The theft of our Camper ( The Movie )

[Cold Lake Kid]

It should always be remembered, Insurance companies exist to make money for there shareholders, not lose money.

[PenJoe]

Originally Posted by Cold Lake Kid

It should always be remembered, Insurance companies exist to make money for there shareholders, not lose money.

Way off topic, but this hit a nerve like a bad tooth ache. That is life insurance. One of the biggest rips in insurance today is "whole life" life insurance. If any of you have a whole life insurance policy, dump it today. Convert it to term life while you still can.

DW and I took out Met Life whole life policies in 1984 and paid premiums religiously. Met Life is one of the most trusted companies, right? We got notice that our monthly premiums were inadequate and would double due to "cost of insurance". The customer service rep stated that it cost more to service policies after the policy holder turns 70. What? Now,at that age, new policies are pretty much out of the question. So, we paid the higher premiums. But wait, they doubled again. It now costs 4X the initial premium to service the policy. Another call to customer service and I was told, premiums will continue to escalate in coming years. Okay, so what if we cash it in? Less and $100-and I didn't miss any zeros. These policies are draining people dry until it is no longer affordable and they have all the money you have ever paid in. I have been told that they are doing this to satisfy the shareholders. The excuses that customer service reps have given for the increases are in violation of laws regulating them. Apparently, the profit motive outweighs the cost of litigation.

MetLife is not the only company doing this. Great Southern Life and a host of others are doing this. It's like they found the holy grail. What they will not tell you is that the premiums can be suspended, if the policy holder agrees to about a third of the policies value paid on death. There have been "successful" class action law suits, but only the attorneys got their fees-policy holders got nothing on one I was aware of.

I know this is off topic and it may well get deleted, but hopefully some of you can read this and salvage your premiums by converting the policies before it does.

[Jfkmk]

Originally Posted by PenJoe

Way off topic, but this hit a nerve like a bad tooth ache. That is life insurance. One of the biggest rips in insurance today is "whole life" life insurance. If any of you have a whole life insurance policy, dump it today. Convert it to term life while you still can.

DW and I took out Met Life whole life policies in 1984 and paid premiums religiously. Met Life is one of the most trusted companies, right? We got notice that our monthly premiums were inadequate and would double due to "cost of insurance". The customer service rep stated that it cost more to service policies after the policy holder turns 70. What? Now,at that age, new policies are pretty much out of the question. So, we paid the higher premiums. But wait, they doubled again. It now costs 4X the initial premium to service the policy. Another call to customer service and I was told, premiums will continue to escalate in coming years. Okay, so what if we cash it in? Less and $100-and I didn't miss any zeros. These policies are draining people dry until it is no longer affordable and they have all the money you have ever paid in. I have been told that they are doing this to satisfy the shareholders. The excuses that customer service reps have given for the increases are in violation of laws regulating them. Apparently, the profit motive outweighs the cost of litigation.

MetLife is not the only company doing this. Great Southern Life and a host of others are doing this. It's like they found the holy grail. What they will not tell you is that the premiums can be suspended, if the policy holder agrees to about a third of the policies value paid on death. There have been "successful" class action law suits, but only the attorneys got their fees-policy holders got nothing on one I was aware of.

I know this is off topic and it may well get deleted, but hopefully some of you can read this and salvage your premiums by converting the policies before it does.

My ex-wife and I purchased whole life from Prudential around tge same time period. It was expensive, but we were told that after a set number of years the earnings on the investments would pay for the premiums.

The number of years kept growing and growing along with the premium amount. Finally we cut our loses and just stopped paying.

Eventually Prudential was sued and we got all of our premiums returned. No interest of course, but it was at least something.

[Luke V]

We must have a great insurance company. We had an accident on a Saturday evening, the adjuster looked at the camper on Monday and said it was totaled, the frame was bent. We received a check on Wednesday for a very fair amount, and bought a new 2020 Rockwood 2511s the following Saturday. We love it, it's a nice upgrade from our 2016 Rocked 2504s. The insurance company was super easy to deal with.

[Iwannacamp]

FWIW...

I used to work with a retired insurance rep who I trusted... I asked him which was better and the answer was term life. I was prolly 30 at the time.

[Bookumdanno]

Originally Posted by Sharon455

Did they ever test inside the trailer to see if the thieves had a chance to get any drugs inside?

When we went inside at the tow yard there was a white powder all over a chair. We exited immediately and notified the Sheriff's office. Don't know if they checked it or not but I remembered the cabinet above chair was where we kept the sugar for coffee. Looked in cabinet and sugar was spilled out in cabinet.

