Letter from insurance company requesting mileage

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When I had AAA (American Commerce Insurance) in Joizee, they sent and DEMANDED return of that same form EVERY year, since they could base their premium increases on your yearly mileage, with VERY small increases/decreases in miles resulting in BIG premium jumps either way. They even double checked what you put on the form against Carfax, and state inspection records, and increased you based on that. I HATED this!!
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Now, in Pennsyltuckey, I have Nationwide, and they do not care if I drive 2 miles a year, or 2 MILLION!!
It's one of the VERY few things (along with lower insurance rates overall) I actually like about this state.
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I've been with State Farm since I was 16 years old. Of course, I was on my Dad's insurance then, and when I bought a car of my own, I stayed with them. I am now 76 years old, and I have never been asked for mileage statements, other than the distance I drive to work.
 
I have a car that I drive about 8,000 miles a year. I'm with Progressive, and my agent suggested I use the "Snapshot" device. Because I drive it so little, my rates went down 30% on that car. Something to think about.
 
I would not voluntarily let anyone, government or otherwise, keep that kind of tabs on me. And what's to say they won't use the data to arbitrarily raise your rates sometime in the future?
 
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I got something like that once, so I called my insurance company and told them to keep my policy the way it is and if I want something changed (i.e. miles) I'll call you back and tell you what to change or I'll find another insurance company, and I don't want to see another one of those letters.
Well I guess having them for maybe 30years, she didn't question it.
Haven't seen another since.
 
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Originally Posted By: Anduril
I would not voluntarily let anyone, government or otherwise, keep that kind of tabs on me. And what's to say they won't use the data to arbitrarily raise your rates sometime in the future?

What's to say they won't arbitrarily raise your rates without the data?
 
Originally Posted By: Anduril
I would not voluntarily let anyone, government or otherwise, keep that kind of tabs on me. And what's to say they won't use the data to arbitrarily raise your rates sometime in the future?


You live in CA. Don't you smog your cars? Every two years the gov't knows your mileage.

I hope for your sake you don't own a credit card - they know how much gas you buy, where, when, what you eat, and on and on...
 
Originally Posted By: surfstar
Originally Posted By: Anduril
I would not voluntarily let anyone, government or otherwise, keep that kind of tabs on me. And what's to say they won't use the data to arbitrarily raise your rates sometime in the future?


You live in CA. Don't you smog your cars? Every two years the gov't knows your mileage.

I hope for your sake you don't own a credit card - they know how much gas you buy, where, when, what you eat, and on and on...

If he has a smart phone, he's sharing a lot more info than that.
 
I have AAA also and have to fill out a report every year. Last year it SAVED me money as they still had me as driving 25k a year. Im down to half that now.
 
I'm surprised nobody with Mercury Insurance has responded. They send me this form every year, and they go ahead and *assume* an increase in mileage (and rates) unless I call to tell them otherwise. It's only because of their very competitive pricing and good service in CA that I put up with it.
 
I just installed the State Farm device (same thing as the Progressive "Snapshot Discount"). There is a plug that plugs into your OBD port, and a transponder that clips to your visor. You must charge the visor unit every now and again (charger included). but the one that plugs into your OBD charges itself from the vehicle and doesn't need any other maintenance. You call an 800 number to activate it, and after a year it costs you 5 bucks a month. I'm assuming that it's going to save me more than that. It has a bluetooth device in it that I thought was pretty cool.
 
Originally Posted By: Anduril
I would not voluntarily let anyone, government or otherwise, keep that kind of tabs on me. And what's to say they won't use the data to arbitrarily raise your rates sometime in the future?


Exactly! We way way too much of big brother watching everything we do these days without plugging a big brother device into my car...
 
Originally Posted By: dparm
It's State Farm, to those who asked.

I'm going to not return it and see what happens. Worst case, "oh I didn't know it was required."


I received same from SF approx two months ago for my pickup, yes I sent it back, now I've just received another one for same vehicle... Prob call my agent and ask him why they are wasting money double sending this stuff...

On the flip side they are paying for postage and I have nothing to hide, so don't see it as a BFD...
 
Originally Posted By: grampi
Originally Posted By: Anduril
I would not voluntarily let anyone, government or otherwise, keep that kind of tabs on me. And what's to say they won't use the data to arbitrarily raise your rates sometime in the future?


Exactly! We way way too much of big brother watching everything we do these days without plugging a big brother device into my car...


100% agree
 
Originally Posted By: cmorr
Originally Posted By: AandPDan
Required? It's unlikely.

If you want to keep the discount you probably have to though.


