WTF GEICO??

[asechrest]

I complain when I've never had a claim in 20 years for my homes or my vehicles/toys. I'm well aware that insurance, by it's nature, is a pool of resources used to mitigate losses. However, I take issue when repeat offenders are able to re-join the pool with little impact. I'd like someone who's had 4 at-fault car wrecks in five years to be paying astronomical rates so that it might deter them from screwing up again. Usually they have a higher rate, but it's never enough to cause true distress.

I am not sure where you live, but in my neck of the woods I couldn't even get you into my good group of companies with four at-fault accidents in five years. And if you were an existing client in one of that group, you'd likely get a non-renewal. I'd have one or two lower-tier carriers and your rate would be ridiculous; thousands per six months for single driver single car.

That being said, yes, rates go up even in absence of claims. The lovely "rate revision". Ahhh, capitalism. It sucks, I deal with it too.

 

[KSCessnaDriver]

I complain when I've never had a claim in 20 years for my homes or my vehicles/toys. I'm well aware that insurance, by it's nature, is a pool of resources used to mitigate losses. However, I take issue when repeat offenders are able to re-join the pool with little impact. I'd like someone who's had 4 at-fault car wrecks in five years to be paying astronomical rates so that it might deter them from screwing up again. Usually they have a higher rate, but it's never enough to cause true distress.

Come to Michigan, where everyone is forced to play the no-fault insurance game. Then, come to the Detroit area, where its estimated 50% of people don't have insurance and the rates get insane. My jeep patriot was just up for renewal and I thought I'd shop the major brands just for kicks. I'm with Geico, but I got quotes from all the major places. Some of them wanted over $1000 bucks for 6 months, for a freaking jeep patriot.

 

[oldShar]

I've been a GEICO customer since 1991 when I bought my first car. Over the years I've stayed with them despite being offered cheaper insurance from others. Don't know if its brand loyalty or whatever but they've been my insurance carrier for so long they feel like a friend in a way. They've seen marriage, kids born, military service, flight training, airlines....whatever....its been a long time.

So, my oldest stepson got a DUI last summer. As a consequence his dad pulled his car and I cancelled his insurance. (His mom and I have always paid the car ins for him). My stepson is 20 years old and in college. He doesn't live in the house and now walks to class.

Just got a letter from GEICO stating that after 24 years my collecting my premiums (for 4 cars for the past two years) and only stroking a check once for a claim (fender bender), that they are now dropping me because of my 20 yo step son got a DUI while living 300 miles away.

I want my insurance back so I can dump them! I don't like being the dumped party and don't really see how it's fair or a smart business decision.

I had them back during the 70's & early 80's.
They didn't cancel me, but during one renewal, they jacked up my premiums by 30%
I asked why and they responded that for the number of years that I had them, I never filed a claim. THUS I was overdue for something major happening and they were adjusting my premiums to PRE-COMPENSATE for it.

Needless to say, I told them something unprintable here and tore up the renewal document and took my business elsewhere.
Now, I immediately circular file ANY advertisement or come on and won't hesitate to black mouth them at any opportunity.

I will admit that USAA is a good company, but since their premiums are 3x what I presently pay Farmers, I'm not using them yet ...
I've found Progressive to also be a good company to go with

 

[JB1842]

I've had USAA for years, but their customer service has gone down hill the last few years. After my accident last month, it took their adjustor over 2 weeks to decide to repair or total my car, and they only rushed him after we made multiple calls about it. They decided to repair my car, and the day after I picked it up, they called the next day to tell me that they decided to total it. WTF?!? When I told them that the car was already repaired and I had it home, the service rep realized she had the wrong file. Why is my name and number in someone else's file?

 

[SoonerAviator]

I am not sure where you live, but in my neck of the woods I couldn't even get you into my good group of companies with four at-fault accidents in five years. And if you were an existing client in one of that group, you'd likely get a non-renewal. I'd have one or two lower-tier carriers and your rate would be ridiculous; thousands per six months for single driver single car.

That being said, yes, rates go up even in absence of claims. The lovely "rate revision". Ahhh, capitalism. It sucks, I deal with it too.

