Should the nation pay higher insurance for the disasters of a few?

[KNS]

A while back I posted here about my rising car insurance premium on my daily driver Volkswagen. I received the latest bill for my new premium and it has gone up significantly again (I have a clean record with no claims in 17 years). For as long as I've been driving, until recently my premiums have always gone down as the vehicle got older.

I have been told by State Farm that it is primarily because of the natural disasters in certain states that rates go up nationwide. This same theme has been reported in the news as well.

I'll throw this out there - should the whole country pick up the tab for those that choose to live in disaster prone areas?
Are the insurance companies using this as an excuse to raise our rates?

[cockerpunk]

yes, the whole nation should help recover parts of it from national disasters.

no, insurance companies should not be middle-men in this exchange. ie, they produce no value, and should be run at a zero sum/zero profit. they are raising their rates on you, in order to eek out more money for their shareholders/owners, instead of helping people.

[Yorkie]

It is my understanding that insurance companies make their profits not from premiums but from investing the money in the markets. When the markets are soft they use premium increases to satisfy stockholder expectations. Ideally, they should create their profit through accurate prediction of claims but I heard predicting the future is tough.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by KNS

A while back I posted here about my rising car insurance premium on my daily driver Volkswagen. I received the latest bill for my new premium and it has gone up significantly again (I have a clean record with no claims in 17 years). For as long as I've been driving, until recently my premiums have always gone down as the vehicle got older.

I have been told by State Farm that it is primarily because of the natural disasters in certain states that rates go up nationwide. This same theme has been reported in the news as well.

I'll throw this out there - should the whole country pick up the tab for those that choose to live in disaster prone areas?
Are the insurance companies using this as an excuse to raise our rates?

I think the reason that you've been given is a load of crap. I think it's because they know they can get away with that reason.

Many years ago, I think the late 80s, the cost of automotive anti-freeze went way, way up, like from $1-2/gal to $5-6 (or something rediculous, it's been a long time). THe reason is that 4 out of 5 factories had catastrophic issues (fires or something). I was told that FLAPS stores got letters from Prestone saying "don't worry, we're not going to raise prices and availability won't suffer because our last factory can maintain the supply." But that didn't stop folks from jacking up the prices.
I'm sure that we've all seen similar events in the past 5 - 10 years, where price goes way up for some reason, but then doesn't go back down to the original levels because suppliers realize that people can/will pay.

[FPB111]

In the same category my school taxes go up every year for the last 40 years in the same house.
Why should I have to pay for everyone’s kids education, forever. We have none.

[cockerpunk]

Originally Posted by FPB111

In the same category my school taxes go up every year for the last 40 years in the same house.
Why should I have to pay for everyone’s kids education, forever. We have none.

as someone without children, who also pays for schools as well ...

because i want to live in a country with an educated population.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by FPB111

In the same category my school taxes go up every year for the last 40 years in the same house.
Why should I have to pay for everyone’s kids education, forever. We have none.

There are a lot of fallacies that will come up in this argument. Not paying for schools just gets you more uneducated people in general. Is that what you truly want?

We have USAA for everything. They are essentially a non profit. That I agree with even with premium increases. We do get modest rebates.

Waste is the enemy here. How much money does FEMA waste? (I know, different subject so while I'll leave the comment, you can disregard.)

[GH85Carrera]

No, it is not fair for the rest of the country to pay for people to live next to rivers that will flood over and over. People like to live next to rivers, and expect a flood ever 20 or 30 years. Hurricanes wipe out entire cities and it takes many years to rebuild, just in time for the next one.

Tornadoes hit a very tiny area, but they can obliterate that little area. Just a few blocks away is normal civilization, unlike in hurricanes or floods.

The biggest thing I want to change in uninsured motorists. I pay a lot more for lots of bad drivers to drive with no insurance at all. Those are the ones that need to pay.

[2.7RS]

Yup. If you want to live in Floriduh is about when the next hurricane is going to hit.

I don't want to pay for your waterview and tropical weather.

Here in Texass I worry about tornados. And it's also about when will be my turn

[GH85Carrera]

Both sets of my grandparents lived into their late 70s, and only one of them had ever even seen a tornado. They are something to pay attention to the weather forecast, and be ready, but not something inevitable at all.

Living in the Florida Keys, yea, hurricanes are a major worry. Along the Mississippi river, yep it is gonna flood again.

[Scott Douglas]

I guess most of you haven't heard the gas company's reason's for raising our gas prices here in California, have you.



I'll see myself out.
(I sure hope you're all willing to come bail us out when the BIG ONE hits.)

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by KNS

I'll throw this out there - should the whole country pick up the tab for those that choose to live in disaster prone areas?

People who live in disaster prone areas pay more for their insurance. Is it enough more? I dunno. Same with drivers and cars. Bad drivers, young drivers, fast cars - all pay higher premiums.

Originally Posted by KNS

Are the insurance companies using this as an excuse to raise our rates?

A lot of companies are raising prices and using "inflation!, inflation!!, inflation!!!" as an excuse. I wouldn't put it past insurance companies to do it too.

[Dixie]

Originally Posted by KNS

I'll throw this out there - should the whole country pick up the tab for those that choose to live in disaster prone areas?
Are the insurance companies using this as an excuse to raise our rates?

You could simply self insure. That way your risks are only your's. Then again, I suspect your State mandates you insure that VW. So Government is part of the problem as well.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Capt. Carrera

You could simply self insure. That way your risks are only your's. Then again, I suspect your State mandates you insure that VW. So Government is part of the problem as well.

Ohio requires that I insure people and property that I might cause a loss to when I'm driving my car.
The state does not require that I insure my car.
If I were to self-insure for liability I expect the government would require that I show my ability to cover million dollar medical bills.

One thing I have never understood is why each if my cars needs liability insurance. The car isn't responsible for my driving.

[berettafan]

I struggle with the idea that i pay more so rich people can insure houses on the water. I'll say that much about it at least.

[GH85Carrera]

Originally Posted by Capt. Carrera

You could simply self insure. That way your risks are only your's. Then again, I suspect your State mandates you insure that VW. So Government is part of the problem as well.

Anyone that has no insurance is already self insured. That is why they drive a POS car that they can just walk away from it and no major loss.



According to Hagerty, my toy car is getting crazy expensive. I have agreed value insurance on it to cover a loss as I can't afford to just write off that much money if it was stolen or totaled. Self insured is not practical for me.

[908/930]

I think the car insurance cost is going up likely because the personal injury claims are getting higher, and the cost to repair 15 airbags after a minor collision in a new car adds up, cost of replacement has also gone up.
At least up here where you live can change cost. Living and working in Toronto I was paying double what somebody driving in from 60 KM away was paying, my drive was 12 km, more accidents were happening in the city, likely caused from these people driving in every day.

[john70t]

"Insurance companies" is such a vague term.
Any business need to make profit to pay the entirety and lifestyle for all their employees and families....
And legal wing....
And shareholders.....
And hopefully make a profit at the end of it all. To invest.

Some are Auto. Some Real Estate. Some are spread across the spectrum.

[Dixie]

Originally Posted by GH85Carrera

Anyone that has no insurance is already self insured. That is why they drive a POS car that they can just walk away from it and no major loss.

The two are indeed synonymous.

Of bigger concern than your vehicle's value is that your entire net worth, and then some, is at risk.

...I know, I'm being Ms. Obvious again.

[Tobra]

Wow, the 911 is worth a lot