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ediddy

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Everything posted by ediddy

  1. ediddy
    Hey Cerberus, Motel and other expenses are not generally covered in the standard policy. Some companies do have an optional coverage called trip interruption that will provide lodging and meals if you are more than 100 miles from home. I always encourage people to include this coverage as it is only about $10.00 per year. In the case talked about here if I was the agent and one of my insured's was treated this way I would talk to the claims supervisor and lean on him or her to pay the lodging and meals to keep good will. This is the advantage of dealing with an agent as oppposed to calling an 800 number. If you are dealing direct with the company you are only one customer. As the agent I have many customers with the company so if my insured isn't being treated fairly I can tell the company that I will move all of my customers to another company if they aren't fair. For example I do over $500,000 in annual premium with progressive so they want to keep me happy. Call GEICO and ask for the person that gave you the quote. You probably can't talk to that person again but if you do, tell them you are having a problem with a claim and need their help. Here is what they will say, "I'm sorry but the claims department handles that, I only handle quoting and writing policies." That person is an employee of GEICO and if they say anything to the claims department they will be told to stick to quoting and leave the claims to them. I mentioned the magistrate court judge in an earlier post. I'll give you a good example of the advantage of dealing with an agent regarding the judge. He had his autos insured with me. His son totaled out his vehicle. The judge thought he had liability only on the vehicle so he sold the vehicle to a salvage yard. I told the judge that he had colllision on the vehicle so he needed to file a claim. I fliled the claim and the claims rep showed up to inspect the vehicle. The judge told the rep the vehicle was totaled so he sold it to a salvage yard. The claims rep went to the salvage yard to inspect the vehicle and the salvage had already disposed the vehicle. A few days later the judge called me because he had received a letter from the company denying to pay the claim. All policies state that the company has the right to inspect the damaged property and if they can't they can deny the claim. I called the company, Safeco Insurance Company, and got the vice president of claims on the phone. I explained the circumstances to her and told her I could personally vouch for the judge and that it was an honest mistake on his part and that the vehicle was totaled. The vice president said, " You are our agent and if you say that was the case we will send a check for payment today for $7,600.00. I can guarantee you if you were dealing with a one company agent or 800 gottago that would never happen. The company would tell the employee to tend to their business and let the claims department tend to theirs.
  2. ediddy
    Well, I forgot something else. I have already gotten emails from some people requesting an insurance quote. I am only licensed in Georgia, Alabama and Florida but I do appreciate everyone in the other states that have asked for a quote. I wish I could help but am not licensed in any other states at present. I hope to expand into other states in the future.
  3. ediddy
    Oh I forgot. Vgoose if you will call or email me with the policy number of the progressive policy I will find out what went wrong and make sure the right person knows how this claim was mishandled.
  4. ediddy
    I'm sorry to hear of your problem with progessive, but before everyone goes off half cocked you need to hold on. I have been an insurance agent for 37 years. Any company has good and bad employees. Just because you have a bad experience with one claims rep doesn't mean that the company's policy is to treat everyone badly. Of all the companies I know of, progessive overall is the fastest and fairest settling claims. I have people that have been in an accident where the progressive insured was at fault and because progressive was so fast paying the claim that they switched their insurance to progressive. I have also had people in the office that I quoted with progressive and because of a claim they don't want to be with progressive. You can never please everyone all the time. However there are companies that have a bad reputation for paying claims all the time. The three that I hear about are Allstate, State Farm and GEICO. When someone comes in my office for a quote and I ask them the name of their current company and they say GEICO, 100 out of 100 times when I ask why they want to change it is because of getting jacked around on a claim. I was talking with one of the largest body shops here recently and the owner told me he couldn't tell people with GEICO that he didn't want their business but he would rather not deal with GEICO. I asked why and he said they go "light " on repairs. I asked what light meant and he said they try to cut corners on replacing parts. I asked for an example. He said you can take a damaged door and they will want to put a new cover, they call it a skin, on the door instead of replacing the door. He said a new skin will not last. The other companies with a bad reputation are State Farm and Allstate. To be nationally advertised they are terrible with claims. The magistrate court judge is my sunday school teacher and he said he went home one day and asked his wife who they had their car insurance with and said if it was with State Farm to move it right away. He said he has seen more cases with them where they were clearly at fault but were jacking the claimant around and would settle just before going in the court room. My daughter was in an accident where Allstate was clearly at fault but they wouldn't pay. I talked to the adjuster myself and I told him I had heard for years that Allstate didn't pay claims and he just proved that to be correct. He said he didn't care. I got carried away but my point is any company can have a bad claims rep. I am going to make some phone calls to talk with progressive today regarding this claim to see what happened. Buy the way, I have mentioned on this web site many times that I specialize in motorcycle insurance and have six of the top companies for good rates and claim service but never hear from anyone. Now eveyone wants to know who is a good company with good rates.
