Travelers Insurance: Anti-Gun
Ry Posted a cancellation notification a couple years back where Travelers canceled someone’s insurance because they had “an assault rifle”.
I’ve been included on a few emails between a Nashville MD named Steven who had the same thing happen:
I thought you might find the enclosed correspondence interesting.
I am a law-abiding American citizen with a legally acquired firearm collection, kept securely in a gun safe. I recently thought to add my firearms to my “Scheduled items” on my High Value Homeowners Policy with Travelers Insurance and duly supplied them with full details including serial numbers of my various pistols and shotgun and a Stag 2T .223 semiautomatic rifle.
Through my insurance broker, Travelers Insurance Company informed me that the rifle was “illegal” and, as such was uninsurable. After lengthy communication with my broker who pointed out that the firearm in question is perfectly legal, and in fact, one of the most commonly owned rifles in the US, Travelers then modified their position, stating that this firearm was “undesirable” and that unless I sold or otherwise relinquished my ownership of this firearm, they would decline to continue BOTH my homeowners policy AND my umbrella coverage.
Other insurance companies are perfectly willing to provide coverage for these firearms, under a homeowners policy, so I would like the to ask Travelers Insurance, through your media why they do not support my 2nd Amendment rights and are forcing me to relinquish those rights in order to sell me an insurance policy?
I would also like this brought to the attention to as many people as possible, so that they may make an informed decision when choosing an insurance company for all of their insurance needs.
I have a few policies with them both personally and professionally. That will end soon.
February 11th, 2011 at 10:47 am
I’m not sure, but I think Travelers is owned by a British company.
February 11th, 2011 at 10:56 am
You could also take this to the consumerist. People there may be able to help, also.
February 11th, 2011 at 10:59 am
I like Allstate, they have no problems insuring my guns
February 11th, 2011 at 11:07 am
Ask him to let us know who he uses.
My home and cars are through Travelers. I don’t use State Farm because of what they did to Mississippi after Katrina, and I don’t use Progressive because they’re, well, communists.
February 11th, 2011 at 11:22 am
You should also complain to your state insurance regulator.
February 11th, 2011 at 11:23 am
He did. Not much they can do since it is their right not do business with someone.
February 11th, 2011 at 11:27 am
Unsurprising, USAA doesn’t have a problem with insuring firearms. From their on-line details of Valuable Personal Property insurance, they explicitly call out “Guns” as an insurable option.
I don’t have this, as I don’t have any guns that are expensive enough by themselves to get over the minimum value for an insurable item, and I was told by an adjuster that anything not so covered would come under the regular homeowner’s insurance. That’s because the lower is “the gun” with one value, while the upper is an accessory with another value, and the removable optic is another accessory with another value, so they’d all be separate items in a claim.
February 11th, 2011 at 11:41 am
I work in the claims side of the business for one of their competitors. Traveler’s is a publicly traded company who was majority owned by Citicorp before being sold to MetLife in 2005. They are now more or less independent of any other corporate shell. So, you need to track down who their majority shareholder is to figure out who has the most control. The current CEO is a longtime financial services industry guy. He is an American. The board of directors would also be an interesting place to look for policy guidance. I don’t have time to wade through their website and annual report to figure that out for myself. The decision to non-renew comes from the underwriting department, and those guidelines are usually set at the home office level. It is telling that the home office is in New York, and their largest single state as a percentage of their personal insurance policies is New York.
February 11th, 2011 at 12:02 pm
or you can go with a real insurance company such as Liberty Mutual or Safeco… 🙂
February 11th, 2011 at 12:26 pm
I have Alstate and they charge me a flat fee, $25,00 coverage, for loss of guns. No listing, just prove the loss — ownership.
February 11th, 2011 at 12:54 pm
About 8 years ago Amica refused to quote me homeowners and an umbrella because, when asked if I had firearms I told them that I owned several handguns and had my CCW.
February 11th, 2011 at 12:56 pm
I’ve considered insuring my guns through USAA as they have no problem with it, but is it a good idea? Wondering if listing your guns out for a government-affiliated company is a good idea in this country….
