When I made a claim, my next policy rocketted up. I was told by a broker friend some time later that, well, you’re not SUPPOSED to claim. They’ll hike your policy way up.

So do some checking in to that angle before you sit on your laurels and think you’re ok…

Tony.

and if you use it more than a few times a year, they will drop you like a rock..

You have to just love the insurance companies in the USA.. all they want is your cash.. but when you need some help, they just give you the finger while they cash your checks..

sorry Judie.. Home Insurance is for criticle and catastrophic scenarios only.. They want you to add those little $56 dollar options so you can use it and give themn a reason to drop you.

BTW: I have insurance, but only cuz it’s a safetynet.. not in case i puke on my PDA after driking with my collage frat buddies..

F.

My hesitation about filing on Homeowners Insurance would be that it might contribute to raising your rates.

Judie has an excellent point here, but I’ve recently read (I believe it was in the Dallas Morning News. If I can find the exact reference I will post it.) of a couple who had several buyers lined up to purchase their home, but they were unable to actually close. Why? Because the current owners had made “too many” claims against their homeowners insurance and the insurance companies refused to insure the new potential buyers!

It is a sad commentary on the insurance industry, but I have to always view insurance as critical use only. House burns down, car is totaled, etc. If I lose a microwave to a kitchen fire or a rock breaks my car windshield, I would rather eat that myself. Insurance companies will use any excuse to raise your rate and/or cancel your policy, so I prefer to not give them any more ammunition.

The couple above may have had their insurance woes aggravated by living in Texas (between bad weather and a big mold problem, insurance companies are starting to pull out of writing homeowner’s policies here), but I would be wary of using my insurance policy for anything but the most dire of situations.

That being said, I’ve read in posts in the Garmin iQue 3600 forum on pdastreet.com that CompUSA has a very liberal extended warranty that you can purchase no matter where you originally bought your product. I’ve never bought an extended warranty, but from what I understand for a fixed price you cover your item for 2-3 years with full replacement/refund no matter what happened to it. One fellow on the forum took in a several years old Clie with problems and they applied his full original purchase price toward a new iQue. Sounds like a great upgrade policy to me. Here’s the link to the thread: http://www.pdastreet.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=24030

To go totally off topic for just a moment, I also have to pay about $2400 a year in property tax. Someone told me once that San Angelo had one of the highest property tax rates in Texas, second only to Houston. I don’t know if it is true or not, but it sure sounds right. It’s enough to make me want to move into a shed on the ranch, some days…hook up a satellite modem and I would be set.

Judie :0)

Mike

As it is – I already pay almost $4K a year. I don’t think I could afford to pay any more! West Texas is tornado and hail alley, so it is inevitable that every couple years we have a claim for something related…which is why our rate is so horrific.

Does a claim for an item that is carried on a rider count against your general policy? If so, I could never justify making the claim – especially for a +/-$600 PDA.

Judie :0/

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