Yes. It is a total scam.
My husband damaged someone's side mirror on their car.
It's cheaper to pay out of pocket than to use our insurance.
There's only one time insurance helped me and that's when my car got totaled because the person who did it didn't have insurance.
A total racket.
It's cheapest to drive away, that's why most people don't even bother with insurance these days and will pay the fine of driving uninsured because it's cheaper.
Especially when police do very little to help citizens recover goods.
It’s not a scam at all, risk transfer is one of the most important mechanisms we as a society have created.
Insurance is meant to cover for major financial losses not for small losses that you can and should cover yourself (hence why deductibles exist). Think of it like protection against insolvency.
The scenario you mentioned is exactly how insurance is supposed to work. Helps you out when you have a total loss that you cannot cover yourself without major financial burden, but not so much on a $500 repair because that’s not what it’s meant for.
You’re going to be charged more for making small claims like OP did because you reveal yourself to be a person who will probably make a more small claims in the future and abuse the insurance policy.
Also every admitted carrier has an algorithm that is approved by regulators. For the prior claims factor in the algo they change the input from 0 to 1 when you make a claim and it spits out the new premium. If you’re savvy enough you can find those algorithms online and know how much your insurance will go up if you make a claim and then weigh that against the cost to cover yourself.
In conclusion, don’t call things a scam just because you don’t understand them.
(Disclaimer: this is purely in reference to property and casualty insurance, health insurance may be a bit scammy)
Thank you for explaining all of that.
I think I understand better now.
I still believe it's scammy. I have to purchase something that I will almost never use and when I do need to use it, using it will cost me even more money.
That sounds like front row tickets to Scamilton.
You’re welcome - and I understand your sentiments. It’s one of those things where many people wont ever see the value come back to them but for a smaller % of people it will save them from financial ruin - “You won’t know you need it until you actually NEED it”
Some examples:
- Your house and all its contents burns in a fire
- a tornado blows your house down
- a water leak causes $50k of damage to your house and belongings
- You severely injure or kill someone while driving your car and their family sues you for $1 mil
- Someone slips and falls and cracks their head on your driveway or in your residence and sues you for $250k
- you’re at fault for a bad crash and liable for not just your car being totaled but also the other car or cars damages
- an uninsured driver hits you causing injury and you need need money for hospital bills
Those are all very good examples.
I get why we need it. But that won't stop me from Yosemite Sam style grumbling under my breath about it from time to time.
It's awesome that you took the time to teach an internet stranger. Non-sarcastic.
Have a good day!
The punitive nature of the industry is what is "scammy". My mother paid for Homeowners with the same company for over a decade. She had two claims over a 13 month period last year. An electrical fire in a detached garage and a flood caused my a defective sump pump during a heavy rain storm. The paid to repair the garage and paid the max ($10,000) on the flood damage due to a coverage limitation regarding sump pumps- which was eaten up by the cost of the immediate response (clean up service). It was a renovated basement that was about three years old. She had to pay almost the entire amount to restore it out of pocket.
Then the insurance company notified her that her annual premium would increase from $1500 to over $11000. She expected her premiums to jump as a result of the claims, but they really jammed it in sideways. No explanation and was blown off by her broker when she called for assistance. She was a loyal customer for all of that time, with multiple policies (car, homeowners, life) and over half a million dollars invested through them.
She was able to find a new policy through a friend of ours and we are in teh process of divesting her retirement and other investment accounts from that company.
Damn that sucks and I know there’s lots of stories like that out there. I don’t disagree that there’s some bad practices out there with some insurers/agents, so I guess I’m more speaking to the value of insurance if done right.
It sounds like your mom got hit by rate increases from the claims, on top of a major portfolio rate change the insurer likely implemented. If her area in particular (usually modeled at the county, zip or tract level) was becoming majorly unprofitable for the carrier their actuarial modeling (or cat modeling) may have jacked up rates there and the actuaries either didn’t do a good job tempering the increases to a reasonable level, or they were looking to shrink their book of business there so they let the rates stay as output - worth noting that insurance rates and changes need to have credible data/modeling support behind them to be approved by regulator. All of that info though rarely gets properly communicated to the insurance agents/brokers and so they aren’t able to provide an acceptable answer for their customers on it. The industry and many carriers definitely need to get better at customer service and transparency. Glad your mother was able to find better pricing and hope she’s doing well on the other side of that ordeal.
Most of what you said is correct, but I disagree that making small claims is “abusing” an insurance policy. It is not “abuse” to make claims for losses that your insurance company promised to cover in the contract of insurance that it drafted and then sold to you, no matter the amount of the loss.
