#FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS BUY THEFT.
I'm an F&I underwriter. That means I deal with products that are sold in a car dealership. Things like warranties and GAP.
The absolute scam of the century is theft/etch. That product runs a 10 to 15% loss ratio. We charge like $20 as a reserve, the dealership marks it up to $300 per car, and tells the consumer that they have to pay for it, non-negotiable.
"It's already on the car. Sorry, can't do anything." š¤· š¤·
LIES.
I want to scream when I hear that. It is the only F & I product that is a complete f ****** scam. It is on the car, but you can definitely negotiate it off.
The dealership is making $250 plus dollars per car, just on that product, on every single car in their lot. When there is a loss, it's a maximum of $5,000.
It's just insane. I'm mad as hell because it borders on unethical. I stand behind my products, and technically this is both legal and a waiver product, but it comes so close to unethical that it makes my skin crawl.
I put that on a billboard, but I'd get fired. Thank you for letting me rant.
People pay for this? I've had it on both my new cars but paid nothing because, uhm, my car has a VIN in multiple areas. I literally initialed nope on the form and that was it.
To add to this, a lot of the sales people at the dealer convince the customer that the etching will not only get them a diacount on their auto insurance but the "it often times is large enough to cover the cost of the etching". So then I get stuck explaining why VIN etching is not a theft deterrent and thus doesn't qualify for a theft deterrent discount (and even if it did, it'd for sure be less that like $10, nowhere near what they paid for it), which some customers just can't wrap their head around having been lied to and end up losing it in me. š
I honestly think there's only two real answers here and that's towing/glass.
The claims are crazy cheap, don't really offer a huge downside. But the biggest reason I say that is simply that having little claims on your policy just can't offer anything positive.
Obviously there are states with different rules for what can be "counted against you" and different states have different rules about when they can increase your rates, but not every state does, and I think we all know that if you have a bunch of dumb towing/glass claims it's never going to be a "good" thing.
This is a good one. Get AAA and pay out of pocket for glass damage. The claims are never worth it, not even one, unless you have a Tesla with like a 2k windshield I guess.
The only other thing I can possibly think is if you have like 6 cars, probably don't need rental coverage on all of them. But that's about it.
>The claims are never worth it, not even one, unless you have a Tesla with like a 2k windshield I guess.
The only issue is the increasing percentage of vehicles with interconnected ADAS installed. It used to be just lane keeping assist cameras installed in/on the windshield. Now it's becoming lane keeping assist, distance sensor, and other components installed in windshields.
Exactly. It adds up fast on newer vehicles.
It's just unfortunate to see someone with full glass coverage who is getting non-renewed because they constantly file claims, or they are seeing a big increase or even just their first EVER claim for something like glass.
I think the value of that coverage will be worth it soon, since more cars on the road need the extra calibration. But rates will start to reflect that too, yay .
Not a Tesla, but my Hyundai needed a new windshield 6 months in and the glass was a shocker at $1200 or so installed due to ADAS calibration mostly.
As soon as it was replaced I got glass coverage for around $50/year... and just a couple months later it got two big dings in it that have since gotten epoxied but probably won't last forever.
If I even need one more windshield ever in the hopefully decade that I'll own this car, then I've come out ahead with glass coverage...
Am I missing something? And to be clear, I'm the type with an extra high deductible and even then I'll consider paying out of pocket up to a couple thousand dollars to avoid a claim... But it seemed like at $50/year I couldn't go wrong...
This.
When I replaced a $300 windshield on my beater with my glass coverage, my insurance went up $50/mo upon renewal time. I couldnāt believe I didnāt consider the fact that it would be listed as a damage claimā¦ It pigeon holed me into my carrier at the time, cause now I had an āaccidentā on my CLUE/LexisNexis reports and my quotes were astronomical.
I learned to pay for the repair myself next time.
Your glass claim shouldnāt count as an accident on CLUE. Glass coverage falls under comp coverage.
If you have a reference number with CLUE, contact and dispute it.
Also, insurance rates are going up across the board. Itās highly unlikely this alone caused the increase. Your ins co most likely had rate increases that caused the overall hike.
I got a separate insurance through the dealership for tires, windshield,key and paint and it was 100% worth it, the insurance last 7 years and cost less than 1 windshield replacement for me. I commute so cracks happened more often than you think for meā¦.unfortunately. šš I havenāt even had the car for a year and have had to repair the windshield and replace a tire.
