Must I play these games with Insurance

I am what you would call the lowest risk group for insurance.

I’ve never been in an accident, and I drive very safely. I’ve never in my entire life had a ticket.
I’m a safe driver. I also have excellent credit.

I’ve never filed a claim on my auto insurance, as in ever.

Here is how the scenario goes (and I’m sure many of you are well aware)

I get a good low price. Then slowly over a year or two, or three it creeps up, creeps up.
Then I call and ask if they can do anything to reduce it, but of course I’m already getting every discount, blah blah blah.

So I have to switch, and just save 1500 a YEAR (on auto and home insurance combined)…..
Now here’s the kicker. Car insurance is the whatever company, but many of the car insurance companies third party out to the homeowners part.
I just switched and they “switched” me to the EXACT SAME homeowners company I already have. How insane is that.

It will take about 6 months, but then the original insurance company will email or mail something saying “We miss you, come back” and offer some kind of a discount.

This has been going on for at least 20 years. Why can’t insurance companies JUST offer the dang discount for me to stay. It is the biggest hassle to keep switching.

I know what happens when you don’t switch and it is UGLY. My parents never switched and when I saw their insurance I almost dropped. They just kept raising it and raising it and raising it. My parents weren’t computer savvy and didn’t want the “hassle” of switching because the boomer generation is very loyal to brands and companies.

a reply to: JAGStorm

Believe it or not, the rate hikes work. There are certain (lazy) personality types that will just accept the rate increases. Effectively, netting millions more per year for the insurance companies.

Most of it is monopolized anyways. So if you leave one insurance company for another - it’s probably the same parent company.

I pay $1,450 per month for car insurance….

a reply to: JAGStorm
They can get away with it because they are in charge, and apparently no one is checking them.
And they use every excuse in the book to steadily jack up rates - how about the 'age factor', wherein even though you have never filed a claim with them, because you are 'getting older' and percentage-wise you are due for an accident, they call you 'a risk', therefore you must pay more.
We're always on the losing side with insurance companies.
And if you do have to file a claim with them - first there is the deductible, then there is the 'allowed' amount that the insurance company will actually cover and pay.
Arrrgh.

Speaking of homeowner's insurance - We live in a flood area, and flooding has been horrendous and more frequent in recent years.
Flood insurance (mandatory here) has doubled and tripled, majorly expensive.
But when homeowners file a claim after a hurricane and their basement, hot water heaters, furnaces, and first floor have to be replaced, the insurance will only cover so much.
Yet it is mandatory to have it.

a reply to: KKLOCO

I pay $1,450 per month for car insurance….

Are you SERIOUS!!

I pay $500 for SIX months for 3 cars!!! & that’s the highest it has been. Two of the cars are luxury cars!
Again, I’ve never had an accident or tickets ever, not one.

originally posted by: RonnieJersey
Speaking of homeowner's insurance - We live in a flood area, and flooding has been horrendous and more frequent in recent years.
Flood insurance (mandatory here) has doubled and tripled, majorly expensive.
But when homeowners file a claim after a hurricane and their basement, hot water heaters, furnaces, and first floor have to be replaced, the insurance will only cover so much.
Yet it is mandatory to have it.

We lived in Florida and I saw a lot of people get screwed with not having the right kind of coverage. You have to be careful what you call the water damage, you can’t say flood or something. I forgot how it works there. Up North it’s a little easier.
Im pretty conservative and rather be overinsured. I’ve only had to use my homeowners once due to a microburst.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
a reply to: KKLOCO

I pay $1,450 per month for car insurance….

Are you SERIOUS!!

I pay $500 for SIX months for 3 cars!!! & that’s the highest it has been. Two of the cars are luxury cars!
Again, I’ve never had an accident or tickets ever, not one.

It’s not apples to apples. 6 vehicles with an average value of $60k each, on a commercial policy.

a reply to: JAGStorm

I'm assuming the price differential you saw is because there is a wholesale/broker market for insurance. So a company that is brokering the insurance contract may get better pricing than if you went directly to the insurance company on your own. For example, State Farm or whoever quotes you $1,000. You call up your insurance broker and they get you a policy that ultimately is with State Farm for $900.

