Home Insurance, Where are we headed ?

maple1 said:

That is not making sense to me. In many homes, baseboard is the only source of heat. So when going to the insurance company, that should be termed primary, and the stove secondary.

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I just asked her and she tried to claim it as primary heat, they still didn't care. It could have been the age of the stove (1975) that pushed the rates up. She also has some dings from her ex husband making home insurance claims before they got divorced that still reflect on her record. Hopefully in a few years we can get a better policy.

Another thing I should add is where we live. It seems that insurance is a bit higher here in downeast Maine regardless, and worse for us as we are very close to the water, less than 1/8 mile I think.

Might be worth checking out another insurance company. Electric baseboard is very common as primary & often only source of heat. Most of very cold Quebec is that way actually - due to cheap electric rates. So them not paying attention to it would make me not very trusting of them.

SpaceBus said:

I'm averaging 22-23 in my 06 six speed ram 3500 4x4 quad cab Dually long bed. That's mixed town and rural roads!

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Diesel or petrol? My wife can get my truck up to 20 mpg on her longer country-road commute, but I average 14 in the same truck on my shorter (and probably more-aggressively-driven) commute. One problem I have is that the vehicle is just barely reaching operating temperature on a cold day, when I arrive at my destination and shut it off.

This is a RAM 1500 4x4 crew cab with 5.7 Hemi, 8 speed and the 3.92 posi rear. My old truck, same model and weight, but 10 years older and manual trans, was doing 13 mpg.

Ashful said:

Diesel or petrol? My wife can get my truck up to 20 mpg on her longer country-road commute, but I average 14 in the same truck on my shorter (and probably more-aggressively-driven) commute. One problem I have is that the vehicle is just barely reaching operating temperature on a cold day, when I arrive at my destination and shut it off.

This is a RAM 1500 4x4 crew cab with 5.7 Hemi, 8 speed and the 3.92 posi rear. My old truck, same model and weight, but 10 years older and manual trans, was doing 13 mpg.

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Sorry, I meant to specify, it's diesel with a 3.73 posi rear. The new 8 spd transmissions really are great. I've driven a Challenger with it at an auto show and was very impressed.

I have the same issue when my truck is cold, which is usually is around here. I've driven mostly highway on this tank, and the average since three tanks ago is 23.8 currently. I restarted my average before we left NC with the Uhaul hitched up and averaged 18 all the way here.

SpaceBus said:

she lied about our dogs to secure the policy.

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What didn't they like about your dogs, or about dogs in general?

My father had oil heat, and tank insurance so the oil dealer would replace the tank at no cost if it leaked.

After forty years of use, my father noticed that the oil dealer auto fill program was adding oil in the late summer, after filling uop at the end of the heating season.

The dealer sent a repairman out, who pumped water out of the tank and commented "Just a little condensation in the tank!"


After this had been repeated several times, my father took his garden hose a ADDED A LOT OF WATER to the tank before the repairman came out to check on it again.

The repairman pumped, and pumped and PUMPED! to get rid of the water!

In the end he said, "Well, it can't be condensation!" They replaced the tank a few days later. There were dozens of holes corroded through the tank.

wooduser said:

What didn't they like about your dogs, or about dogs in general?

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A German Shepherd (hard to see in my avatar at the bottom right), Pitbull of some sort, and a Chihuahua who they obviously don't care about. Every insurance agency balked at the German Shepherd, much less the pitbull. We couldn't even find a place to rent because of our dogs and spent the last two years living in an RV in NC saving to buy a place in Maine.

SpaceBus said:

I'm averaging 22-23 in my 06 six speed ram 3500 4x4 quad cab Dually long bed. That's mixed town and rural roads!

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Your truck must be a NASA experiment, or you are reporting gallons per mile.

My best friend had a similar dually with a stump puller rear end in VT. He announced proudly once that HE was buying beer that night. The occasion was that he broke out of single digits on his fill-up. He only ever bought beer that once.

Insurance companies are like casinos... the house ALWAYS wins!

CaptSpiff said:

Your truck must be a NASA experiment, or you are reporting gallons per mile.

My best friend had a similar dually with a stump puller rear end in VT. He announced proudly once that HE was buying beer that night. The occasion was that he broke out of single digits on his fill-up. He only ever bought beer that once.

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I don't know what rear end he had, but the six speed let's me keep the RPM pretty low unless I'm on the freeway. Even then I still get good mileage unloaded. I used to have an 08 Nissan Titan that NEVER exceeded 15 MPG. It didn't matter if it were loaded up, empty, driven hard, driven easy, highway or surface streets. Your friend sounds like he has a heavy foot. I do dig into the accelerator, by only once a twice per day. I like to go as fast as the next guy, maybe even more, but I'd rather be on a bike or in a much lighter car for that.