February 11th, 2011 at 12:59 pm
The issue is not what happens if you lose your weapons in some event like a fire or burglary.
Really, I’m not going to be terribly upset if I lose $3000 worth of weapons in those kind of events.
No, the issue here is what happens when someone breaks in while you are sleeping and you kill them with your AR or Saiga. Travelers sounds like they would consider that an illegal self-defense scenario and refuse to cover you when the family of the choir-boy-with-a-crowbar sues you.
February 11th, 2011 at 1:07 pm
Travelers tried denying me a policy because I would not agree to them that I would store all firearms away from ammo at all times.
I asked the lady if she was serious, and said that I live in Pennsylvania, where we acknowledge a right as a right (in most cases, but I digress). After hemming ada hawing, I then threatened to move my 3 car and 2 motorcycle policies to State farm (Travelers works through Geico) and wash my hands of it all.
That got them to insure my firearms as a collection, no registering of serial numbers or anything.
February 11th, 2011 at 1:16 pm
I have mine insured through State Farm…also no registering of serial numbers or anything. I keep a list myself though.
February 11th, 2011 at 1:17 pm
State Farm and Nationwide are both gun friendly. I’ve been an agent for both companies.
February 11th, 2011 at 1:31 pm
USAA is not a “government affiliated company”, at least not by any standard I’m familiar with.
Their core client base are current and former military officers, but it is a private corporation, with no more direct affiliation with the government than any other insurance company (regulations, taxes, etc). They have also been expanding their client base to more than officers, but I haven’t been tracking that too closely.
My affiliation is that of a satisfied customer since 1982
February 11th, 2011 at 2:04 pm
I’ve never been in the military – but am a very very very happy and satisfied USAA customer. Been one since I got married in 1998 (my wife’s an Army brat and was covered under her Dad’s policy. I signed up on her policy, know we have our own.)
February 11th, 2011 at 2:13 pm
Markie Marxist sez: “My commie compadres at Travelers don’t have a “Red” umbrella as their logo for nothing, ya know. Ha! Ha!”
February 11th, 2011 at 2:37 pm
State Farm gave me a specific rider for gun losses on my renter’s insurance. And just a blanket amount, too, no inventory list required.
February 11th, 2011 at 3:43 pm
Scheduling items with my Liberty Mutual agent has been an ongoing PITA. Listing the guns with them would’ve doubled the policy cost and brought all kinds of additional appraisal and book keeping overhead so we just decided to skip it. Other items we did schedule are going to get dropped at renewal because of the hassle.
February 11th, 2011 at 4:11 pm
Ditto on the above re. State Farm.
I told ’em I wanted gun coverage for something on the order of $15k, and that was that.
No lists, no bullshit.
February 11th, 2011 at 4:12 pm
I have State Farm, and I have an extra policy that covers both my substantial gun collection and the more expensive items of my wife’s jewelry. It covers them outside the home, much beyond the scope of renter’s or homeowner’s insurance. This is in California too.
I inventory all my guns to them with estimated values. They assure me the information is confidential. It even includes California-neutered ARs and AKs, they don’t care. It’s actually not an inexpensive policy, it’s a few hundred bucks a year, but the items are covered for pretty much any type of loss or theft.
I know the NRA has a gun insurance program too, anyone with experience with it should pipe in.
February 11th, 2011 at 5:25 pm
VidiVici; Harry Sucio; you guys are on to it. In the event of the Big Gun Grab, how long do you think that the confidentiality of your gun insurance records would last?
Under present law, all that has to happen is that all owners of certain firearms who have failed to turn them in by X date would be declared Terrorists, and in an unchallengeable Star Chamber Patriot Act hearing, those insurance companies would be forced to turn over those lists.
I, too, am a satisfied USAA client, having joined in 1967 (my father was a charter member). I have a Personal Articles Floater policy, which costs all of $5/month, covers beaucoup jewelry, thousands in electronic gear, my art collection and all the guns I acquired up until about 12 years ago, when I began to worry about the sanctity of the records, and stopped updating the list.
Trust is CLOSE to everything, but it can be overcome by Government Fiat.
