A personal journal about teaching the Bible and ancient Near Eastern history/theology/religion/archaeology to university students in New Orleans, and whatever else happens to be on my mind.
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Monday, July 24, 2006
Why Allstate Stock Is A Wise Investment
About a month ago we filed a complaint against Allstate with the Insurance Commissioner in Louisiana. I read today that we are but one out of 1,287 policy holders in Louisiana who haved filed a hurricane-related consumer complaint against Allstate. Allstate has had more complaints than any other insurer. They are the state's second largest insurer with just over 20 percent of the policies, Statefarm is the largest with about 32%. Allstate recently reported $1.2 billion for second-quarter profit. Allstate's Chief Executive Edward M. Liddy said it was a strong year, and that "we are growing our business and generating strong profitability while at the same time we are managing down our exposure to catastrophes in the lines of business and areas of the country where the risk is the greatest." So buy stock in Allstate if your goal in life is to make money at any cost. Suprisingly, at about $57 per share, it is more affordible than 30 pieces of silver. And they've got quite a racket going for them. They get fools like me to pay them money every month for several years thinking I am insuring my house against wind and flood damage, and then after the largest natural disastor in this nation's history, they don't pay us. Instead, they pay some hack engineers to say it wasn't windy enough during Katrina to make a house lean. And when it goes to court, Allstate will be able to claim they were simply relying on the opinion of "experts" and won't be directly liable. And now Allstate has threatened to pull out of Louisiana if they are not able to drop coverabe for 30,000 homeowners who they feel are too much risk. That would leave 220,000 homes without insurance. I had hoped that Katrina would have woken us up, and we would finally realize that our society needs more of a measure than just profit alone.
have you thought about buying one share and going to shareholder meetings?
ReplyDeleteThat is a great idea Karen. I wonder if I'd be allowed to speak at such a meeting.
ReplyDeleteDo you think you would have been better off with State Farm?
ReplyDeleteNo Anonymous, I would likely have been in the same situation.
ReplyDeleteI am a former Allstate claims employee and let me tell you,... I could not take the negativity, bitterness and all around paranoia that I was surrounded with everyday I went to work!!! If you are positive you get shot down at every turn. I wonder how long Allstate can stay in business with the horrible moral its employees have to deal with...Allstate wants the public to believe they are in Good Hands how long can they keep up the farce when there own employees do not believe it!!!
ReplyDeleteWhen you are the first or second largest of anything, of course the number of compliments or complaints will be in direct proportion to that number.
ReplyDeleteThe responsibility of knowing your insurance policy and what it covers falls to the consumer.
Do not be so blind as to assume that your policy covers any and all events. It does not.
Read your policy jacket, it will clearly spell out your coverage's and exclusions. Question your insurance agent until you understand and then question some more.
Almost all policies cover water damage to some extend, for example a pipe burst or over flowing tub. However most exclude damage from floods and are very clear in that regard. There are separate flood policies sold for people who reside in flood plains and in some states they are manadtory.
Unfortunately many homeowners fall into the "it will never happen to me " trap and when it does are the first to cry foul and file law suits because it did.
Educate yourself, know your rights and protections and understand that there are 3 sides to every story.
Yours~Mine ~The Truth
Dear Anonymous, I wish what you were saying was true, and I'm not sure of your motivations. But let me be clear. I had flood insurance and homeowners, both with Allstate. I read the policies carefuly. My house did not lean on August 28th, 2005. One day later, it had severe structural damage and was racked. I would have no problem with Allstate if they had simply lived up to our contract. There are thousands of people in similar situations. This is not the same insurance industry that existed 10 years ago. I hope you never have to go through what we've been through. But I'm glad Senator Lott got screwed by Statefarm, as now he knows what I do: the insurance industry has been unethical and ben acting illegally in their responses to Katrina.
ReplyDeleteMy name is Michael Gardette. I had Allstate's Deluxe Policy which should have paid me for total and complete loss of use of my home. I switch to the Deluxe Policy upon the advice/coaching of my agent of over 15 years. He told me that I was basicly "stupid" for keeping a flood policy on my home (since I had no claims ever in over 15 years) and that this Deluxe Policy would pay loss of use, cost replacement of the actual replacement loss and living expenses for up to a year after a major claim. Katrina hit in 2005 and my policy was worthless. I went to meetings in my parish and met several people who told me that their agents did the exact same thing...told them to drop the flood policy and invest into the Deluxe Policy. How stupid could we all have been. This is what you get for trusting your agent as friend who has your best interest at heart. What a shame. My home was sold to Louisiana's Road Home Program for a discounted price. I read the real estate section every Saturday and see the owners of small, wood frame home receiving much larger amounts awarded than my all brick nearly 2400 square ft. custom home. There seems to be no justice in this life....
ReplyDeleteWe had the Deluxe Homeowner's Policy too Michael, but we also had a separate flood policy with Allstate.
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