Auto insurance question?

[Panzerman]

Ill take your advice Ekpolk and keep it. I truly hate these insurance companies in Florida though. I never had as much contempt for insurance companies until I moved down here. Being a Florida resident, you have to love how Crist* gave them cheaper reinsurance with the state, thinking they would pass it on to the residents and they instead tried to raise the insurance more, so that whole fiasko ended up making them more money and they keep saying its because of a bad hurricane season prediction and level of risk, yet they are backed by insurance which they are now getting cheaper, we are not.

Admin Note: for those unfamiliar, our current Florida Governor is Charlie Crist.

 

[ekpolk]

Panzer:

Note my location. I love the {those nice people}* no more than you do. My house is at over 100 feet elevation, and is 3/4 a mile in from Escambia Bay (several miles inland from the Gulf) and yet I get charged as if I were on the water. And they dumped my wind coverage years ago (guess I should be grateful they didn't drop me altogether...). You're dead on point. To hear these slime balls complaints, you'd think they were all on the verge of bankruptcy, and taking more from our pockets is the only way to save them (that and eliminating a citizen's right to file any suit which might have to be paid by them...). Of course, they always forget to mention how in the long run, insurance is one of the most wildly profitable enterprises on the planet.

*Note: I edited my own post, as clearly, in a moment of anger, (which always follows right after any conscious thoughts of insurance company behavior in FL), I used symbols in an obvious spelling of a word that the software would have excluded...

 

[Panzerman]

Since Ive been in Florida, Ive had my homeowners dropped twice and switched to another company and I never filed a claim. My insurance is in escrow and my insurance has offically doubled in the last year, agian, no claims by me. Reason they claim is that a "Predicted bad season coming" or they are still paying for the last hurricanes and need the increase. You actually have to live here to beleive it, I still have my wind damage, but they attach a large deductable to it and flood insurance. Think about it insurance of some sort takes more of your income then anything else, shelter, food, transportation etc.. You like to protect what you have, but I really think they are worse than the oil companies. I look for insurance to eventually to fall into the hands of the state, it seems to be going that way, Iam not sure thats a good thing either.

 

[The_Jeff]

With homeowner's you want to think long and hard before filing a claim. Your house gets a "rep" after only ~2 claims in ~10 years, like a bad credit report, and gets even more uninsurable.

As long as you're doing this thinking, might as well get a $5-10k deductible, and save the insurance for the true disaster. Until they straighten out the Gl***l Wa****g impact on their actuarial tables they're playing it safe it seems and growing a nest egg.

Remember insurance companies hold onto your money and invest it in the stock market, so if stocks are in the dumpster they need to raise premiums.

I've always figured the state might get more active fighting uninsured motorists if they had to pay that portion of everyone's bills. Constitutionally, they're supposed to hire state police and DMV workers to go enforce laws on the books. Sieze cars and assets, make convicted uninsured drivers work their debts off on the alligator egg farms or in those sweaty furry mickey mouse heads, I don't care, make it happen.

 

[Panzerman]

I agree with that, I worked with Police on a nighttime roadjob and we were bull crapping and the officer told me, in my local area, Ormond Beach, not Miami, that 8 out 10 traffic stops, result in the driver not having insurance, driver license or valid registration. He said he has never seen anything like it. I know, I was with another employee one time and we stopped at a red light, we were in a 1 ton F350 with a steel body and hitch on back and felt this nudge, we got out and there was a Ford Taurus stuck into the back of the truck, this scared young black guy around 17 looked at us threw the car in reverse and went around us and up the street, didnt even hurt the truck, he hit the hitch, but tore the whole front clip off his car, my buddy and I just looked at each other laughed, threw his front end off the road and left. Wonder how much that happens.