Have my every-6-month auto renewal coming up, and it showed a premium increase of almost $50. So, I wrote the agent telling her that there are no good reasons for the increase. My 10+ y/o car is not getting any newer. I'm a safe driver and have not had an accident in over a decade. So, what's the deal? Received a response promptly, "Oh, I was able to lower your premium blah blah blah". And now, it is even lower than the previous year by $45. That's an almost 100-dollar swing. So, to my mind, they are just trying to screw you, hoping a lot of people simply not paying attention just pay whatever they are charged.

The insurance industry is a racket. There are few industries where stereotyping, profiling, & discrimination based on age, gender, & ethnicity are as widely accepted. Whenever I hear someone ponder, "How can you put a dollar value on someone's life?," I like to respond, "Ask a life insurance actuary. There's an entire industry that revolves around how much they determine people's lives are worth."

I'm surprised your premium was lowered at all. Usually the explanation is, "Accidents & claims in your locality have increased, which increases driving risk factor, which results in higher premiums."

You can be a safe driver, but if others in your city are not, then you still pay.

Recently Liberty Mutual (weird bird commercials) solicited me for a quote on my Challenger. Came in 20 bucks less a month than Progressive (Flo) charges me.
Minor detail: $1500 Deductible.

Our car insurance went up $100. In the last email news letter they stated inflation from the dollar to car prices and parts.

I hear you Q. My beef is with the Health Insurance bandits. I agree auto insurance is a racket as well.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
I hear you Q. My beef is with the Health Insurance bandits. I agree auto insurance is a racket as well.

Don't get me started with health insurance . By the grace of God we just dodged a $60k bullet with a hospital bill for my wife's back surgery . We went through 3 appeals and finally a third party review who saw through the haze and did what was right . There's some shady shit that goes on regarding medical billing .

Yeah it seems insurance companies like to group you into areas. Their excuse is always there’s a lot of claims in your area…. What’s the have you do with me? I’ve never had a claim, my car only goes down in value every year, parts become more readily available as brand new cars get older, I’m not sure why my premium is going up.

Purchasing insurance of any kind is a form of legalized gambling..... just like the casinos in Las vegas the odds are with the house. How can they stay in business and stay profitable for the share holders?????? .........drill sgt.

quote:

Originally posted by drill sgt:
Purchasing insurance of any kind is a form of legalized gambling..... just like the casinos in Las vegas the odds are with the house. How can they stay in business and stay profitable for the share holders?????? .........drill sgt.

Oh I understand they have to make a profit. But the house odds are better with me than the Jackass that gets in 2 accidents a year…. Don’t insure him, charge him so much he doesn’t want insurance, don’t care…. Just don’t charge me more because he sucks

quote:

Originally posted by Kskelton:
Their excuse is always there’s a lot of claims in your area…. What’s the have you do with me? I’ve never had a claim, my car only goes down in value every year, parts become more readily available as brand new cars get older, I’m not sure why my premium is going up.

A couple of years ago, I switched to State Farm (auto, home, and umbrella). A year later, I got the premium invoice to renew auto and it'd gone up 6%. I called the agent and said the same thing: I haven't had any claims, tickets, or accidents, both cars are a year older and their value has gone down, why is my rate going up?

His response was that State Farm had incurred "unanticipated losses" in Florida (I'm in Illinois).

I switched to another insurance carrier that week. When he got my cancellation notice, the agent called me up and asked why.

I told him that I had done nothing to increase State Farm's risk, yet State Farm thought it was OK to charge me for claims on the other side of the country that State Farm apparently did not have adequate reserves to cover. And, since there had been hurricanes that year in both Texas and Florida, and wildfires in the West, I could only assume State Farm would be increasing my premiums even more at the next renewal.

That was the end of that conversation.

I guess you can't blame them for trying. But I applaud you for calling them out.

Insurance companies know people are lazy and are more likely to just complain and renew. Make up a folder and get all your insurance policies to line up on expiration dates. Once a year, do the competitive bidding.

My previous Allstate agent recommended to switch policies for a year as he saw what corporate rate increases were. Corporate offices will ebb and flow rates knowing most people will not change. Insurance companies are like any other place, they do have occasional deals, just that you have to go looking for them.

PSA…… if you are an educator and in Michigan, you MUST check the rates out for MEEMIC. Look them up and do the research. End of PSA.

Does your insurance agent drive a better car than you?

Years ago, right after I got out of the Army, I was on assigned risk on auto insurance for various reasons. State Farm charged me $2,000.00/year for insurance for one 6 year old vehicle.

Went to a Christmas party thrown by the guy who owned the 4 plex I was living in, happened to mention my premiums to him. Turns out he was an Independent Insurance Agent and said he'd get me a quote.

He ended up charging me $200.00/year for the same vehicle.

I never did business with State Farm again.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
Does your insurance agent drive a better car than you?

Absolutely, he does!

Or is his office nicer than your house? Same comparison applies to your Doctor and Dentist!

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
Recently Liberty Mutual (weird bird commercials) solicited me for a quote on my Challenger. Came in 20 bucks less a month than Progressive (Flo) charges me.
Minor detail: $1500 Deductible.

Have you looked into Auto-Owners? A Michigan company, we have been with them since 2004.

Automotive Comprehensive coverage is zero dollar deductible. Having a Wrangler I’ve replaced probably six or seven windshields in the last ten years. We had one claim under the household policy and it was unbelievably easy and fast.

Look into them.

121, I use a broker in Dallas. They hunt every year prior to your renewals. I have 5 policies. If shit is going up, they hunt like an Apache. I get the call every year and often times we switch carriers. That’s the job that they do and I’m very glad to have them. Some times I have to eat it as there is nothing they can do. But most of the time we switch the home or auto policy to someone else because they are trying to stick it in your ass.

This is the way with everything now. I have to do the same damn thing for power to the house. Oh, renewal is coming up, gotta move to X company. I used to have to do it with the satellite company (cable) and still have to dance with Sirius XM. And if I have a medical claim, yet again, get on the phone and negotiate it down. It’s like buying a got damn car with everything now. Oh I forgot, property tax. Yeah have to haggle and file a protest every year. Pardon my language but for fucksake, owning a home and vehicle(s) is like running a damn business now for all of us. I’ve got my career job then this got damn place is the job I go to when my first job ends. And it’s never ending.

I wish I could have recorded convos with my broker on insurance when it’s one of the years where I get stuck and can’t do anything. Broker shopped everything around to everyone and the increase they are trying to stick me for I have to accept. F bombs, lots of cursing, same thing as you. “No claims, vehicles are a year older”. Never made a motorcycle claim in my life, clean driving record, good credit, not as much as a single sumbitch call to their customer service agents and I’m getting stuck? Same shit as someone said above “well there is was this major deal in this other state” or like this year where my homeowners went up 1k for the year “it’s due to the freeze”. Well fuck them I didn’t make a claim. Y’all should have money in the bank to cover that. What a racket.

It's an "industry" that literally produces nothing.

Shovelhead:
I had Auto Owners for years and had good service from them. But their quote for the Challenger was $50 a month more for the Challenger than Progressive. And I was able to bundle (thanks, Flo) the coverage for motorcycle and rental policy which helped to bring down my costs.