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Nope, never said it was. I was unscathed by Sandy. Tropical Storm Irene got me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dudley76
If you settled a claim within a week due to a Sandy-related auto loss, you are one of the luckiest people on Long Island. Grats!
Under normal circumstances, most carriers pay pretty quickly. It's in their best interest to do so, as to avoid losing customers, as well as avoiding complaints filed with the state by consumers.
Look at the declarations of your policy with the other company. On the insuring agreement page, you will see the insurer and binding agent is NOT Allstate. He didn't place you anywhere...someone else did.
Brokers and agents are two different things. The terms are not interchangeable. The point Dudley is making (I think) is that something is not kosher here. Either the person you are speaking with at the Allstate Agency is doing something shady, that the agent who owns the place doesn't know about, or the Allstate agent is violating their contract with Allstate (doubtful).
The person who mentioned this situation wrote:
Quote:
The benefit is I have Allstate auto and thus get a dual-policy discount
So, if Allstate doesn't know what's going on, why would they give him a policy discount on it?
Allstate agents have binding authority with their carrier. With that said, HQ's may not know what's going on at the agency level.
Right. The point we are trying to make is there is a person at this agency who is selling policies thru another carrier (or carriers). It's doubtful the Allstate agent knows about this. The scenario would go something like this - you go to the Allstate agency looking or a policy. The actual agent, owner of the place, may not even be there most of the time. He's got salespeople working for him. So you talk to one of the salespeople and they quote you for an Allstate policy (and it's too expensive) or maybe they don't even do that (they tell you that you won't qualify) but hey! I can get you in with (fill in the blank with another carrier) for way cheaper anyway....and write your autos too!
Well, now you're happy that you're getting insurance, or maybe that you're saving some bucks, and so you don't even ask if you're comparing applse to apples as far as coverage is concerned. You don't know the difference between agents and brokers and you don't know about the Allstate agent's agency contract with the company and you probably don't care. You've got a policy, you've saved some money - it's all good as far as you're concerned.
Now when people understand this, it's fine. But I guarantee you there are people who think Allstate is going to be backing up their claim when their house burns down or they get in an accident and get sued for $1 million and it turns out they are insured with no-name insurance company that isn't that highly rated or doesn't use their own adjusters or doesn't have people local or whatever.
Now when people understand this, it's fine. But I guarantee you there are people who think Allstate is going to be backing up their claim when their house burns down or they get in an accident and get sued for $1 million and it turns out they are insured with no-name insurance company that isn't that highly rated or doesn't use their own adjusters or doesn't have people local or whatever.
...and since Allstate (technically & legally) does not have to pay these potential claims or claim shortages (God only knows how these policies were underwritten), the insured's will be forced to sue the Allstate agent's E&O insurance policy in order to collect on the loss. This involves a huge litigation process where unfortunately, the unsuspecting buyer doesn't know about it until a claim is filed.
It's truly amazing how desperate some (not all) of these captive agents can be in order to make a sale.
TY for your responses. But the person who brought this up seems to think he's getting a "dual-policy discount" from Allstate for having his car under Allstate plus having his house under the other carrier:
Quote:
The benefit is I have Allstate auto and thus get a dual-policy discount
I mean if Allstate doesn't know what their agent/salesperson is doing, how is that even possible? I have the same carrier for house, car, etc. and it shows on my policy paperwork what my discounts are.
If what you say is correct, how does this person get the idea he's getting a "dual-policy discount?" It wouldn't be on the paperwork from Allstate, would it?
TY for your responses. But the person who brought this up seems to think he's getting a "dual-policy discount" from Allstate for having his car under Allstate plus having his house under the other carrier:
I mean if Allstate doesn't know what their agent/salesperson is doing, how is that even possible?
...because Allstate (HQ's) doesn't know what the thousands of agents they have are doing. :P
Captive agents have what's called "binding authority". Meaning, they have been bestowed permission to write policies for the company they are under contract with. Unless Allstate HQ is auditing every single policy written by every single agent, there's no way they are going to know what's going on at the agency level.
All the agency is doing (apparently) is throwing a multi-policy discount onto the paperwork. Obviously, there is no companion Allstate policy so clearly something shady is going on.
If you want to investigate this for yourself, you can call Allstate's home underwriting office to find out if this practice is permitted by corporate. I'd bet the ranch it isn't.
...because Allstate (HQ's) doesn't know what the thousands of agents they have are doing. :P
Captive agents have what's called "binding authority". Meaning, they have been bestowed permission to write policies for the company they are under contract with. Unless Allstate HQ is auditing every single policy written by every single agent, there's no way they are going to know what's going on at the agency level.
All the agency is doing (apparently) is throwing a multi-policy discount onto the paperwork. Obviously, there is no companion Allstate policy so clearly something shady is going on.
If you want to investigate this for yourself, you can call Allstate's home underwriting office to find out if this practice is permitted by corporate. I'd bet the ranch it isn't.
That's interesting. I didn't know the individual agents could have any effect on the pricing of policies. I thought pricing came down from the insurance company itself.
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