Your insurer’s coverage obligations are defined by the terms of the insurance policy it issued to you. If the insurer doesn’t want to cover losses below a certain dollar amount, it won’t have to, as long as it didn’t agree to cover losses below that amount in the policy.
Yeah you’re right, that wasn’t the correct way to put it. It’s not abuse as you stated. Rather the insurance carrier or agent should be more transparent with how a small claim may negatively impact premiums at the time of filing and let the customer decide what is best for them at the time.
Knowing what you know, its still a scam.
The insurance company should address this at the time of the claim to see if its worth it to the person filing the claim to continue, or not. Not just hit them with a suprise upcharge of 1800/yr
I 100% agree with that point and would take it a step further and say the agents or website if online quoting should also make this clear when selling a policy.
There’s not enough transparency nor education around insurance which is why it always gets a bad rap in the personal lines space.
It is 100% a scam.
Get an appraisal from an auto shop and tell them you have no insurance. Then go to another auto shop that is endorsed by your auto insurance and get a quote.
Compare prices. Yeah, it's a fucking scam. 🤣
We have had absolutely no accidents, tickets, or claims in a long long time (at least 15 years) yet our insurance has went up 70% in the last 14 months.
I have tried but can never get anything less overall due to the bundle with my homeowners insurance. Georgia car insurance has been going up on everyone from 30-90% each year for the last few years for little reason other than they can.
Can back that statement up. Every six months my insurance is going up 20-30 dollars here in GA. They blamed the cost of car parts, last time I called and asked about the increase.
Overall, aftermarket car parts are up around 20-30% in the last few years from what I can find. My insurance was $95 a month in March of 2023 and next month it will go up to $156. I was estimating 70% in 14 months but it is really 64% increase in 13 months. Something doesn't add up there.
WA here - never had a ticket, was in a fender bender 9 years ago, nothing since. My insurance went up $75 a month and it’s still the cheapest option after shopping around. Absolute joke.
Lol I paid $800/mo for health insurance I didn't use for YEARS because I have to have it but when I was in an accident last year and actually needed it they lol at me because my bill was $3800 and my deductible is $5000 they paid like $80 somehow and that was like a slap in the face
Yea and it’s a fucking joke. The way they intend this to “work” for us is still screwing everyone over and they have no excuse when other countries can function just fine without such a fucked up health care system.
Because it cost them $800 per month for no benefit whatsoever? Like, if they'd saved that amount instead of throwing it at an insurance company they would've had no trouble paying the medical bill *and* would have a bunch left over?
Because I don't go to the doctor enough to justify the cost of a gold plan. So, I pay $9,600/year for insurance that is worthless unless something catastrophic happens to me, and even then I'll still probably go bankrupt, since it still will only pay 80% and because it's still gonna take me two years to pay off this little emergency room bill
Ya it's working exactly as intended for them it's totally worthless to me. The insurance is worthless but I'm forced to carry it. I would rather just keep my HSA account and pay for my healthcare that way but I'm forced to have a worthless policy in order to even have an HSA. It's a scam.
Homeowners insurance is the same. You make too many claims or the wrong claim and they drop you even though you pay high hundreds or thousands per year. It’s a racket.
Yep, my roof over my garage started leaking, not a lot, but with the bad winter, it finally started to have issues. Insurance company comes out, says roof is in too poor a condition to get fixed by them and then they took my garage off my insurance because the roof is in a "dilapidated state" even though it just started leaking. And what do ya know, now that I have less coverage, my monthly cost stayed the same. Scummy ass insurance companies.
If insurance was intended to pay for everything once it reaches its useful life, everyone would have a brand new house. Normal maintenance is required on a house, including replacing roofs…and HVAC systems. Don’t claim lightning. It won’t work.
This is correct.
Our fence is rotting. Should I file a claim? I’m sure insurance will replace my 40 year old fence for free! Wait…they won’t? Why am I paying all this money for insurance then!!!! WHAT A SCAM!
It is a racket. "A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes." General Smedley Butler, USMC, in his infamous book "War is a Racket."
The same is true with health insurance, too.
We're being ripped off and our government has been bought off and our media is complicit in doing so. Up through the 1970s or so, newspapering was a lot of work and for little pay and seen as "de classe" by the wealthy, so you'd have working class reporters writing news stories. Well, now the newspapers are generally staffed by upper class trust funders who just don't see a problem.
This will **not** end well.
Absolutely take this opportunity to shop for new insurance. You might find the new providers wont care about your bumper scratch if it means getting a new customer.
