Yeah Geico, I am talking to you!

Back when my daughter got her licence and I added her to my policy I specifically told the agent that she would be moving to Boston in August and confirmed I could simply cancel her off the policy as she would have no access to any cars and not be home until next summer.

Today I call to see if I can set this up in advance (as I have a lot on my plate right now) and I am told then cannot cancel her but they can make her an inactive driver and give me a whole $145.00 discount which still leaves my policy $600.00 higher than when she started driving. When I pushed back and told that no, that would not fly they told me "well, we could exclude her but that is more work"...I dont care...do it!!!!

I finally got them to do what I needed them to and I think we will be good but why the hell does it always have to turn into a wrestling contest

Yeah. A real pain. At least they did not engage in fear mongering by creating scenarios to raise your anxiety.

Insurance is the biggest scam ever forced upon us.

Yes it is a huge scam. I have owned 4 cars at one time and only have 2 adult drivers in the house. Should I just have to purchase 2 liability and collision policies that cover the drivers? After all, I can only drive 2 cars maximum.

I understand the Comprehensive policies cover other events not associated with driving but come on man, why 4 liability and 4 collision policies.

RIPOFF

Scam? You bet! My delivery van makes one trip every three weeks. That's approximately seventeen days out of the year that it is driven. The other 348 days it is parked.

For a vehicle that is on the road for less than 5% of the days in the year, Flo was charging a 100% premium. My requests to discuss this with an underwriter were refused.

Contrast this with aviation insurance: My broker would speak at length with an underwriter and they would discuss things like pilot qualification, recurrent training, type of use of the airplane, and a whole bunch of other factors. The premium was tuned to the actual situation. Interesting, the premium for an airplane capable of cruising in the 200 mph range, with a replacement cost of around $100,000 -- that premium was LESS than Flo charged for a van that was used around 17 days / year and could be replaced for well under $10,000.

In NJ, male drivers under 25 pay a higher premium than females. This summer my son turned 25 and I ask Liberty Mutual if his rates will come down in December when the policy expires. No, we don't go by that I was told. BS!

When you get a stupid answer from an insurance company, shop for another company. You may not be able to cancel one driver, for example, but you can damn sure cancel the whole policy. Easy-peasy. Geico was charging me several hundred dollars a year more than a competitor, anyway. Now I'm checking every year with other companies.

I have a good independent insurance agent who shops around among lots of companies for the best deal. Find a good independent agent.

What Fed161 said.

quote:

Originally posted by Fed161:
I have a good independent insurance agent who shops around among lots of companies for the best deal. Find a good independent agent.

I'll 2nd that! I have an excellent independent agent.

The wife and I came home today to two trees down in the yard. The storm uprooted one and it took out a beautiful little chestnut tree when it came down. A quick call to State Farm to inquire about coverage was met with "Oh, you don't want to file a claim. Your rates will go up." The quest for a new insurance company begins tomorrow morning. I'll be moving the car insurance as well.

quote:

The wife and I came home today to two trees down in the yard. The storm uprooted one and it took out a beautiful little chestnut tree when it came down. A quick call to State Farm to inquire about coverage was met with "Oh, you don't want to file a claim. Your rates will go up." The quest for a new insurance company begins tomorrow morning. I'll be moving the car insurance as well.

Homeowners does not typically pay for landscape damage. It will cover trees on the car and house and associated damages. It is pretty standard.

quote:

Originally posted by SevenPlusOne:
Insurance is the biggest scam ever forced upon us.

I thought that it would be Social Security.

The Great American Ponzi Scheme.

I love when you call your insurance company and they tell you your premiums have doubled over the past couple years because an increase in the number of claims in your area. Wait! I have to pay more because other people are making claims? Just raise their rates? I would understand I pay a higher premium if I was signing up for a new policy because they are just averaging stuff in my area.... but once I’ve been in your system for 4+ years with nothing happening or changing in my driving record I don’t think they should raise my premiums.

I am not a huge fan of change, but I have also started shopping insurance companies once a year or so.

