Insurance Questions Answered: A Claim Adjuster's Perspective

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Corey you are right. I have had major problems with insurance companies. I have made it my business to find out all the gimmicks they use to make it hard for their customers to collect on their policy. One of the things I really laugh about is when an industry rep says, there are lots of people trying to scam this industry. Yes I believe that as I have seen it. One thing they won't say is we also try to scam our policy holders in which they try or do when trying to collect on a legitimate claim. That is the truth. I do not like the industry as I also believe they have a liscence to charge whatever they want in policies. The biggest mistake Bob Rae made was to not bring in government run insurance to this province. The industry pick and chooses what they want to insure. With government run they cannot. Please do not tell me it is cheaper bying from a private insurer. Roger
 
How about you tell me how much cheaper it would be with government insurance. You can insure just about anything in Ontario you would just need to pay the appropriate fee. I would rather have a choice to find a rate that I can afford then to be stuck with only one option. You want government run insurance companies, as if the private companies have free reign to do as they please but it is the same government that approves any changes in rates. I am sure there are companies that do try to restrict the pay outs but there is flipside of that as well. Like I said in the previous post the insurance industry is like most other industries (repair shop, banks etc...) there are good ones and bad ones. I wouldnt paint the entire industry with such broad strokes.

As per IBC " All government-run auto insurers in Canada have required taxpayer subsidies as a result of charging too little in premiums and having insufficient start-up funds. In 1975-76, BC taxpayers had to bail out their government-run insurance company – Insurance Corporation of British Columbia (ICBC) – in the amount of $181 million ($645 million in 2006 dollars), just two years after it had begun operations. This money has never been repaid. At the same time, ICBC had been so mismanaged, with insurance being sold significantly underpriced, that the government was forced to increase rates by at least 25%."
 
So what is the difference if we have to bail out Government run insurance every so often. Do we not have to bail out private insurance companies every year???????????????/ Do their rate not go up every year because we hear them whine that they are losing money all the time. Just got my insurance bill today for my trike, truck and my house. Everything went up. Is that not subsidizing the insurance company because they could not make money?????/ If private insurance is so great in your mind, whay are the rates going up????????// The government insurance would be in the same boat as the private ones. Government insurance could also use the same cop outs as the private ones to raise rates. Remember, private business do not have all the answers because if they did, no business would ever go banrupt. You would be more secure with gov. insurance as you know they would never go bankrupt. A group of us said tonite at coffee that if it would cost us 1,000.00 to 1,400.00 dollars to insure our bikes when we buy our liscence plates, who cares. all we want is the pink slip. Roger
 
Corey. I just re-read your post and you said you can just insure anything in Ontario as long as you basically pay the fee. How about this one. A fellow with a Volkswagong trike. Front part of a motorcycle, back part of a old Volkwagon Beetle. Done up by welders, inspected by MTO and certified lisced by the province mechanic which issues a safty certificate which states the vehicle meets all DOT rules and regulations. Can you get this thing insured????????????? "NOT" Try Jevco, Echelon, and other insurance companies and see how many will. Yes some are insured, but were the answers fudge to get insurance????????????? In Brampton there is an MTO officer who has a Volks trike and he cannot get insurance for it from anyone. Just thought I would mention it. Roger
 
Roger you didn't answer my question. How much different would the rates be? Also since when did government insurance not increase. Do you think the rates stay the same or drop every year in BC/MB/SK?
Great point turbodish. Roger, not everyone's rates go up every year and if they do go up then you as a consumer are free to shop around to get a better rate. If there is government insurance then there is no option to shop around. I myself like the fact that I am not forced to pay a particular rate. As far as your friend with the bike, I'm pretty sure we could find a policy for him. My information is below feel free to pass it along.
 
Oh Turbodish. You said every tax payer is on the hook for the short fall. Right you are. I being retired like thousands more, with no kids in any school, why are we on the hook to pay school taxes. If you have kids in school your taxes should be adjusted to reflect that and all the retirees taxes be eliminated for school support. Another thing that we pay on our insurance policy [retirees] is wage coverage should we get into an accident or hurt in one. We no longer qualify for that coverage and cannot collect on it. That part of the policy should not apply to retirees as we are on a retirement income from our pensions. Your insurance rates should be adjusted to reflect that cost to you and to us. If you need it, pay for it even if it increases your cost. I guess it is alright to subsidize you in insurance and through school taxes!!!!!!!!!!! Right!!!!!!!!!!!! Just imagine how much money we retirees would save on insurance with that part of the policy taken off of us and also how much school taxes we would save. Roger
 