My comments were a bit of farce, but I was mainly indicating that those with numerous claims (home/auto) generally don't see a problem with it, so they must not be seeing much difference in their premiums/deductibles. It just annoys me when my auto rate goes up with no claims and a 2008 vehicle that is one of the most common in the US and isn't gaining any market value.

 

[jbarrass]

USAA for sure. Had them 40 years, never leaving.

 

[Palmpilot]

I had them back during the 70's & early 80's.
They didn't cancel me, but during one renewal, they jacked up my premiums by 30%
I asked why and they responded that for the number of years that I had them, I never filed a claim. THUS I was overdue for something major happening and they were adjusting my premiums to PRE-COMPENSATE for it...

Wow. It's amazing to see such ignorance of the mathematics of probability from an insurance company.

 

[gkainz]

I will admit that USAA is a good company, but since their premiums are 3x what I presently pay Farmers, I'm not using them yet ...
I've found Progressive to also be a good company to go with

and for me, USAA was at least 30% less than Farmers ... bum ba bump bump bump bum bum! They didn't waste too much ad $$ on their commercial song at least!

 

[Gerhardt]

I have been driving for 45 years.. Paying for full coverage insurance every year....

I beg and plead with our agents to not use the term "full coverage", but the problem persists. The definition of full coverage is the coverage that an insured wants after a loss has occurred. If your agent ever uses that term with respect to your policy you've got a winning lotto ticket. What he means is that you have liability, collision and comprehensive. What he's actually told you is that you have the highest available limit of every coverage available.

Been a homeowner for 40 years.

NEVER filed a claim...

Homeowners premium has gone up 60% in the last two years...

Seems the insurance industry forgot to charge higher premiums for people affected by Hurricane Sandy...

They're paying more, but so are you. Insurers can't charge a LOT more to just those affected by a storm, and it really wouldn't be fair. The gist is to spread the losses across a greater number of people so that everyone in the territory takes a smaller hit. Like you, my claims history is a wet dream for my insurer. In my lifetime I've had one $600 claim for lightning damage several years ago. I have a $1K ded. for a $275K house and before claims-free and companion policy discounts my premium is around $2,500/year. And I don't get a break because I work here - I pay the same as everyone else. What really ****es me off is that I live on a street where maybe 70% of the people work in one way or another for an insurance company, and many work here. I was the first to build my house 21 years ago, and yet mine is the ONLY house with the original roof. Some are on their 4th roof, all due to hail damage. Yes, mine has it too, but it's primarily cosmetic. Every time a hail storm comes through, which is 2-3x/year, several are getting another new roof put on. Tell me I'm not paying for that?

These are the people that call, bitching because their rates went up, and you tell them "yeah, but that money has to come from somewhere. And it looks like we paid $15K last year for a new roof. And $13K two years before that." The response is always the same. 100% of the time.

"THAT WAS CAUSED BY A STORM! IT WASN'T MY FAULT! And you're charging me more for something I had no control over?!"

People like you who never file claims don't call very often to complain.

 

[JB1842]

Just for fun you should post just a few claims incidents. And explain that nowhere in any policy is there an "idiot" exclusion.

* I can't tell you the number of fire loss claims where people have cleaned out their fireplace or bbq grill and put the old coals in a paper bag and put the bag on a wood deck.

* The guy who dusted his combine off each day w/ propane, until one day he turns it into a flame thrower by accident.

* Rolex left on dash of unlocked car.

* Guy teaches his 14 YO son how to use his Bobcat. Kid and his friend take it for a joyride, friend riding in bucket with it raised to highest level.

* Insured eating burrito in rush hour traffic. looks down to take a bite and hits pedestrian. $100K SL coverage limit isn't nearly enough. Insured was also the idiot agent.

And then there are the legitimate claims caused by texting - a huge problem. You know the driver was texting by the absence of skid marks. Two weeks ago a father, his son and daughter were killed while he was teaching his daughter to drive. The driver in the other car was texting and didn't see them.

My favorite is the 19 YO girl whose car was stolen. She brought back 2 guys from a bar and she passed out after having sex with them, woke up to find her wallet and car gone. She was so drunk she couldn't recall what they looked like. They didn't make 19 YO girls like that when I was 19.

