Insurance questions

G

glassguy

New member
I recently applied for new homeowners insurance. One of the questions they asked was whether I has any fully automatic weapons, rapid fire weapons or assault style weapons. The stupidest question though was whether or not I had tile floors and if so do I have any extra tiles, where they are stored and why I have the extra tiles. These interrogations become more intrusive and nonsensical every time I turn around. I'm just curious as to others experiences.
 
Mine only asked which tier of coverage for firearms I wanted. My agent also noted, if the value of the firearms exceeded the amount covered in the standard plan, she could write a rider to cover the full value.
 
Wow. Apply for insurance somewhere else.

My homeowners policy covers firearms up to a certain point, and I
purchased a rider to cover the specific guns I use in competition.
 
They're afraid that you have assault tiles. We must ban assault tiles. It's for the children. ;)

(Seriously, though, I have no clue why they'd ask that. :confused:)
 
Just a wild guess about the tiles….. Old floor tiles contain asbestos, and that could be a concern.

But I’m with others, find a new insurance agent.
 
Mike38 said:
Just a wild guess about the tiles….. Old floor tiles contain asbestos, and that could be a concern.
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You're probably right. The funny thing is, I would never even think to consider the stuff with asbestos in it as "floor tiles." To me, "tile" means something made out of clay and fired in an oven. The rubber stuff (that may or may not have asbestos fibres in it) is "resilient flooring."

Yeah, that's my line of work (design and construction, not laying flooring). That's not a smarty-pants work-around, that's a professional perspective.
 
"tile" means something made out of clay and fired in an oven.
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That's what I would have thought too but the asbestos thing makes more sense...I guess...why didn't they just ask about asbestos in the first place? I'm pretty sure there are floor tiles that do not contain asbestos.

Just curious, what company was it? The 'assault style' question would send me to another company.
 
My wife recently changed over homeowners policy from one company to another and she asked the agent about coverage for my firearms.She was told for me to be 100 percent covered they wanted a list with every make model and serial number that I own.Needless to say they are still waiting for that list.I dont really feel comfortable with "regeristing" my firearms with an insurance company of all peaple.Think I'm gonna look into insuring them with a company that specifically deals with this sort of product..
 
Look at another insurance provider.

What company was this?

If you were in the North East I'd say go with Erie Insurance, but I don't think that they write in Florida.

I've heard very good things about Electric Insurance, a number of my friends have it.

I also simply do NOT understand the question about floor tile. In a floor tile, asbestos is encapsulated. The ONLY way it's going to be released is if you start grinding or sanding on it.

Non-friable asbestos --tiles, shingles, cement board -- can now be disposed of in your regular trash stream. It no longer needs to go to an asbestos handling facility.
 
Almost every company has one or two weird questions.
If you go to an independent agent that represents 5 companies and is going to price you in all of them they are going to end up with a half dozen or so odd questions.

If I were looking for insurance and I had a large value of guns I would look at Liberty Mutual. The ISO forms have a LOW limit on firearms, but most companies make modifications and have tiers.

Any time you are going to insure any sort of valuable collection the agent will want info. During my short time as an agent I collected info on musical instrument collections, coin collections, antique collections, etc. It is a pain in the butt and if the things are scheduled it usually takes more time than the commission is worth, but if you don't want to do it then don't come back and complain when the insurance company is hassling you about your theft claim where all your undocumented under-insured guns were stolen.
 
I have Safeco homeowners insurance and recently investigated into other insurance carriers, all of them had a low level of insurance for firearms, something like $2500-$5000 coverage for firearms without a rider, except for Safeco, so I stayed with my current homeowners insurance.

Safeco insures firearms just like anything else in the house, they will pay whatever the limit on your full personal property insurance policy is, after the deductable of course, and I don't have to provide model or serial number information. I do keep records myself for all valuables in the event that I have to file a claim. Safeco is the only insurance company that I found that does this.
 
For what it is worth, United Property Casualty Co. is the insurer. I really don't have that much to be worried about coverage wise, my concern is with prying questions from all sides these days. Even doctors will ask if there are guns in the house. We are really becoming a nation of prying, hand wringing weenies.
 
If you were in the North East I'd say go with Erie Insurance, but I don't think that they write in Florida.
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+1

I worked with insurance companies in my last job and Erie was without a doubt one of the easiest to work with. They didn't put their "insured" through garbage and always paid out on their claims. They were always a pleasure to work with. I wish they would expand beyond the Northeast.
 
OP, what is the insurance company that asked for that information?

I work for a commercial insurance office, although we do very little homeowners policies, usually its for one of the Lloyds companies when we do it. The only time I have ever seen an application ask about firearms its been for liquor liability coverage to determine if the potential insured keeps guns on premises of a bar/liquor store.

My renters policy covers firearms, all they wanted was a ballpark estimate of what they are worth.
 
I have a friend whose wife took the kids to the doctor once and was asked about firearms and storage thereof. He told her never to return to that doctor.

I have never been asked about firearms or the like. I hope to remain at least somewhat civil in my retort that it's NONE OF THEIR BUSINESS, if and when I ever am asked such garbage.
 
I worked with insurance companies in my last job and Erie was without a doubt one of the easiest to work with. They didn't put their "insured" through garbage and always paid out on their claims. They were always a pleasure to work with. I wish they would expand beyond the Northeast.
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I have Erie in Southwestern Virginia and have been very happy with them. They treated my 85 year old aunt great after her car and house were hit by a tornado. I was an insurance adjuster for 31+ years and one reason I retired early was the way my employer changed toward how they treated the policyholders.

I don't know how much more Erie will expand. Since I used to work cat. claims after tornados, hurricanes, etc., I asked them how they handled claims when a natural disaster did a lot of damage to their policyholders. They said they kept their rates low by being careful with who they insure and that they didn't insure properties in areas that are disaster prone.
 
One reason they would possibly ask about tile and extras is that tile is much like anything else. Lots are not exactlythe same so if you have floor damage to your tile floor if you have extra tile this means the difference in replacing only damaged tiles vs the whole area. My mom got a whole new kitchen floor when i dropped an ammo box of wheel weights on her ceramic tile floor destroying a few tiles. They could not find a tile colesenough to not look like total garbage
 
Liberty Mutual is now branded Safeco in my area.
One of the last things I did in insurance was try to convince the owner of the agency I was working at that marketing the no limit handling of firearms at hunting clubs, trap shoots, etc would be productive. He thought gun owners would be a bad risk.
 
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