In which I get totally incensed about something for, like, ten minutes and then totally get over it.
Today I logged into the Drive web site to pay my auto insurance premium.
My ex and I are still on the same policy, and he’s always asking me about the account when he’s here dropping Truck off after work. Is it paid? When is it due? Can he give me cash for his portion? Can’t I just handle paying it?
It’s a pain in the ass because the bill goes to his house. He should know when it’s due and he should handle paying it since he’s the one with the bank loan and the full coverage and the late model truck. But he doesn’t. He doesn’t have a checking account, he doesn’t have a credit card, it’s too hard, he’s decided it’s easier if I just pay it online.
Newsflash! I don’t have a checking account or credit cards either, so it’s equally difficult for me to pay it! And since my premium’s $200 a year and his is $900, I think he should endure the arduous chore of opening the bill, reading it, buying a money order and a stamp, and getting it in the mail on time.
Yeah. Right.
Long story short, it occurred to me this afternoon — as I was paying the bill online with a borrowed credit card — that the ex and I need to get separate policies.
I surfed around and ended up at Geico for a quote. In the process, I had a window open at Drive — to get my current coverage and VIN and such — and noticed archived PDFs of all the documents pertaining to my current policy. One document was called Notice of Continuing Action and the title intrigued me, so I opened it.
It’s basically a two-page document saying they’d reviewed my policy and did not give me the lowest rate available because of my driving or credit history. My driving record is spotless, so it appears they’re charging me more because I have lousy credit.
“We did not give you our lowest premium due, in part, to information contained in your credit history.” In part? I have a spotless driving record and have never filed a claim! I’m not a teenager, I don’t drive a sports car, and I belong to zero high-risk categories.
“We evaluate your credit history information differently than a lender would,” the notice continues, as if they really mean it. (They don’t. They get the score and punch it into an equation. It’s not like they actually read the reports.) “Therefore it’s possible to have a very good credit score, yet still not be eligible for our absolute lowest premiums.” (That part, I assume, is to assuage those happy few who have excellent credit but still have to pay through the nose for car insurance.)
Later, the document says, “A consumer can improve his or her insurance score by paying bills on time and keeping credit balances low,” because “credit history information has proven to be a very powerful predictor of future losses.”
What? Losses? What kinds of losses? They’re an auto insurance company. Customers who don’t pay their premiums can’t cause much in losses because auto insurers don’t pay out on lapsed policies, and unpaid premiums cost the company very little (beyond the expense of processing the customer and sending a bill). An auto insurer isn’t providing a product until there’s a claim, so deadbeats who sign up for insurance and don’t pay the premium simply end up with no insurance. It’s not like the company is losing actual money.
Are they truly claiming that if you have lousy credit, their model predicts that you’ll get in more accidents and/or commit insurance fraud? WTF?
“Using credit history information as an underwriting factor has allowed us to offer more accurate and lower premiums to more people. Frequently, consumers unable to meet more traditional underwriting guidelines are able to get a lower premium because a review of their credit history is a component of the underwriting process.”
What do you suppose a “more accurate premium” is? One that enables the insurance company to get more money out of lower risk consumers?
And seriously, how does having good credit have anything at all to do with risk? Risk to auto insurers should be calculated using relevant data, like previous accidents and claims, speeding tickets, type of vehicle, use of vehicle, presence of teenaged drivers in the household, and local terrain and weather.
I hate insurance. I don’t mind giving money to someone for something tangible, a product or a service I can appreciate as having value, but insurance? It ain’t nothin’ but a fear tax.
If you want to see what your insurer bases your premium on, go get a copy of your auto insurance score – you’re entitled to see your consumer files for free once a year.
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An insurance company once dropped us because our daughter (who had her own car and own policy) was not good at paying her premiums on time. Effing hell. HATE THEM. Got a new company but only had one car to insure. It is cheaper to insure two cars than one. WTF?
Hey, you! And yeah, it’s total crap, the whole insurance thing. -m
There’s been an agenda in place for quite some time to link the pillars of our infrastructure together in such a way that you simply will not be able to participate in this society unless you’ve got all your ducks in a row in every facet of your life. I’ve been warning people about this unification of systems and the nightmarish, locked down society that will accompany it for several years only to be thought of as an overreactive, wacked-out, wackjob, conspiracy theory nutter.
So now, as Rome burns, I just crack open a cold one, sit back with a bowl of popcorn and watch the stories of first hand accounts with this phenomena roll in from the media, from internet discussion groups and from friends. And of course I occasionally run into this insanity myself. I discovered on my own, for example, that there’s at least one movie rental chain store that won’t let you rent movies without a valid state driver’s license. Should we not be perplexed about what one’s ability to legally operate a motor vehicle in a particular state has to do with whether or not you are qualified to rent movies? “Vare are your papers, citizen?” is hardly the kind of thing we should expect to hear when doing something as benign as renting a movie. This can’t possibly foreshadow anything good. Indeed, on a much larger scale, we are already witnessing the following descent into full blown fascism:
1) Credit is being linked to pretty much everything.
2) Political affiliations and banking activities are now linked to airport security and whether or not you’ll be allowed to fly.
3) Personal financial information is being made available to CPS workers and if you don’t make enough money they can come and take your kids.
4) Cars are being wired with GPS systems so that if the owner misses a payment their key won’t open the door.
5) Employment history databanks are now on the horizon wherein every potential employer can look up who all your previous employers are and read someone’s errant opinion about why you are no longer working there.
6) Most grocery store purchases are now stored in databases which are copied to the federal government for god only knows what ends.
