy jargon onto the receipt releasing my liability for selling them what I wanted....I'd feel like a crook.

Dumb statement. First an insurance company wants to pay what it owes and only what it owes when they owe it. Nothing more and nothing less. What's covered and what isn't is outlined by the policy, however I will be the first to agree that the policy isn't easy to read and understand. As far as getting an attorney involved that's the biggest issue with the world these days and also what has driven costs for just about everything through the roof. When insurance companies settle bc it's cheaper in the long run than fighting in court it doesn't mean anything other than that. Not that they are doing the right thing but that they have to make a financial decision to pay rather than fight whether it's really covered or not. I for one wish we would go to court more often rather than take the cheap way out and settle as attorneys have gotten out of hand but I'm just a peon in the insurance world.

It's good to have someone in the business commenting on this thread. Can you help explain how the OP's brother got screwed by Geico on this deal? If they agreed on a $10,500 value, how can Geico reduce the boat value that much in 4 months?

My opinion: If the insurance companies didn't want to fight lawsuits as much, they should make it very clear up front what is covered and what is not covered. Get rid of all the small print mumbo jumbo and state CLEARLY. It is very obvious they want to trick the consumer into thinking they are getting more than they are actually getting. It's a very shady business as far as I can tell.