Why would a company do this?

[chrisms]

So in two days my accident is officially 3 years old and not taken into consideration for auto insurance. I got a Progressive quote that was $55/month, much better than the $125/month I'm paying now through eSurance.

Even eSurance quoted me about $55/month. So I e-mail them to ask if I can get my rate lowered in two days or if I have to go to another provider. They give me a cookie-cutter response about how when my policy is up for renewal (6/12/07) I will be eligible for lower rates.

Screw you, esurance. You've managed to lose me as a customer in under a month. Even if they do charge me the cancellation fee of $50 I've been reading from horror stories on the net, having 6 months of insurance for under half the monthly rate will make up for it.

Why would they do that when their own quotes show I should get a lower rate? Do they expect me to cancel and sign up with them again? Companies make no sense sometimes.

 

[allisolm]

Did they raise your rate the day you had the accident or did they raise it the next time the policy came up for renewal?

 

[Glavinsolo]

Insurance companies can give you a lower rate during your 6month policy. They aren't very smart if they aren't doing this since just about every insurance company does. Hell, USAA does all that for me and sends me money back most of the time.

 

[dullard]

My question is simple. Why did you sign up for a new expensive insurance policy 1 month before your 3 year time limit is up?

 

[ViviTheMage]

uhmm, they do it when your 6 month period is up, its just how it works...

 

[chrisms]

Originally posted by: dullard
My question is simple. Why did you sign up for a new expensive insurance policy 1 month before your 3 year time limit is up?

I'm moving across the state and had no insurance. I've also had to run back and forth between two places an hour away from eachother preparing for the move. So I needed insurance this month.

Plus at the time I signed up I thought the accident was in February, it was actually on January 7th.

 

[chrisms]

Originally posted by: allisolm
Did they raise your rate the day you had the accident or did they raise it the next time the policy came up for renewal?

Good point but the fact remains I will just cancel my policy with them if they don't lower the rate, so why would they not lower it? They would give that rate to a new customer so why not me?

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: chrisms

Originally posted by: allisolm
Did they raise your rate the day you had the accident or did they raise it the next time the policy came up for renewal?

Good point but the fact remains I will just cancel my policy with them if they don't lower the rate, so why would they not lower it? They would give that rate to a new customer so why not me?

Calling your bluff, it seems.

 

[chrisms]

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: chrisms

Originally posted by: allisolm
Did they raise your rate the day you had the accident or did they raise it the next time the policy came up for renewal?

Good point but the fact remains I will just cancel my policy with them if they don't lower the rate, so why would they not lower it? They would give that rate to a new customer so why not me?

Calling your bluff, it seems.

Yep.. that might work for the customer who has a rate change of just a few dollars, but in my case it is well worth the effort of cancelling and starting up with someone else.

 

[BD2003]

Originally posted by: chrisms

Originally posted by: BD2003

Originally posted by: chrisms

Originally posted by: allisolm
Did they raise your rate the day you had the accident or did they raise it the next time the policy came up for renewal?

Good point but the fact remains I will just cancel my policy with them if they don't lower the rate, so why would they not lower it? They would give that rate to a new customer so why not me?

Calling your bluff, it seems.

Yep.. that might work for the customer who has a rate change of just a few dollars, but in my case it is well worth the effort of cancelling and starting up with someone else.

They don't believe you.

 

[MrWizzard]

Originally posted by: chrisms

Originally posted by: allisolm
Did they raise your rate the day you had the accident or did they raise it the next time the policy came up for renewal?

Good point but the fact remains I will just cancel my policy with them if they don't lower the rate, so why would they not lower it? They would give that rate to a new customer so why not me?

The fact remains that the company should be able to charge you for what it didn't because of how the renewal and accident dates differ. Period.