7) Legislators are pushing for national ID cards that will have pretty much everything about your life on them and be used to prove that you have a right to do things like breath.
The pathways and pitfalls of all this are endless and sometimes subtle. Can’t afford insurance because of your credit rating? Well, you can’t legally drive without insurance, can’t get to work without driving, can’t make money without work, can’t eat without money. And now your credit rating can drop by up to 10 points at a time just by LOOKING at it. And it gets looked at whenever you apply for credit, insurance, a bank account, an apartment, a house, and now sometimes even a job. So now, theoretically, you could starve to death, not for being an irresponsible, dropped out slacker, but as a result of diligently and innocently going through the normal motions of everyday life in America.
More specifically, consider the following scenario:
You apply for a job at a company. The company pulls your credit report causing your credit rating to drop ten points. Someone else at the same company looks at your new lower credit rating and sees that it is now ten points below their minimum requirement for employment. You don’t get the job.
Meanwhile your car insurance premium goes up because of your lowered credit score, so some of the money you were going to make a car payment with now has to go to pay your insurance carrier. You get a job interview lined up with another company (your credit report drops another ten points). It’s time to go to your job interview but your car door won’t open because you missed a car payment. The company makes a log entry in the national employment database saying that you are an irresponsible flake. You walk up the side of the highway to human services to apply for food stamps whereupon CPS learns that you are unemployed and that your bank account balance falls below a certain amount so they take your “at risk” kids and test pesticides on them.
You take up drinking because you can’t afford $200/month for anxiety medication and if you apply for state assistance your credit rating might drop again. Twelve beers into an all day binge, you trip over your cat and hit your head on the side of a coffee table. Blood gushing down your face the ambulance takes you to the emergency room where a doctor discovers that you are a hazardous drunkard. He stitches you up and then reports you to the DoT which later refuses to renew your driver’s license.
You go to the corner movie store to rent “The Secret”, a documentary about turning your life around through the the “law of attraction”, but the clerk behind the counter won’t rent it to you because you can’t prove that you can legally drive a car in your state.
You kill yourself. At the funeral a well meaning priest assures your loved ones that you are burning in hell for the rest of eternity.
If you follow the link at the end of my post, you’ll see that your point #5 isn’t on the horizon, it’s here. -m
DAMN! Big Ass Head is turning out to be right. It’s a sad day inside my brain but a beautiful day here in Maz.
Tomorrow, if I feel like it, and if the cervesa wears off, I shall return with a logical argument disputing his points.
The beer doesn’t wear off until you STOP DRINKING IT. *chuckle* -m
makes me glad i live in a province with provincial auto insurance. when you buy your plates you pay a basic fee for insurance (thus no one ever drives without insurance unless their car has no plates) and any extra insurance can be purchased through them as well. the costs are lower than regular commercial insurance. you can get no-fault or regular insurance. some people don’t like it, but it makes sure that people don’t get gouged. insurance fees are based upon the year and make of the car, not on whether or not one has paid their bills. insuance costs also go up with accidents and speeding tickets, and so does one’s yearly fee for renewing one’s driver’s licence…clean driving record means low rates and basic licence fees.
That’s it. Clear out a room; I’m moving to Canada. To your house! I’m sick of this US bullshit. -m
“Tomorrow, if I feel like it, and if the cervesa wears off, I shall return with a logical argument disputing his points.”
And for once I will attempt to counter your disputes with the attention I’m sure they’ll deserve. Nothing like a good political debate.
Deserve? 😉 -m
I am deeply saddened on so many bases, I cannot begin to count. And not only because I have sucky credit history.
Don’t feel too bad, you’re not alone. My credit is shot. -m
Your credit history will be the least of your concerns if you stick around long enough. Here, have some ETAs for the advent of other obnoxious control grid mechanisms:
Mandatory government/police surveilance cameras installed inside all residential rental properties: 25 years
National ID card with biometric and cradle to grave tracking completely replaces all other forms of ID and financial instruments: 15 years
GPS enabled bio-chip implants necessary for the purchase of all goods and services and employment: 30 years.
GPS enabled bio-chip implants mandated by federal and state law: 40 years.
Mass voluntary euthanasia of aging baby boomers (with no social security trust to support them) made palatable to the general public by mass marketing it as a holy sacrament: 25 years.
Mandatory psychiatric drugging of all public school students: 10-15 years.
Water patented in the USA by private corporate conglomerate. Stiff fines or imprisonment for collecting rain water or drawing water from well without expensive license: 20-25 years.
“Reading” and “writing” regarded by the vast majority of people as an archaic pastime on par with bloodletting: 45 years.
Readin’ ‘n’ writin’ are fighting a losing battle. A lot of people sneer at the whole concept already. If only they weren’t sneering at me while I read in the bar! -m
Here’s the driver’s license being used to pay for things at convenience stores including gas:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QeS2j7yK66k
So what will happen when you can’t get your driver’s license renewed becuase you signed a waiver preventing the public school system from drugging your kids? You won’t be able to buy things?
We’re making steps toward command and control mechanisms every day. And most people can’t WAIT to have these systems in place because they are convenient and whoever chooses to use them first (while they are still voluntary) gets technological bragging rights to their friends. Note attitude of customer in news clip. She thinks it’s GREAT!!
Convenience is great. We’re hardwired to like it. I’m looking forward to wet-ware, myself. -m
Well, prison is convenient. You don’t have to pay for anything, the chow line is right down the hall, and lover is right there in your cell with you at all times. Woo hoo.
Sounds perfect. Sign me up! -m