But my real pet peeve is people who complain about their insurance rates, and I'll take a look and see that we've paid them (or on their behalf) tens of thousands in claims over just the last few years. Somehow people think those claims checks are free money.

But there are funny stories too. We had a total fire loss that was suspicious but couldn't prove that the insured was involved. Until the police were able to check her text messages. The insured had an air-tight alibi that she was 100 miles away, except right after the fire was set she was texting with her adult daughter. "it's burning now" "Good - get out of there!" "on my way back", etc.

I could go on all day. For such a boring industry, there really are some interesting tales.

My wife works in insurance, too. Not only are the stories crazy, it's the fact that sometimes insurance will pay on them!

 

[Gerhardt]

My wife works in insurance, too. Not only are the stories crazy, it's the fact that sometimes insurance will pay on them!

The only one we didn't pay on was the mother/daughter arson. All the rest are covered. Again, there's no exclusion for people doing stupid things.

We pay inland marine claims every day of the year where people just mysteriously lose their rings. Drop a pan on your kitchen tile floor and crack the tile that's no longer made? Chances are your homeowners policy will cut you a check for a $10K payout. Spill bleach on your carpet? Covered. Forget to turn the heat on before you take off for Florida for the winter? Yeah, we'll pay the $200K in water damage.

I went down to Louisiana to help the Claims Dept. out after Rita/Katrina. My only regret was being in a company car where I couldn't bring brack all the brand new chain saws and generators that people would sell for a $20 bill. But we'd cut drafts for several thousand just to get them through until we could get a better idea of the damage. Mandatory evac, so we'd cut them a check for $2K on the spot even if they didn't incur any out of pocket losses and stayed with relatives. Then tell them if they made a list of the food in their refrigerators I'd pay for that too. They'd come back a couple hours later with a list of food you couldn't fit in the back of a semi-trailer. Because of the press and staggering number of claims we were told to never call anyone a liar - just cut the draft. People were ecstatic at all the free money. I was their best friend.

Until the next day when they returned, wanting more. One guy wanted paid for his collection of car parts that he was going to use to restore a car. $20K in parts he said, all gone. Except his HO policy has a $500 sublimit for car parts. I went from being his best friend to a lying, stealing thief overnight. Almost everyone I encountered down there was like that.

The same problem with fallen trees. If it damages personal property, like falling on a swing set or fence, your policy paid to remove it. If it just fell in the yard, it's on you. Everyone had trees they wanted us to pay to remove, even though they just fell in the lawn.

People on the Louisiana coast would have LOVED to have had just a 60% rate increase.

 

[JB1842]

My wife said even if there is clear cases of fraud, it's a lot of times cheaper to pay the claim than it is to investigate and take the fraud to court. There is a reason I bought a house with no trees around to fall on anything.

 

[asechrest]

Just for fun you should post just a few claims incidents. And explain that nowhere in any policy is there an "idiot" exclusion.

Yeah, I've got a bunch of them that run the gamut from stupid, to fraudulent, to tragic. Some highlights:

1. Auto insurance claim for vehicle damage plus injuries to four or five occupants. Insurer is one of the big names. Said insurer feels there is something fishy with the claim, and decides to see if local businesses have security cameras that have a view of the intersection where the accident occurred. One of them does, and they roll the tapes. They watch as the accident vehicle drives into the intersection, stops, all 4 or 5 people file out and stand on the sidewalk, a second car slams into that one, and all the people file back into the accident vehicle and dial 911. Claim denied. PIP fraud is huge in the Tampa area.
2. Guy trips over his own foot, falls onto his glass coffee table, and severely lacerates himself. The amount of blood loss caused need for cleanup and replacement of carpet. He survived. Claim paid out over $11k.
3. Guy's son is driving his car and reaches down to the floorboard for his cell phone. Runs off the road and hits two bicyclists, a mother and her son. Mother is killed, son severely injured. The auto paid out over $500k, and the umbrella paid $3MM of the $5MM available and subsequently non-renewed (though I got it replaced with E&S in a couple years). Truly tragic.
4. Guy purchases a personal auto policy through us. No sign of issues. Recently he files a claim following an accident. Except he wasn't the driver. Turns out he was running his own small-time vehicle rental service and one of his "customers" wrecked it! Last I checked the company is actually going to pay the claim but will subsequently cancel for change in risk.