  5. ediddy
    I've had more problems with rear ends than anyone on this site. I'm on number 5. The last time the rear end started clicking I demanded a new bike and yamaha sent a factory rep to look at my bike. He sent the service manager to the honda dealer to buy honda moly 60 grease because he uses it for his personal use and said its the best. I haven't had any problems since, so if your dealer doesn't want to use moly 60 tell him to call yamaha and talk to them.
  6. ediddy
    People fuss and cuss the insurance companies for charging 300.00 per year for insurance. It doesn't take much to do a lot damage to a motorcycle. At $300.00 per year it will take the insurance company 15 years just to recoup $4,500.00. In addition companies have to deal with uninsured motorist. Last week one of my insureds was stopped at a traffic light and the auto behind him hit him in the rear. He was fortunate not be seriously hurt. The drive that hit him was driving on an expired license with no insurance. Now our company is going to have to pay to repair his bike and pay his medical expense even though he wasn't at fault.
  7. ediddy
    That is too cool. I wish I could do that to mine.
  8. ediddy
    That is too cool. I wish I could do that to mine.
  9. ediddy
    My wife and I rode our bike from Albany, Georgia to the keys memorial day week in 2006. Rode over 1700 miles. I enjoyed it but wouldn't do it again. If I did it would be in early spring or autumn. The heat is south Florida was terrible. We went to Mallory Square and I almost got in a fight with one of the acts. It was a black guy that said he was in the houdini escape artist hall of fame. First he asked, "If you're in Key West for the first time raise your hand." Most people raised their hand. He then said, " Hi, I'm Jimmy Buffet." I then said, "Hey, you've been out in the sun too long." He came over to me and chewed me out and said, "Let me tell you something sir, I tell the jokes around here." I balled up my fist and gave him the up your a** gesture and said, "Up yours buddy." He came back over and chewed me out again and I gave him the same gesture and said, "Up yours again buddy." My wife walked away from me and wouldn't get close to me. I don't understand why. At the end of his performance he said, "Now I've done my best to give all of you a good show, so now it's your turn to show me that you appreciate what I've done." I'm going to pass this bucket around and you can show me how much you enjoyed my show by putting money in the bucket." A guy started to walk off and the escape artist shouted, " Hey you bastard, come back here and put some money in this bucket." I don't know if the guy is still in Key West performing or if he has been killed.