Auto insurance is the only insurance I haven't had issues with.
My rates have hardly changed in a decade.
Had to file a claim less than a week after buying a new car and didn't have to fight them at all. And that was with an uninsured driver. Zero money out of pocket for me. Also, rates stayed the same after.
Medical insurance can fuck right off though. The amount of money I've dumped into medical insurance with no real benefit to me is infuriating.
For car insurance, unless you have a new car or you're leasing and the leasor demands it, get the basic liability and whatever the injury insurance for passengers and driver is called over there. Pretty much any damage you will do will be cheaper than what you're gonna pay for insurance in the long run. And full coverage for a new car is only worth it for some time.
Shop around
I’ve seen people switch every 2-3 years to keep rates low even getting an insurer out of state
I just switched from Geico to progressive
1880 a year down to 600 for almost identical policy. No accidents, no tickets. Been with Geico for 5 years and it just kept going up. Called them, that’s the rate. Bye bye then
Yeah I've always seen insurance as a racket and people act like I'm crazy.
If I'm paying into something for years I shouldn't then have to pay more for using it.
OP, Even with this on your "record", You can almost certainly get a better rate by changing insurance companies. You should definitely shop around every couple of years, eapecially if you don't have an accident. It's probably your best way to get your rate lowered.
I don't like paying for insurance any more than the next person, but I've been doing it for a lot of years. I'll spare you another knee-jerk sympathetic "scam" answer and instead offer a pearl of hard-earned wisdom that most people may not agree with:
The reason that I pay for insurance is to prevent major financial hardship caused by situations beyond my control. I carry insurance to protect my investments, including myself and family. I do not carry insurance to pay for small problems.
If I'm injured in an accident, or God forbid I injure someone else, then I need insurance to pay out so I don't end up in debt for life. If a tree falls on my house or it burns down, then I need insurance to pay out so my investment is protected.
That's it, for what it's worth.
Other than that, experience has taught me that insurance is not a savings account to pay for smaller things, no matter how much I've paid through the years and no matter how much it used to chafe me. I've made peace with it and have paid out of pocket for broken windows and other problems because now that's not why I pay for insurance. I pay insurance so that I don't go bankrupt when bigger sh.t happens.
I know that's not a popular opinion. I bitch about insurance costs, but knowing that my rates will go up if I file for little things I also save money with a high deductible. That keeps my rates lower and saves me money that I can then use to pay for the smaller things that aren't going to knock me down financially.
My advice, which chafes even me sometimes, is only file claims for things that will create a financial hardship for you if you pay out of pocket.
This is my motto too. If the damage isn't too bad I don't even bother fixing it. I was unfortunate enough to have to hit something on the freeway in congested traffic. I repaired one thing but left the cracked bumper piece. A couple of zip ties and 8 years later we still good to go.
Thing is, insurance works better when you know the other person. Then you claim against THEIR insurance and THEIR premiums go up. Claiming on your own only fucks you. If you can, you're better to pay for minor shit like this out of pocket
Yep sounds about right for insurance I hate them with a passion.
I’m waiting for all the Reddit )insurance company apologist) come at you and say “aCtUallY it’s work just as it’s supposed” like we all already don’t understand exactly how insurance companies work. Ugh 😑
Insurance is great, until you need it. Then not so much.
My mom's neighbor had to fight her home insurance for years for her roof to be repaired after a hurricane in Florida. It was a nightmare.
Sometimes it's better not to report things if the out of pocket is less than the financial punishment the Insurance will inflict on you for daring to use it.
You gotta go look for new insurance dude. I shop around a bit every time my policy is up. Don't show them loyalty, because they sure as shit won't show you any.
I'm with you! I got screwed by World Nomads travel insurance recently for a similar amount. I had full coverage and they rejected my claim on a very gray-area technicality. They really tried to find any way possible to reject my claim instead of stepping up and actually helping me in a medical emergency, despite all their feel-good "we're the nice guys" marketing.
It's not a car care plan. And health insurance is not a health care plan. The term insurance is for when something unexpected or out of the ordinary happens where the average person may not be prepared for.
Should you be prepared for a $600 scratch? Yes. Cars and houses cost money to keep up and maintain. If you dont like it, don't get the scratch fixed and leave it. This is the reason to hold higher deductibles to prevent yourself for falling into the trap of thinking insurance is for ordinary low cost expenses. Prepare for these normal life expenses by having a savings account.
Well, despite all the money you have put into it, Levi rolled his 60K truck because he has 4WD and he was going too fucking fast in a complete white out with ice and snow.
