Know your insurance policies

0patience

I have full coverage insurance on my truck with Roadside Assistance.
So when my truck engine went south on me, I called the tow truck and had them tow my truck home, paid him the $190 for the tow and figured I'd talk to the insurance company later to see what reimbursement there was on it.

Well, I called them today and found out that my "Roadside Assistance" pays a whopping "up to" $50 for a tow. I don't know any tow companies that will even hook up for $50. 
Ok, so what roadside assistance do you do? 
They will pay a percentage of a lock smith or tire repair.
And the $50 for the tow.
Ok, so how much am I paying for this "service"? 
$9 per car (4 of them) per month. WTF??
$36 month for what? Nothing.

So I cancelled the roadside assistance on my policy, went over to AAA and got their towing package for everyone for $150 less per year than I'm paying for garbage assistance.

I can't believe I was so gullible to think that roadside assistance meant that it actually covered something. 

IndustMech

The large print giveth,
The small print taketh away

NorCalR1

I have I have had AAA since I was 16 had their roadside assistance has always been top notch. 100 mile tow when my 4x4 lost its transfer case and it didn’t cost me a dime.

Patrickbrick

Try reading your entire health insurance policy, it is even more **** up.  Especially an open market policy or ACA.  They steal from you legally. 

0patience

Patrickbrick said:

Try reading your entire health insurance policy, it is even more **** up.  Especially an open market policy or ACA.  They steal from you legally. 

I always love when they do rate hikes and use terms like, "To serve our customers better, we have to increase your premium."
So getting less for more is better service?

Martel

Yeah, we get AAA as a gift every year.  My only complaint is that the local AAA treats us like pariahs since we're gifted an out of state membership and they want the sales more than anything.  Heck, we have it on our insurance, but this policy gives it for a buck a month or something like that and gets packaged with some other stuff.  I just never use it.  We also have flat assistance from Sam's on one vehicle and from the dealer on the other.  But AAA is my first call. 

My wife had a flat not long ago.  She ran over a bungee strap.  One of the industrial black ones with the S hook, which drove right through the tire on our AWD Chevy Equinox.  Had to get 4 new tires; the shop wouldn't even just replace 2. I was about 6 months away from doing it anyway, so no biggie.  But to make matters worse, she tried to change the flat herself.  Did it on a slight incline and didn't set the parking brake.  We now have a jack that looks kinda like a taco shell.

So I called AAA and had to wait an hour for a guy.  But he came out from a local-ish garage with his wife in the passenger seat for company.  Super friendly.  Super helpful.

As to fine print and medical insurance, just an FYI, they don't cover injuries that result from any act of terror.  So if you were hanging out at Pulse or a country concert in Vegas that gets classified as such, you're in for a mountain of bills.  Sooooo many exclusions.  And they can change what they want in ways that aren't necessarily disclosed to you though they may be to your employer.  My wife had some complications when she was pregnant years ago.  She needed a script.  The doc wrote a 30 day supply.  Insurance would pay for 7 at the full 30 day copay.  And they cut the "necessary" amount by a third.  The day and a half of meds would have cost us about $450 every two weeks.

But to tell you how stupid insurance companies are, the same medicine was covered 100% if delivered by home health nurses.  The doctor simply said it was a medical necessity if they wouldn't give us the pills through the pharmacy.  Approved.  So now they're paying for a higer-cost version of the meds to be delivered with a pump, IVs, regular nurse visits at home, etc...and it cost them more in the long run.  And we wonder why medical costs are skyrocketing?

Amos_Umwhat

Martel said:

Yeah,... now they're paying for a higer-cost version of the meds to be delivered with a pump, IVs, regular nurse visits at home, etc...and it cost them more in the long run.  And we wonder why medical costs are skyrocketing?

It's truly amazing.  Prior to my shoulder surgery the surgeon told me "Nothing will show me what I need to know except an MRI, however, the insurance will not pay $1,005 for an MRI until you've had a $250 X-ray and a $1000 CT scan."  

What kind of idiots are in charge of these things?  

Oh yeah, private sector insurance executives.  

90+_Irishman

We’ve got two health insurances for Cael with all of his specialized needs. My primary one that I pay top dollar for through Apple, and anything that they don’t pick up is covered by the Medicaid buy in program that we pay for as secondary insurance. This number is BEFORE insurance payments but last year alone all of his therapy and medical and doctor and other needs came to just under $5 MILLION F’ing dollars! His sleep study alone was $85,000. F’ing nuts what medical costs in the USA, and it’s atill so much better than so many other places in the world. 

ForMud

With what we pay, you'd expect our life expectancy would be higher   https://www.worldlifeexpectancy.com/world-life-expectancy-map
We're 34 right below Cuba.

Puff_Dougie

0patience said:

I always love when they do rate hikes and use terms like, "To serve our customers better, we have to increase your premium."

So getting less for more is better service?

That just means "We expanded our customer service call center by building another office in Bangalore and we have to pay for it somehow."

Yakster

Anyone know anything about hunting liability insurance?

Patrickbrick

What happened? ^^^^^  Might consult an attorney first.

Yakster

Nothing, just exploring the possibility of allowing hunting on the MIL's 160 country acres, but want to make sure to cover her liability.

0patience

Check with her homeowner's insurance. My grandparents had a rider coverage on their farm land for liability. That was a few decades ago, so things may have changed.

Patrickbrick

Ah, that makes way more sense than what I was thinking.  My mind immediately went to, he's thinking about pulling a D ick Cheney.  Wow can't even write a guys name without being censored.

dirtdude

.

Wylaff

Yakster said:

Nothing, just exploring the possibility of allowing hunting on the MIL's 160 country acres, but want to make sure to cover her liability.

https://ahuntinglease.org/?ahlaaffid=1494

It's a multi-party insurance. As the landowner, you pay a portion. The person that leases the land pays another portions. Its pretty comprehensive, but by splitting the payment, you are both taking responsibility for different aspects.

Yakster

Thanks, Wayne!