If they adjusted your rate the day after the accident 3 year date then they would have to figure out a way to make up that lost premium probably by just raising rates across the board or making accident or ticket points a higher cost to insured?s. Yes you can work the system by changing your carrier, but your return premium from your einsurance company will be pro-rated probably. That and when you work the system they don't get the money they need to cover costs. Their rates go up their insured?s will move because their rates go up and then the company you switched too will not be able to cover the costs from the influx of business and bad drivers and your rates will go up anyway. Insurance can get pretty complicated, just because you dodge the cost now doesn't mean that you won't pay for it in the future with higher general rate because to many people work the system. Good Luck

 

[imported_inspire]

You can't call them and speak to a human being? Chances are that a person could sort this out for you.

 

[chrisms]

Originally posted by: MrWizzard

Originally posted by: chrisms

Originally posted by: allisolm
Did they raise your rate the day you had the accident or did they raise it the next time the policy came up for renewal?

Good point but the fact remains I will just cancel my policy with them if they don't lower the rate, so why would they not lower it? They would give that rate to a new customer so why not me?

The fact remains that the company should be able to charge you for what it didn't because of how the renewal and accident dates differ. Period.

If they adjusted your rate the day after the accident 3 year date then they would have to figure out a way to make up that lost premium probably by just raising rates across the board or making accident or ticket points a higher cost to insured?s. Yes you can work the system by changing your carrier, but your return premium from your einsurance company will be pro-rated probably. That and when you work the system they don't get the money they need to cover costs. Their rates go up their insured?s will move because their rates go up and then the company you switched too will not be able to cover the costs from the influx of business and bad drivers and your rates will go up anyway. Insurance can get pretty complicated, just because you dodge the cost now doesn't mean that you won't pay for it in the future with higher general rate because to many people work the system. Good Luck

The choice between me contributing to higher rates by switching carriers and paying an extra $70/month on insurance is simple. I doubt my switching will upset the balance so greatly that my insurance gets raised that much. What I think should have happened from the beginning was that my plan included a rate drop at the date the accident was taken off. Now I'm sure you'll explain to me why that doesn't work either 😛

As for calling them, I plan on doing that before cancelling. I didn't have access to a phone yesterday.

 

[imported_inspire]

Cool - I'm sure you're reasonable and you explain that you'll cancel if they don't budge, they'll deal. If they don't, post a transcript so I can laugh at them.

 

[MrWizzard]

Originally posted by: chrisms

Originally posted by: MrWizzard

Originally posted by: chrisms

Originally posted by: allisolm
Did they raise your rate the day you had the accident or did they raise it the next time the policy came up for renewal?

Good point but the fact remains I will just cancel my policy with them if they don't lower the rate, so why would they not lower it? They would give that rate to a new customer so why not me?

The fact remains that the company should be able to charge you for what it didn't because of how the renewal and accident dates differ. Period.

If they adjusted your rate the day after the accident 3 year date then they would have to figure out a way to make up that lost premium probably by just raising rates across the board or making accident or ticket points a higher cost to insured?s. Yes you can work the system by changing your carrier, but your return premium from your einsurance company will be pro-rated probably. That and when you work the system they don't get the money they need to cover costs. Their rates go up their insured?s will move because their rates go up and then the company you switched too will not be able to cover the costs from the influx of business and bad drivers and your rates will go up anyway. Insurance can get pretty complicated, just because you dodge the cost now doesn't mean that you won't pay for it in the future with higher general rate because to many people work the system. Good Luck

The choice between me contributing to higher rates by switching carriers and paying an extra $70/month on insurance is simple. I doubt my switching will upset the balance so greatly that my insurance gets raised that much. What I think should have happened from the beginning was that my plan included a rate drop at the date the accident was taken off. Now I'm sure you'll explain to me why that doesn't work either 😛

As for calling them, I plan on doing that before cancelling. I didn't have access to a phone yesterday.

Not going to explain why it doesn't work I already did in my first post. But being able to switch is a freedom you have. This country is great huh. I just wanted to let you know all the goods and bads to the choice.