[eye95]

Originally Posted by Luke V

We must have a great insurance company. We had an accident on a Saturday evening, the adjuster looked at the camper on Monday and said it was totaled, the frame was bent. We received a check on Wednesday for a very fair amount, and bought a new 2020 Rockwood 2511s the following Saturday. We love it, it's a nice upgrade from our 2016 Rocked 2504s. The insurance company was super easy to deal with.

Who is your insurance carrier?

[Luke V]

Originally Posted by eye95

Who is your insurance carrier?

Westfield insurance.

[eye95]

Originally Posted by Luke V

Westfield insurance.

Not all insurance companies are bad. We now have two reports in this thread regarding camper claims with positive outcomes:

Nationwide and
Westfield

[Dakota 1120]

Originally Posted by Iwannacamp

FWIW...

I used to work with a retired insurance rep who I trusted... I asked him which was better and the answer was term life. I was prolly 30 at the time.

Never, every purchased life insurance. One of, if not the biggest rip offs of all time.

Besides, once you are dead you have no use for money.

[eye95]

My widow sure could use the money after I pass.

I have military retirement, SS, and part-time job.

Mrs. eye has SS and our IRAs.

We lose my three incomes if I pass. Mrs. eye needs the supplement that my term life insurance would provide.

I figure that in about a year we will have enough saved and no debts, so I will no longer need insurance (term). Then I will retire. Until then, I won’t need the money after I pass, but Mrs. eye will.

Folks, do your own assessment. Term insurance provides security for survivors.

[pgandw]

Originally Posted by Iwannacamp

FWIW...

I used to work with a retired insurance rep who I trusted... I asked him which was better and the answer was term life. I was prolly 30 at the time.

I got ye olde life insurance scam when I was young and stupid. Then I was told to dump my whole life for term. Did it, and have taken some financial knocks over the years, so never invested the difference.

Now, in my 60s, find out I have a congenital heart condition. Term life costs are blowing up due to age, can't buy new term or whole life. Luckily retained one small whole life from my youth.

Based on my experience, I would advise a $100K (or so) whole life. The rest can be term. But most importantly - and the hardest to do - is create that nest egg and keep it going from an early age.

I have to admit I have never heard of increasing premiums or fees for whole life. That is just BS. Mine is with Navy Mutual Aid, and I've never had a problem.

Fred W

[Dakota 1120]

Originally Posted by pgandw

I got ye olde life insurance scam when I was young and stupid. Then I was told to dump my whole life for term. Did it, and have taken some financial knocks over the years, so never invested the difference.

Now, in my 60s, find out I have a congenital heart condition. Term life costs are blowing up due to age, can't buy new term or whole life. Luckily retained one small whole life from my youth.

Based on my experience, I would advise a $100K (or so) whole life. The rest can be term. But most importantly - and the hardest to do - is create that nest egg and keep it going from an early age.

I have to admit I have never heard of increasing premiums or fees for whole life. That is just BS. Mine is with Navy Mutual Aid, and I've never had a problem.

Fred W

Provided, of course, the insurance company is still in business by then.

Given todays' economic upheaval and the large number of "long time" businesses going under ...... there are zero guarantees.

[GravelRider]

Wow, quite a roller coaster ride! Hope they lock those scumbags up for a long time. Thanks for sharing. It's making me rethink my cheap Reese hitch lock.

Originally Posted by PenJoe

Way off topic, but this hit a nerve like a bad tooth ache. That is life insurance. One of the biggest rips in insurance today is "whole life" life insurance. If any of you have a whole life insurance policy, dump it today. Convert it to term life while you still can.

DW and I took out Met Life whole life policies in 1984 and paid premiums religiously. Met Life is one of the most trusted companies, right? We got notice that our monthly premiums were inadequate and would double due to "cost of insurance". The customer service rep stated that it cost more to service policies after the policy holder turns 70. What? Now,at that age, new policies are pretty much out of the question. So, we paid the higher premiums. But wait, they doubled again. It now costs 4X the initial premium to service the policy. Another call to customer service and I was told, premiums will continue to escalate in coming years. Okay, so what if we cash it in? Less and $100-and I didn't miss any zeros. These policies are draining people dry until it is no longer affordable and they have all the money you have ever paid in. I have been told that they are doing this to satisfy the shareholders. The excuses that customer service reps have given for the increases are in violation of laws regulating them. Apparently, the profit motive outweighs the cost of litigation.

MetLife is not the only company doing this. Great Southern Life and a host of others are doing this. It's like they found the holy grail. What they will not tell you is that the premiums can be suspended, if the policy holder agrees to about a third of the policies value paid on death. There have been "successful" class action law suits, but only the attorneys got their fees-policy holders got nothing on one I was aware of.

I know this is off topic and it may well get deleted, but hopefully some of you can read this and salvage your premiums by converting the policies before it does.

