Nov 09
adminArticles Accidents, Aggressive Manner, Car Insurance, Cars, Female Drivers, Insura, Insurance, Insurance Companies, Insurance Industry, Insurance Rates, Male Counterparts, Male Drivers, Men And Women, Men Women, Premiums, Quite Some Time, Relative Percentage, Risk, Vehicle Insurance, Wheel
If you have been dealing with vehicle insurance for quite some time now and asked your friends about their rates you’ve probably observed that different groups of customers may have different rates even if they drive identical cars. That’s due to the fact that insurance companies use both age and gender as one of the main factors when calculating rates for each client. And if age is something that changes gradually, gender is a factor that you cannot change (without the help of a professional surgeon) and will have to live with it. What’s the problem, you might ask?
Well, some people find it unfair that female drivers usually have lower premiums that their male counterparts even when driving identical cars, living in the same area, having same credit ratings and driving records. And despite the fact that it may look quite discriminatory there’s a set of reasons for this to take place in the insurance industry.
First of all, female drivers tend to file far less claims then men. Some of you might state that there are less women behind the wheel than men and that’s why the number is lower. But even if taken in relative percentage, women tend to get in less accidents then men. This is largely explained by a less aggressive manner of driving most women employ, which leads to less exposure to risk that can lead to an accident. Men, on the other hand, tend to take far more risks when behind the wheel and this often leads to insurance claims.
Moreover, the character of claims filed by female drivers is often different from those filed by men. Women rarely get involved in serious accidents with severe damage or injuries. The majority of claims are rather minor and do not lead to serious expenses. Whereas men usually get in more serious accidents that involve higher costs. That is also explained by the risk-taking nature of male drivers and cautious driving style most women employ.
So when a woman purchases car insurance her rates are usually lower because the insurance companies regard female drivers as a lower risk as compared to male driver of the same age. Of course, this doesn’t necessarily mean that all women are better drivers and never get involved in an accident. They do, but the majority of women simply file less claims. It’s the same as with teen drivers. There are teens that drive cars very well and never take risks but they still have to pay higher premiums because the majority of younger drivers get involved in accidents far more often than other age groups.
Of course, making your Сar Insurance more affordable by changing this factor alone is impossible. However, there are other factors you can affects such as your credit rating or driving record. The car you drive also has a serious weight in rate calculations. So if you feel like your insurance policy is a bit too expensive because you’re a male driver there are ways to make the policy even cheaper than for female drivers.
Mar 13
adminArticles Accident Victims, Accidents, Actuaries, City Streets, Female Drivers, Ford Contour, Gender Equality, Insurance Industry, Last Detail, Local Newspapers, Many Men, New Moon, Pack Rats, Police Report, Premium Rate, Premiums, Red Ford, Safety Record, Sincerity, Statistical Evidence
Whenever you ask a talking head paid by the insurance industry, “How do you calculate the premium rate?” the answer is always the same. There’s a big smile of sincerity and that reassuring voice says, “We look at the driver. It’s all about who you are and what you drive.” And that, of course, is how it should be. Actuaries are paid to estimate the risk of accidents and, as they keep telling us, the statistics never lie. These actuaries are like pack rats. They collect every last detail of every accident that gets reported. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a police report, a claim to the insurers from a hospital for treating accident victims, or reports in local newspapers. They have information about accidents going back to the time we were switching over from real horses to horse-powered engines. So ask how many men aged 33 have had an accident at 2 a.m. while driving a red Ford Contour in the rain with a new moon and, with the click of a mouse, you will have the answer by return. It’s the detail that’s so impressive. More importantly it shows exactly how many claims are made by male as opposed to female drivers, and what the average value of the claims is.
All around the world, the statistical evidence shows women making fewer claims and, when they are involved in accidents, the amount claimed tends to be lower.
The reason for this is that, in general, women drive within the law. They do not try to beat the lights or drive too fast on city streets so, if there is an accident, they are traveling more slowly and the impact is less damaging both to the vehicles and the people inside. Not surprisingly, this excellent safety record has been rewarded by lower premiums. Where the risk is lower, drivers pay less. Except, in Europe, this will change next year.
