Auto ins just doubled!

[JeffKeryk]

I don’t want to derail this thread into politics, so I’ll say we can agree to disagree. All I was attempting to do with my posts was say that insurance is not as bad as most think. It’s a tough business to be in because everyone always complains and wants to save a buck.

Fair enough, but politics and Economics are 2 different things. I was speaking to Econ.

 

[zzyzzx]

I know several people who have been run into in minor fender benders in parking lots, etc. Every time the person had no insurance and didn't want to call police. My son is a truck driver. Yesterday he had someone back into his trailer while he was parked unloading fuel at a gas station. No damage to the trailer, but it broke the rear window out of the Prius. The driver spoke no English, had no drivers license, no insurance, and only had a Columbian government ID card.

Did your son call ICE?

 

[JeffKeryk]

Come on now. Capitalism is where private individuals own/control production and compete for customers on the free market. It is the customers freedom of choice who determines the winners and losers. Other systems don't allow the customer the freedom of choice so the winners and losers are chosen by some other metric.

The goal of Capitalism is to maximize profit via the free market. No one said it was fair, or nice. Capitalism can be brutal. I love Capitalism; no other Economic system offers the opportunity to succeed even after many years of mistakes and trouble. I am an example of that.

 

[edyvw]

Come on now. Capitalism is where private individuals own/control production and compete for customers on the free market. It is the customers freedom of choice who determines the winners and losers. Other systems don't allow the customer the freedom of choice so the winners and losers are chosen by some other metric.

A free market does not exist anywhere in the world today.

It never did. The basic premise of capitalism is regulation by the government. Capitalism does not exist without regulation, anarchy does.

 

[edyvw]

Lots of insurance fraud and staged accidents drive (no pun intended) up the premiums for everyone.

All those ambulance chasing law firms with BIG billboards on the highway says they got their client $450,000 for their accident.

Fraud is there, and it will always be. But it is absolute peanuts compared to losses by natural disasters.
The reason that I have State Farm, although I could find 10-15% cheaper auto insurance, is that my house is bundled. OK, others offer that too. But State Farm is the only one right now in CO that offers $2,500 deductible for roof damage, and that is in Colorado Springs BIG DEAL because we are the hail capital of the US. Others do percentages, like up to 8% of dwelling. So, in 2016 some 75,000 cars got totaled in Colo. Spgs due to hail. There is no fraud that will impact the company as much as this 20min storm did (I had to change the roof after that storm, and we had a shortage of windows for 6mo bcs. that is how many windows got smashed). Add to that fire, in the West, etc. Here in the mountains, insurance companies do not want to insure any HOA properties that have grills unless it is an electric grill.
Natural disasters drive the prices up. There is no going around that. The Palisades Fire is having a huge impact on the market.

 

[ripcord]

Fair enough, but politics and Economics are 2 different things. I was speaking to Econ.

Economics is a major foundation for political thought and disagreement.

 

[Escape08]

Geico and Progressive has the best startup car insurance rate. It's like a bait and switch, once you're in, every time you renew, rates starts to increase. But it's not gradual. though

 

[HowAboutThis]

We have it on autopay. Just got a surprise as it's doubled since last month.

2 drivers in their 50's. No tickets or accidents, no glass replacement etc,

The FJ has full coverage. The rest are min required.

Don't see how that's legal. Now I somehow have to scroung up more $$$.

Yeah, ours doubled a couple years ago. Now it's been steady (knock on wood). I shopped around over the last couple years through two different credit Union brokers, online sites with each insurer, etc. and they were all still higher even after our doubling. Two cars, full coverage, coverage amounts mostly maxed, about $150/mth total. I did update my miles driven and that knocked about $2.50/ mth off. Looking at increasing the deductible or just going liability on my car as it's value seems to have dropped below $10k. Still pondering some of those bigger changes.

 

[scoot]

I know several people who have been run into in minor fender benders in parking lots, etc. Every time the person had no insurance and didn't want to call police. My son is a truck driver. Yesterday he had someone back into his trailer while he was parked unloading fuel at a gas station. No damage to the trailer, but it broke the rear window out of the Prius. The driver spoke no English, had no drivers license, no insurance, and only had a Columbian government ID card.

I've never heard of such a thing happening. Pictures needed .

 

[scoot]

You are both wrong. Capitlalism and free enterprise are about winners and losers, not balance. Regulation and Socialism attempt to balance things out.

LoL

 

[4strokes]

It's legal because it's illegal to not have car insurance. One of the greatest racketeering ever.

Seems like reasonable requirement for driving a car on public roads.

 

[addyguy]

I don’t understand how this is a surprise…how much did those wildfires destroy? How many cars were destroyed? That $$ has to come from somewhere.

 

[02SE]

I know several people who have been run into in minor fender benders in parking lots, etc. Every time the person had no insurance and didn't want to call police. My son is a truck driver. Yesterday he had someone back into his trailer while he was parked unloading fuel at a gas station. No damage to the trailer, but it broke the rear window out of the Prius. The driver spoke no English, had no drivers license, no insurance, and only had a Columbian government ID card.

According to a few Officers I know, that's extremely common. No license, no registration, no insurance, in the Country illegally, and often at the scene of an accident they caused, because they are DUI.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

It never did. The basic premise of capitalism is regulation by the government. Capitalism does not exist without regulation, anarchy does.

Well of course something which can protect private property rights must exist.

 

[edyvw]

Well of course something which can protect private property rights must exist.

It is not only that. Adam Smith, in The Wealth of Nations, precisely argued that capitalism must create fair regulation and protection of businesses. That is the core reason why we chopped off Standard Oil, etc. It is a careful balance between too little regulation and too much of regulation.

 

[Owen Lucas]

That was heavily abused. So many horrid/ illegal drivers running around on va plates.

That said, it is quite the racket

Until there is an accident and the claim is denied for rate jumping. Easy to do for insurance companies with all the tech now. If a check with plate reader companies shows that the vehicle is zooming around NJ 99% of the time, easy denial. I think legislation would need to be drafted to help crack down on this rate jumping unless there is something on the books already.

 

[Pew]

Seems like reasonable requirement for driving a car on public roads.

I agree, it is reasonable, but then we get into folks that don't have it (either willingly or unable) and with no reliable public transportation and no insurance = no car = no transportation to jobs = no money = perpetual poverty circle.

 

[4WD]

Check signature and guess high to low cost insurance on my vehicles

 

[zzyzzx]

Until there is an accident and the claim is denied for rate jumping. Easy to do for insurance companies with all the tech now. If a check with plate reader companies shows that the vehicle is zooming around NJ 99% of the time, easy denial. I think legislation would need to be drafted to help crack down on this rate jumping unless there is something on the books already.

Those people driving around with VA plates in other states don't have car insurance. That's why they have VA plates. I know VA closed that loophole recently, but there are still hundreds of thousands of VA plated vehicles in MD with no car insurance.

 

[TheOilWizard]

I know several people who have been run into in minor fender benders in parking lots, etc. Every time the person had no insurance and didn't want to call police. My son is a truck driver. Yesterday he had someone back into his trailer while he was parked unloading fuel at a gas station. No damage to the trailer, but it broke the rear window out of the Prius. The driver spoke no English, had no drivers license, no insurance, and only had a Columbian government ID card.

In Texas, even if the police did show up, they can't do anything. The driver can have no license, insurance, tags, etc. and the police have their hands tied because it's on a private drive. No tickets, no crash report, etc. I suspect it's similar around the country.