CooBra07

Well said, I was just going to mention that...The insurance companies require the liability coverages of all your other personal insurance policies be raised to the maximum amounts before you can get an umbrella policy. So, if you carry low liability coverages and are planning on getting an ubrella policy, you are going to have to add that additional cost to the overall equation.

also, something to be aware regarding uninsured/underinsured coverage...there are a lot of restrictions or conditions when it comes to those coverages...read your policy coverages!

A lot of people don't read their Policy Declarations...that's like the bible for insurance...lol

Also, many people use the term "Full Coverage" and later find out the hardway that they did not have full coverage.

Im surprised how many people don't know what their insurace coverages are and limits...you don't have to be an expert but at least be aware of what your are paying for.

Ltngdrvr

Anyone in the insurance biz or at least in the know, why does your credit score have ANYTHING to do with your car insurance rates???

No tickets or accidents or prior claims, it seems to me, should be the criteria on which your car insurance rates should be based on.

I usually pay my insurance all at once so credit worthiness shouldn't come into play, in my mind.

Kahdir

Risk factors... if you're not paying your bills on time (ie car note) you may have it stolen...

Ltngdrvr

Nah, not buying that excuse.

My credit problems were quite a ways in the past, linked to an extended illness and business loss, house and car always paid on time.

Lumping people into general descriptions instead of case by case examples is purely wrong.

lp9820

Isn't that what insurance companies have always done even before credit score became a factor?

cdynaco

That is true but the concept was "spreading the risk". Now they use computer models to the nth degree to segregate people into classes. It has moved away from spreading the risk across the whole block of business. (This problem extends to the health ins industry.)

Many factors can affect a credit score that have nothing to do with your being a careful driver, being ticket & accident free, living in a low risk area, paying your ins prems on time, etc. And the stupid FICO system doesn't even take into account a persons assets such as their liquid emergency fund in a bank or investment account.

Just like some States recently passed legislation where employers could not discriminate if you had a poor credit score, I wish the same were true for insurance companies.

05GT-O.C.D.

The reason why is because people w/ lower credit scores tend to file more claims. That's been shown as fact in the industry. Now - why that tends to happen is speculation - Common thought is that people w/ lower credit tend to have more financial strain, therefore are more likely to file a claim for something rather than absorb the cost and pay out of pocket.

Ltngdrvr

But that's a totally garbage way to do it. I haven't filed any claims, don't recall that I EVER HAVE in 34 years of driving. A few tickets in that period of time but none in over 6 years.

Really sucks big time.

ford4v429

I have a 85 year old friend who has not had a ticket/claim/accident EVER, and always paid cash for anything he needed(if he couldnt afford it he didnt need it that bad type of guy)...anyway last year they jacked his insurance up- not because of age, but because of credit score- he had NONE as he never took out a loan since paying off his house like before I was even born...the guy did everything 'right' and the all-knowing pidgeonholing computer says hes a higher risk due to bad(no) credit. att 85 he went out and bought a new mower/tractor just to establish credit...of course he paid it off the first month, but now he at least has something on his credit report...what the hell does buying a mower have to do with insurance? hes the kinda guy that thinks everyone over 60 should get driving tests every few years, as he knows a lot of folks that dont drive so well (he's not one of them yet).

IMO there NEEDS to be a way to penalize insurers that pull this crap on the wrong people. I hope my rates dont go ballistic- got full coverage on 8 cars, no tickets/claims in 30 yrs- but the company I work for went bankrupt in 08- 6 months after the wifes heart attack- long story short, but although we paid our health insurance premiums, the company (self insured- many are- WATCH OUT) a 100k bill from 12/08 is just now finally getting paid...sure its hit my credit rating by now as theres been a year and a half of collections folks hounding us...if something like a unpaid/covered/3rd party default can jack up my car insurance WTF? some of the accounting gurus need to see the variables can have variables too- their often idiotic one-size-fits-all formulas suck in my opinion.

cdynaco

The greedy insurance monopoly continues to run rough shod over people - cash customers - and the politico's gladly look the other way as they cash their bribe checks. The insurance industry needs to be buckled at its knees - preferably by enabling wide open competition, but if not then by strict laws against class discrimination. Average the rates over the entire block of business.

jokerstars

^That sounds a lot like Obamacare's policy that healthcare providers can't charge unhealthy people higher premiums.

cdynaco

LOL Don't get me started!

I will say briefly - if the rates were averaged across the entire block of health ins business (like when ins started... first thing you learn getting your license is that the original concept was to 'spread the risk') it would be affordable for everyone - vs many dropping it cause of their 'risk rate' being unaffordable (so they go to emergency anyway - and the healthy people pay with higher prems), vs people being forced into bankruptcy so all those lenders lose money, etc. etc.

And these are free market (with regulation) solutions - not obamacare government healthcare. Force the ins cos. to compete nationwide and you'll see massive improvement in the current (former) system - without trillion dollar deficits to the taxpayer and without the wasted expense of a myriad of new Administrative Agencies.

The insurance industry's method simply hurts healthy customers that are paying for their health insurance and hurts other parts of the economy. Not to mention people's lives.

05GT-O.C.D.

