Car insurance - they always up my rate! (1 Viewer)

AccessBlaster

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I just upgraded from my 3G flip-phone because it died, and I decided it was time to join the 21st century. (Even though flip-phones were an idea from Star Trek's original series, which mean 23rd century...). So I got an Android-powered Samsung A71. Nice, big screen - good for my tired old eyes, and has a few really nice "accessibility" features. Now if I could just get Bixby to PERMANTLY STFU.
Nice Doc, Bixby is a pain.
 

Isaac

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So for years you dump money into an insurance company, if you have a claim (health and life insurances work different from the rest). Then the insurance company determines how you actually get for repairs/replacement. Then they can cancel you or raise the rates.
If some force (probably government regulation, I have to admit) could nudge vehicular insurance to be more like group health insurance, where individual claims do not get individually punished and an intermediary with large purchasing/contracting powers acts in-between to negotiate on behalf of a GROUP, I think that would be a very reasonable experiment. Some will say "well careful drivers ought to be rewarded and non-careful drivers punished" .... Except many claims have nothing to do with care (esp. glass claims), and if we are honest with ourselves, the same can be said for healthcare, where individual choices factors very heavily into health problems.
Now that I say this out loud, I guess in a way this is what AAA insurance maybe already is? Not sure ... never had it. Do rates get adjusted on the individual level based on individual claims records? If so, then this wouldn't be a good example of what I am suggesting.

Politicians are constantly talking about the cost of healthcare. Do they realize that for some of us (like me with 2 young drivers-dependents), vehicle insurance actually costs MORE than health insurance? (And does less FOR me!) ... Major thing.
 

kevlray

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Issac: My case is reversed. My car insurance (~60.00 US/month) is way cheaper than my health insurance for two people (~1400.00 US/month). My employer is nice enough to kick in some money for my health insurance so my out of pocket is about $420.00/month.
 

Isaac

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Issac: My case is reversed. My car insurance (~60.00 US/month) is way cheaper than my health insurance for two people (~1400.00 US/month). My employer is nice enough to kick in some money for my health insurance so my out of pocket is about $420.00/month.
Oh - I should clarify, when I referred to my health insurance cost, I only meant the cost to me personally, my premiums.
 

The_Doc_Man

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Nice Doc, Bixby is a pain.

Actually found a way to get Bixby to stay quiet. You have to find your "Side Button" control panel (down-swipe on my A71 from the home page) and change the setting there. Then Bixby, which is intrinsically bound to the Android system, has no automatic launcher. I moved the Bixby launcher to a secondary screen that isn't the home page that I'm using to accumulate the crud I can't uninstall.
 

AccessBlaster

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I only keep two active pages on my 10e. I turned off all Bixby slide controls in settings and then deleted the page bixby was on leaving me with two. I don't see or hear from Bixby anymore. The way I deleted the page is, hold a finger down in any empty space, the view should change with a trash can or slider near the top.
 

namliam

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Issac: My case is reversed. My car insurance (~60.00 US/month) is way cheaper than my health insurance for two people (~1400.00 US/month). My employer is nice enough to kick in some money for my health insurance so my out of pocket is about $420.00/month.
1400 usd per month? Say what ?!
Here in the NL health insurance is 110 euro per month... which I guess with exchange rates now a days equals about 1300 dollars but still ;)
 

kevlray

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We do have a bit of choice though. I can get smaller premiums if I opt for a higher co-pay and less coverage.
 

neuroman9999

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What do you guys do? Do you switch each year? Maybe it is different in the US but in the UK, it is a fiasco.
Jon,

I don't know how stuff works in the UK, but I'll tell you man, perhaps my tricky and sly attitude of using corporations against themselves for the purpose of helping little people out could be of some use? Maybe not though. Here's a great example:

Last week I got a request in for future .NET work using C#. However, some hosting companies hate the language and/or the Microsoft nonsense that comes with it. Their security protocols block .NET web apps, regardless of the XML configurations and trust levels, etc, etc.... you include. So, in order to test all of this, because I knew it was coming, I called the wonderful company called GoDaddy, spent 500+ USD on a dedicated server for the purpose of running all the possible tests I could to see if server manipulation could get around this paranoia.

And when buying the service from an agent, I told him exactly what I was doing and why. They offer a 30 day return policy. and I told him I would use it if I found out that their platform didn't allow me to do what I needed to do for someone else. He said fine, but had a slew of questions for me regarding what I was doing. And I told him that it's only GoDaddy's fault, and that I would never pay the company anything if they block what needs to get done. They claim to work for the little guy, but yet they have a huge target on their back, targeted by hackers, because they're so huge and make so much money. So, why should I give them money for that, when their own policies cause them technically to inadvertently NOT work for the little guy? I simply used them to run tests, got my money back, and went elsewhere for the customer's needs.

So, not sure if you can do the same thing in the insurance world, but hey, insurance people have plenty of money. They don't need any more by hiking rates for no reason.

Have you seen the article in the news lately that, apparently, airline carriers in the world are playing pretty sly tricks on customers to keep their money if flights get cancelled due to the virus, or anything else? That's what people are claiming anyway. see here: https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/a...ines-don-t-want-to-refund-your-flight-tickets

ummmmm....really!? no surprise here. they'll do anything to get the damn money. =( just like they're currently picking on the folks from Africa and folks from Mexico. and the people in those culture groups are buying corporate products, just like they're told. sad....If I had any ill will for anyone else, I'd inform these people that they're participating in a game where they are being used, technically. But then again, it must continue otherwise @The_Doc_Man doesn't get his fixed income.
 
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Jon

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How stuff works in the UK is how it works everywhere. If you don't negotiate, you will always pay the inflated full price. It takes effort to do it but the savings can often be significant.
 

neuroman9999

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How stuff works in the UK is how it works everywhere. If you don't negotiate, you will always pay the inflated full price. It takes effort to do it but the savings can often be significant.
no argument here. to me, insurance people are just as bad as car salesmen. they're targets are those that don't understand the business. just like hospitals and pharmacy companies.
 

namliam

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Insurance people
Gas and Light people
Notary
Suveryor (of real estate)
Estate planners
Investment advisors
Pension funds
The of "white collar thugs" that will make you overpay for most anything is long
 

Jon

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Embrace the inner thug.
 

Jon

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You are like a Russian Doll with one called build?
 

neuroman9999

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You are like a Russian Doll with one called build?
I don't think I'm following that John. You must be talking in English slang because I didn't understand one bit of that. Lol
 

Jon

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Your inner thug means something inside of you. You said it was called "build", you Russian Doll you.
 

neuroman9999

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Your inner thug means something inside of you. You said it was called "build", you Russian Doll you.
OMG, we're on different pages. I was referring to the bodybuilding look that is left over from the 20s and 30s. tell me you understood that. =/
 

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