I have to agree with DGG.
As much as insurance companies suck, there are some good one's. From my experience the big problem is with the Agent/Broker and not the company. The agent many times makes promises that the company would never cover. If you have a good agent he can tell you what is covered, and what you might or might not be able to get covered. Not the office staff, and not the big insurance company itself. They NEVER want to pay a claim, just some are much better when it comes to covering one when there is a covered loss.
The one thing to watch out for is contacting you company and saying "can you help pay for this" because they will then come out and then send you a recommendation letter giving you 45 days to "fix" whatever they have found to be a hazard. If you don't fix it they will drop you. Again, get a good agent and call them first.
Insurance companies don't really care about you, they are in it for the money. So if you have a hazard tree and it really concern's you then your best bet is getting it done yourself.
JMO
I always chuckle when these threads veer into the insurance topic. I chuckle because the level of misinformation, misconceptions and general lack of knowledge regarding insurance companies and practices is amusing.
First, the purchase of insurance does NOT end an insured's obligation to take steps to reduce risk to themselves and their property even if it means spending $800 to remove a rotting branch.
The one thing to watch out for is contacting you company and saying "can you help pay for this" because they will then come out and then send you a recommendation letter giving you 45 days to "fix" whatever they have found to be a hazard. If you don't fix it they will drop you. Again, get a good agent and call them first.
Assuming we are talking about homeowner's and not commercial properties this is just not true (Not saying it has not happened, however not likely happen) Insurance companies are too busy trying to resolve claims that have occurred rather than providing risk management services to their homeowners (different story if commercial). Arguably, an insurance company could save loss dollars by being more proactive however, that would come at a cost and I am guessing most of us would not be interested in paying the additional premium. In addition, if the companies did what you suggest they would go out of business because they could go in every home and on every property and find things that need to be corrected. They wouldn't have anyone left to insure.
Besides the obvious benefit of insurance remember that, as a general rule, your insurance premiums are NOT set based on the individual characteristics of your property. Your property is not rated separately but as one property in a pool of similar properties. If your property was rated separately your premium would be much higher. This is the whole reason insurance companies exist in the first place-to spread the risk.
Yes, on some insureds companies make money. On others, they lose money. Two individuals each paying $800/year in premiums. Over ten years one makes two claims totaling $3000. The other one's $250,000 house burns to the ground. Overall the company has lost $233,000 plus the costs to adjust the claims.
Finally, always remember the cost to pay you neighbor's claim comes just as much out of your premium as his. That is why it is in everyone's interest that companies pay out a fair amount on legitimate claims. Companies will be more than willing to overypay on claims once we are willing to overpay our premiums.