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My problem with car insurance is not the price, but what happens when you need to make a claim. Any company can undercut any other on premiums, but you only tr

My problem with car insurance is not the price, but what happens when you need to make a claim. Any company can undercut any other on premiums, but you only truly find out what happens when making a claim. There are attempted frauds, people expecting coverage that they didn't actually pay for, misunderstandings etc which means every insurance provider has a website detailing how they suck and treat people badly. And of course the insurance company doesn't want to pay out more than it should. Premium price is amongst the last things I consider because of this. Here is an example site for Farmers Insurance and ultimately what led to me dropping them: http://farmersreallysucks.com/ http://farmersreallysucks.com/ You'll note they mention software from CSC named Colossus and to stay away from companies using it. Software rules does mean standardization, but also means virtually no case specific leeway. Here is a good explanation of how it works: http://www.blackchapman.com/medical-legal-journal/personal-injury-law/insurance-companies-use-colossus-to-assess-medical-records-and-settle-claims/ http://www.blackchapman.com/medical-legal-journal/personal-i... and then an explanation of how insidious it could be (eg taking into likelyhood to sue) http://www.millerandzois.com/colossus.html http://www.millerandzois.com/colossus.html

spuz 14y ago
I totally agree. Where is the Amazon style user review/rating for insurers?
- kpommerenke 14y ago
  Yelp already has ratings for individual agents. More useful, however, are the insurance ratings published by J.D. Power, based on consumer surveys: http://www.jdpower.com/consumer-ratings/insurance/index.htm http://www.jdpower.com/consumer-ratings/insurance/index.htm.
  - rogerbinns 14y ago
    But how much of dealing with the claim is up to the agent? One of the claims about companies using Colossus is that it gives the agent no leeway when handling claims. I'd also hate for my experience to be up to the agent - what happens for example if they were away on holiday when an issue happened? When I moved from the UK to the US it was rather bizarrely up to individual agents discretion as to taking me on. In general everyone quoted you the same rates as a 16 year old who had never driven before, because you had no insured time in the US. But one agent was prepared to take non-US driving experience into account.

spuz 14y ago

I totally agree. Where is the Amazon style user review/rating for insurers?

kpommerenke 14y ago
Yelp already has ratings for individual agents. More useful, however, are the insurance ratings published by J.D. Power, based on consumer surveys: http://www.jdpower.com/consumer-ratings/insurance/index.htm http://www.jdpower.com/consumer-ratings/insurance/index.htm.
- rogerbinns 14y ago
  But how much of dealing with the claim is up to the agent? One of the claims about companies using Colossus is that it gives the agent no leeway when handling claims. I'd also hate for my experience to be up to the agent - what happens for example if they were away on holiday when an issue happened? When I moved from the UK to the US it was rather bizarrely up to individual agents discretion as to taking me on. In general everyone quoted you the same rates as a 16 year old who had never driven before, because you had no insured time in the US. But one agent was prepared to take non-US driving experience into account.