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BajaGeoff
Super Nomad
Posts: 1727
Registered: 1-11-2006
Location: San Diego and Campo Lopez
Member Is Offline
Mood: Heading To Baja!!!
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I would say the public conversation has already been distracted xolotl_tj.....and those reading this deserve some clarification from you.
The facts are as follows:
Baja Bound is a California corporation governed by the laws of the state of California and the United States of America. We are permitted to sell
foreign insurance products through our California surplus lines license #0D25373. We are regulated by the California Department of Insurance and all
of our agents hold individual property/casualty licenses.
Baja Bound is a broker for HDI Seguros and ACE Seguros, both of whom are domiciled in Mexico and governed by their respective state and federal laws.
HDI and ACE are regulated by the Comisión Nacional de Seguros y Fianzas and both companies are authorized to sell their lines of tourist auto
insurance through US based insurance brokers such as Baja Bound.
So exactly how is Baja Bound violating Mexican Constitutional rights???
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xolotl_tj
Junior Nomad
Posts: 38
Registered: 9-20-2008
Location: Col. Libertad, Tijuana
Member Is Offline
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There is a fine line between discretion and coyness on Internet forums and it seems we've crossed it by now. So as not to leave David K and Lencho in
the dark…
Baja Bound sponsors a Facebook community, "Talk Baja", in which its owner has libeled a local business with false claims of theft and fraud. It was a
lengthy thread full of angry villagers out to lynch Dr Frankenstein. When the business investigated those claims, "Talk Baja" removed the entire
thread. When the business reported its findings, the owner of "Talk Baja" screamed "Liar!", removed the findings, and banned the business from the
community.
Baja Bound is not the actor in this little drama, they are merely the sponsor of it. What they sponsor, in this particular case, was libelous on its
face and continues to violate the constitutional right of this business to defend itself.
The great danger in sponsoring every known Gringo-in-Baja community is that they all have short fuses, easy to take offense where none was intended
and quick to give offense where none is warranted. Many of them are run as self-styled benevolent dictatorships that treat their public irresponsibly:
by giving money to people like that, sponsors become complicit in their unethical behavior.
I cannot say whether Baja Bound are indeed good, solid businessfolk or not. My experiences with them have not been consistent enough for me to hazard
an opinion. I can say that I would feel more comfortable with a brokerage that is not so involved with the GiB soap opera.
Now, if I might take this opportunity to say something about auto insurance…
The most critical phase of an accident in Mexico is from the accident itself to the arrival of the police. Having an attorney on the other end of your
cell phone during this time is invaluable. This is usually called "legal coverage". Most policies now offer it but it's worth your while to make sure
your policy includes a twenty-four-hour attorney.
L’homme ici arrive où il peut et non où il veut.
—Vasco Núñez de Balboa
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David K
Honored Nomad
Posts: 64835
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: San Diego County
Member Is Offline
Mood: Have Baja Fever
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xolotl_tj: Because you don't like a Facebook page, you need to badmouth an obviously very popular and successful insurance agency (who we depend on if
we get in trouble)?
Seriously, a Facebook page?
Come on and let's have some fun, splash around in that rising sea, and enjoy life... it really that short!
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philodog
Nomad
Posts: 163
Registered: 10-9-2010
Member Is Offline
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FWIW I did a quote on Bajabound based on this thread and it came out to over twice what I pay thru Vagabundos. Am I missng something? Is Vag insurance
inferior?
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hombre66
Nomad
Posts: 281
Registered: 10-29-2014
Member Is Offline
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Whew... Quite the wild ride here in the mex insurance world. Bajabound has straightened all this out for me. What annoyed me in particular was going
to websites offering up choices, processing my info and then giving these outlandish quotes. Just want 500k liability. (My old T100 rig isn't worth
squat) Got a very acceptable quote of 70 bucks from BB for 12 days.
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Jack Swords
Super Nomad
Posts: 1095
Registered: 8-30-2002
Location: Nipomo, CA/La Paz, BCS
Member Is Offline
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Just looked at my annual car insurance that we have through Vagabundos....it is written with ABA Seguros which I believe was just acquired by ACE.
Both are top notch companies.
https://www.mexpro.com/mexico/aba-seguros.html
Our sailboat insurance in Mexico is carried by ACE. Paid out fully when boat was severely damaged by hurricane Marty. We have had one claim in 20
years with Vagabundos. Adjuster was on scene in an hour, took photos, took me to police station (La Paz) for reports, AND vehicle was repaired in the
US in my home town and paid by insurance company. We do carry the full legal aid attachment on the insurance as suggested by others. Have heard
stories of problems with claims on other companies and that is really the essence of carrying auto insurance, hopefully you will never need it.