  10. ediddy
    I keep saying I'm not going to waste my time responding to some of the ridiculous statements made about insurance but I just have to respond to one. First I have been a licensed agent for 37 years and I own my agency that specializes in motorcycle insurance. To say don't insure with a company that insures autos too is beyond ridiculous. And by the way Foremost insurance company does insure autos. As a matter of fact Farmers Insurance Company will soon be changing their name to Foremost Insurance Company. Zurich Insurance company purchased Foremost, Farmers and Bristol West Insurance company and will be changing the name for all of these companies to Foremost Insurance Co. It doesn't matter whether a company insures autos or not. That has nothing to do with motorcycle insurance rates. Two years ago I went to the International Motorcyle Insurance Show in Atlanta. Progressive had a booth there and the product manager for motorcyle insurance was there from the home office. She, yes it is a female, makes the rates for motorcycles in the United States. I was fussing with here about how Progessive's recent rate increase in Georiga had hurt their new business. She said their claims were skyrocketing on the touring bikes so they had to increase rates. I told her it seemed to me that the mature drivers on touring bikes such as my venture would be the best risk. But you can't argue with the claims. Example, I carry 100/300/50 liability, same uninsured motorist, 10,000 med pay, 250 deductible on comprehensive and collision and roadside assistance. I am 58 and married with a clean driving record. Progressive was $1,600 per year but I wrote the same coveage with another company for $385.00 per year. You just have to shop around. And progressive is credit scoring on motorcyles now so that will affect your rate also. I might quote a cycle tomorrow and progessive will be have the best rate. In Georgia Foremost always has one of the highest rates except for some of the crotch rockets.
  11. ediddy
    I use the chatter box headsets and mike for the venture intercomm. I purchased the edsets adapter that lets you use earbuds. Here's the question. I still need the mike to talk to my passenger and talk using the cb but don't want the speakers that come with the chatter box system in my helmet since I am using earbuds. If I cut the speaker wire that comes out of the mike for the helmet speakers will the mike still work?
  12. ediddy
    What company do you have your insurance with?
  13. ediddy
    I have carbon ones lift adapter. I bought the red jack from sears and it works fine. I have never had a problem with it.
  14. ediddy

    Harley News

    ediddy replied to Condor's topic in Watering Hole

    I wonder if harley is going to use the money for operating expenses or if they are going to put it in their bank, Eagle Savings Bank, to finance bikes.
  15. ediddy
    Simple, call yamaha again and tell them the dealer is no longer in business. They will send a factory rep to meet you at any dealership you wish. Let yamaha find out what is wrong.
  16. ediddy
    Happend more than once to my 05. The fuel pump was bad. Replaced under warranty.
  17. ediddy
    That is interesting. I know a few years ago Honda and Harley combined had 50% of the motorcycle market. I wouldn't be surprised if Honda is slipping. They don't have the selection of cruisers that yamaha has. I have heard but can't confirm that the 1800 vtx hasn't had the sales honda expected. If honda would put saddlebags and a windshield on the vtx like yamaha does on the vstar silverado I believe they would sell more bikes. Just my opinion and we all know an opinion is like a certain part of our anatomy. Everyone has one.
  18. ediddy
    Congratulations on your new careet path. I might be interested in buying an ad in the magazine. I own an insurance agency that specializes in motorcycle insurance. You can send me an email or call me at 877-809-5958 and we can discuss. Good Luck! Eddie (eidddy) Hall
  19. ediddy
    I'm sorry if you thought I was bashing harley. The things I said were taken from the harley tech talk web site. I signed up for the site because I was hot to trade my venture for an ultra classic and I wanted to see what harley riders were saying about their bikes. What I said about harley here was taken from that site. Some of the harley guys even have the site listed where you could read the news organizations articles about harley's problems. I wasn't trying to bash harley but give you the facts about harley. If you can't take anyone talking about harley don't go on harley tech talk. One of my harley friends goes on the harley tech talk web site and thats why I chose it because he was always talking about what a good site it was. When he found out I was going on that site he said, "now you may wonder why some of those guys own a harley", meaning they get down on the mo co pretty hard. The harley riders are the ones that complain about the crank being made out of silly putty, not me. I was just repeating what the harley riders were saying. I still would like to have an ultra classic but I want to wait and see how the 09's turn out. Some of the harley riders have even said its time for Wille G to retire. I didn't think I would ever hear a harley rider say that. But it wasn't me it was harley riders. Sometime I get upset when I'm on the harley site but I just let it go. There was a thread started about the new honda chopper. There were many favorable comments but some that rubbed me the wrong way. One guy said he would rather push his harley that ride a honda. Another guy said the honda chopper looked better than the "piece of crap rocker that harley has." I didn't leave the site over that comment I just let it go. No matter where you go there is always going to be someone you don't agree with.