Keep in mind that insurance companies are already regulated by the states that they write policies in. There's 2 sides to every story, and in many cases insurance companies are doing what they can to survive within the regulation. For a quick example - many insurance companies pulled out of Florida due to high risk of hurricanes and heavy state regulation resulting in operating losses. The effect of that is now less competition in FL and soaring rates for the people who live there now. It's no coincidence that the states that are hardest to do business in have the highest rates.
I'm not saying that there aren't TONS of examples of many dispicible insurance practices, but be careful of what you wish for. When insurance companies are brought to their knees they move into other more profitable lines of business - investing, banking, etc. Anyone who has taken a basic economics course knows what happens to prices when suppliers are driven from the market.

cdynaco

That's the problem with 50 State regulation - which if you're in the business you know is a revolving door - regulators get fat executive positions when they leave office. Gee, I wonder why?? Total con job. Been happening for years in each of the 50 States. On top of the government approved monopoly. So you can defend it as much as you want but you're right - there's more to the story... lots more that the average consumer doesn't comprehend. They aren't called the "Hudson River Bandits" for nothing... look at all the real estate and huge buildings they own.

Ins cos biggest profits come from returns from investments from premiums collected - not the premiums themselves. Why do you think its Warren Buffett's largest holdings? It could be regulated nationally (like banks and brokerages) so if they want to play they have to pay so to speak. If they want to write P&C then they write in all 50 states and average it across the board. Oregon doesn't get hurricanes so that offsets FL and FL doesn't get huge wildfires but OR does. Then open it up for no holes barred full on competition - no more sandbagging. Keep the regulation necessary like barbed wire keeps the cattle in but let the herd fight it out.

Rabbi Mike

Really fellas? Have you read what's in the bill?

Outside of an expansion of Medicaid, this is not government healthcare. It's a public/private partnership, with the government helping working class people to pay for private health insurance.

I know there's a lot of folks up on here who hate Obama, but at least stick to the facts . . .

cdynaco

A "public/private partnership".... wow.... that is the best distortion I've heard yet! What are you buckin' for Gibbs job or speech writer?

I guess you would describe the CBO's latest figures of obamacare's trillion dollar cost to taxpayers as simply a "voluntary donation", and the unconstitutional forced purchase of a private industry product as "patriotic", and allowing the insurance monopoly to continue unfettered as "tradition"...

Rabbi Mike

Gibbs seems to be doing fine on his own. And the CBO says the plan will actually lower the debt.

Meanwhile, I called it a public/private partnership cuz that's what it is. I am someone who makes a decent salary. I give some of it to the PUBLIC (aka, the "big bad government"), to help someone who makes less money buy insurance from a PRIVATE insurance company.

As for the constitutional argument, the government of New York state "forces" me to buy auto insurance. Somehow nobody protests over that.

And as far as patriotism is concerned, it is totally shameful, disgraceful, and completely unpatriotic for one group of Americans to tell another group of Americans that they have no right to see a f***ing doctor.

Loving your country doesn't mean loving a flag. It means loving the people who live in it, work in it, and -- yes -- get sick in it.

cdynaco

a) driving is a privilege - if you want to play you have to pay. Otherwise take da bus.

b) no one - NO ONE - says another individual or group cannot see a doctor. Wow!
Time to quit being a deadbeat, grow up and be an adult, and PAY for your health insurance. So many of these people that poor mouth about "no health coverage" have new cars in the driveway, cable tv, iphones, LCD TV's, etc, etc...

Friend, you mentioned earlier to stick to the facts. You just put forth a pack of leftanista LIES. That is shameful!


You should visit the political threads if you have something to offer.

Rabbi Mike

You're right. Let the kids whose parents work at WalMart/Target die in the street. Lazy bums! They should work hard and get a paper route! I just hope they get sick where I don't have to see them, cuz sick people bum me out!

And I'm sure everyone who's so pissed about "gummint healthcare" will refuse their Medicare when the time comes. Right?

(By the way, your car is cool. I wish Ford still made green 'Stangs.)

Black GT500

If you want to pay for your local Wal-Mart employee's healthcare, feel free, that is what FREEDOM is all about, but keep your hand out of my pocket while your bleeding heart is at it. I'll retain my FREEDOM to choose what I spend my hard earned money on my own **** self.

That is the problem with bleeding heart liberals, they don't want to simply do what they believe is "the right thing", they want to force everyone else to do it too, even if everyone else doesn't agree that it is "the right thing" to do.

If everyone who voted for Barack Hussein Obama paid for one Wal-Mart employee's healthcare... Oh wait the majority of those who voted for Barack Hussein Obama are the ones wanting someone else to pay their way...

Here's a novel idea, if you can't afford to pay the costs of raising your own children, you might use that as an indicator that you should refrain from having children you expect other people to pay for...


As to insurance companies, they are hoodlums and thieves, out to make as much money as possible, not to make their customers lives better. They have the best lawyers, lobbyists and lawmakers on their payroll, how else do you think they could convince an entire generation of otherwise reasonable free Americans that the government forcing you to do business with a private insurance company simply to drive, and now simple to breath is somehow OK?


Government forced Automobile and Health insurance is not OK.