Mandates: Do you feel regularly cheated by your auto insurance companies?

[Writer]

We are mandated by nearly all states to carry at least basic liability auto insurance.

So do you feel regularly cheated by your auto insurance company or corporation? If so, how? If not, then why not?

[DrDan]

1. no I don't - If I am in an accident and not at fault, I

want to know that the one at fault pays. And that their insurance premiums are at risk of going up - not mine.

[Deep13]

2. Honestly, no.

I have such a history of being a safe driver that my rates are pretty low.

Of course, that's insurance for driving, not for merely existing.

[spoony]

3. Are you just now getting around to this bad analogy

which the rest of DU has been reading about for several months now?

[liberal N proud]

4. Apples to oranges

They are both fruit but of a different tree.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

5. What mandate?

I've never owned a car or had auto insurance, so I can't really answer your question.

Or understand why you're calling it a mandate.

[Nikki Stone1]

6. Yes. Auto insurance companies are well known for "redlining"

Redlining:

"Redlining refers to the the practice of discrimination based on the racial makeup or character of a person's neighborhood. It is most often used in the context of extending credit or providing insurance coverage."

There has been a fight against CA auto insurers and their practice of redlining certain racial/ethnic groups and neighborhoods.

It is allegedly illegal, but I know that with the same auto record and with the same age group, my rates would fluctuate depending on the neighborhood I could afford. In better neighborhoods I paid less in auto insurance; when I lived in the city proper, I paid a lot more. I had no accidents and no tickets on record. I had a good driver discount. But the redlining made all the difference.

[MindPilot]

7. I do only in the sense that I never get to use it.

And if I really didn't want to buy it, I can choose not drive.

The insurance model works OK for car insurance, homeowner's, general liability, etc. It doesn't work for healthcare which is more of maintenance contract than protection against some costly event which may or may not happen.

That is why the word and concept of "insurance" needs to be completely removed from the healthcare debate.

[regnaD kciN]

8. No, but...

...I pay $92 per month for ten months out of every year (no charge for the remaining two months) for auto insurance. And that's up from $66/month only because I got a newer car with a higher book value. If I were having to shell out $660 to $1,200/month (the average cost of insurance premiums for a family), every month, my feelings might be very different.

[Bluenorthwest]

9. Funny you should ask that!

Deal with this one. My partner and I have one car between us, and one car insurance policy, however, because of bigoted laws, although I have health insurance for my body, he does not share it, and has none. See how that works? We do not each have to have a car, and insurance. Because we can share.
In other news, yes, we feel cheated, because we barely drive at all, and pay too much considering that.
In the past I felt far more than cheated by the thieving Insurance company of the 90 year old who caused a four car smash up by slamming into people stopped at a red light, changing my life for ever, when that company attempted to hang a rear end collision on the drivers who were stuck sitting at a red light. I felt those people should have been jailed, the lot of them. Not only did I feel cheated, my experience with that "Insurance Company" left me with a much altered view of my fellow Americans and humans across the board. They were evil liars for money and only money. About the scummiest people I've ever met in my life. Thugs with suits.
And the relationship I had with that company is more like the relationship we have with health insurers, adversarial, we are trying to collect, they are trying to protect. Lying to protect their sack.
How's that? Got anything at all, for any of it?

[rocktivity]

10. No, because I have the option of not having a car

and renting when I need one. Staying alive and well shouldn't be just another for-profit commidity.


rocktivity

[Xithras]

11. LOL! Regularly.

Geico jacked up my rates 50% a few years back and I hadn't had a single accident or ticket. They apparently re-evaluated the risk value of my zip code, and I lost the rate lottery. Switched to AAA because they were cheaper at that point, but then they raised my rates too.

Now my daughter just turned 16 and my latest agent has informed me that my rates will likely triple at next renewal. Even though she doesn't have a license or car, and doesn't plan to get either, my "risk" has increased and my rates are going through the roof. Switching companies won't help either...I've got the auto insurance equivalent of a pre-existing condition, so everyone wants to bleed me dry.

Oh, and I live in a no-fault state, so even if I'm sitting at a stoplight and some cellphone yapping moron rear-ends me, my insurance rates go up because we're considered equally at fault. Yay stupidity!

[Beacho]

12. No comparison to health care

There's pretty fierce competition with auto insurance carriers. There's also a wide range of insurance from comprehensive to the 'keep your ass from getting arrested and your car impounded' type. When's the last time you saw an ad from a health insurance company offering you better rates than "X"?

[Uncle Joe]

13. You might get more recommendations and responses if you start a thread asking the nearly identical

question of "Mandates: Do you feel regularly cheated by your health insurance company and if so, why?"

I believe that question would be more attuned to current legislative considerations, unless Congress takes up the issue of mandating car insurance.

[Lilith Velkor]

14. No, because I don't have a car.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

15. no, i dont have a car. having a car is a choice for me. having a body is less of a choice

[Freddie Stubbs]

16. But an uninsured body costs everyone else $$$ when it shows up to the ER

[La Lioness Priyanka]

17. no one is denying that but comparing it to insurance for other things, is baloney

the comparison itself is dishonest.

