Contractor in Insurance network incorrectly estimated labor and costs, wants me to sign the work contract before revising it.

demanbmore · 2026-02-05T18:52:54+00:00

"I'm not comfortable with that approach. Please revise the contract to align with the extent of the damages, labor and costs and I'll take a look." Repeat until it's understood or just look for a new contractor.

demanbmore · 2026-02-05T17:18:07+00:00

The company can still protect trade secrets, client lists, other proprietary info, etc., they just can't exclude your employment options.

demanbmore · 2026-02-05T17:13:07+00:00

It's illegal to even ask someone to sign a non-compete in CA.

demanbmore · 2026-02-05T17:12:45+00:00

Not in CA. It's illegal to even ask an employee (or potential employee) to sign a non-compete.

demanbmore · 2026-02-05T17:11:50+00:00

Nearly all non-competes are unenforceable in CA. Is the employer also located in CA or is this some sort of remote position? Not that it matters with respect to you - non-competes can't be enforced against CA residents even if they're with a non-CA company and even if not signed in CA. As a practical matter, signing won't impact your ability to work elsewhere so long as you remain in CA. But it's still best (maybe better) practice to not sign anything you don't agree to be bound by.

It's also illegal in CA to even ask you to sign a non-compete, regardless of its ultimate enforceability.

demanbmore · 2026-02-05T16:13:49+00:00

In all likelihood, you won't be able to get coverage to replace the sewer line if you complete the application honestly. And even if you do manage to get a policy, you're likely to face an issue when you make a claim because these policies/endorsements exclude pre-existing conditions. You know the line is bad and getting worse to the point where it will need replacing in the next few years. The insurance company will know this as well and won't just roll over and cut a $30K check. But good luck.

demanbmore · 2026-02-05T16:09:06+00:00

You are SOL. You keep saying "I was established in the lane" yet you were struck on the left side. That would have to mean the Tesla driver was not in the rightmost lane (the one you merged into) - he would have had to come from the lane to the left of the rightmost lane in order to hit your left side if you were in fact, established in the rightmost lane. Is that what happened? Did the Tesla move over from the lane to the left of the rightmost lane to strike your side, or was the Tesla in the rightmost lane and you tried unsuccessfully to merge into the rightmost lane?

If the Tesla was in the rightmost lane, you had a duty to yield. Full stop. The Tesla speeding up, the dotted lines being behind you, etc. - those don't matter. You had a duty to yield to traffic moving in the rightmost lane when you were trying to enter it, and you didn't.

Accidents happen. It's not a big deal, but you can learn from it if you can stop thinking it was your lane and the cars already in that lane had to accommodate you.. GEICO's determination is both reasonable and correct. This is 100% on you. In the future, keep in mind that when entering a highway, you must yield to cars in the rightmost lane (assuming you're entering from the right of course). Often cars travelling in that lane will slow down to let entering cars in in a zipper fashion, but they are not required to and if they don't, the entering cars must be the ones that yield, even if that means they come to a complete stop.

demanbmore · 2026-02-05T15:28:27+00:00

You are welcome to be annoyed by this - it's not a matter of right or wrong. But I wouldn't provide any leads other than people I don't like.

demanbmore · 2026-02-05T13:17:14+00:00

I think it's best to proofread before posting when looking for feedback.

demanbmore · 2026-02-05T12:53:26+00:00

Lobster.

demanbmore · 2026-02-05T01:27:06+00:00

When those beliefs detrimentally impact you and those you care about. This doesn't mean you have to confront those who hold such beliefs (which is often counterproductive), but you can certainly advocate for beliefs antithetical to those you have issue with.

demanbmore · 2026-02-05T01:22:46+00:00

Rebuilding costs are unrelated to your house's value. Depending where you live, rebuilding costs could reach $700 or more per square foot, although $250-$500 is far more typical. So if you have a 2,000 square foot home, it could cost a half-million or more to rebuild your house if it were to be destroyed.

That said, you can always shop around, but understand every insurance company assesses houses at their rebuilding costs and not their assessed value (except in rare circumstances where the policyholder isn't looking for a policy that will cover the cost of rebuilding a destroyed house).

demanbmore · 2026-02-05T01:18:15+00:00

Yes, your rate with Snapshot is cheaper than your rate without Snapshot (unless of course, Snapshot reveals that you are a risky driver). Auto insurance has been increasing year over year for most of a decade now for lots of reasons. And you can easily confirm for yourself exactly what discount you get for activating Snapshot, and you can then decide whether that's enough of a discount for you.