February 11th, 2011 at 6:44 pm
The state I live in already keeps track of your handguns, and any long gun transactions, so most of my guns already exist in some sort of gov’t record.
Not all my guns are on either the state’s list or my insurance company’s list in case I had to start digging though.
February 11th, 2011 at 8:08 pm
FWIW, USAA is apparently the Gold Standard for customer satisfaction. At least according to some “inspirational” maertial my employer sent around basically saying “why can’t we be more like them?”
I seem to recall the material listed the 5 or so most-highly-rated companies, and USAA was miles ahead (like 90+% vs the nearest of 75% or so). And at least for NJ auto insurance, they offer some of the cheapest rates around.
February 12th, 2011 at 1:22 am
Just did an estimate of replacement values.
Just my trap guns ie; Perazzi, Citori, Winchesters come up to over $25k.
Rifles= $11k
Pistols= $5k
We have State Farm and would be interested if any commenters have any experiences with loss claims.
February 12th, 2011 at 8:12 pm
Another advantage of USAA is that it is an association of all the members and not the usual for profit corporation so it is much more concerned with satisfaction and pretty much offers the lowest cost coverage. I get a refund from them just about every year, unless it’s been a pretty catastrophic year.
February 13th, 2011 at 12:38 am
They’re organized as a mutual insurance co, I believe. Unusual these days, but not unheard of.
February 13th, 2011 at 9:03 pm
“We have State Farm and would be interested if any commenters have any experiences with loss claims.”
I had a bad experience with State Farm on a loss claim and changed companies and cancelled. My next door neighbor also had a problem with a loss claim denial. Neither problem involved guns.
I had furniture stored in a rental storage in Southern Ohio and they failed to maintain their property and the roof leaked. The State Farm Agent in Michigan who had insured me for 15+ years (without any claims) said the water damage to the furniture was covered. I went to South Point, Ohio and showed the claims adjuster the problem and moved my stuff close to where I lived and could keep my eyes on things. The claim was denied. My new insurance company said they would have paid out for the damage and then sued the rental storage or their insurance company. Several people I talked to about the denial said that “snake farm” had a reputation for this.
February 13th, 2011 at 9:42 pm
Have a friend who recently had a rifle, shotgun, and handgun stolen. The NRA member insurance covered it. I think he said they use values from the Blue Book. Just required a police report to start the process. They did inquire if he was going to replace them, which was interesting. This more than covered his Life Membership cost, which is a good selling point for the NRA.
February 13th, 2011 at 11:46 pm
State Farm has been legendary for screwing people over claims for decades. I’ve had to sue them for clients on several occasions. I won’t deal with them voluntarily.
February 14th, 2011 at 8:03 am
Ning those State Farm bastards, though my issue was with a particular agent.
The fucking lawyers have gamed small claims in Maryland, so I had to appeal to the auto insurance board. Luckily I won my claim this time, but only because my ex-agent refused to cooperate.
I also had an issue with medical gap coverage State Farm has to, by law, supply. I was rear-ended, and my insurance was suppose to cover the bills until the guy that hit me from behind paid. Had a very tough time getting the agent to give me the damn PIP forms.
February 14th, 2011 at 11:36 am
Not insuring your firearms due to fears that the insurance company will rat you out to the Feds is pretty insane if you have ever filling out a single 4473, have any sort of license to carry, or have ever given money to a gun rights org.
February 14th, 2011 at 2:29 pm
I second (or whatever) the disses of State Farce. Bad experiences on multiple claims with multiple agents.
Finally changed to Farm Bureau. Not a problem or a complaint. No problems with guns–no inventory or any of that nonsense.
February 15th, 2011 at 7:42 pm
I’m late to the party, but as I just re-told the NRA that I’m still alive and I still want the free gun insurance that’s made available with membership.
Also, if you are a member, the NRA claims that certain companies they associate with will give members discounts on life health and other types of insurance.
http://www.nraendorsedinsurance.com
February 18th, 2011 at 2:50 pm
i have state farm and never have had any problems with them although i do have a safe in my bedroom closet where i lock everything up in