 

[asechrest]

My wife said even if there is clear cases of fraud, it's a lot of times cheaper to pay the claim than it is to investigate and take the fraud to court. There is a reason I bought a house with no trees around to fall on anything.

Yeah, sometimes that's the case. A couple years ago down in my part of Florida, we had huge problems with fraudulent filing of sinkhole claims. With a lot of concrete construction and sandy soil, settlement cracks are a thing of normalcy here. But we had attorneys and other groups going door to door and recommending that homeowners file sinkhole claims for simple hairline cracks so they could get some money.

At the time, companies were required to include sinkhole coverage in the policy. Problem was that in order to properly investigate the claim, the insurance company had to hire a geo firm to do ground radar testing, to the tune of $10k a pop. And that's just to understand whether the claim is even legitimate. So even a fraudulent claim cause an immediate $10k loss to the insurance company. Caused huge problems.

Thanks to those fraudsters, now you can't buy sinkhole coverage even if you offer your first-born. Instead, the state now only requires "catastrophic collapse" be included, a coverage that only pays if the event is large enough to legally condemn the home.

 

[SkyHog]

Liberty Mutual saved me about 50% on each of my homeowner's policy and my car insurance. They may not be a very good company, but I don't care - insurance is a scam anyway.

 

[RJM62]

I had them back during the 70's & early 80's.
They didn't cancel me, but during one renewal, they jacked up my premiums by 30%
I asked why and they responded that for the number of years that I had them, I never filed a claim. THUS I was overdue for something major happening and they were adjusting my premiums to PRE-COMPENSATE for it.

Needless to say, I told them something unprintable here and tore up the renewal document and took my business elsewhere.
Now, I immediately circular file ANY advertisement or come on and won't hesitate to black mouth them at any opportunity.

I will admit that USAA is a good company, but since their premiums are 3x what I presently pay Farmers, I'm not using them yet ...
I've found Progressive to also be a good company to go with

It's kind of strange how different companies look at the same car and driver and come to such vastly different rates, and how much the rates vary in different places.

Around here, USAA is by far the least expensive of the companies that the collision guys love. Amica Mutual and Erie wanted almost twice as much as USAA, and Farmers wanted even more. USAA is even competitive with companies like Geico and Progressive that aggressively emphasize low premiums.

USAA does have its quirks, though. For example, they don't seem to care for single drivers having multiple cars. One of their reps told me off-the-record that it's because a lot of those situations are fraudulent, with a good driver registering the car in his or her name as a favor for someone with a ****ty driving record.

The only company around here that comes in lower than USAA is Geico, and I wouldn't insure with them if they were free.

Rich

 

[Norman]

Come to Michigan, where everyone is forced to play the no-fault insurance game. Then, come to the Detroit area, where its estimated 50% of people don't have insurance and the rates get insane. My jeep patriot was just up for renewal and I thought I'd shop the major brands just for kicks. I'm with Geico, but I got quotes from all the major places. Some of them wanted over $1000 bucks for 6 months, for a freaking jeep patriot.

You forgot that damned Catastrophic Claims Fund we have to pay into. The only beneficiaries of that are the insurance companies and the idiots who won't wear a helmet when riding their Harleys.

 

[KSCessnaDriver]

You forgot that damned Catastrophic Claims Fund we have to pay into. The only beneficiaries of that are the insurance companies and the idiots who won't wear a helmet when riding their Harleys.

I don't know much about it, other than the fact that having a Wayne County zip code more than doubled my insurance from Louisville KY

 

[Art VanDelay]

USAA has gone down hill in recent years and a lot of it has to do with them letting just about anyone that has ever seen someone in uniform into the fold. They're still the best for car insurance however for home owners insurance they leave a lot to be desired and there really are better alternatives.