The reason is because the brokers are basically acting as an outourced salesforce for State Farm. So State Farm can essentially pay a commission to the broker on the policy and the broker is still getting a lower rate than they might offer their own customers. The commission is cheaper for State Farm than paying their own sales force and over head.

Cutting out the middle man doesn't always save money...

a reply to: JAGStorm
No, we're talking mandatory flood insurance, there are no choices in that -
And hurricane damage is flood damage.

originally posted by: JAGStorm
...
theWhy can’t insurance companies JUST offer the dang discount for me to stay. It is the biggest hassle to keep switching.
...

Because they are all blood sucking illegitimate sons of whores and they know that most people will do what your parents did, bending over and taking it.

That's why the corporate machine gets away with their schemes and crimes. It's why they were able to run a massive bioweapon experiment on the majority of the planet's population with little or no blowback.

a reply to: incoserv

Because they are all blood sucking illegitimate sons of whores and they know that most people will do what your parents did, bending over and taking it.

I’m not one for bending over and taking it but with insurance you either have it or you go to jail or get sued.
None of those things seem appealing to me.

I know what you are saying, how did we get here!!!!!

I’m going to age myself and say something that will shock some of the youngins’

I remember a time when auto insurance was OPTIONAL. Yep optional.

My godfather, what are you driving! A Lear jet?

a reply to: KKLOCO

That word mandatory is the clincher, insurance is a scam. It’s basically a gamble, the company gambles that you won’t make a claim before they get enough money out of you to cover it.

The rudeness of insurance companies is because everyone must have insurance. In my opinion they can eat a bucket of Dumb Idiots Cant Keep Stuff.

a reply to: RonnieJersey

We have had the same car insurance company for around thirty five years. Friends of mine keep switching companies, and the first six months to a year they saved money but they wound up paying more than they originally paid after that.

Longlivity does reduce the long term premium of both our home insurance and car insurance, so does an eight hundred plus credit score.

originally posted by: rickymouse
We have had the same car insurance company for around thirty five years. Friends of mine keep switching companies, and the first six months to a year they saved money but they wound up paying more than they originally paid after that.

Longlivity does reduce the long term premium of both our home insurance and car insurance, so does an eight hundred plus credit score.

I’m saving 1500 a year. I hate switching but that’s enough to justify it. I will switch back when my original company offers me something lower in a year or so.

originally posted by: JAGStorm

originally posted by: rickymouse
We have had the same car insurance company for around thirty five years. Friends of mine keep switching companies, and the first six months to a year they saved money but they wound up paying more than they originally paid after that.

Longlivity does reduce the long term premium of both our home insurance and car insurance, so does an eight hundred plus credit score.

I’m saving 1500 a year. I hate switching but that’s enough to justify it. I will switch back when my original company offers me something lower in a year or so.

We have full coverage on the 2020 Subaru, minimum coverage and comp on the 87 Chevy pickup, comp on our 67 buick electra, and liability on the ATV four wheeler. Zero deductable on all comps and two hundred fifty deductible on the collision. Our yearly premium is $1840. I highly doubt if I would save fifteen hundred a year. In fact, when I did get a quote from one insurance company for a similar coverage, it was about twenty bucks higher. They told me that they could lower my coverage and save me money....well, i could save money if I lowered coverage on my insurance too.

originally posted by: Dalamax
That word mandatory is the clincher, insurance is a scam. It’s basically a gamble, the company gambles that you won’t make a claim before they get enough money out of you to cover it.

The rudeness of insurance companies is because everyone must have insurance. In my opinion they can eat a bucket of Dumb Idiots Cant Keep Stuff.

a reply to: RonnieJersey

Insurance isnt a scam. It is a financial backup plan on case you are unlucky. I hit a deer doing 85 on i-65. Insurance paid for the 10k in repairs... i in no way paid $10k in car insurance premiums on that car so i came out ahead.

People bitch about insurance cost until something goes wrong and they dont have it.....

originally posted by: KKLOCO
a reply to: JAGStorm

I pay $1,450 per month for car insurance….

Ummm... what? That's more than my mortgage.

ETA: oh, I see you were just tossing that out there to see if anyone was paying attention. I figured it was either some kind of commercial policy, or you meant per year...