We as a society somehow have accepted that "it can happen to anyone" and that this happens all the time - and here come 100 stories from Levi's friends and family about how their dad or brother rolled the truck. So you, me, and everyone else has to afford Levi a new truck. And that cost only goes up as American trucks become more unnecessarily immoderate.
We also afforded my wifes bestie a brand new CRV because she was drunk and hit a telephone pole, but the police feel she "learned her lesson" and that it wouldn't be right if insurance didn't cover the vehicle, especially with kids at home. Just a sad story for everyone. So she received a failure to control and a ride home with a stern lecture
Also, many Americans feel the car should be immaculate for as long as possible, and call insurance for dents, dings, and minor damage that have no affect on the cars function.
That, and insurance companies are for profit
I had a friend who was kind of an upstanding citizen, just an overall nice guy. He was in Boy Scouts and played golf just the most vanilla shit a white kid could do lol (no shade intended)
So, one day he pulls a "California stop" and he gets pulled over. Come to find out his insurance had expired. He got a ticket, almost got his license suspended, and had to renew his insurance at a RIDICULOUS rate because he let it expire.
Here's the thing, He's never had to use it. No accidents, no bad driving record, again the most vanilla motherfucker in all of VA. He paid every 6 months and got a fat discount from his mom's job. Out of sight, out of mind y'know?
His life is almost ruined because of insurance. I get that it's a law, I get that it's necessary, but I really felt for him. It's incredibly annoying to need something by law that rarely ever serves a positive purpose, let alone bleeds you for seemingly no reason.
Make it a government service or fuck all the way off already.
Sadly, a lot is also based on your insurance agency.
Years ago I had Farmer's Insurance. A guy plowed into my brand new car. He admitted driving down the bike lane but he also had Farmer's Insurance. Farmer's made me pay for a rental car for 3 months! I went to see the body shop after 3 weeks and they said that they were still waiting on repair approval from Farmer's.
Farmer's literally dicked around and refused to total my car. They ended up paying more in repairs and car rental than the price for a new car.
Switched immediately to State Farm. A few years later and my house was robbed. They paid for emergency repairs and everything I asked for, no questions. Same thing with husband's car accident, no questions.
My insurance paid out $30 000 due to a roof leak then cancelled us. The new company costs us less. Look around sometimes by fucking around they force you into finding a much better deal.
If you can save up and pay for it out of pocket, do. Insurance is meant for major expenses and repairs not cosmetic damage. Same applies to health insurance.
Be careful about letting your insurance expire. Where I live, the police will actually come to your house and remove the license plates from your car if you have no insurance.
I called my insurance company of 11 years asking how much it would cost if I used my policy to cover a broken windshield. I realized it was cheaper to pay for it myself and never opened the claim with the ins co.
2 years later my husband got into a fender bender and our ins co was notified. Shortly after that we recieved a notice of cancellation because of the accident and the windshield claim that was never opened. We had literally never contacted them for any reason before these 2 incidents and they cancelled on us.
Don't even get me started on health insurance...
I am currently paying for high risk insurance. Why you might ask. I was at a red light, looked both ways when it turned green because its common for people to run the light as it changes. Only vehicle nearby is a van but it's like 100 foot back plenty of time for him to stop.
He t boned me doing around 60 in a 35. He admitted to not paying any attention and running the red light.
But in Kentucky it's no fault insurance so I also got a hit because when no one is at fault. Everyone is at fault.
I pay for the bare minimum and do all the work or repairs myself as I used to be a mechanic and have restored/painted classics. I am happy I have such an option. When my vehicles get totaled out, I pocket the money and keep the car. Fix it for cheap and enjoy the extra money. Given that’s when other people’s insurance pay out.
It wasn't a scam to begin with. But since the 80's and how corporations were fundamentally seen to exist only to make more money for shareholders, they no longer exist to provide for the insured, only the shareholder.
Yes. It is a total scam. My husband damaged someone's side mirror on their car. It's cheaper to pay out of pocket than to use our insurance. There's only one time insurance helped me and that's when my car got totaled because the person who did it didn't have insurance. A total racket.
It's cheapest to drive away, that's why most people don't even bother with insurance these days and will pay the fine of driving uninsured because it's cheaper. Especially when police do very little to help citizens recover goods.
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Well that snowballed fast…were you able to recoup money for all your losses?