Corey. Eliminate the wage part when you get hurt in an accident and it will decrease your premiums. Another thing I would like to see is when an insurance company cries, we are loosing money, we are loosing money, is that they have their books audited by an accountant. One that comes to mine is Sheila Frazer the scounge of the Federal Government auditor. I am sure she could find hundred of places where the insurance company could save money and where they are wasting it. Her report should be made public so that the customers that deal with that insurance agency would know. Theonly way then the Insurance company coukld get a raise in rates would be to make all these adjustment during the following year and only then if they lost money could they get an increase in rates. I am sure a lot of money could be saved and their customers would get a repreive. I doubt very much they would ever want Sheila Frazer to look at their books because the High executives would really lose a lot of their unessassary perks and wastfull management. Again I see the Mcguinty gov. has caved in to the industry and has given the store away to them. The NDP is starting to look very good again in the coming election. Unfortunatly they have not said a word about auto, bike etc. ins. Roger
 
To the fellow that sent me a message on this board which has a 450 Honda which wanted info on US insurance, first you have to be a snowbird who resides in a state for at least 5 to 6 months per year. I will not devolge who they are. You can get info through the internet by gooling US bike insurers. All the insurers which are by the dozen will show up for each state. That is why another reason we have high rates as there is no compitition for motorcycle insurance here. Only Jevco, Echelon, State farm an a couple more. Roger
 
GYMPY said:
Oh Turbodish. You said every tax payer is on the hook for the short fall. Right you are. I being retired like thousands more, with no kids in any school, why are we on the hook to pay school taxes. If you have kids in school your taxes should be adjusted to reflect that and all the retirees taxes be eliminated for school support.
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Putting kids through school is necessary for the advancement of society. Allowing a few people to enjoy vehicles at the expense of everybody is not necessary.

GYMPY said:
Another thing that we pay on our insurance policy [retirees] is wage coverage should we get into an accident or hurt in one. We no longer qualify for that coverage and cannot collect on it. That part of the policy should not apply to retirees as we are on a retirement income from our pensions. Your insurance rates should be adjusted to reflect that cost to you and to us. If you need it, pay for it even if it increases your cost. I guess it is alright to subsidize you in insurance and through school taxes!!!!!!!!!!! Right!!!!!!!!!!!! Just imagine how much money we retirees would save on insurance with that part of the policy taken off of us and also how much school taxes we would save. Roger
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Many insurers offer Retiree Discounts for this very reason.
 
That is why another reason we have high rates as there is no compitition for motorcycle insurance here. Only Jevco, Echelon, State farm an a couple more. Roger
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That sounds like competition to me. How about we throw, Wawanesa, Aviva, Pembridge, TD etc. There is competition out there. This is confusing to me because competition can't be that important to you if you want government insurance as there would then be no competition.

Oh Turbodish. You said every tax payer is on the hook for the short fall. Right you are. I being retired like thousands more, with no kids in any school, why are we on the hook to pay school taxes. If you have kids in school your taxes should be adjusted to reflect that and all the retirees taxes be eliminated for school support
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If people only paid for the services they use then it would become too expensive for them to use it. This is why they spread taxes over to everyone.
 
Vifferfun. You say allowing just a few people with cars puts and undue burden on society with government run insurance!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Where have you been lately?????????/ In some remote backward country!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is Ontario!!!!!!!!!!!!! Toronto comes to minds. I would roughly say there are four to six million cars in Toronto by adjusting the rate to two cars per familly. Some house holds have three, some two, some one. If each or nearly each house holds average even one car in a three million person city, I do not consider that letting a few have the expence of the majority. Why so many cars???????????? I would say they are needed making them very much a neccesity. I traveled years from Brampton to Willowdale to work. My car was a neccesity like many other people car are to them. Wake up and smell the coffee!!!!!!!
 
As for education. I paid my taxes with others to educate my two daughters. When it came to College, no tax money that I paid into the education part of my tax bill helped out my daughters college bill. My brother sent his son to private school Montesory schools] until he went to university. It cost him out of his own pocket and he still had to pay his school tax bill. Was he not sudsidizing the public or seperate school system to educate your kids or other kids that attended those schools???????????? We retired people should not pay school taxes. Yes advance your kids education but not at my expence or other seniors expence. Roger
 
Corey. What competition??????????????? Do you call 50 or maybe at the high end 60 dollars less a year competition??????// Give me a break!!!!!!!! I have used both AVIVA and Wawenesa in my life time. Kicked out Aviva ten or twelve years ago and about five years ago Wawennesa. Long story but to make it short, they are both insurance companies that you do not want to have should you have an accident or something stolen from your vehicle. Remember a post in which I said the insurance company wanted to replace a truck door on my mini van with a three to four year old door???????/ It was one of those two. As for TD, my daughter had them and left them. Do not know reason why because not my busines. As for Pembridge, soryy, never heard of them. Cannot be to popular an insurance company or they deal in a niche market with only a certain group of people. Please enlighten me on them if you can. All Inssurance companies get together and fix their prices to match each other. That being, if this company can get this premium for this amount of coverage, why can't we. Do not give me that government would step in. Insurance companies gve to much money to the political parties for the government to interfere with them. Government only do lip service to the general public about insurance companies. Did McGuinty not just give the store away to the insurance companies last year??????????/ Lest coverave, for a lot mkore money. Money talks, BS walks. Roger
 
