Category Archives: Out there

Like a good neighbor: When your insurance company kicks you in the teeth

This post is long overdue.  It’s been brewing for over a year (since around March or April of last year).  I haven’t written it yet for various reasons, but unfortunately I just read an article on the news that brought back all the bad feelings.

That means I’m mad right now, and I shouldn’t write when I’m mad, but I’m going to anyway.

Check out this nasty article/story about Progressive insurance: Progressive insurance on defense after court case.

In a nutshell, a lady died, Progressive was supposed to pay the family because of an insurance policy, but they went to court to try and save $75,000 by blaming the lady who died.  In court it was decided that it was not her fault, even though Progressive tried hard to make it seem that way.  Luckily blog posts have a way of getting out into the public the way that media should. I think this is the link to the blog post.

Disgusting.  

It reminds me of The Incredibles, when Mr. Incredible worked at an insurance company and got fired for doing what was right, and within the contract.  I heard from someone who worked in insurance that standard policy was to reject claims twice, for no reason at all, before they would do anything with them.

Disgusting.

Last Spring our good neighbor insurance company sent us a nasty letter saying that on July 1 our auto coverage would be discontinued. I seriously thought it was a mistake.

After a few phone calls I learned it was NOT a mistake.  There were two distinct reasons we were getting let go. According to them, either of the two was cause to be let go.

The first and main reason they said we were getting let go was because we had too many claims.  We had six claims in about a year (I’m not positive on the timeframe).

The 5th (I think) and most significant turned out to be a $30,000 accident (more on that later). The rest?

Two calls for a locksmith. I’m guessing this cost less than $100.

One windshield replacement.

NOTE: When we called our agent’s office to ask about these, they bent over backwards to encourage us to get a new windshield, and THEY called the locksmith for us.

We had NO idea there was a tally to keep track of the “incidents.”  They said we had six incidents in a way that made it sound that a locksmith call carried the same weight as the $30k accident.

Another of the six was a “fender bender” at a credit union parking lot.  Unfortunately the other lady involved submitted a claim for a dent, and was paid for it.  The only thing was that my wife got pictures, which we emailed to our agent, and there was NOTHING to repair.  I think she took her car in, got claims for OTHER dents, and submitted it.

Guess who got stuck holding the bag?  Our insurance company dinged us, even though we had pictures to prove it was a fradulent claim.  They could care less.

So, that was their big claim: we had too many claims in too short a period.  3 were meaningless and very cheap.  One was fradulent (by the other party).

When I pressed this issue with my agent, who was super awesome at selling insurance (but turned out to suck when representing us to his company), his next big argument was the big $30k accident.

It was clearly a business decision, he said, and how could we expect to pay in just a little bit but get $30k of value from them?

EXCUSE ME????

My understanding is that is how insurance works. You pay money, and if you need to file a claim, they pay out what is right, and according to the policy.

You know those minimums and maximums they say they’ll pay?  That’s what I expected them to pay…

Well, they did pay the $30k (or whatever they paid)… and then sent us the nasty letter breaking up with us.

My wife calls them the “paper plate insurance company” because once you use them you have to throw them away.

How very disgusting the insurance industry can be.

Even though we had about 16 years of NO claims… a very clean record…

I’d be hard pressed to go back to that good neighbor… I’m sorry for recommending people to them, and I’ll never recommend them again.

Who Wants to Be A Millionaire: My Favorite Moment (John Carpenter)

I remember watching this with my wife… it was an exhillerating run watching John breeze through the questions… and he was the first I remember seeing get to the final question on the show.

Then, he uses the lifeline to call his dad… and the conversation he had still gives me goosebumps – especially minute 1:48 (and moist eyes).  You can’t watch below… but if you push play you can click to watch on Youtube.

I Got Cheap Insurance. Yup.

When I got laid off (six years ago this week) I sat down with some trusted advisors and went over my expenses to see what we could cut.  When they saw my insurance costs (with a company I had been with for probably two decades) they said “oh!  That seems really high!  Shop around and get something lower.”

I wasn’t really interested in shopping around, but one day I was with a guy who happened to be an insurance salesman, and before you knew it we switched.

And then we switched again, when we found a “better” deal.