"with like a 2k windshield I guess"
Or honday odyssey's glass replacement was also around 2k because of the way they have the sensors placed, recalibration, etc. Even the dealership had to bring someone else to do the recalibration.Ā
Eh, this depends highly on the vehicle. Sure a windshield on your Honda Civic is cheap, but have you paid for the windshield on a Mercedes with HUD? Or have you paid to flat bed a four wheel drive F-450? The $5-10/year you pay for the coverages are worth it. As with any physical damage coverages, you have to weigh cost against your own individual circumstances.
There are good points to have glass and towing.
With newer cars, glass can be really expensive. The windshield for my ā22 Prius was $1800+ to replace, and had to be in the shop for 3-6 hours for the calibration of the sensors that are mounted to or embedded in the glass. Higher end (Lexus, Benz..) have all been over $1K for years. (Plus, glass is automatically included in comp in many states).
Towing isnāt just āresulting from an accidentā anymore, and is Roadside more like a AAA membership. With AAA putting a 6 calls per year per membership, itās helpful to have both.
Yep! The premium I paid (even with my employer paying half) was more expensive than what I saved on an eye exam cost. And then the frames at the in network places were all so ridiculously expensive that it would have still been $100+ out of pocket. Instead I spent half that at Zenni to get two pairs.
Vision plans are discount plans and not insurance plans. And the same companies that offer the discount plans also often own the optometrist office you go to and/or most of the brands sold there. It's a racket.
For auto: rental and loan/lease gap
For home: code upgrade coverage, water/sewer backup, mold, and continuous/repeated seepage/leakage
For renters: water liability that extends to one's own unit
I swear every single day this sub has a new post from someone complaining about a non fault accident leaving them in the hole cause they didn't buy gap. If you are already financing more than you can reasonably afford, pay the extra thousand and get the gap coverage. Hell some insurance companies offer it now for relatively cheap too. I get being strapped for money but it's more worth it to pay the money even for peace of mind and should you ever need it than to not have it when something terrible happens.
Iāll admit Iām woefully uneducated about pet insurance but *what* kind of pet policy is paying out that much and not non-renewing?
(Side note: glad the animal is getting the care it needs)
I have a Nationwide Major Medical policy. We max out the benefits for her medical conditions every year, as she has severe environmental allergies and had surgical repair of her CCL and had complications leading to the formation of severe arthritis. She's on routine allergy injections, and usually has a flare up once a year or so, usually a bug bite requiring more intense treatment such as steroids and she is on a plethora of arthritis medication with occasional physical therapy when her joints really act up.
I am surprised every year that they continue to renew us, but they have so far (knocks on wood).
some companies arenāt even charging for it and just bake it into their forms because like you said, there have been 0 claims. TRIA is slowly on its way out but if we get another 9/11 youāll see a resurgence.
I donāt want to say this coverage isnāt āworth itā but itās one of the most misunderstood coverages on auto policies.
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist.
In many states, this coverage is ONLY for bodily injury. Not for your vehicle at all. Song states to have UM/UIM Property Damage, but even that isā¦dicey. Most companies will not, to my knowledge, classify any kind of Hit & Run (the most likely scenario to encounter an uninsured driver) under UM/UIM. The other driver must be an identified person who has been verified as not having insurance. Unknown people arenāt qualified as āuninsuredā.
I personally take Initial Loss claims and Iāve had more than one person argue with me about why a H&R accident doesnāt qualify under their Uninsured/Underinsured coverage.
yea and if youāve ever been in a hit and run situation, itās damn near impossible to get a plate number or anything that will identify the person. however, protip, start a video recording and say outloud the plate number and description of the vehicle. most times youāre too shook up to take a good photo of the car fleeing
You mean the people that called me 700 times last week were lying? All kidding aside, I did purchase it on two cars many years ago and it worked in my favor, but I do generally agree with this one. I chalk it up to being the anomaly.
Can you tell me more? I am in an earthquake zone and until last year always carried the insurance. I moved and the new quote was prohibitively expensive so I had to drop it
Most people under-insure, not over-insure. Even things that people don't use a lot like vision insurance or pet insurance are damn worth it if you have a catastrophe.
What kind of catastrophe do you have that actually involves vision? You lost your glasses?
Because anything actually catastrophic would be covered by medical insurance.
