Math wizzards!

Bikeguy Joe · #1 03-01-2009, 08:01 PM

OT-

I had a Chevy metro....I added it to my auto insurance policy, 38 dollars, not bad, not bad at all.

Then the car went to the boneyard, so I called and cancelled the car and had it removed from my policy....now Allstate sends me a bill for 32.10 because removing the car gave me a policy increase.

Anyone know how that works?

**Dave31** · #2 03-01-2009, 08:11 PM

Did you have more then one car/vehicle on the policy? If you had two or more it's cheaper but when you remove one it increases the policy on the other.

That happened to me when I removed my 83 F-350. The more cars/vehicles you have under one policy the cheaper the policy is, remove a vehicle and the discount goes away.

Thats how it was explained to me.

Bikeguy Joe · #3 03-01-2009, 08:14 PM

Yes, but the policy was paid until June...I added the car in Jan. and paid the extra 38 dollars. Then when I removed it a month later, it "went up". I should have gotten a refund for 22 dollars by my math.

That is crazy.

**Dave31** · #4 03-01-2009, 08:17 PM

Hmmm, that is weird

Bikeguy Joe · #5 03-01-2009, 08:20 PM

I'm calling them tomorrow and telling them I am not paying 32.10 to remove a car that I just paid 38 dollars to insure! If that's the case, then they can just re-insure the car as it sits in the boneyard....I already called a few other places and can get insurance for the same as I pay now. If they want to rip me off, then I'll just change companies....

You ARE NOT in good hands fo'sho'!

DOC BOLM · #6 03-01-2009, 08:37 PM

JOE drop it and go with another co.I had it with state farm over 20years,with 1 claim.I have never shopped around.Last week i did AARP-HARTFORD was better than half of what i was paying,with better coverage.HARLEYS DAD

lordoflightaz · #7 03-01-2009, 10:37 PM

I dropped my truck from Farmers, my bill went up on the car. I dropped the car and I got billed 55 on my homeowners.

Progressive does homeowner so come May I think no more Farmers.

Check out my loooking into homeowners insurance Lord of Light Rambles: Are you lonely and need to talk to someone? Yes they do still keep calling, emailing and sending stuff in the mail.

eDJ · #8 03-02-2009, 06:41 AM

Most of these P&C insurance agents will make the effort to get you under a multi item discount to give you the lowest quote. "All eggs in one basket" insurance. They want your home owners, auto(s), Life Insurance, etc if they can get it. But whatever they write for you is a kinda straight jacket.

The best thing you can do, if you find a new agent, is to tell them that you will be in touch with them from time to time as you trade cars when you see a deal and don't want to mess up your insurance discounts. So before doing anything, call them at a slower time of the day/week or stop by and explain the opportunity you have or
situation (if a motor or tranny blew out and it isn't worth fixing) and get their advicebefore doing anything. Insurance is a "shopping good", like paper towels, or socks, so from time to time keep an eye out for someone you've known who is going into the property & casualty insurance biz. If they are lean and hungry they may be inclined to offer you some low ball prices to build up their client base.

As an example, I knew this girl who worked at a Public Library. She was with one of the most crooked State Farm agents (who else but State Farm would have a mascot called the "Good Nay Bear"...a teddy bear who "just says no") ::roll eyes:: in my area. She drove
an old beat up Chevy Cavalier that wasn't worth $150 bucks but her brother kept it running dependably for her. So this leach gave her a whiz bang sales talk about the possibility of having other women in car to go to Library Meetings etc. That would never happen as she was a circulation desk clerk but she agreed it could possibly (one chance in a thousand) so he gave her another talk about the high cost of hospitalization in the case of a wreck. It wound up he was selling her $500 dollars worth of coverage every six months for what's called "blue sky" insurance. (something that wouldn't happen) He had $50,000 coverage each on three people who would never ride in the rear seat and some bogus amount on two more in the front with her. Ironically she was the least insured occupant in the car. So this agent knew he was shooting fish in a barrel with her and she just didn't know any better.

In the end I got her set up with a young upstart guy who was with Farmers and she was paying $140 every six months with realistic coverage for her and the base coverage for others onboard. (which were never onboard) The irony was that she was saving for a new car which she felt would have been safer and not so much a burden on her brother for upkeep. The State Farm jerk "in my opinion" was keeping a car on the road which shouldn't have been there for safety reasons, and all for his own profit at everyone elses risk. I just wonder how many other people he does this with while hiding behind his little "good nay-bear" puppet that stands on his desk.

deacon · #9 03-02-2009, 07:21 AM

Lets just say they have their own math. It's a lot like that new math they tried to introduce when my daughter was in school. Nobody understood it except the guys at MIT,

It's not how they figure your probability of living to collect your life insurance before they make a huge profit on you... That is done with a little old gray haired Cajun lady come in once a week, She opena a bag made from pig ears, takes out the knuckle bones of a chicken, and then she throws them on your insurance application. Her eyes roll back and she give the underwrite a figure.

The underwriter looks that up on a chart and your insurance policy rate is determined. I know this is true because after I left the police dept I went to work as an insurance investigator and dated an underwriter. She told me it was true and I believe her..

Bikeguy Joe · #10 03-02-2009, 01:20 PM

I understand the fuzzy math involved in adding/dropping vehicles, I do it all the time....BUT, I already paid for the half, then added a car +38 dollars...then when I dropped that same car, it was + 32.10...that's not the same as rates going up because I dropped a vehicle on a policy I already paid, that's highway robbery.

So, I did it the simple way....I called them and told them if they wanted to play fuzzy math with me, I would cancel the policy and go with another company.

Guess what? Suddenly their calculator worked just like mine and they dropped the extra 32.10. I'll keep allstate for awhile longer while I shop around- one company didn't even call me back after I gave them all my info!