I really liked who we went with the first time (trusted friend).  The second time we moved to cheaper insurance because we could get better coverage at a lower monthly cost.

Then, we had to USE our insurance.  There was a little oopsie here, and a little oopsie there.  We were told they’d be happy to replace our windshield, and that was one of the benefits.  Not to worry, they said.

Then, they keys got locked in the car in our driveway, and they came and took care of it.  Not to worry, they said.  It happened about two weeks later.  No problem, with a smile.  That was INCLUDED.

Then, my wife had a significant accident (thank goodness everyone is okay).  Our van was totalled. We were told they paid about $30,000 in damages.

And then we got The Letter.  The breakup letter.  It said as of July 1, 2011, we were going to be discontinued.

There must be some mistake, we thought.  One accident and they discontinue us?  We didn’t understand.

Our salesman, who was awesome at selling us policies, said he’d go to bat for us.  He said he made a bunch of phone calls, but ultimately someone at the corporate office said that no, we were high risk, and we had “6 incidents.”

Let me list them (in no order):

  1. The big accident. $30,000 out of their pocket, apparently.
  2. A minor accident I had in a rental car.  SO MUCH FOR NOT GETTING THE RENTAL CAR INSURANCE.  Isn’t that what everyone says?  Don’t buy it, because your insurance company will take care of it?  HOGWASH.  $700 out of their pocket, supposedly.
  3. Windshield replacement.
  4. Locksmith.
  5. Locksmith.
  6. Insurance fraud.  My wife had a super minor “fender bender.”  The other lady said “oh, there’s no damage.”  They exchanged info anyway, and our insurance company paid out around, IIRC, $3k.  We even have pictures of the no damage, and submitted them, but we’re being pinned as responsible for the “accident.”  This is what I call FRAUD, and it’s a shame that person claimed it, and it’s a shame the insurance company (a) paid it, and (b) penalized us for it.

That’s it.  6 incidents of completely different values.  But they said “6.”  So, we were too expensive, and high risk.

What I learned is that you don’t switch insurance just to save $100 or $200 per 6 months.  You don’t switch just because someone says they have better this, or better that.

I also learned that you NEVER claim simple things, like locksmith, windshield, etc.  Even though they tout it as a part of their services, they keep track of the times you use it and then you are penalized for using it.

Since then, we’ve moved back to the original insurance company we had been with forever (and our parents had been with forever).

Since then, there have been no claims, no charges, no expense.

Since then, I have heard my old insurance company’s commercials on radio, online, TV, etc. and it makes me want to puke.  They say they are awesome, but they put their money into marketing… as soon as you use them they DUMP YOU.  I’ve found this documented online from other people.

My wife described them as the paper plate insurance company.  Once you use them once you can’t use them again.  They are garbage.

What a shame.

Makes me made to just write this post.  So much for cheap auto insurance.

James Altucher on Scarcity

Scarcity is what keeps us from giving, sharing, risking, being, achieving, doing, thinking.

How we think about “things,” like time or money or _____, affects how we act, and what we get.

I’ve been intrigued by the concept of the scarcity mentality for a while… here’s an amazing snippet of something I was reading on James’ personal website (scroll down to “HOW TO BREAK FREE FROM THE SECURE JOB“… It’s in the paragraph that starts with “Third answer:”

“I like security too. I’ve had a lot of insecurity in my past which built up a lot of fear, which has built up a scarcity complex inside of me.”

Wow.

Security makes you fear insecurity.  Insecurity = fear. Fear leads to scarircity complex.

Can security really give you the scarcity complex? The seem to be at odds with one another.  If you are secure you should have peace… and not fear…

I’ve seen it, though.  People who are “secure” are scared to death of losing their security, even if it isn’t worth much.

Amazing.

Group Projects & Team Work / Team Player

I spent a lot of time in my undergrad and MBA program in team projects… because the real world really valued teamwork and wanted us students to learn how to work in a team.  Check this out:

I’m not as skeptical as “trust no one” might imply, but I am reminded of a team project in my senior year were two of the team threw everyone under the bus with lies and almost made me and one other person fail the class, which would have meant we would not have graduated.  Stressful, and a big lesson in ethics…