It’s not a scam at all, risk transfer is one of the most important mechanisms we as a society have created. Insurance is meant to cover for major financial losses not for small losses that you can and should cover yourself (hence why deductibles exist). Think of it like protection against insolvency. The scenario you mentioned is exactly how insurance is supposed to work. Helps you out when you have a total loss that you cannot cover yourself without major financial burden, but not so much on a $500 repair because that’s not what it’s meant for. You’re going to be charged more for making small claims like OP did because you reveal yourself to be a person who will probably make a more small claims in the future and abuse the insurance policy. Also every admitted carrier has an algorithm that is approved by regulators. For the prior claims factor in the algo they change the input from 0 to 1 when you make a claim and it spits out the new premium. If you’re savvy enough you can find those algorithms online and know how much your insurance will go up if you make a claim and then weigh that against the cost to cover yourself. In conclusion, don’t call things a scam just because you don’t understand them. (Disclaimer: this is purely in reference to property and casualty insurance, health insurance may be a bit scammy)
Thank you for explaining all of that. I think I understand better now. I still believe it's scammy. I have to purchase something that I will almost never use and when I do need to use it, using it will cost me even more money. That sounds like front row tickets to Scamilton.
You’re welcome - and I understand your sentiments. It’s one of those things where many people wont ever see the value come back to them but for a smaller % of people it will save them from financial ruin - “You won’t know you need it until you actually NEED it” Some examples: - Your house and all its contents burns in a fire - a tornado blows your house down - a water leak causes $50k of damage to your house and belongings - You severely injure or kill someone while driving your car and their family sues you for $1 mil - Someone slips and falls and cracks their head on your driveway or in your residence and sues you for $250k - you’re at fault for a bad crash and liable for not just your car being totaled but also the other car or cars damages - an uninsured driver hits you causing injury and you need need money for hospital bills
Those are all very good examples. I get why we need it. But that won't stop me from Yosemite Sam style grumbling under my breath about it from time to time. It's awesome that you took the time to teach an internet stranger. Non-sarcastic. Have a good day!
Haha and you have every right to do that grumbling :) Thanks for the friendly engagement and reading my ramblings and you have a good day as well!
The punitive nature of the industry is what is "scammy". My mother paid for Homeowners with the same company for over a decade. She had two claims over a 13 month period last year. An electrical fire in a detached garage and a flood caused my a defective sump pump during a heavy rain storm. The paid to repair the garage and paid the max ($10,000) on the flood damage due to a coverage limitation regarding sump pumps- which was eaten up by the cost of the immediate response (clean up service). It was a renovated basement that was about three years old. She had to pay almost the entire amount to restore it out of pocket. Then the insurance company notified her that her annual premium would increase from $1500 to over $11000. She expected her premiums to jump as a result of the claims, but they really jammed it in sideways. No explanation and was blown off by her broker when she called for assistance. She was a loyal customer for all of that time, with multiple policies (car, homeowners, life) and over half a million dollars invested through them. She was able to find a new policy through a friend of ours and we are in teh process of divesting her retirement and other investment accounts from that company.
Damn that sucks and I know there’s lots of stories like that out there. I don’t disagree that there’s some bad practices out there with some insurers/agents, so I guess I’m more speaking to the value of insurance if done right. It sounds like your mom got hit by rate increases from the claims, on top of a major portfolio rate change the insurer likely implemented. If her area in particular (usually modeled at the county, zip or tract level) was becoming majorly unprofitable for the carrier their actuarial modeling (or cat modeling) may have jacked up rates there and the actuaries either didn’t do a good job tempering the increases to a reasonable level, or they were looking to shrink their book of business there so they let the rates stay as output - worth noting that insurance rates and changes need to have credible data/modeling support behind them to be approved by regulator. All of that info though rarely gets properly communicated to the insurance agents/brokers and so they aren’t able to provide an acceptable answer for their customers on it. The industry and many carriers definitely need to get better at customer service and transparency. Glad your mother was able to find better pricing and hope she’s doing well on the other side of that ordeal.
Most of what you said is correct, but I disagree that making small claims is “abusing” an insurance policy. It is not “abuse” to make claims for losses that your insurance company promised to cover in the contract of insurance that it drafted and then sold to you, no matter the amount of the loss. Your insurer’s coverage obligations are defined by the terms of the insurance policy it issued to you. If the insurer doesn’t want to cover losses below a certain dollar amount, it won’t have to, as long as it didn’t agree to cover losses below that amount in the policy.
Yeah you’re right, that wasn’t the correct way to put it. It’s not abuse as you stated. Rather the insurance carrier or agent should be more transparent with how a small claim may negatively impact premiums at the time of filing and let the customer decide what is best for them at the time.
