Do You Believe In Insurance?

Last year, in July, a thunderstorm caused a power surge which caused $400 worth of damage to my heat pump. (If you don't live in the south- that's a heating/AC thing that lives outside). I bought a surge protector that goes in the heat pump to (hopefully) prevent that from occuring again. So the guy wanted me to sign up for this Service Contract, which, at the Platinum level, would give me two tune-ups a year, a free diagnostic call, bump to the head of the line for repairs, some certain percentage off the normal repair cost, and one repair at 1% of the real price. $27/month. Any remaining balance over the five-year contract may be used toward the purchase of a new system. So Saturday my AC wouldn't stay on- the circuit breaker kept tripping. I called the guy out ($80 service call because it was after hours) and he got here in less than an hour, but the bad news was he didn't have a fan motor on his truck; he'd have to order it. $557. "But wait!" I have the Service Contract!" The guy looks at it in disbelief, but it is legitimate. He says he'll have to research it, which I thought meant give the office a chance to think of a way to weasel out of it. He comes back this afternoon, with the part, and says "$6 please!" I paid cash...Thank you God!!! Daytona isn't ruined for me after all!! I still can't believe it.

Yup we have insurance on things like computer, appliances and cell phone. Well Fri. night I dropped my cell phone in the toilet, it suffered and died. So Sat off to cell phone place. I knew the deductable was $50.00 and phone was old, so I got a new phone, Yay for isurance. What you say did the insurance do to help with new phone not a darn thing, but I'm glad I have it.

Cha-ching. Good news Nanci. The way I see it is, a deal is a deal. I am happy they stood behind their word. Good for you.
Jay

I don't do the type of coverage where "if you or your spouse dies, we'll pay the balance", but where large appliances are concerned I always get the extended warranty or service contract. I've used it too many times NOT to get it. Glad you were able to get your AC fixed for so little cost!!

When I was last shopping for an appliance, I did a bit of research. One thing that I read stuck with me: In general, if you are buying something with a recognizable brand name you are better off not buying the insurance. You may have a problem with your purchase that will make the insurance worth it, however, the quality of goods these days is such that the odds are you will not have a problem.

When I bought my TV it was 600.00, and the warranty was 140.00 (3 years). This included a yearly cleaning etc. However, considering that the warranty is approximately 1/4 of the actual items price it was not worth it because the TV is a quality item with very little chance of something going wrong (within the next 3 years).

Of course, something very well could go wrong, but the odds are against it. I was talked into the warranty, and I signed up knowing that I could cancel and get the rest of my money pro-rated and returned.

This article did suggest opting for the warranty on major purchases (household appliances, cars, etc.) but it gave the impression that with the competition in the marketplace, companies can't really get away with selling goods that are not very reliable or they will not last.

Sometimes I get the insurance, sometimes I don't. I have never had to use it for anything - thank goodness.

Glad to hear this worked out so well for you. More money for snakes at Daytona! LOL!

well thats good atleast now you wont think your snakes hate you.. lol

I had homeowners insurance come in handy when my house in Colorado was robbed. I had heard a bunch of horror stories about how if they cover you it won't be worth it cause your price would go up. Or that they wouldn't cover you without having to sue them. Well, my story was much like yours Nanci, they totally made good on everything. I'm a believer now.

That was USAA insurance in case anyone is looking for someone good..

Wow glad to hear that happened for ya...(the part where they stuck to their word..not that your system broke down..lol)..Guess doing good things gets good things in return :0)

Well now when and if I do get a home in FL..I'm gonna be sure to get insurance on my heat pump..lol

We just used the extended warranty* on our Xbox 360, which was erroring every time we turned it on and therefore, dead. For the price of shipping it there (i.e., the Texas repair center), and three weeks later, it's back and good as new!

*3 year, which they don't offer anymore. =P

I was in Hurricane Andrew. We lost everything except the clothes on our backs and the car we drove to the west coast of FL in. I always tell people that think this a terrible tale, that I was one of the lucky ones. I was insured. I saw it as a chance to buy all new stuff and live mortgage free till they rebuilt my house. Yah, it was inconvenient but not even remotely close to what people without insurance went through. That would have been a nightmare.
Terri

I've had the misfortune to use home owners insurance twice. The first time, the house we were nearly done building burned. Although we had guaranteed replacement insurance, and had been assured by the agent (American Family) that just the amount for the construction loan would cover replacing the built house, which would be worth $150k more than the insurance amount, when the time came to pay up, there was a lot of trouble because actually, you have to be within 80%. Luckily, the bank vice president intervened somehow and they paid _some_, but we still had to mostly rebuild it all ourselves. Building two houses in two years is horrible. The insurance company dropped us as soon as they could, one year after the claim. We got a new company, American National. About a year later, a tornado got the house, barn, horse trailer, chicken coop, bus stop house, horse fence and pickup. They totally replaced everything, including several hundred bales of wet hay, including sending me to a hotel for the duration of the rebuilding (because I worked nights and couldn't sleep at home with construction going on) including sending a bunch of horses off to be boarded until the barn and fence were replaced and the new hay put in. The only thing they didn't cover was a canoe that was stored outside. They even sent our beloved carpet out to be cleaned since it was irreplaceable. And they didn't drop us.