+1, read your policy or addendum to see what's required to remain in compliance with your discount

The advice given here to ignore or throw way the letter is IMO unwise. They have workflow in place to ensure a response and will just follow-up


My insurance company WORKS FOR ME...if they raise my rates...I walk. Plenty of other carriers out there.
 
Originally Posted By: moving2
I'm surprised nobody with Mercury Insurance has responded. They send me this form every year, and they go ahead and *assume* an increase in mileage (and rates) unless I call to tell them otherwise. It's only because of their very competitive pricing and good service in CA that I put up with it.


I had Mercury before the AAA/ACIC, and yes, I remember they required this, as did Liberty Mutual which I had before them, and since I started driving.
Despite their slightly lower rates, I liked the service of Mercury the LEAST of any insurance companies I've dealt with up to now.
 
Originally Posted By: surfstar
Originally Posted By: dparm
It's State Farm, to those who asked.

I'm going to not return it and see what happens. Worst case, "oh I didn't know it was required."


"Hmm, never received that." - unless its certified mail, they can't prove it was delivered to you if it ever comes up.

For Dept of Insurance purposes, the carrier is only required to retain a list of letters that were mailed to serve as proof of mailing.

Originally Posted By: JethroBodine
It's from their underwriting department auditing random customers. Throw it in the trash.


It would be wise to check your policy for an audit clause. If your policy is auditable, then this type of questionnaire should be expected.

Originally Posted By: JethroBodine
Originally Posted By: grampi
I don't know what's going on with insurance companies lately, but they sure are getting weird.


They are run by accountants and lawyers. What could be wrong with that?
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Or underwriters like myself.

Originally Posted By: grampi
I don't know what's going on with insurance companies lately, but they sure are getting weird. My sister works for State Farm and she said they have people from SF going around to people's homes (who have their home owner's insurance through SF) and if they find anything on the exterior of the home that's not in perfect condition, they send them a letter telling them they have 30 days to get it fixed or their insurance will be dropped. I recently had an agent from Farmer's Insurance Group (I was thinking about switching from my current company to them) tell me they wouldn't insure my home unless I replaced my roof, even though there's nothing wrong with my roof other than it being old. Sounds like they're now getting goofy with auto insurance as well...I don't get insurance companies...no other type of business has a higher profit margin than insurance, and yet they gotta screw with people like this...ridiculous!

Carriers have the right to have a loss control inspection performed to verify the quality of the risk. If compliance is not received, they have the ability to cancel a policy within your state's guidelines. For CA, it's 60 days, but YMMV.

Also, older building systems (be it roof, plumbing or electrical) carry an inherent increase in hazard. There are certain types of roofing such as T-LOCK, that are considered to be unacceptable exposures. Loss Control guidelines vary by company, area and class of business.

Originally Posted By: Donald
Originally Posted By: dparm
I don't DD my car to work or school, so my insurance lists it as something like "not driven to work/school, 7500 miles a year or less". They occasionally send me a letter asking for the vehicle's current mileage and how many miles I expect to drive it over the next 12 months.

The letter says nothing about this being mandatory, nor has my agent ever demanded I come to the office so he can take an odometer reading. I've sent these in before without giving it a second thought, but lately I'm wondering if I am required to fill this out and send it back to them?


I have been ignoring it. If you return it then it must be accurate or it could be considered insurance fraud. But if you ignore it then not much happens. I cannot see that filling out the form ever helps you out.

The insurance companies do not even pull your driving record every year as that costs $8 or $10 in NY. However making other changes may cause them to pull your driving record.


Many carriers will only run a MVR when the policy was written. If the account has performed well and there are no losses, many carriers will automatically issue the renewal policy. For instance, there is one large carrier that follow this practice - and will only re-run the MVR if a claim has been made.
 
So what your saying, is it's normal business operations? It's not a giant conspiracy to collect mileage data and somehow ruin the lives of policy holders with that data? Whew.........
 
Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Yeah, I wouldn't bother responding.

If you ever need to make a claim (like if you got into an accident), then they'll get the ODO reading as part of the estimate paperwork. At that time, they'll calculate how much you've driven since their last reading on file. If it ends up being more than 7500/year, then they'll ask you to start paying more in annual premiums, but other than that, I don't think there'll be any other repercussions.


My ins has a clause that if you lie to them (eg not declaring a 16 year old driver) and it would result in increased rates then they don't have to pay any resulting claims.

OTOH my medical insurance kept sending me a letter once a year asking when and if anyone in my family had any other insurance. The wording was kinda quirky, it said if I failed to respond they might delay this or that. I decided they didn't need to know-- my wife had her own insurance until a forgotten point in the past, and I didn't want to get caught in a (unintended) lie that would only resurface with a big hospital bill. Dustbin!
 
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