  20. ediddy
    The loyal following of harley is their main problem. The loyal following is getting old and won't be riding many more years. The rich yuppies bought harleys because it was a fad. That fad is over now. The younger generation can't afford a harley and don't have any loyalty to harley. There is even resentment toward harley by a lot of their older loyal riders. They liked it when the harley dealer was in a smaller shop where you go go hang out and talk motorcyles, smell the gas and oil. Now the dealer is a million dollar botique.
  21. ediddy
    Bottom line is no one knows. I hope the 2010 is upgraded but you can talk to dealers and they all will tell you something different. One guy on this site talked to someone with Yamaha at the US headquarters before the 09's came out and was told he was going to really like the changes for 09. Its all speculation but I hope its true.
  22. ediddy
    Hey GeorgeS, I don't remember which engine had the high failure rate but I'm going to see if I can find out.
  23. ediddy
    Don't think harley is squeaky clean. I go on a popular harley web site 2 or 3 times per week. There are die hard harley riders on there and they are ready to string up harley. For years harley has gouged people and given poor service and their followers are fed up. Last week a guy was furious becauses he said you can go in a dealership and get a dog collar with harley on it but you can't get a part for your bike. One guy said he felt like he was going into a jewelry botique when he went in his dealership. The topic of harley sticking to msrp is also a sore subject. You can go on that site right now and there is a thread about harley refusing to get off the msrp. In may 07 there was an article on msn about harley stock going from $80.00 per share to $59.00 per share. Why? Their sales were down so they lowered the minimum credit score required for financing in order to boost sales but then they were repoing bikes people couldn't afford. Another article in the Wallstreet Journal was posted on the web site that said harely was at a crossroads. The older die hard riders were getting to old to ride and the yuppies fad had disappeared so harley was in trouble. The engineering deptartment wants to get in the 21 century with technology as in a water cooled engine, but the marketing department doesn't want to change because they fear the die hard fans will leave. I was surprised at some harley guys that said the best thing harley could do is get ride of Wille G. There was another article posted about the substandard parts harley had used a few years ago on their bikes. If you think yamaha dealers give poor service you ought to read some of the stories about the poor service of harley dealers. A couple of weeks ago a guy said he took his friend to a dealer to look at used bikes. It was an hour drive. His friend saw an ultra classic that had been taken on trade and worked up a deal with the salesman. The salesman said to come back saturday so they could clean up the bike. The guy waited a whole week before he went back and the bike hadn't been touched. The battery was dead so it wouldn't start. The dealer wouldn't put in a new batter and was going to just charge the old battery. The guy said he told his friend to come on and lets leave, this is pitiful. The guy left and bought a used yamaha venture. There are many many guys on the harley we site that are having to replace the cranshaft. There is a joke on this harely web site that harley makes the crankshafts out of silly putty. One guy said he had a friend that was a dealer and he said there was an engine a few years ago that was having a 60% failure rate but harleystill wouldn't issue a recall. The dealer told his friend if a metric bike had a 2% failure rate they would have a recall. The die hard harley riders don't like the million dollar buildings harley has required their dealers to build that look like botiques. Harley has been heading downhill for a few years. The bad economy has taken them downward quicker.
  24. ediddy
    Buddy Rich? I don't know no Buddy Rich.
  25. ediddy
    I trailered my bike to Tallahassee Powersports this morning for the 40,000 mile service. I unloaded the bike and unhooked the trailer and left the bike and trailer at the dealership. I made some sales calls around town and came back at 3:00 and hooked to the trailer again. I started up the ramp into the trailer and in the blink of an eye the tongue of the trailer went straight up into the air and then came down and busted the back glass and damaged the rear of my lincoln aviator. I thought I was going down with the bike but managed to keep it straight. Ruined my day. I can't believe the trailer wasn't attached all the way. But as the saying goes, stuff happens. Could have been worse I guess.
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