 

[PeeGee]

1. Guy trips over his own foot, falls onto his glass coffee table, and severely lacerates himself. The amount of blood loss caused need for cleanup and replacement of carpet. He survived. Claim paid out over $11k.

I believe that's what you in the business call an "accident" and isn't that the purpose of insurance?

 

[denverpilot]

I believe that's what you in the business call an "accident" and isn't that the purpose of insurance?

I read the entire thread thinking that, other than the fraud examples, these were all pretty boring examples of exactly what folks buy insurance for.

 

[asechrest]

I believe that's what you in the business call an "accident" and isn't that the purpose of insurance?

That's what everyone calls an accident. And yes, that's part of what insurance is for.

 

[overdrive148]

I had an invitation to apply for a AAA auto claims adjuster in OKC a couple weeks ago and gave it a shot. Then did a "virtual job tryout" consisting of an hour or so of questions and situations and etc, which resulted in not getting the job.

I don't know much about insurance but it sounds like it can be a cluster while dealing with people.

 

[asechrest]

I read the entire thread thinking that, other than the fraud examples, these were all pretty boring examples of exactly what folks buy insurance for.

I think they're interesting, and some tragic. It's alright if you don't, though. At Gerhardt's suggestion, I was just offering up some examples. Neither of us have suggested that the non-fraud examples shouldn't be covered.

 

[oldShar]

I was serious that USAA quoted me 300% of the Farmer's Quote
The next closest (to Farmers) was Hartford/AARP
USAA was actually more than State Farm (who has typically been the most expensive).

On the other hand, I should mention that I do NOT carry Collision/Comprehensive (which typically runs at least 50% of the premium).
Don't know whether that biases the outcome.
(I do with cars what others here have said to do with aircraft --- If I can't pay for it in cash, it doesn't get purchased. But aircraft cost CONSIDERABLY more than cars, so they get financed. No two ways about it)

Whatever the circumstance, after getting successive annual increases from Nationwide (who I had just prior to Farmers), I've gotten into the habit of sending RFQs at the end of every year. If/When USAA drops their quote sufficiently, I'll have no problem changing companies.
FWIW

 

[Captain]

Well here's an update.

As a result of this thread I looked into USAA. Guess their standards aren't so high since I'm now covered by them...well, will be in 47 minutes. Turns out my rates went down by about 40%. So long lizard!

 

[NoHeat]

Well here's an update.



As a result of this thread I looked into USAA. Guess their standards aren't so high since I'm now covered by them...well, will be in 47 minutes. Turns out my rates went down by about 40%. So long lizard!

Two things your experience shows:

Get competing quotes from time to time.

A policy is not a marriage. There's nothing to bemoan when it ends.

Glad you found a better deal.

 

[N801BH]

Two things your experience shows:

Get competing quotes from time to time.

A policy is not a marriage. There's nothing to bemoan when it ends.

Glad you found a better deal.

X2....

 

[Dr. O]

Interesting thread

" .. .. .. don't know why they decided to punt motorcycles/boats/RVs off to .. .. ..
Well, murdercycles and wreckreational vehicles seems to have a higher loss ratio than 70 year old Sally driving her Dodge Valiant to to the hairdresser at 10 AM. And the 24 year old returnees from the sand box have a different attitude on life than previous generations.
Also try spending a weekend at a local marina and watch the operation of the boats after a half a day of slamming down boiler makers and brats.
Just sayin'

I have had two vehicle claims in the past 3 years - $700 for an attempted break in that wrecked the door locks and scratched the glass, and $2800 for a grain wagon that got bumped by the combine backing up and it pivoted around into my pickup. I am firmly expecting either a big rise in premiums or canceled when it is renewal time. When I called to report the $2800 hit the secretary went from sympathetic to caustic in 4 milliseconds flat. Suspect they no longer want my business.

The biggest hit was the ACA impacting my farms - which are more than 5 miles from the nearest fire station... Agent insists it is the ACA that caused my premium to jump more than 400% (no claims ever made) Of course I would not pay that and went shopping. Managed to find a carrier who gave me 'such a deal' - only 200%.

 

[RJM62]

Well here's an update.