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xolotl_tj
Junior Nomad
Posts: 38
Registered: 9-20-2008
Location: Col. Libertad, Tijuana
Member Is Offline
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No, I really meant to leave an adjectival comment because I hadn’t yet formed a more substantive one – when commenting about a sponsor, however,
anything short of adulation is likely to come across as drive-by mudslinging. It is unfortunate, then, that I find myself liking Baja Bound less the
more I learn about them as that means we’ll also be getting more subsidized Pollyannaism as well.
At the time I found this thread, I had spent three days investigating its very question … pretty disorienting … three days of dealing with insurance
salesmen is like three days eating nothing but cotton candy. It caught me off-guard to read such heartfelt testimonials for one brokerage that I was
already pretty sure I didn’t like especially since there are so many others to choose from. Listed in no particular order, these are some of the
online brokers that I came across:
www.sanbornsinsurance.com
www.mexicaninsurance.com (Oscar Padilla)
www.esurance.com/insurance/international/mexico
www.MexPro.com
www.MexicanAutoInsurance.com
www.AssureMex.com
www.amigomexinsurance.com
www.motormexico.com
www.baja-mex.com
www.drivemex.com
www.vagabundos.com (annual membership $35)
www.discoverbaja.com (annual membership $39)
…and most likely your own U.S. insurance agent
They all do the same thing: they sell auto policies on behalf of a handful of Mexican underwriters. They then distribute their commissions as they see
fit. Most buy some sort of advertising. The two membership groups give up much of their commission in exchange for their annual fee. One broker gives
you 30% commission when you sign up as his “sub-agent” to issue policies from your own website.
How might we objectively conclude that one is better than another? Is there a qualitative measurement we might apply? They are all retailers offering
the very same mass-market products. Unlike State Farm and Farmers, these brokers do not act as the insured’s good neighbor or professorial adviser.
They just sell. The insured doesn’t even file a claim with the broker in the event of a loss – that has to be done with the Mexican company while the
insured is still in Mexico, otherwise the insured loses his claim.
It’s the Mexican underwriter, not the U.S. broker, that determines the success of a claim. You can’t judge customer satisfaction by the rating that A.
M. Best assigns to each underwriter (which is only a measure of the company’s prospective liquidity) and they all have a lot of unhappy customers.
Anecdotal evidence suggests that there are still many more satisfied customers than not, but if you were to become a “not” your first recourse would
most likely be with Secture (in-state: 078, international: +52-664-682-3367 ext. 113, email: assistance@baja.gob.mx).
On-site claims adjusters are a recent development. Quálitas agents have told me their company “invented” this, and I’ve seen their adjusters on the
street; other companies have been reported to be using them as well. They’re not necessarily the insured’s friend: they are paid by the company to
keep costs down and they tend to control the accident scene even if the police are also there. If you get one, it will be in your best interest to
treat him as deferentially as possible. Let’s end with a story.
About a year ago, a Gringo-in-Baja backed his urban-assault vehicle out of his driveway in southern Rosarito and ran straight into a local who was
insured by Quálitas. The claims adjuster showed up, took pictures of the vehicles, established that the GiB wasn’t insured, and asked about the smell
of alcohol on his breath. He then set the estimated repair cost at five hundred dollars (an odd figure considering that the car would go to a
body-shop that works in pesos) and told the GiB about the police procedure for demonstrating uninsured financial responsibility by making a cash
deposit at the comandancia, “but if you can indemnify my insured for the damage right now, we will have no need to call the police.” The money was
produced and the three went on their separate ways. The GiB told me this story, so we can’t know how the adjuster and the local divvied up the loot.
L’homme ici arrive où il peut et non où il veut.
—Vasco Núñez de Balboa
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Bajahowodd
Elite Nomad
Posts: 9274
Registered: 12-15-2008
Location: Disneyland Adjacent and anywhere in Baja
Member Is Offline
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First, I have no idea how you can drag Ron Hof's Talk Baja in to this. I'm fairly certain that he doesn't give a flying crap as to what California
surplus lines broker you do business with.
It has been previously posted that there are a finite number of carriers that do business in Mexico. And there are several California surplus lines
brokers that do business with them.
Buying insurance for a Baja trip is just all about how well the broker will go to bat for you, should you need to make a claim.
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