July 26, 2011 Low-cost car insurance proposed in Michigan Not being able to afford car insurance so you can legally drive to job interviews is a burden for unemployed residents of most states. And without a job, it’s hard to come up with the money for car insurance. In Michigan, state Sen. Virgil Smith…
July 21, 2011 Insurance Commissioner: Time to prepare for wildfires With the advent of fire season, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones visited Rancho Bernardo Thursday to remind locals that they should prepare a home inventory list now. The list, along with doing an annual update of property insurance policies to reflect current rebuilding prices and…
July 21, 2011 Alabama insurance struggles: Disputes from tornadoes begin to gain traction Across tornado-affected areas of Alabama, thousands of property owners are grappling with insurers about how much money they are owed to rebuild. Already, nearly 500 people have contacted the state Insurance Department. State regulators now expect around 90,000 claims because of April’s storms, and even…
July 21, 2011 Baria joins board of consumer group State Sen. David Baria has become the first Gulf Coast representative on the board of United Policyholders, a group that helps consumers nationwide with insurance issues. Baria’s experience as an attorney, policymaker and Hurricane Katrina survivor who lost his Bay St. Louis home will all…
July 20, 2011 Home replacement costs at center of California insurance dispute In a move to prevent homeowners from being underinsured after disasters, the California insurance commissioner has imposed new regulations for estimating a home’s replacement value for insurance purposes. Some insurers have sued in response, saying the regulations overstep the commissioner’s legal boundaries and could harm…
July 18, 2011 Insurance Commissioner Jones Announces New Regulations to Protect Homeowners From Being Underinsured Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones, joined by Amy Bach, Executive Director of United Policyholders, announced today a series of new homeowners regulations aimed at enhancing the standards and training for estimating the replacement value on homeowners’ insurance in the event of a disaster. These new regulations…
July 12, 2011 Want to sue your insurance company? Here’s what will happen If you’re angry enough to consider filing a lawsuit against your insurance company, make sure you do so only as a last resort, after all negotiations have failed. If there is an acceptable alternative, a courtroom is the last place you want to be. Peter…
June 30, 2011 California Trade Groups File Suit to Stop ‘Replacement’ Regulation Two California trade associations have filed court documents in an attempt to stop one aspect of regulations that were implemented June 27 by Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones. The Association of California Insurance Companies ACIC) and the Personal Insurance Federation of California PIFC) say in a…
June 30, 2011 Vanishing Act: Your Home Insurance Coverage is Disappearing There’s a disturbing nationwide trend of insurance companies chipping away at coverage for homeowners, says Amy Bach, executive director of the nonprofit United Policyholders consumer group. She says she’s disturbed by what she sees as policies becoming less adequate. “We have been working on a…
June 30, 2011 Catastrophe reveals insurance woes for homeowners SAN BRUNO, Calif. KGO) — Most homeowners have insurance, but few ever find out if their coverage is adequate until disaster strikes. The San Bruno pipeline explosion is one example of a major catastrophe putting home owner’s insurance to the test. Tammy Zapata is a…
June 30, 2011 Tornado or other insurance beef? Chat with consumer advocate today at 2 In a series of stories Sunday, the Birmingham News, Huntsville Times and Press-Register showed the insurance struggles scores of Alabama homeowners are going through in the wake of the April 27 tornadoes. And hurricane season, which regularly creates insurance questions along the coast, has only…
June 30, 2011 Overwhelmed and Underinsured Those two words describe the people in Missouri, Alabama and Arizona whose homes were recently wiped out. The fact is, about 2/3 of the homes in the United States are underinsured.1 UP can help you be in the third that are not. You probably think you’re already…
June 21, 2011 5 lies home insurance agents tell Sometimes insurance agents tell you what they think you want to hear in order to sell a home insurance policy and secure a commission. When misfortunes occur, homeowners who count on insurance to carry them through tough times sometimes get an unpleasant surprise: They don’t…
June 21, 2011 At Workshop, Residents Learn How to Go Green When Rebuilding Homes Nonprofit United Policyholders offered presentations to residents interested in rebuilding their homes green after the Sept. 9 pipeline explosion and showed that there is help available. Jerry Guernsey was always talking about making his house more green. In fact, he has considered himself green for…
June 16, 2011 Nine tips for buying auto insurance online Just as more consumers are gravitating toward shopping sites like Amazon.com and Zappos.com, more auto insurance consumers are shopping online than ever before. According to a 2011 study by J.D. Power and Associates, 54 percent of auto insurance shoppers are getting quotes online. That’s up…
June 16, 2011 Missouri Storm Victims Battle for Insurance Payouts ST. LOUIS, MO (KTVI-FOX2Now.com)— Not quite two months after the good Friday tornado in St. Louis county, property owners report a wide variation in progress toward reconstruction. Some repair jobs are underway but dozens of property owners are still battling over insurance payouts. These three…
June 13, 2011 No dental insurance? Here are 3 options Can’t get dental insurance coverage through your employer? If not, you may be tempted to skip dental cleanings and other treatments. But good basic care lowers your risk of suffering a major, expensive problem in the future. There are three ways to approach dental care…
June 13, 2011 Wallow Fire: Property owners facing insurance issues While consuming hundreds of thousands of acres of forest lands and meadows, the Wallow Fire has destroyed more than 50 structures in its path, with more than 5,000 still in danger. Whether the owners of destroyed or damaged buildings will be able to rebuild and…