As a result of this thread I looked into USAA. Guess their standards aren't so high since I'm now covered by them...well, will be in 47 minutes. Turns out my rates went down by about 40%. So long lizard!

That's a pretty huge reduction, especially considering that Geico so heavily emphasizes low premiums in its marketing.

Rich

 

[flhrci]

Denny,

Since you are knocking motorcycles, you are being offensive to me. Motorcycle accidents are most of the time the cage driver's fault. Not watching out for motorcycles, being on cell phones, driving like they are asleep and such.

I left my apartment to go on a ride with friends yesterday morning and almost got hit twice in my apartment complex before I even got out to the road. Yes motorcycles are high paying claims for damage but usually the motorcycle is too damaged by the car to repair and also may not be safe to repair (frame damage.)

Got an airplane? I bet your airplane insurance isn't cheap either. Any airplane falling out of the sky is probably going to be a high loss also.

I could care less about boats really but since you are bashing a group of people here, why not bash the people knowingly living in flood zones and hurricane zones. Can you say automatic loss and REBUILD AT insurance company policy holder's expense? I live in Ohio but I have to pay for that house on the Outer Banks to be rebuilt after a hurricane.

Pretty much anything we humans do has some sort of risk. Managing that risk is the key. Insurance companies bet on that management and have to pay when the risk management fails.

David

 

[N801BH]

That's a pretty huge reduction, especially considering that Geico so heavily emphasizes low premiums in its marketing.

Rich

That is because Buffet knows damn well the idiots will think Geico has the lowest rates from all the 24 /7 ads shown on TV and the same suckers are too lazy to shop the rates......

Sheeple are ruining this once great country...

 

[Dr. O]

David, I am an old EMR doc from the misty days of yore - even before seat belts - I speak motorcycle fluently.
The EMT's as they delivered the body usually intoned, "well, he was dead right'
The thing I noticed is that mostly he was just dead.
Yeah, the driver is often holding a traffic citation and a court date - so that makes it all better?
Ride what you want bud, no skin off my .. .. ...

 

[flhrci]

David, I am an old EMR doc from the misty days of yore - even before seat belts - I speak motorcycle fluently.
The EMT's as they delivered the body usually intoned, "well, he was dead right'
The thing I noticed is that mostly he was just dead.
Yeah, the driver is often holding a traffic citation and a court date - so that makes it all better?
Ride what you want bud, no skin off my .. .. ...

All is forgiven. With your background, I can begin to understand why you feel the way you do.

David

 

[Palmpilot]

David, I am an old EMR doc from the misty days of yore - even before seat belts - I speak motorcycle fluently.
The EMT's as they delivered the body usually intoned, "well, he was dead right'
The thing I noticed is that mostly he was just dead.
Yeah, the driver is often holding a traffic citation and a court date - so that makes it all better?
Ride what you want bud, no skin off my .. .. ...

That's funny, I thought the Morse for "A" was "._"

 

[denverpilot]

Denny,

Since you are knocking motorcycles, you are being offensive to me.

Land Of The Offended. Here we go. LOL!

Motorcycles: It doesn't really matter who's fault it is, lawyers (read: $$$$$$$) get involved and it costs even the underwriter of the "innocent" rider's policy lots of money to retain them. It's just economics, not a personal insult toward riders. It costs more to underwrite, that's all. Doesn't even require it to go to court.

Same with a lot of things, but airplanes generally aren't one of them. Annual costs for pretty extensive aircraft coverage runs about $100/mo for most types unless you switch to Commercial operations. Then it jumps significantly.

Again, commercial ops crashing leads to more litigation between more parties. Not a surprise. And certainly nothing to be "offended" over.

No offense to our lawyers here (who mostly don't get offended anyway, they know the rules in the playground better than anyone), anytime more lawyers get involved the costs go up nearly exponentially. It's just how it is. They like to eat.

Avoid activities that attract lawyers and life is much cheaper overall. Ha.

See thread about government health department shutting down a pancake breakfast to see what pansies we all are nowadays. "We" voted for it all, apparently.