[Freddie Stubbs]

24. It is an apt comparison

In both cases, people need to take responsibility for themselves.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

26. no its not. its inherently dishonest, because having a car is always a choice.

having a body is not

[Freddie Stubbs]

27. Living in the United States is a choice

[La Lioness Priyanka]

28. no, its really not for most people who are born here. do you really think its that easy to leave

adn find another country legally

that argument, is even more dishonest,

like it or leave? this is what you have come down to? seriously.

[MindPilot]

20. Yes, that is true -- we all pay the bill.

which is exactly why that uninsured body belongs in the biggest assigned risk pool possible, the entire population.

[DefenseLawyer]

18. Automobiles have a known, objective value.

The insurance company knows exactly what your car is worth and you know exactly what your car is worth. The parties can also come to a reasonable agreement on the likelihood of an accident, but regardless, the cost of the insurance and the replacement cost of the vehicle are for all intents and purposes concrete. On the other hand pain, illness and a slow agonizing death are a little harder to quantify. In fact, unlike one's car, for which he will only pay so much, most people will pay as much as they think they have to (and are able to) to stay alive.

[MindPilot]

19. Again a perfect explanation of why the insurance model does not work

for healthcare. :applause:

[dysfunctional press]

21. only when i'm involved in an accident with someone with the same insurance company.

i will NEVER carry state farm insurance again. one of their insured backed into me at an intersection(the light turned red, and they felt they couldn't continue through, and didn't look before backing up) and the other driver's agent insisted that it was MY fault, and refused to authorize a claim.

i'm now going through a similar nightmare after another American Family(our current coverage) customer ran a red light and turned left into my path at an intersection. two weeks after they did the estimate, i'm STILL waiting for a check. i didn't even ASK for a rental car until last week, and the other agent balked at getting me one. but since my headlight was smashed, my car is not legal or safe to drive.

[chaska]

22. You know what PROGGRESSIVE means?

It means they (Proggressive Insurance) ups your premiums every time you renew. As do the others. Check your rates when you renew and shop around.

[PVnRT]

25. Funny, mine go down with Progressive every six months

[fasttense]

23. Yes, without a car I would starve and be naked.

To get to the nearest grocery store here in rural TN takes me about 65 minutes in a car. The distance is too far to walk or ride a bike or even a horse. I have to have a car and insurance premiums are so high.

The 1st time I used my car insurance, after someone hit me (and tore off my mirror), my premiums doubled. Now, with a $500 deductible the insurance is practically useless.

[Mass]

29. Yes. Among other things, auto insurance companies use credit report to determine your premium.

(and other factors that should be irrelevant).

http://www.carinsurance.com/Articles/content9.aspx

[laylah]

30. Absolutely!

Drive less than 15K a year, no accidents recorded for over 25 yrs, and I STILL pay $98 for full coverage. Whining? Probably, but I am out of work, no unemployment, not in arrears YET, but still a payment on the car due in 9 days; therefore requiring full coverage.

I called them (Americredit, the car finance company) the other day, told them I had lost my job, no unemployment, asked for a moritorium and was denied until I am in arrears. Put the car down to basic legal coverage. Will probably lose the car.

Gotta love the current environment :puke:

[kpominville]

31. YES - especially since they starting using credit ...

...as an excuse to jack up rates. I have not had an accident in years but I was late with one credit card payment and they used it as an excuse to raise my car insurance by 40%.

[sabrina 1]

32. The comparison of the life of a human being to a car

in defense of the unconstitutional mandate to buy a product from a private industry, has been debunked many times.

You are comparing something inanimate, something you have a choice to not buy, a car, with the very life of a human being, a body that we have no choice about 'owning'. And you are subscribing to the Capitalist idea that 'life' is a commodity from which Corporations have a right to make a profit and if preserving that life is not profitable, to let it die.

The difference between the HC mandate and the Auto Ins. mandate is, if yo choose not to own a car, that is your choice and you do not need to buy insurance.

The HC mandate leaves you NO choice. Either buy their shoddy product or they will send the IRS out to collect from you, for the Private Insurance Cos.

Please stop using this as a means to defend this indefensible, probably unconstitutional and definitely discriminatory, Corporate friendly legislation that any real Democrat would be ashamed to be associated with. It is a baseless comparison. And it makes me wonder about Democrats who would support turning the right to 'life, (liberty etc.) into a commodity to enrich a failed Private industry. Coverage is NOT CARE. And being forced to buy something you cannot afford and do not want, is unDemocratic. There is no defense for it, and if it was a Republican idea (which it is btw) everyone on this board would be howling. The hypocrisy is sickening.

Not one other industrialized country views the lives and health of their citizens as a for-profit commodity. We stand alone, thank you Democrats, as a country willing to accept this draconian idea. I think the American people have been abused for so long by their government, they will excuse anything, if their team is promoting it, even torture.