I go through an insurance broker and they said that it’s important to check around every renewal to see what is being offered. They rely on customers getting complacent. If everyone actually shopped around every year, it would theoretically drive prices down. They would have to resort to price fixing to keep their massive profits.
For some unknown reason i have total irrational hatred towards this concept and really short fuse towards haggling.
My countries telecom companies do the same or at least the most.
Every 2 years the special offer they did ends and i have to start switching my number after which for a month every single telecom company starts to spam me with better offer which all are the lowest they can go. Last time they even started sending me chocolates. Like WTF, i just want a phone, not a bloody chocolate.
At this point i flipped them all off and accepted I don’t need phone that much.
My wife took over as she does want me to have a phone.
I always hear about the importance of shopping around for insurance, and I don’t necessarily do it every single year, but probably about every other year
And everywhere I look my quotes are always about the same, within a few bucks of what I’m already paying.
And I guess if you add it all up over the years a couple of bucks a month difference does eventually add up to something kind of significant.
But having been with my current company/agent for a while and having had to use my insurance a couple times over the years, I don’t mind that so much because I’ve found them pretty easy to work with. They’ve paid out when I needed them to without any drama, and they’ve been willing to cut me when, like when I had some billing snafu that was kind of my fault they were saw that I’d been a customer for a while with otherwise perfect payment history and we’re willing to waive some fees that were otherwise tacked on. And jumping ship to save very little money and not knowing if the new company is going to be as decent to work with just doesn’t seem like a smart move to me.
Still pisses me off to no end that my insurance goes up every year though. My car’s not appreciating in value any, and I’m not getting any younger or more reckless on the road, nor have I reached the age yet where my mental faculties have started to nosedive, and I have a very clean driving history.
Same as the other responder, it’s the homeowner’s insurance I’m typically shopping around for. I also have a habit of limping aging vehicles I purchased for $1000 beyond the 150k mile (240k km) mark. They tend to try sneaking full coverage in there and are VERY SURPRISED to see the cost come down significantly. If I’m lucky, I can get an overall discount by bundling both together.
I’ve had a similar experience with car insurance. Home insurance, though, my rates went up ~40% two years in a row. Switched companies and pay less than half of the inflated rates.
Truth. I have a broker and every year before my renewal she price shops every provider to keep giving me the lowest price. Before that, my car insurance had steadily creeped up almost 50% higher than everything I was quoted. Do I have to change apps and remember who I’m with every year? Yes, but I’ve saved a lot of money in the process.
Well you see with all the harvested data they have on everyone, including knowing what you pay now, it would be really difficult to offer you something cheaper.
so really its your fault for paying so much already, and fitting into a part of the population that based on A/B testing can have their rates raised a certain percentage before they feel its too much to bother looking for alternative insurance companies /s
How is it a thing that someone is belittled for saying something likely true and makes no implications unless you invent them? No one is saying it’s the customers fault or that insurance companies would be angels if we forced them to.
Except it’s a captive market. When it’s a law that you have to have something and there’s only a dozen or so “options” (especially when those options end up being owned by the same entity) they will never lose enough business to have to stop being shitty.
No one is saying they’d clean up their act. But yes if they were constantly losing customers they’d obviously lower prices a bit. Keep in mind this is not blaming customers.
In my country for liability insurance at least, national traffic insurance fund website has a comparison tool. Just enter the data and get results for all the companies (minus the banks for some reason, they also offer insurance). The difference can sometimes be 5x or more and they offer the exact same legally mandated coverage (some have minor bonuses like “moose insurance” or legal aid, and no, those aren’t even always the most expensive ones).
I go through an insurance broker and they said that it’s important to check around every renewal to see what is being offered. They rely on customers getting complacent. If everyone actually shopped around every year, it would theoretically drive prices down. They would have to resort to price fixing to keep their massive profits.
For some unknown reason i have total irrational hatred towards this concept and really short fuse towards haggling.
