Date:         Thu, 15 Jul 2010 07:31:56 -0700
Reply-To:     Marc Sayer <marcsayer@HUGHES.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Marc Sayer <marcsayer@HUGHES.NET>
Subject:      Re: Mellow Yellow got hitted
In-Reply-To:  <AANLkTilRMme0OHGwMGqIeT4SYGxbpbt4LVTbIswbI09e@mail.gmail.com>
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Add me to your list of people who have been screwed by insurance
companies. They are happy to take your premiums (my wife and I own and
insure 5 cars - they charge us full premiums for 5 cars, with only 2
drivers, how's that for starting off with a scam?). My experience covers
3 states, 4 companies, and almost 40 years, and I have never once had a
good experience with a claim. Back in 1978 my 1970 Fiat 124 had just had
$6k worth of resto and upgrade work done on it. The only thing missing
was the passenger's seat and door panel. They were in my garage waiting
to be installed. They valued the car at $500 and totaled it. But they
wanted me to pay $1000 to get it back as salvage! (now I know a Fiat 124
is not a big dollar car, but you can tell by what I spent on it that it
was in exquisite condition and was not a $500 car. Their excuse? Well
that make/model wasn't wroth much, plus it was missing so many parts.
And of course parts in my possession but not on the car were not "part
of the car." Their attitude was sue us, you can't possibly afford to
match our resources. We'll drown you in court costs and you'll end up
losing a small fortune, so be our guest refuse this offer and take us to
court. They were more than willing to spend 2, 3, or more times what my
claim was really worth, in court costs. They would rather spend the
money setting a precedent and letting folks know they had better take
what's offered. Had an equally bad experience with my 64 Type 2, my 72
MGB, my wife's 84 Volvo, my 79 Datsun 810 wagon, My 81 280ZXT, need I go
on? Every time it comes to paying out for a covered loss, they weasel
and cheat and do whatever they can to not pay out fairly.  If an
individual tried to start selling the same thing and conducting business
the same way, they'd be charged with fraud. But the insurance industry
is BIG business and has a very, very powerful lobby (notice how all
sorts of insurance is slowly becoming madatory, how many industries can
manage that trick?), so they can get away with this crap. My homeowner's
insurance agent refused to write a policy for our new home when we moved
in 2005. After having been with them for almost 30 years. When I asked
why she said it was because I ran a dog rescue out of my home. Turns out
they she saw a story about my rescue on TV 2 years before. Also turns
out that while she was taking my premiums for those 2 years, she
admitted they would  not have covered me for anything for that period,
because of my dog rescue. When I asked her why she didn't contact me to
adjust my policy or cancel, she told me it wasn't her job to make sure I
kept them informed, and that all she was required to do was let the home
office know that they didn't need to cover me because I was running the
rescue. If I wanted to alter or cancel my policy, that was my
responsibility. So I asked her why they didn't just cancel me instead of
continuing to take my premiums when they had no intention of insuring me
against any claims. In other words why were they fraudulently taking my
premiums? Never could get a straight answer.  That's the insurance
business as a whole. Maybe there are occasional cases where an insured
is treated fairly, but they are the exception. An Insurance agency is in
business to make a profit. And there are big profits to be made if you
avoid paying out on losses. Look at how many car insurance ads you see
on TV and compare that to any other industry. Those ads are not cheap
and they only way they can afford to run them is to overcharge and
underpay.  Insurance started out as a gambling scheme, and it is as
crooked and biased toward "the house" as any other form of gambling.


--

Marc Sayer
Journalist, Photographer, Dog Trainer (APDT member #062956)
Board member - Western States Great Dane Rescue Association
Director of Operations&  Training - Deaf Dane Rescue Inc.
Oakridge, OR USA

My Homepage -http://gracieland.org
Deaf Dane Rescue  -http://deafdane.org
White Danes Yahoo Group -http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/whitedanes
Western States Great Dane Rescue Association -http://wsgdra.org
RescueWatchdogs -http://rescuewatchdogs.org
Association of Pet Dog Trainers -http://APDT.com