GYMPY said:
As for education. I paid my taxes with others to educate my two daughters. When it came to College, no tax money that I paid into the education part of my tax bill helped out my daughters college bill. My brother sent his son to private school Montesory schools] until he went to university. It cost him out of his own pocket and he still had to pay his school tax bill. Was he not sudsidizing the public or seperate school system to educate your kids or other kids that attended those schools???????????? We retired people should not pay school taxes. Yes advance your kids education but not at my expence or other seniors expence. Roger
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You're ****** off about paying for kid's education? How about the monthly medical expenses of "retirees"? I'm sure all the surgeries, doctors appointments etc that these retirees get, is paid in part by MY taxes, and far outweighs the cost of a single child going to school for a month. You need to realize that in some areas, you ARE using up more of the government's money than others. Sorry if i come off as rude.. I just find it irritating when seniors complain about paying for school, while everyone else has to foot their relatively large medical expenses.

You live in Canada. Taxes are high. Government services are plenty. Hate it? Move somewhere else. Oh yeah, but then you wouldn't be getting free healthcare..

Back on topic though; In my opinion, there should be an option of government offered insurance, along with private companies.

P.S. As a 19 year old who is not in the public schooling system, and hasn't used his healthcard in years, I am more than happy to pay for OHIP and the TDSB. Why? Because for the past decade the TDSB has educated me free of charge, and OHIP will help me out when I'm an old fart.
 
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Corey. You did not comment on Sheila Frazer auditing the insurance companies that want rate increases to why they need them. I just learned tonite that her ten year term as a Federal government auditor term is up and she is leaving. Maybe she would like another job and now that she is free, she could take that task up and maybe free us the public of millions of dollars less that we would have to pay for insurance for our auto, trucks, bikes, trikes boats, snowmobiles, etc. Do you not think that would be just great?????????? Oh, heck, I forgot, the commission on insurance premiums would go down because the rates would not be so high. Boy, how foolish of I!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Roger
 
Roger, I would call over 15 companies competition and I would definitely call it more competition than 1 government insurer. But why are you complaining about competition if you want government insurance? Also an insurance company does not have to be popular to provide insurance. I previously worked for a company that provided group insurance. They hold a large market share in the group side of insurance but most people would have never had heard of them. Premiums vary by more than 60/yr from insurance companies so you are way out to lunch on that, I have quoted people and been $200-300 more or less. I did comment on the auditing of insurance companies. I am sure they would find defeciencies in insurance companies as they would in any business or industry in Canada. Dont be so delusional that other industries dont waste money (health care, automotive, government agencies). Do you think for a second that I am worried about my commisions? If they go to government insurance where do you think they are going to get the employees to run the insurance?? I'll take a nice government job with great benefits and vacation time.

This thread has gotten really side tracked, but I think the thought here is we live in Ontario in which there are almost 14 million people. We cannot tailor everything to meet the needs of each person. There isn't a society that really even does that. I understand that you think government insurance is the greatest thing since sliced bread but the reality it would not be all that different then what you have right now.

McGuinty also didn't give the store away. They reduced coverage (which even after the decreases is still the richest benefit policy by far in Canada). They tried to take a stand on soft tissues injuries. What McGuinty didn't tell everyone is while trotting out the new coverages and stating it would reduce rates the government already approved multiple rate increases. Oh yeah, the government approved the rate increase, the same government that would be running a government insurance. I mean they wouldn't take increases if it effected their wallets......noooo. They never increase their pay or increase taxes.
 
OK. I think this thread has been beatten up enough. We seem to agree that we do not really agree on the insurance manner in this province. Corey you seem to think you would become a government employee because you would sell the insurance. "NOT". You would be a contractor like you are now. Your commission would probably be lower as there would be tenders put out by the government and the cheapest tender would get the contract. As a retired federal employee, I have seen that ocver and over again. Lower cost would translate in lower premiums. Are you telling me that if Huddack[PC] or Horwart [NDP]was premier insurance would be cheaper than McGuinty????????
To that young whipper sniper of all 19 years of age which seems to have done it all, seen it all, knows it all, come back in 42 years from now and tell me the same crap you told me at the beginning of your post. Roger
 
At your age you are banking future tax dollars which you will need for further and possibly massive health care in the future when you get to my age of in the sixties. i stroongly recomend you get a job, get married, have kids and then educate yourself in handling family responsibilities. You need to grow up and live a bit before you start telling seniors what they costs. It is the seniors of today that got you that health care, education, probably a senior that employs you to earn money for a living. Remember, "Grey Power" has a lot of power in this country. A lot more than know it alls at 19 years of age like you. This is my last post on this whole insurance post so flame away.

Corye, I have a lot of respect for you and maybe some day we will meet and have a coffee together. Roger
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