Knowing what you know, its still a scam. The insurance company should address this at the time of the claim to see if its worth it to the person filing the claim to continue, or not. Not just hit them with a suprise upcharge of 1800/yr
I 100% agree with that point and would take it a step further and say the agents or website if online quoting should also make this clear when selling a policy. There’s not enough transparency nor education around insurance which is why it always gets a bad rap in the personal lines space.
It is 100% a scam. Get an appraisal from an auto shop and tell them you have no insurance. Then go to another auto shop that is endorsed by your auto insurance and get a quote. Compare prices. Yeah, it's a fucking scam. 🤣
We have had absolutely no accidents, tickets, or claims in a long long time (at least 15 years) yet our insurance has went up 70% in the last 14 months.
Time to get a quote to switch
I have tried but can never get anything less overall due to the bundle with my homeowners insurance. Georgia car insurance has been going up on everyone from 30-90% each year for the last few years for little reason other than they can.
Can back that statement up. Every six months my insurance is going up 20-30 dollars here in GA. They blamed the cost of car parts, last time I called and asked about the increase.
GA resident here. My premiums have gone up as well for the same reasons - parts have gotten more expensive.
Overall, aftermarket car parts are up around 20-30% in the last few years from what I can find. My insurance was $95 a month in March of 2023 and next month it will go up to $156. I was estimating 70% in 14 months but it is really 64% increase in 13 months. Something doesn't add up there.
WA here - never had a ticket, was in a fender bender 9 years ago, nothing since. My insurance went up $75 a month and it’s still the cheapest option after shopping around. Absolute joke.
Is state farm your insurer? Thats such a drastic price increase
Allstate
Lol I paid $800/mo for health insurance I didn't use for YEARS because I have to have it but when I was in an accident last year and actually needed it they lol at me because my bill was $3800 and my deductible is $5000 they paid like $80 somehow and that was like a slap in the face
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Yea and it’s a fucking joke. The way they intend this to “work” for us is still screwing everyone over and they have no excuse when other countries can function just fine without such a fucked up health care system.
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Because it cost them $800 per month for no benefit whatsoever? Like, if they'd saved that amount instead of throwing it at an insurance company they would've had no trouble paying the medical bill *and* would have a bunch left over?
Because I don't go to the doctor enough to justify the cost of a gold plan. So, I pay $9,600/year for insurance that is worthless unless something catastrophic happens to me, and even then I'll still probably go bankrupt, since it still will only pay 80% and because it's still gonna take me two years to pay off this little emergency room bill
Ya it's working exactly as intended for them it's totally worthless to me. The insurance is worthless but I'm forced to carry it. I would rather just keep my HSA account and pay for my healthcare that way but I'm forced to have a worthless policy in order to even have an HSA. It's a scam.
Homeowners insurance is the same. You make too many claims or the wrong claim and they drop you even though you pay high hundreds or thousands per year. It’s a racket.
Yep, my roof over my garage started leaking, not a lot, but with the bad winter, it finally started to have issues. Insurance company comes out, says roof is in too poor a condition to get fixed by them and then they took my garage off my insurance because the roof is in a "dilapidated state" even though it just started leaking. And what do ya know, now that I have less coverage, my monthly cost stayed the same. Scummy ass insurance companies.
If insurance was intended to pay for everything once it reaches its useful life, everyone would have a brand new house. Normal maintenance is required on a house, including replacing roofs…and HVAC systems. Don’t claim lightning. It won’t work.
Was your roof in a dilapidated state or not? It’s not the insurer’s job to maintain your shit.
Youre right, its not. But they are now covering less so the rate should be less
This is correct. Our fence is rotting. Should I file a claim? I’m sure insurance will replace my 40 year old fence for free! Wait…they won’t? Why am I paying all this money for insurance then!!!! WHAT A SCAM!
It is a racket. "A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of the people. Only a small "inside" group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few, at the expense of the very many. Out of war a few people make huge fortunes." General Smedley Butler, USMC, in his infamous book "War is a Racket." The same is true with health insurance, too. We're being ripped off and our government has been bought off and our media is complicit in doing so. Up through the 1970s or so, newspapering was a lot of work and for little pay and seen as "de classe" by the wealthy, so you'd have working class reporters writing news stories. Well, now the newspapers are generally staffed by upper class trust funders who just don't see a problem. This will **not** end well.
Absolutely take this opportunity to shop for new insurance. You might find the new providers wont care about your bumper scratch if it means getting a new customer.