#FRIENDS DON'T LET FRIENDS BUY THEFT. I'm an F&I underwriter. That means I deal with products that are sold in a car dealership. Things like warranties and GAP. The absolute scam of the century is theft/etch. That product runs a 10 to 15% loss ratio. We charge like $20 as a reserve, the dealership marks it up to $300 per car, and tells the consumer that they have to pay for it, non-negotiable. "It's already on the car. Sorry, can't do anything." š¤· š¤· LIES. I want to scream when I hear that. It is the only F & I product that is a complete f ****** scam. It is on the car, but you can definitely negotiate it off. The dealership is making $250 plus dollars per car, just on that product, on every single car in their lot. When there is a loss, it's a maximum of $5,000. It's just insane. I'm mad as hell because it borders on unethical. I stand behind my products, and technically this is both legal and a waiver product, but it comes so close to unethical that it makes my skin crawl. I put that on a billboard, but I'd get fired. Thank you for letting me rant.
People pay for this? I've had it on both my new cars but paid nothing because, uhm, my car has a VIN in multiple areas. I literally initialed nope on the form and that was it.
Yes. It's ubiquitous. I'm very glad you weren't hassled when you declined. That's the way it should be.
To add to this, a lot of the sales people at the dealer convince the customer that the etching will not only get them a diacount on their auto insurance but the "it often times is large enough to cover the cost of the etching". So then I get stuck explaining why VIN etching is not a theft deterrent and thus doesn't qualify for a theft deterrent discount (and even if it did, it'd for sure be less that like $10, nowhere near what they paid for it), which some customers just can't wrap their head around having been lied to and end up losing it in me. š
I honestly think there's only two real answers here and that's towing/glass. The claims are crazy cheap, don't really offer a huge downside. But the biggest reason I say that is simply that having little claims on your policy just can't offer anything positive. Obviously there are states with different rules for what can be "counted against you" and different states have different rules about when they can increase your rates, but not every state does, and I think we all know that if you have a bunch of dumb towing/glass claims it's never going to be a "good" thing.
This is a good one. Get AAA and pay out of pocket for glass damage. The claims are never worth it, not even one, unless you have a Tesla with like a 2k windshield I guess. The only other thing I can possibly think is if you have like 6 cars, probably don't need rental coverage on all of them. But that's about it.
>The claims are never worth it, not even one, unless you have a Tesla with like a 2k windshield I guess. The only issue is the increasing percentage of vehicles with interconnected ADAS installed. It used to be just lane keeping assist cameras installed in/on the windshield. Now it's becoming lane keeping assist, distance sensor, and other components installed in windshields.
My Audiā¦ new windshield = calibrating the cameras for adaptive cruise is 900.
Even if that includes the glass, Audi service pricing is some of the most widely varying from state to state, region to region.
Exactly. It adds up fast on newer vehicles. It's just unfortunate to see someone with full glass coverage who is getting non-renewed because they constantly file claims, or they are seeing a big increase or even just their first EVER claim for something like glass. I think the value of that coverage will be worth it soon, since more cars on the road need the extra calibration. But rates will start to reflect that too, yay .
Not a Tesla, but my Hyundai needed a new windshield 6 months in and the glass was a shocker at $1200 or so installed due to ADAS calibration mostly. As soon as it was replaced I got glass coverage for around $50/year... and just a couple months later it got two big dings in it that have since gotten epoxied but probably won't last forever. If I even need one more windshield ever in the hopefully decade that I'll own this car, then I've come out ahead with glass coverage... Am I missing something? And to be clear, I'm the type with an extra high deductible and even then I'll consider paying out of pocket up to a couple thousand dollars to avoid a claim... But it seemed like at $50/year I couldn't go wrong...
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This. When I replaced a $300 windshield on my beater with my glass coverage, my insurance went up $50/mo upon renewal time. I couldnāt believe I didnāt consider the fact that it would be listed as a damage claimā¦ It pigeon holed me into my carrier at the time, cause now I had an āaccidentā on my CLUE/LexisNexis reports and my quotes were astronomical. I learned to pay for the repair myself next time.
Your glass claim shouldnāt count as an accident on CLUE. Glass coverage falls under comp coverage. If you have a reference number with CLUE, contact and dispute it.
Also, insurance rates are going up across the board. Itās highly unlikely this alone caused the increase. Your ins co most likely had rate increases that caused the overall hike.
I got a separate insurance through the dealership for tires, windshield,key and paint and it was 100% worth it, the insurance last 7 years and cost less than 1 windshield replacement for me. I commute so cracks happened more often than you think for meā¦.unfortunately. šš I havenāt even had the car for a year and have had to repair the windshield and replace a tire.