I'm sticking with USAA. They have fleas to be sure, but with 3-4 major plumbing-related disasters in the past decade or so, they did right by me. Car insurance coverage has also been pretty good.

I presently have 4 cars on my auto policy, including a 2005 Toyota Corolla with 250,000 miles that my 23 year old son drives. He does not drive any other of my cars.

Back in September 2018 I only had 3 cars, but I had promised my wife for years that I would, one day, buy her a convertible. So I did in September 2018, which became my 4th car on my policy. I called my insurer and added it to my policy.

I didn't pay much attention to the premium increase until I got my last renewal a few weeks ago and noticed that they designated my 23 year old son as a driver of the new convertible. This accounted for a significant portion of the premium increase. I called my insurer and asked why they removed my son as the driver of the Toyota and added him as the driver of the convertible. I was told, "our system always moves additional drivers to the highest rated car when a new vehicle is added." This move accounted for $145 increased premium every 6 months.

I asked on what authority they changed a driver from my cheapest car to the most expensive. They said it was the way their system worked. I told them that in so doing, they overcharged me and that I wanted a refund on the $145 that I had to pay because they they decided on their own to do this. I was told no refund would be forthcoming.

I then advised them to remove my son entirely from my policy. I advised my son is only a very occasional driver of the Toyota. They refused stating all licensed drivers in the house had to be listed, even if they didn't drive any of the cars. I argued this is false. I'm an insurance adjuster with this company for nearly 30 years and advised I frequently see policies where a family member with a license is not listed on the policy because they are rare drivers of vehicles. And I've seen plenty of instance where the company refused to add a licensed driver in the household to the policy because they were told that driver is a rare or non-operator.

They then stated it was possible to remove him after all, but only if they could set up his own policy. I advised them this is illegal to force him to buy his own policy in order to remove him from my policy. It's called steering.

They then explained to me that unless my son was listed on my policy or on his own policy, that he would not be covered if he got into an accident. That statement is patently false. I am a policy expert and told them as a permissive user of my car, he absolutely is covered for a loss.

At this point I was fuming. 4 issues - all of which were either unethical, or false. I am still contemplating filing an insurance commission complaint.

quote:

Originally posted by Micropterus:

I'm an insurance adjuster with this company for nearly 30 years . . . I am still contemplating filing an insurance commission complaint.

It sounds as if you really know what the rules are, having been in the business for as long as you have been.

I think that you absolutely should file a complaint. Not only for your particular situation, but if the insurance commission whacks them, you might be helping others, as well.

The only caution that I see -- would this affect your job as an adjuster who does business with this company?

quote:

Originally posted by V-Tail:

quote:

Originally posted by Micropterus:

I'm an insurance adjuster with this company for nearly 30 years . . . I am still contemplating filing an insurance commission complaint.

It sounds as if you really know what the rules are, having been in the business for as long as you have been.

I think that you absolutely should file a complaint. Not only for your particular situation, but if the insurance commission whacks them, you might be helping others, as well.

The only caution that I see -- would this affect your job as an adjuster who does business with this company?

Ding Ding Ding, this right here is why I've kept my personal insurance separate from my employer. I always looked at it as I never wanted to be in a situation where a claim went sideways and I wanted to fight it.

quote:

Originally posted by mcrimm:
Yes it is a huge scam. I have owned 4 cars at one time and only have 2 adult drivers in the house. Should I just have to purchase 2 liability and collision policies that cover the drivers? After all, I can only drive 2 cars maximum.

I understand the Comprehensive policies cover other events not associated with driving but come on man, why 4 liability and 4 collision policies.

RIPOFF

Yeah, I had 3 motorcycles at one point and they did the same. I know it's unlikely but you could end up with all 4 on the road at one time. Say the BIL and SIL are in town and you loan them the cars. Yes, their coverage should pick up and cover but its going to be a pain.
Been in Risk Mgt. for going on 30 years. Some of the crap we end up paying claims on would blow your mind.
Unrelated Property claim came through yesterday. Clients 33 year old meth head son see's imaginary people chasing him in the house so he burns it down. Arson exclusion doesn't apply as it wasn't the claimant.