so they insure about 300 people in each state? I would be very interested to know what their loss ratio is. I'm not knocking your choice of companies here, I am sure you've had great experience with them. Claims certainly sound easy to do. Even though they seem to be a very small company, they certainly sound very-consumer friendly. Every insurance co has to start somewhere.
ALL THE MONEY IS KEPT "IN-HOUSE"... It is like my ELECTRIC COMPANY...(part owner)...profits put toward reducing rates instead of LINING POCKETS...
I've never had any experience with them except to help pay other people's losses every quarter when I call them up to see what I owe them. They never have even sent me a bill for the quarterly assessments. I suppose they try to spend as little as possible on postage too in order to save on operating expenses. But I have a couple of the people I know have had accidents with them and they say that all they had to do was to tell them what the damages were and they paid off promptly. That's all I know plus the fact that those premiums are very attractive once you get that membership and car membership paid for.
JULY 20, 14:05 EST Financially Troubled Drivers Pay More for Insurance By DAVE CARPENTER AP Business Writer CHICAGO (AP) â?? Paying bills late has unintended consequences for many Americans â?? it makes their car insurance rates higher. And if a driver has a bankruptcy or financial turmoil in his past, coverage may be hard to afford or unavailable altogether. In a practice drawing opposition from consumer advocates and scrutiny from state officials, auto insurers are relying more and more on credit scoring when making their rate decisions. More than half of auto insurance companies are now believed to use credit scoring in setting rates. Industry watchers say the practice is gaining so fast in importance that, for some insurers, credit history carries more weight than driving record. The credit scores, derived from a consumer's credit background, is a relatively quick and inexpensive way for insurers to underwrite and assess risk. They say it increases competition by enabling more companies to operate nationwide, while allowing them to reward financially responsible clients with the best rates. ``Financial stability is an extremely powerful predictor of future losses,'' said counsel Steven Sheffey of Allstate Corp., the Northbrook, Ill.-based No. 2 car insurer. ``It helps us write insurance, we can keep the cost of insurance less, and we also have a more fair underwriting structure.'' But consumer watchdogs want the practice reined in out of concern that insurers, who are generally not required to disclose how they apply the data, could use credit histories unfairly. They also argue that credit scoring typically rewards white, affluent consumers while penalizing the poor and minorities. ``We worry about it because we think it might be a surrogate for prohibited factors such as race and income,'' said Robert Hunter, insurance director for the Consumer Federation of America, who urged Congress last month to push for more regulatory oversight. About 20 states have introduced legislation to prohibit or restrict the use of credit scoring, and several have ruled it cannot be the sole determining factor in premium or underwriting decisions. Insurers insist there's no discrimination, but as consumers learn about credit scoring, more are stepping forward to protest. Colorado's insurance department moved to limit how the scores are used after being barraged by complaints. ``It may work, from a statistical standpoint,'' said Colorado insurance commissioner William Kirven. ``But it has to be used judiciously, and you have to not penalize people just because they have a low score.'' June Dailey, 80, of Fort Lupton, Colo., got a notice this spring from her auto insurer, the Horace Mann Insurance Co., saying her monthly payments were rising to $61.12 from $41.49, a 47 percent hike attributed largely to her credit standing. The retired schoolteacher says she's never paid a bill late and has had one accident in 64 years of driving â?? a fender-bender seven years ago. Dailey's problem is that, true to her Depression-era values, she pays for everything in cash. Because she has no credit cards, she has a very short credit history, though that history does include a perfect 47-year record as a Horace Mann client. ``I've paid my bills. I've tried to be trustworthy. And I feel like I'm being penalized for being an excellent customer,'' she said. Horace Mann spokesman Paul Wappel says the Springfield, Ill.-based company considered a number of factors, including credit background, in raising Daley's premiums. ``Credit history provides a consistent, reliable tool to evaluate the risk of insuring someone without unfairly discriminating against any specific group of customers,'' Wappel said. No exception was made for her situation, he said, because ``we have to treat everyone equally.'' David Birnbaum, executive director of the Center for Economic Justice, said there's been no comprehensive independent study of a link between credit problems and car accidents. ``Even if there was a definitive relationship, that doesn't mean it has to be used,'' said Birnbaum, whose Austin, Texas-based nonprofit group advocates on behalf of low-income consumers on insurance matters. ``There can be errors in your credit history. And it could be penalizing people who simply encountered hardship and have chosen to pay medical bills instead of credit cards.'' Addressing the issue in a 1998 study, the Public Interest Research Group found that 29 percent of 133 credit reports it examined contained serious errors. Similar concerns have been raised involving the use of credit scoring to determine whether to grant home loans. Birnbaum criticized state insurance regulators for moving too slowly to restrain a practice that has mushroomed with the proliferation of information available on the Internet. Insurance companies' unwillingness to reveal specifics of their pricing decisions has added to wariness about the practice, according to those involved in the debate. ``Regulators are concerned about this and are actively looking into the veracity of the whole system,'' said Eric Nordman, research director of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, which oversees the industry. ``I guess the jury's out on whether it's a good thing or a bad thing.''