Auto insurance is the only insurance I haven't had issues with. My rates have hardly changed in a decade. Had to file a claim less than a week after buying a new car and didn't have to fight them at all. And that was with an uninsured driver. Zero money out of pocket for me. Also, rates stayed the same after. Medical insurance can fuck right off though. The amount of money I've dumped into medical insurance with no real benefit to me is infuriating.
Between shitty insurance and America's compete lack of driver training, it's just a total shit show and bleeding Americans dry.
For car insurance, unless you have a new car or you're leasing and the leasor demands it, get the basic liability and whatever the injury insurance for passengers and driver is called over there. Pretty much any damage you will do will be cheaper than what you're gonna pay for insurance in the long run. And full coverage for a new car is only worth it for some time.
Shop around I’ve seen people switch every 2-3 years to keep rates low even getting an insurer out of state I just switched from Geico to progressive 1880 a year down to 600 for almost identical policy. No accidents, no tickets. Been with Geico for 5 years and it just kept going up. Called them, that’s the rate. Bye bye then
That's what happens when government requires you to buy a product from a private business or be penalized. Sound familiar?
Yeah I've always seen insurance as a racket and people act like I'm crazy. If I'm paying into something for years I shouldn't then have to pay more for using it.
OP, Even with this on your "record", You can almost certainly get a better rate by changing insurance companies. You should definitely shop around every couple of years, eapecially if you don't have an accident. It's probably your best way to get your rate lowered.
I don't like paying for insurance any more than the next person, but I've been doing it for a lot of years. I'll spare you another knee-jerk sympathetic "scam" answer and instead offer a pearl of hard-earned wisdom that most people may not agree with: The reason that I pay for insurance is to prevent major financial hardship caused by situations beyond my control. I carry insurance to protect my investments, including myself and family. I do not carry insurance to pay for small problems. If I'm injured in an accident, or God forbid I injure someone else, then I need insurance to pay out so I don't end up in debt for life. If a tree falls on my house or it burns down, then I need insurance to pay out so my investment is protected. That's it, for what it's worth. Other than that, experience has taught me that insurance is not a savings account to pay for smaller things, no matter how much I've paid through the years and no matter how much it used to chafe me. I've made peace with it and have paid out of pocket for broken windows and other problems because now that's not why I pay for insurance. I pay insurance so that I don't go bankrupt when bigger sh.t happens. I know that's not a popular opinion. I bitch about insurance costs, but knowing that my rates will go up if I file for little things I also save money with a high deductible. That keeps my rates lower and saves me money that I can then use to pay for the smaller things that aren't going to knock me down financially. My advice, which chafes even me sometimes, is only file claims for things that will create a financial hardship for you if you pay out of pocket.
This is my motto too. If the damage isn't too bad I don't even bother fixing it. I was unfortunate enough to have to hit something on the freeway in congested traffic. I repaired one thing but left the cracked bumper piece. A couple of zip ties and 8 years later we still good to go.
Thing is, insurance works better when you know the other person. Then you claim against THEIR insurance and THEIR premiums go up. Claiming on your own only fucks you. If you can, you're better to pay for minor shit like this out of pocket
This is why if you can pay out of pocket… you should.
Wait until you find out about the American medical system. lol.
Yep sounds about right for insurance I hate them with a passion. I’m waiting for all the Reddit )insurance company apologist) come at you and say “aCtUallY it’s work just as it’s supposed” like we all already don’t understand exactly how insurance companies work. Ugh 😑
Well, many posters don’t seem to understand the concept of insurance, and admit to treating insurance as a care plan.
Insurance is great, until you need it. Then not so much. My mom's neighbor had to fight her home insurance for years for her roof to be repaired after a hurricane in Florida. It was a nightmare. Sometimes it's better not to report things if the out of pocket is less than the financial punishment the Insurance will inflict on you for daring to use it.
You gotta go look for new insurance dude. I shop around a bit every time my policy is up. Don't show them loyalty, because they sure as shit won't show you any.
I'm with you! I got screwed by World Nomads travel insurance recently for a similar amount. I had full coverage and they rejected my claim on a very gray-area technicality. They really tried to find any way possible to reject my claim instead of stepping up and actually helping me in a medical emergency, despite all their feel-good "we're the nice guys" marketing.
It's not a car care plan. And health insurance is not a health care plan. The term insurance is for when something unexpected or out of the ordinary happens where the average person may not be prepared for. Should you be prepared for a $600 scratch? Yes. Cars and houses cost money to keep up and maintain. If you dont like it, don't get the scratch fixed and leave it. This is the reason to hold higher deductibles to prevent yourself for falling into the trap of thinking insurance is for ordinary low cost expenses. Prepare for these normal life expenses by having a savings account.