I used to sell life and health insurance and annuities. Wow was my commission on whole life generous compared to term, so I tried like hell to sell them. Whole life insurance is great for salespeople and the insurance company. It rarely pays for the consumer.

Price out whole, buy term, then invest the difference. By the time your term is up, your investments should be worth as much as your whole life policy would be worth.

Originally Posted by Dakota 1120

Never, every purchased life insurance. One of, if not the biggest rip offs of all time.

Besides, once you are dead you have no use for money.

This is highly dependent on your individual situation. If you're single with no children and no plans to have any, and enough savings to cover your funeral, there's no reason to have life insurance.

Life insurance isn't for you. It's for your loved ones. If you have a spouse and children and are still earning an income, if you die and don't have life insurance, your family pays for your funeral and lost income. If you're okay with that, then don't pay for life insurance.

I have a 30 year term policy with a little over 20 years remaining that will last me until I plan to retire. At that point, I won't need life insurance, as my investments will be worth more than my policy (making assumptions based on my contributions and interest earned, of course), and I won't be earning an income. If I had whole life, I'd be paying a boatload more every month, which means I'd be saving a boatload less, and then when it was time to retire, I get to choose to continue paying for the rest of my life or take the cash value, which is usually a pittance. No thank you.

[TheWolfPaq82]

Bottom Line. Frame is bent, don't accept anything else but "Totaled" I've dealt with three vehicles over the years that "Frame was repaired to Original Condition." Yeah....Right ! All three had frame work done and none were ever the same.

[Bookumdanno]

Originally Posted by TheWolfPaq82

Bottom Line. Frame is bent, don't accept anything else but "Totaled" I've dealt with three vehicles over the years that "Frame was repaired to Original Condition." Yeah....Right ! All three had frame work done and none were ever the same.

That's how we feel. Now the fun starts with the insurance co. USAA. They contract out for everything. BUT seems it's still part of them. They emailed us paper work to sign. My DW got on the phone immediately. One was an odometer statement filled in with 1000 mile ( This is a travel trailer ) they told her the lawyers created this. One other paper was for power of attorney with nothing filled in. DW told them we can't sign it with nothing filled in. Another paper was for us to sign noting the cross out on attachment, there was no attachment. The lady wouldn't provide her name and hung up on DW. I guess they don't like smart people. Needless to say we will be looking at another insurance company for house and vehicles.

[lesptr]

USAA is not the same company as it was when I joined 30 years ago and the banking side is even worse than the insurance side.

[Luke V]

@Bookumdanno, Just wondering if they totaled your trailer yet?

[Dakota 1120]

Originally Posted by lesptr

USAA is not the same company as it was when I joined 30 years ago and the banking side is even worse than the insurance side.

BINGO!

Checked with them once and they were nearly twice the premium of who I was insured with.

Have no use for them what-so-ever.

[Bookumdanno]

Originally Posted by Luke V

@Bookumdanno, Just wondering if they totaled your trailer yet?

Well after DW talked to the 2nd "Independent Inspector" ( He copied the 1st inspection by RV dealer ) he looked at the file and pictures we submitted and said oh wow didn't see these. He got on phone immediately to the dealer and halted any ordering of parts and to redo the inspection ( seems the insurance co. sent them a check for the original inspections cost as soon as they received it ). The redo came back as $17K and insurance totaled it. They sent us paperwork showing a $24k value and deducted $300 deductible and $8k they had sent dealer ( Check was sent to dealer with them an I as endorser ). I had not signed the check. Web site showed the $8k was summited for void. Thru email ( said they didn't want to talk to DW anymore ) we found that they were still waiting on our signed and notarized papers. So we put in the insurance company name and note it was for camper on the power of attorney, noted on the odometer reading form it was a Travel Trailer and no odometer and informed them we don't have the title, the Bank does. We also summited receipts for several items missing or still on TT. We received that and the difference between the value and what we owed to bank into our account. ( was a little less then the trailer we traded in )Been 2 weeks since they told us a check was sent to bank. Bank has not received it yet. We notified the Ins. co and were told it can take 5 business to be entered. A it's been 10??

We yesterday went with Allstate Insurance and they notified USAA. USAA called abt an hour later to ask why we cancelled. DW filled her in.. She couldn't believe what and how we were treated. It wasn't our responsible to contact the inspector or the Bank. Rep should have been doing it. OH well. She called the Bank while DW was on hold. Came back and said it was busy and she would call back later. We had to go out and when we got back a message said she needed our account number or SSAN# to be able to talk to Bank. DW called her and left the info on answer machine. The new insurance is now a little less then we were paying before ( Home, Car and Trailer ) and covers more. Now if the check would get to the bank we will be done.

Bought new TT and will be picking up Aug. 12