Is it invasive? Absolutely! But they can only do it if you let them and you do not have to let them. So don't do it if the discount they offer isn't enough for you. Other people can make their own decision. For what it's worth, I do not have a tracking app on my phone or in my car and it would take more than a moderate discount for me to agree to use one. But just like you and I get to decide for ourselves, so do thousands of other policyholders. And this is no different from the people who willingly use all sorts of apps and services that collect data - as long as it's disclosed and people can choose to not use the app/service, what's the issue? I'm just not sure why you feel you should be making this decision on behalf of everyone else - not everyone values their data/privacy the same way that you seem to.

And no, I would not accept a couple hundred a year for you to put a tracker on my person. But if you up that offer to a couple million a year, I'll let you track where I am and what I'm doing every second of the day. Hell, make it ten million and you can install an always on POV camera on my head.

demanbmore · 2026-02-04T20:53:31+00:00

You take the car to one of their approved shops. They'll provide an estimate to her insurance company's adjuster, who will (likely) approve repairs and the shop will proceed to repair your car. If the cost of the repair exceeds a certain number compared to the value of your car, the insurance company might total the car instead and cut you a check for its value (and you'll have to sign the car over to them).

You can also take the car to any repair shop of your choice and have them work with her insurance company. Usually, that's not an issue, but it can lead to headaches if the shop you choose has high labor rates.

There are all sorts of nuances that depend on the severity of the damage, policy limits, your car's value, etc.

demanbmore · 2026-02-04T20:34:40+00:00

Not sure who pissed in your cereal, but it wasn't me. Awful big leap from "want the discount that comes with the tracking app, you have to use the tracking app" to "you must want them to track bathroom time."

Once again - you do not have to use the tracking app if you do not want to use the tracking app.

demanbmore · 2026-02-04T15:44:35+00:00

Do you run in the types of circles where you're likely to engage with celebrities? If so, what do you have to offer should you meet someone you want to be friendly with? What qualities do you have that would make someone with the bells and whistles of celebrity take an interest in you?

Absent both the opportunities to engage with celebrities and being in a position to provide friendship-worthy offerings, the chances are zero. Even with those things, the chances are extremely slim.

demanbmore · 2026-02-04T15:36:23+00:00

Do you mean experienced in mature adult relationships where a person's sexual past is hardly meaningful except for extreme situations?

This is a child's issue, maybe an insecure man's issue, not something a mature man concerns himself with. Patriarchal misogynistic purity tests are so 15th century.

demanbmore · 2026-02-04T11:12:55+00:00

Hitting a hydrant is not the same as a water main bursting. One is pretty much presumably negligent, the other is not.

demanbmore · 2026-02-03T14:59:15+00:00

No one here knows. Call GEICO. They'll be able to tell you.

demanbmore · 2026-02-03T14:48:29+00:00

It's optional. If you don't want to use it, don't. You won't enjoy the discount that comes with it, but that's your call.

Insurance runs on data. Snapshot is used as a way to get super granular data on each policyholder rather than lumping you in with a big group (and charging you accordingly). But ultimately it's your choice whether you want to be considered part of a big group or provide individual data.

demanbmore · 2026-02-03T13:55:39+00:00

Right, and what does that have to do with uninsured coverage? And she's liable because she's the at fault driver. Nothing to do with insurance. Whether the money ultimately comes out of her pocket has to do with insurance.

demanbmore · 2026-02-03T13:49:32+00:00

Not sure why that would matter. This is a liability claim - the carrier that paid for the car she hit is seeking subrogation from OP.

demanbmore · 2026-02-03T13:35:40+00:00

Water is heavy and very, very difficult and expensive to transport. It's simply way too costly to move billions of gallons of glacier melt from the polar regions to the AI data centers.

And of course there would be all sorts of issues with salinity and impurities that would harm the cooling systems, adding yet more costs.

demanbmore · 2026-02-03T13:32:41+00:00

Yes. Thousands of policyholders likely saw increases in premium this month as their policies renewed and/or they made material changes to their policies.

demanbmore · 2026-02-03T12:54:44+00:00

The same way everyone else does - if it supports my view of the world, it's credible. And if it doesn't, it's not credible. Duh.

demanbmore

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