9:41 AM, Apr 22, 2009 
Like a Good Neighbor
Insurance is such a ridiculous racket, it would make me laugh if I could only unclench my fists.
Some years ago, I purchased a vehicle that was built more for performance than for utility. With few exceptions, automobile manufacturers make performance vehicles look as conspicuous as possible, so as to render the laborious process of identifying and snaring the legally-casual operators of these vehicles at least one step closer to ease. As such, I went from driving 50 on midtown streets in a '98 Galant to driving 50 on midtown streets in an '03 WRX, and the glaring inconsistency earned me three speeding tickets is as many weeks. I am not upset by this, or at least I'm not upset at anyone but myself about this. But, this set the stage for when i was driving to work one night.
I was driving to Lees Summit for work, and a state trooper followed me off the highway at my exit. She didn't wind up giving me a ticket for driving 9 miles over, but she noted my Illinois tags and license(all unexpired), and asked if I was lost. I told her I was not, and that I had lived in Kansas City for over two years at that point. This was a grievous mistake, because she promptly wrote me two moving violation tickets for not having a proper license or vehicle registration. In order to reduce the fine for these last two tickets, I promised to get a Missouri driver's license and vehicle registration. Within a few weeks of getting my Missouri license, I received a piece of mail informing me that my license was suspended due to the accumulation of violation points against it.
Angry at the state, I waited for perhaps a year before going to get my status and vehicle legitimized. I got rid of the WRX shortly after that, and transitioned into a more conservative model. As a result, my insurance provider filed my SR-22 in April of 2004. If you didn't know, an SR-22 is a document that the state requires, filed by an offender's insurer, to assure the state that punitive adjustments have been made to the offender's periodic insurance premiums. In other words, it's another piece of the symbiotic alliance between government and the insurance industry.
Anyway, an SR-22 remains on a Missouri resident's record for five years, and as such, adversely affects the amount due for insurance premiums. As has been intimated but not explicitly stated yet, my SR-22 came off my record this month. So, looking to save a little money, I called up my insurance provider, the insurance behemoth State Farm. After a bit of jockeying around with people on the phone, I talked with an agent named Grant(I think), and explained my intention to cancel my current expensive policy, receive a prorated refund, and start a new policy with my now-clean driving record.
He informed me that what I asked wasn't, "allowed by the underwriter." This is State Farm we're talking about. Not ABIA. Not Dick Tracy. State Farm, as far as I know, is not an insurance broker. They underwrite their own insurance. I smell the BS of my building's management company(company X), when they tell us about how some piece of bad news is the fault of company Y, when both companies X and Y are owned and managed by company Z.
So as a result of this, I now have to pay for the five remaining months of my six month policy as if I have a suspension on my record. Good times.
Insurance is such a ridiculous racket, it would make me laugh if I could only unclench my fists.
2 comments
Nick had this to say:
A couple of thoughts.. You should speak with my agent - he may be part of the Insuro-conglomerate, but so far American Family has been nothing but accomodating with me. Plus I always speak with the same agent and his secretarial staff, unless I am filing a claim. Second, I used to process SR-22's when I worked for an underwriter at 89th & Troost - in fact, I technically was an underwriter even though I was not certified. We would underwrite penalized policies for low rent agencies like ABIA and Access....
A couple of thoughts.. You should speak with my agent - he may be part of the Insuro-conglomerate, but so far American Family has been nothing but accomodating with me. Plus I always speak with the same agent and his secretarial staff, unless I am filing a claim. Second, I used to process SR-22's when I worked for an underwriter at 89th & Troost - in fact, I technically was an underwriter even though I was not certified. We would underwrite penalized policies for low rent agencies like ABIA and Access....
8:17 AM, Apr 23, 2009
dumonk brooked no delay in saying:
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This is the money you could be saving with Geico. Cue club music...
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This is the money you could be saving with Geico. Cue club music...
11:30 AM, Apr 23, 2009
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