The European Court for Human Rights has just ruled that men and women must pay the same premiums. At the end of 2012, there must be a new system in place to calculate premiums without relying on gender as a key factor. So what’s going on? Well, ask yourself, is it fair to charge someone more to insure their vehicle just because they are male. No one asks to be born male or female so why penalize all those who have the bad luck to be born male? Keeping this real, men don’t crash because their sexual apparatus gets caught in the steering wheel. People get into accidents because they drive badly. There’s no point in forcing people to pay more because of something they are powerless to control. There’s every reason to base auto insurance quotes on actual driving records because, if the record is bad and the premium rate is high, it gives those drivers an incentive to improve their driving. Calculating premiums should be very personal, looking at how well each individual drives. Grouping everyone together on the basis of their gender for issuing auto insurance quotes is arbitrary and unfair (at least, in Europe).
Jun 17
adminAuto Insurance 12 Months, Auto, Auto Insurance Policies, Auto Insurance Rates, California Auto Insurance, California Doi, Changing Insurance, Continuous Coverage, Department Of Insurance, discount, Exceptions, Financial Strength, Initial Policy, Insurance, Insurance Carriers, Insurance Companies, Insurance Company, Insurance Insurance, Insurance Policy, Loyalty, Loyalty Discount, New Insurance, Premiums, Profitability
Although California auto insurance policies will not offer a continuous coverage discount when changing insurance companies many companies will offer their clients a loyalty discount. These discounts will vary from five to ten percent between companies. Many times that consumer will be eligible for the loyalty discount if they maintain the same insurance policy for at least 12 months.
In California all auto insurance rates are reviewed and approved by the department of insurance. Insurance companies are required to comply with the guidelines and rates that are approved by the California DOI. There can be no variations or exceptions to the rates that are approved. This is meant to help ensure that the carriers maintain profitability and are not pricing their policies to a point that could harm the financial strength of the companies or charge higher premiums than what would be appropriate.
With these rates being set consumers should understand that when they are shopping auto insurance policies between carriers it may be a good idea to make the change even with as low as a 10 percent saving on the policy.
Since the new insurance company is not able to immediately provide a discount for continuous coverage the rates being quoted for the initial policy term are quoted without any type of loyalty discount.
With this being said, a consumer that changes insurance companies and is expecting an initial savings of 10 percent could easily see a 15 to 20 percent savings after the policy matures and they receive the loyalty discount from their new insurance company. Consumers should keep this in mind and think of the long term saving of changing insurance carriers rather than exclusively focusing on the saving during the initial policy term.
Jun 08
adminArticles Actuaries, Ambulance Crews, Auto Insurance, Bad News, Firefighters, Health Insurance, Insurance Companies, Insurance Company, Insurance Quotes, Insurer, Loyalty, Premiums, Probability, Right Direction, Risk Assessment, Safe Car, Time Of Day, Unfortunate Accidents, Vehicle Insurance, Wonks
The main thing to understand about discounts is the thinking behind them. The insurance companies want to encourage you to act in ways that favor them. If you are contrary and do the opposite, you will probably cost them money so your premium rates will be higher. Let’s take a few examples and see how it works. Obviously the point of insurance is that, if you have one of those unfortunate accidents or someone steals your vehicle, you get to claim money from the insurance company. From the insurer’s point of view, this is bad news. It wants to be able to treat all your cash as profit. The more it has to pay out, the more it should raise premiums. Except, at some point, you throw up your hands and say, “We’re not going to pay that.” So a balance has to be struck. The insurer wants all the safe drivers like you, and aims to discourage all the drivers with bad records – they are the ones who get the really big premium hikes. Although loyalty bonuses go some way in the right direction, there are more ways in which the insurer can save money. It all starts with the make and model of vehicle you are driving.
