Being a little disgruntled over how much we pay for auto and home insurance (it could pretty much be free and I'd probably still be disgruntled, but hey), I fell prey to a banner ad from the Automobile Club of Southern California promising BIG SAVINGS if we bought combined home and auto coverage through the AAA.
So I submitted our information for a quote, and, lo and behold, we will save big money by going with the Auto Club -- probably about $600 for this year. Plus, since you have to be an AAA member, roadside service and all the maps you can eat are included with the deal.
The AAA agent was concerned that we have enough coverage to rebuild our home to its original level of style and craftsmanship — "I'll bet that you have built-ins and lots of crown molding!" — so she sent over a flunky to take pictures of our house this morning. The thing is, there isn't that much wholly original style in our house. The exterior has escaped stucco or aluminum siding, the front portion of the house has kept its original windows, it has a built-in china closet and a medicine cabinet — but the walls are drywall instead of lath and plaster, the molding around the doors and windows is almost all new (we don't have any crown molding), the kitchen is an add-on, and the hallway bookshelf that the insurance rep was photographing with admiration would take $30 of materials at Home Depot and a day's worth of saw and router work to replace.
We'll see if the illusion of old-style craftsmanship and our eeeeeeeevil spa in the back yard are enough to sink our preliminary savings.
And while our current homeowner's insurance company was all kinds of concerned about our foundation and the underside of our house, today's insurance rep was a woman wearing a nice suit, and she didn't want to go anywhere near the crawlspace. So it's okay if your house falls off of its foundation as long as it doesn't dislodge the crown molding inside, I guess.
Posted by Kevin at September 19, 2005 05:48 PM