Mix with a chance of an insurance "payday" and welcome to our "accident free society". "Somebody must PAY for this!" Ha. It's culturally ingrained at this point. People think it's still about "fault" though.

We're doing away with that quaint concept now, too. In my home State, no-fault insurance isn't just popular, it's mandatory.

This mostly leads to nobody bothering to investigate who's at fault on-scene anymore and PDs putting up websites where you "file your own accident report". No use investigating anything anymore, once they know the insurance companies will battle it out in court. In some cases you can only get a PD car to an accident if you suspect a DUI. Then they arrive in droves. (Unintended consequence: If you really want an accident investigated, just tell the dispatcher the other driver is acting strangely.)

Doubtful that was an "unintended" consequence. Mandate a bigger pool of money and save the PD some time. Planned. Also not-PC to point a finger nor will most folks 'fess up to driving like a moron.

And of course there's "underinsured motorist" coverage here also, which pretty much is code for "illegal immigrant coverage" but nobody will say that out loud. If you're hit by someone who has no insurance, and no plans to ever get the supposedly mandatory insurance, there's no big money pool to satisfy the no-fault requirement. So that's the "optional" coverage for automotive these days around here.

And optional higher medical per car or per seat coverages. Another big pool above the insanely low coverages mandated that won't cover a regular hospital bill, let alone a lengthy one.

They haven't come out with a coverage that covers the municipalities who'll bill anyone from outside their district for emergency services yet. I suspect as that gets more corrupt and the claimed price continues to go up, that'll be available soon-ish.

The municipality that charges (by far) the most taxes (ostensibly to pay for government services there) here, has decided that since they don't get those taxes from the suburbanites that travel through their area, they will just send the individual a bill.

Isn't going to be long until those "user fees" hit a price point that the average person can't afford and you'll start seeing people refusing the ambulance ride.

And the public safety folks won't like that much. They'll really want to put the bleeding person in a bus. And the person will know they don't have the $1000 for the bus ride.

And there's a short path from there to "you can now buy out-of-municipality coverage!"

Heh. It's coming. Watch. It'll happen.

No need to be "offended". People want this stuff. They want the distance lawyers and insurance companies give from having to interact with others. It isn't cheap to have that luxury.

 

[overdrive148]

Also not-PC to point a finger nor will most folks 'fess up to driving like a moron.

 

[N801BH]

And of course there's "underinsured motorist" coverage here also, which pretty much is code for "illegal immigrant coverage" but nobody will say that out loud. If you're hit by someone who has no insurance, and no plans to ever get the supposedly mandatory insurance, there's no big money pool to satisfy the no-fault requirement.[/B] So that's the "optional" coverage for automotive these days around here.

......

I have never understood the scam of a "no fault " state law including uninsured motorist coverage...

At face value.. you buy a policy in a "no Fault" state, you get hit by a uninsured illegal alien... Your " no fault" pays for your damage and losses...

If the other guy is uninsured... he is siht out of luck.......

What is the need to pay for the dead beat..

 

[DesertNomad]

I've been with USAA for 27 years. My wife was rear-ended 2 years ago and they were mostly ok to deal with. The specific agent assigned to our case was a bit slow and difficult, but claims were paid without much hassle.

 

[Hank S]

Since you are knocking motorcycles, you are being offensive to me.

David

Nobody cares if you are offended or not. Should I modify my behavior to not accidentally offend you? Sorry, that thought offends me!

You have the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Nobody cares if you reach the state if happiness or not, and it's not guaranteed.

My airplane insurance costs less than my combined insurance for my old Ford Ranger and the wife's Altima. Can't tell you about payouts, I've only had one claim when a deer took out our ten-year-old Corolla. No rate hike after that, either, but used the check as downpayment for the Altima. They've not pre-emptively raised my rates due to no claims . . . Never heard a story like that, from any insurance company!

I'm a happy lifelong USAA member, ever since I got my learners permit in 1978. Sometimes their homeowners rates can be edged out, but I've never had anyone come close on the car. The rates can be beat, but show them your current policy with coverages, deductibles, exclusions, etc. I even called Geico once, their rates was $10-15 higher per 6 months. And USAA had no problem with my single self having two cars.