Rise in insurance costs !

Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 08:18 am Post Subject: How they capture segments & design policies !

My friend,

You need to understand the trends associated with the variety of options that you have in the competitive market. With a number of insurers operating now-a-days its become difficult to understand the strategies that they opt in order to capture the global bulk of insurance customers. The policies are designed on the basis of an applicant's personal data as well as a number of defining factors. All these determining information are very much different from one organization to another owing to the difference of economic strata they are targeting and their capital funding. Hope you get what I mean! :) Fatman

Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 09:09 am Post Subject: factors..

Listen! Your age, your state, your driving track, your profession - these are all vital factors towards depicting the probability of your facing an accident. There are also some of the other factors to be considered as well - like the condition of your car engine, its characteristics which would give them a prediction for the occurrence of such mishaps in your case. All the best, CasandraVanHuesen

Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 11:20 am Post Subject:

good morning Fritz_Joseph and welcome.

You don't say your age, vehicle etc. There may be some explainations there. Of course an older (not cool :wink: ) vehicle will have a lower premium typcially. One way to lower your premium is the higher the deductible the lower the premium, but of course you will need to make sure you have those funds should they become necessary. Also check your policy over closely make sure there aren't any coverages on there that you don't absolutely need. For instance (although required in a state or two), Med Pay and Accidental Death are some coverages that carry a hefty premium (medpay) you might want to check and see if you have that. If you have decent health insurance then maybe you could do without it....good luck......

Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 01:15 pm Post Subject:

Listen, premium increases are indeed dependent on a number of things than we may guess before we get to apply for a policy.
Premium rises are the effects of all the losses that our states bear on account of the financial services. Actually all losses are eventually shared upon all of us consumers.

Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 03:19 pm Post Subject:

Then again, we could take a look at the 'Globalization' of it all and how this affects each and every one of us.
For this example, let's put the age, type of car, driving history, etc., over on the side (not that they aren't vitally important) and take a look at some other issues.

Youngsters who live in "financially challenged" households can wait to begin driving at 18 and completely forego a huge part (if not all) of the in-car drivers training available to those who climb behind the wheel at 16. Those of us who are somewhat familiar with the psychology of adolescents would much rather have an educated 16 year-old behind the wheel than an 18 year-old who was just given the keys "cold-turkey". Who insures these people?

Let's say you just snuck across the border (pick one - any one) in the back of a Frito-Lay van packed to the hilt with your fellow countrymen. In California, do you realize you can have a license to operate a motor vehicle in as few as 9 days? Who insures these people?

We all have seen stories on the news about tragic accidents caused by people who'd been drinking. In follow-up stories we see (as was a case in Michigan) that the person at fault had been charged with 5 DUIs in the past 2 years. This happens all the time in every state. What is wrong with our system? Who insures these people?

I could throw always throw in a few actuarial terms and we could discuss things like risk factors, probabilities, survivability, replacement costs, indexing, etc., but who really cares? Insurance companies will continue to increase their premiums until we - as a driving community - get a handle on this stuff.

Posted: Tue Oct 16, 2007 05:37 pm Post Subject: Cost of Auto Insurance

Hey Fritz,
Auto insurance rates, in a large degree, are based on the amount of money it would take to replace your vehicle in the event of a total loss. Also included in the price of auto insurance are the ridiculous liability lawsuits against insurance companies and insureds due to personal injury and sometimes death. Even though the color of your vehicle is not used to determine an insurance rate, statistics show that certain vehicle colors (like red) are stolen more often in certain areas of the United States. Also, is your vehicle a "high performance" vehicle? Some insurance companies will give "perks" for those people who go accident free for a specified period of time. You may also receive discounts for having your home insurance or renters insurance with the same company. If teen drivers are involved, it might be a good idea to let them drive on a permit for as long as you possibly can. In most areas, permit drivers do not need to be named in your auto policy and therefore do not affect your auto insurance rates. Once they are licensed, they will be required to be named as an insured driver.

Posted: Tue Nov 20, 2007 04:16 am Post Subject:

Another thing to consider, besides all the obvious things is the fact that the company you are with could be trending towards unprofitability. Lots of people dont understand the way insurance works. Its not about you. I mean really. Its so not about you. Companies look at the overall scheme of things, and they will go back sometimes 3 or 4 years previous to determine if they are gaining or losing money. Do they need to raise premiums or keep them the same. I cant think of too many companies actually LOWERING premiums. They could have just had a rash of major loses. Even if it was in another state, Its a must that the company makes its money back somehow. Even if you switch companies, you might get some temporary relief on your premium, but sooner or later, even that company will raise its rates. especially if they had their premiums intentionally low just to "buy the market". Never forget, an insurance premium is the cost of a lost spread out among a group of people.

Posted: Wed Nov 21, 2007 07:07 am Post Subject:

As a whole insurance fraud is the reason that rates are so high, I know you are speaking specifically on you and your situation, but image a world with no insurance fraud.....ahhhhh how nice. Okay now snap out of it, realistically insurance fraud is so pre-dominant, if there was none we would probably pay about a quarter of what we pay now for insurance.

Posted: Fri Nov 23, 2007 05:52 am Post Subject:

Another thing to think about Fritz is the rising cost of fuel. I know it sounds a little off , but the whole economy revolves aroung the cost of fuel. If you are in doubt about that, just sit down and think about it for a minute

Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 06:07 pm Post Subject:

Many people, including legislators, blame the problem on nature (e.g. hurricanes), the economy (market), or the judiciary system (attorneys).