Risk assessment is done by the actuaries. These are the math wonks who collect details of every accident reported in the US. This is not just the data from claims on vehicle insurance. This is every incident reported to the police, attended by the firefighters or ambulance crews, or dealt with through claims on health insurance. Put all this together and the actuaries can tell you the probability of an accident in any make and model of vehicle, given its color, whether it was fitted with any additional features, who it was driven by, the time of day or night, whether the driver and passengers were badly injured, so on. Yes, it’s that detailed. Turning this around, if you drive a vehicle that’s statistically unlikely to be involved in an accident or stolen, your premium will be lower than average. Put a safe driver in a safe car and the chances of the insurer having to pay out are small and the profit is higher. Everyone is happy. So how do you find out which are the safest vehicles with the lowest premium rates? Well, you start with http://www.safercar.gov/, a site run by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This allows you to get the safety ratings from all the tests carried out by the NHTSA. There’s a guide published at http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/staticfiles/DOT/NHTSA/Vehicle%20Safety/Articles/Associated%20Files/2009_Insurance_Costs_Comparison.pdf which is also helpful. Finally, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety publishes its own list of safe vehicles at http://www.iihs.org/ratings/
The safer the vehicle you drive, the greater the discount on the premium rate. So when you are filling out the questionnaire for those auto insurance quotes, aim to have a safe vehicle. If you vehicle is not safe and you cannot afford to change it, try to upgrade it by fitting safety features. Look at the questions asked in the questionnaire and talk to insurance agents to find out what features save the most money. Similarly, fit better locks and any systems making your vehicle more difficult to steal. Anything you can do to reduce the risk of a claim will be reflected in low rates in the auto insurance quotes you receive.
Jun 05
adminArticles Adult Americans, Cheap Health Insurance, Chronic Disease, Commonwealth Fund, Deductibles, Disaster Strike, Financial Safety, Health Coverage, Health Insurance, Insurance Company, Insurer, Last Decade, Medical Costs, Medical Profession, Pharmaceutical Industry, Policyholders, Premiums, Profit Body, Recession, Safety Net
Perhaps this is an unnecessary statement of the obvious, but the point of insurance is to give people a financial safety net. Should an emergency or disaster strike, money you would struggle to find is paid out by your insurance company. But the squeeze has been on for the last decade as medical costs and the prices of essential drugs have been rising fast. In fact, so fast that the insurers cannot pass on all the increases to their policyholders. It was hard to raise premium rates while the economy was doing well. It became impossible to raise premiums when the recession hit without there being investigations by each state’s Commissioners for Insurance and complaints from everyone else. There comes a point when the insurer cannot get any more blood from the stone and has to sacrifice profits. This has left the medical profession, the hospitals and clinics in a winning position, while the pharmaceutical industry’s profits have continued to rise despite the recession. At the other end of the spectrum, the patients are the losers. There are some who discover the small print in their policies denies cover for the very illnesses they have. There are others whose savings are not enough to pay the deductibles and co-payments. And then there are those whose policies are cancelled when they make a claim for a chronic disease or disorder.
There is a new piece of research from the Commonwealth Fund, an independent, non-profit body. In 2007, it carried out a detailed survey among 2,600 people aged between 19 and 64. When their coverage was analysed, 20% were found significantly underinsured. Why was this happening? Because they were already spending more than 10% of their income on health coverage, whether as premiums, deductibles or both. When the underinsured were added to the uninsured, this represented 42% of adult Americans. Like the uninsured, this forces the underinsured to think twice before they have treatment with more than half either refusing treatment or struggling with debt because of treatment.
In the push for healthcare reform, the focus has been on the uninsured. But this fails to recognize the injustice suffered by the underinsured. No one should be forced to choose between refusing needed treatment and potential bankruptcy. It is therefore going to be an interesting year in prospect as the reform slowly comes into force. Both the poor and the middle class need access to cheap health insurance with reasonably comprehensive coverage. This will further squeeze the insurance industry because it will be denied the right to refuse coverage to those with pre-existing conditions and will be forced to establish group health insurance for those who have struggled to find affordable plans. In all of this, the key to success will be the ability of government and the insurers to impose more control over costs. President Obama has negotiated with the pharmaceutical industry and there is some agreement to hold down prices for those in Medicare and Medicaid. The for-profit healthcare industry also sees some self-interest in moderating its price increases and has given undertakings to the Administration. If some of the pressure is removed from the insurance industry, premium rates will stabilize and the reforms should offer a more fair system to all with a health plan. We can only hope for the best while we wait and see what happens.
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