George: Since the insurers say low scores cost them more claims & they don't like paying them I have the perfect solution to their problem! It's so simple: All you have to do is give everyone a high score and claims will dissappear:! @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
lb, The NAIC is investigationg because they feel it leads to discrimination against the poor and minorities. Another way to redline. Probably so. breeze
In Texas and other states, they assign high risk people who can't get insurance to something called the State Insurance Pool. Once assigned to the high risk pool, somebody must provide you with insurance, but the rates are out of sight. You would not believe how high they can go. Two, three or 4 times or more higher than prime rate clients. It usually takes a few years of this highway robbery to get back to "normal" rates. Mostly the people who get put into these special high rate pools are drunk drivers, people with high numbers of points on their licenses, license suspensions, and others deemed to be high risk people. Most likely they want yet another reason to deny so they can get more of this high risk clients. Just my guess, I really don't know for sure.
Bill, You're talking about assigned risk. It's just what it sounds like. The insurance companies that are admitted in the state must join in this pool. Then they are assigned drivers out of the pool they HAVE to provide insurance to. It has nothing to do with WANTING to charge high premiums, believe me, the insurance companies DO NOT want to touch these drivers. You're right that most of these are people with DUI's & a lot of points on their records. They take on the drivers because they HAVE TO. Usually, a person has to show they've been denied coverage from a few different insurance companies before they can get coverage under this program. Texas is one of those states that has screwy insurance laws to begin with. They don't use standard policy forms - texas has their own. You know how they say TX is a "whole 'nother country?" When it comes to insurance, this is true!!!
Hey there! You can't tell me nothin about car insurance! I know all about it. I oughtta. I paid enough premiums to be a cottonpickin expert. (LOL)
Don't worry, I'm paying about 2000 a year myself!! And I haven't had ANY tickets or accidents for five years! I'd be paying more if my employer didn't contribute. I actually paid less when I had it at State Farm, but my agent was a wench so I cancelled. LOL
If you think car insurance is bad try paying the insurance premiums on helicopters or even private planes for that matter. On a helicopter, you can buy a new one every 5 years for the price of the insurance premiums alone. You would have to trade the old one in of course, but with what you can get out of a 5 year old chopper plus what the insurance premiums cost, you could easily buy a new one every 5 years. You are talking around $250.000 even for a small chopper like most of the police departments use. And the bigger the chopper, the more the premiums. Small aircraft have to carry a minimum of a million dollars worth of coverage.
screw that. Just buy a good life policy. If you crash the helicopter, that probably will prove to be more valuable. LOL
Do you know why airplanes have propellors??? It's to keep the pilot cool. If you don't believe that, just let the damned thing stop spinning and see if the pilot don't start sweating real quick.
Right Annie but the insurance,banking and credit industries have more than theit fair share of scammers!!
Just heard this on the local news. A man was driving down the road when his car caught on fire. Firefighters said the fire started under the dash and was caused by a low credit score!
SO THE HOUSE THAT CAUGHT FIRE DUE TO THE WILD FIRE...WOULDN'T HAVE BURNT TO THE GROUND IF THEY HAD A BETTER F.I.C.O. SCORE...