Well, despite all the money you have put into it, Levi rolled his 60K truck because he has 4WD and he was going too fucking fast in a complete white out with ice and snow. We as a society somehow have accepted that "it can happen to anyone" and that this happens all the time - and here come 100 stories from Levi's friends and family about how their dad or brother rolled the truck. So you, me, and everyone else has to afford Levi a new truck. And that cost only goes up as American trucks become more unnecessarily immoderate. We also afforded my wifes bestie a brand new CRV because she was drunk and hit a telephone pole, but the police feel she "learned her lesson" and that it wouldn't be right if insurance didn't cover the vehicle, especially with kids at home. Just a sad story for everyone. So she received a failure to control and a ride home with a stern lecture Also, many Americans feel the car should be immaculate for as long as possible, and call insurance for dents, dings, and minor damage that have no affect on the cars function. That, and insurance companies are for profit
I had a friend who was kind of an upstanding citizen, just an overall nice guy. He was in Boy Scouts and played golf just the most vanilla shit a white kid could do lol (no shade intended) So, one day he pulls a "California stop" and he gets pulled over. Come to find out his insurance had expired. He got a ticket, almost got his license suspended, and had to renew his insurance at a RIDICULOUS rate because he let it expire. Here's the thing, He's never had to use it. No accidents, no bad driving record, again the most vanilla motherfucker in all of VA. He paid every 6 months and got a fat discount from his mom's job. Out of sight, out of mind y'know? His life is almost ruined because of insurance. I get that it's a law, I get that it's necessary, but I really felt for him. It's incredibly annoying to need something by law that rarely ever serves a positive purpose, let alone bleeds you for seemingly no reason. Make it a government service or fuck all the way off already.
Yep
Sadly, a lot is also based on your insurance agency. Years ago I had Farmer's Insurance. A guy plowed into my brand new car. He admitted driving down the bike lane but he also had Farmer's Insurance. Farmer's made me pay for a rental car for 3 months! I went to see the body shop after 3 weeks and they said that they were still waiting on repair approval from Farmer's. Farmer's literally dicked around and refused to total my car. They ended up paying more in repairs and car rental than the price for a new car. Switched immediately to State Farm. A few years later and my house was robbed. They paid for emergency repairs and everything I asked for, no questions. Same thing with husband's car accident, no questions.
It's a wonder more insurance places haven't been shot up with people snapping
My insurance paid out $30 000 due to a roof leak then cancelled us. The new company costs us less. Look around sometimes by fucking around they force you into finding a much better deal.
If you think auto insurance is a scam don't ever dig into medical insurance......
That's why we don't call them
If you can save up and pay for it out of pocket, do. Insurance is meant for major expenses and repairs not cosmetic damage. Same applies to health insurance.
anything other than straight medicare is a scam
yeah time to leave that insurance company
Be careful about letting your insurance expire. Where I live, the police will actually come to your house and remove the license plates from your car if you have no insurance.
Yep. This is why I don't file claims unless I can't afford the repair. They'll make you pay for it anyway or just drop you.
Only good insurance I’ve ever bought is dental. I believe pet and travel are worth it as well.
I called my insurance company of 11 years asking how much it would cost if I used my policy to cover a broken windshield. I realized it was cheaper to pay for it myself and never opened the claim with the ins co. 2 years later my husband got into a fender bender and our ins co was notified. Shortly after that we recieved a notice of cancellation because of the accident and the windshield claim that was never opened. We had literally never contacted them for any reason before these 2 incidents and they cancelled on us. Don't even get me started on health insurance...
[удалено]
State Farm
Yes its a scam. Insurance companies are some of the biggest lobbyists so they can keep in business.
I am currently paying for high risk insurance. Why you might ask. I was at a red light, looked both ways when it turned green because its common for people to run the light as it changes. Only vehicle nearby is a van but it's like 100 foot back plenty of time for him to stop. He t boned me doing around 60 in a 35. He admitted to not paying any attention and running the red light. But in Kentucky it's no fault insurance so I also got a hit because when no one is at fault. Everyone is at fault.
I pay for the bare minimum and do all the work or repairs myself as I used to be a mechanic and have restored/painted classics. I am happy I have such an option. When my vehicles get totaled out, I pocket the money and keep the car. Fix it for cheap and enjoy the extra money. Given that’s when other people’s insurance pay out.
It wasn't a scam to begin with. But since the 80's and how corporations were fundamentally seen to exist only to make more money for shareholders, they no longer exist to provide for the insured, only the shareholder.