I am personally fed up with the insurance game. Since moving to St. Louis two years and three months ago, I have come face to face with some unpleasant facts from the world of insurance.
1. A 1969 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme and a 1969 Volkswagen Fastback are in the same insurance bracket.
2. A one car city dweller with no claims may pay the same premium for the same coverage as a one car county dweller with two small claims and one claim for total demolition.
3. A one car city dweller with one $250.00 claim may pay only a few dollars less than a two car county dweller with one car theft (1½ year old Buick Le Sabre).
4. A homeowner whose policy is cancelled may be notified only after cancellation is in effect.
5. Policies may be cancelled for a variety of reasons ranging from a $10.00 claim for a broken storm door to several thousand dollars in claims for burglarized items.
6. One $26.00 claim for water damage may put one in a high risk category (in this instance after a year, the insurance company discovered that the high risk classification was a mistake; no restitution was made to the client).
7. After cancellation the premium for a new policy with $2500.00 less coverage may more than double.
8. After cancellation for personal property claims, one’s premium for fire and extended coverage may be 16% higher than the total premium for fire and extended coverage and personal property was originally.
9. Many major companies will not insure a person whose policy has been cancelled.
10. There is no obvious uniformity in reasons for cancellation from one company to another.
11. The insurance commissioner seems to have little authority to do more than listen to grievances.
Somebody is getting the royal shaft, and I feel uncomfortably sure that it isn’t the insurance company.
Originally published in The Paper, November 1971.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1971_11.pdf, printed page 2.