My countries telecom companies do the same or at least the most. Every 2 years the special offer they did ends and i have to start switching my number after which for a month every single telecom company starts to spam me with better offer which all are the lowest they can go. Last time they even started sending me chocolates. Like WTF, i just want a phone, not a bloody chocolate.
At this point i flipped them all off and accepted I don’t need phone that much. My wife took over as she does want me to have a phone.
I always hear about the importance of shopping around for insurance, and I don’t necessarily do it every single year, but probably about every other year
And everywhere I look my quotes are always about the same, within a few bucks of what I’m already paying.
And I guess if you add it all up over the years a couple of bucks a month difference does eventually add up to something kind of significant.
But having been with my current company/agent for a while and having had to use my insurance a couple times over the years, I don’t mind that so much because I’ve found them pretty easy to work with. They’ve paid out when I needed them to without any drama, and they’ve been willing to cut me when, like when I had some billing snafu that was kind of my fault they were saw that I’d been a customer for a while with otherwise perfect payment history and we’re willing to waive some fees that were otherwise tacked on. And jumping ship to save very little money and not knowing if the new company is going to be as decent to work with just doesn’t seem like a smart move to me.
Still pisses me off to no end that my insurance goes up every year though. My car’s not appreciating in value any, and I’m not getting any younger or more reckless on the road, nor have I reached the age yet where my mental faculties have started to nosedive, and I have a very clean driving history.
Same as the other responder, it’s the homeowner’s insurance I’m typically shopping around for. I also have a habit of limping aging vehicles I purchased for $1000 beyond the 150k mile (240k km) mark. They tend to try sneaking full coverage in there and are VERY SURPRISED to see the cost come down significantly. If I’m lucky, I can get an overall discount by bundling both together.
I’ve had a similar experience with car insurance. Home insurance, though, my rates went up ~40% two years in a row. Switched companies and pay less than half of the inflated rates.
They don’t already price fix?
Truth. I have a broker and every year before my renewal she price shops every provider to keep giving me the lowest price. Before that, my car insurance had steadily creeped up almost 50% higher than everything I was quoted. Do I have to change apps and remember who I’m with every year? Yes, but I’ve saved a lot of money in the process.
And you’re gullible enough to think they aren’t/won’t price fix?
Well you see with all the harvested data they have on everyone, including knowing what you pay now, it would be really difficult to offer you something cheaper. so really its your fault for paying so much already, and fitting into a part of the population that based on A/B testing can have their rates raised a certain percentage before they feel its too much to bother looking for alternative insurance companies /s
I don’t understand why someone would downvote you. You added the /s, lol
Seriously though, insurance companies spend more money trying NOT to pay the
markcustomer than they do just paying out for claims.I think they are “gullible enough” to believe that losing business is the only thing that would keep corporations from being shitty.
Insurance companies not being shitty? LOL
How is it a thing that someone is belittled for saying something likely true and makes no implications unless you invent them? No one is saying it’s the customers fault or that insurance companies would be angels if we forced them to.
Uhh… you did, though…
The thing about words is that they can mean many things. Your choice to read them as uncharitably as you can imagine is not damning evidence.
Yes your refusal to admit that you making shit up in your head not being objective reality is what I’m talking about
Except it’s a captive market. When it’s a law that you have to have something and there’s only a dozen or so “options” (especially when those options end up being owned by the same entity) they will never lose enough business to have to stop being shitty.
No one is saying they’d clean up their act. But yes if they were constantly losing customers they’d obviously lower prices a bit. Keep in mind this is not blaming customers.
In my country for liability insurance at least, national traffic insurance fund website has a comparison tool. Just enter the data and get results for all the companies (minus the banks for some reason, they also offer insurance). The difference can sometimes be 5x or more and they offer the exact same legally mandated coverage (some have minor bonuses like “moose insurance” or legal aid, and no, those aren’t even always the most expensive ones).
Well you gotta insure your moose