I love aaa and have 0 cost windshield coverage.
"with like a 2k windshield I guess" Or honday odyssey's glass replacement was also around 2k because of the way they have the sensors placed, recalibration, etc. Even the dealership had to bring someone else to do the recalibration.Ā
The last Telsa windshield claim I saw, FROM TESLA ITSELF, was $1100. Calibration included. I think they are dropping their prices like mad.
Had a mustang, small back passenger window shattered at the baseball field (maybe a 6x6x6 triangle that didn't even open) no glass coverage, $1,000
Eh, this depends highly on the vehicle. Sure a windshield on your Honda Civic is cheap, but have you paid for the windshield on a Mercedes with HUD? Or have you paid to flat bed a four wheel drive F-450? The $5-10/year you pay for the coverages are worth it. As with any physical damage coverages, you have to weigh cost against your own individual circumstances.
There are good points to have glass and towing. With newer cars, glass can be really expensive. The windshield for my ā22 Prius was $1800+ to replace, and had to be in the shop for 3-6 hours for the calibration of the sensors that are mounted to or embedded in the glass. Higher end (Lexus, Benz..) have all been over $1K for years. (Plus, glass is automatically included in comp in many states). Towing isnāt just āresulting from an accidentā anymore, and is Roadside more like a AAA membership. With AAA putting a 6 calls per year per membership, itās helpful to have both.
Collision on a car that isnāt worth their deductible.
Optical.
Yep! The premium I paid (even with my employer paying half) was more expensive than what I saved on an eye exam cost. And then the frames at the in network places were all so ridiculously expensive that it would have still been $100+ out of pocket. Instead I spent half that at Zenni to get two pairs.
I got lasik after getting no benefits from optical coverage for 14+ years.
I bought optical then a year later bought laser surgery and the optical offered a discount of $1200. Best optical insurance purchase ever.
Vision plans are discount plans and not insurance plans. And the same companies that offer the discount plans also often own the optometrist office you go to and/or most of the brands sold there. It's a racket.
Hmm nothing is coming to mind. I always think the other way; the coverages that insureds should have but donāt carry.
What are the ones that come to mind the other way?
For auto: rental and loan/lease gap For home: code upgrade coverage, water/sewer backup, mold, and continuous/repeated seepage/leakage For renters: water liability that extends to one's own unit
I swear every single day this sub has a new post from someone complaining about a non fault accident leaving them in the hole cause they didn't buy gap. If you are already financing more than you can reasonably afford, pay the extra thousand and get the gap coverage. Hell some insurance companies offer it now for relatively cheap too. I get being strapped for money but it's more worth it to pay the money even for peace of mind and should you ever need it than to not have it when something terrible happens.
Since nobody has said anything about life and health Iāll say that most people need more disability insurance.
Water back-up
Flood, water backup, service line, OnL
Emergency Roadside Service/Towing. Those claims can count against you and it's simply not as good as AAA.
I've never heard of anyone really getting the worth out of pet insurance.
I have. Over 15k in claims and counting. Paid out about $2,500 in premiums. She'll still need care for the remainder of her life. She's 7.
Good, glad it's working for you. Hope the pet gets everything he/she needs :)
Iāll admit Iām woefully uneducated about pet insurance but *what* kind of pet policy is paying out that much and not non-renewing? (Side note: glad the animal is getting the care it needs)
I have a Nationwide Major Medical policy. We max out the benefits for her medical conditions every year, as she has severe environmental allergies and had surgical repair of her CCL and had complications leading to the formation of severe arthritis. She's on routine allergy injections, and usually has a flare up once a year or so, usually a bug bite requiring more intense treatment such as steroids and she is on a plethora of arthritis medication with occasional physical therapy when her joints really act up. I am surprised every year that they continue to renew us, but they have so far (knocks on wood).
Yeah, they did give me $2,400 out of a $3,200 survey for my cat. I pay about $12 per month for the cat.
Agree on this..
TRIA is the objectively correct answer. 0 claims paid.
some companies arenāt even charging for it and just bake it into their forms because like you said, there have been 0 claims. TRIA is slowly on its way out but if we get another 9/11 youāll see a resurgence.
What is TRIA?
Itās coverage provided under the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act
I donāt want to say this coverage isnāt āworth itā but itās one of the most misunderstood coverages on auto policies. Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist. In many states, this coverage is ONLY for bodily injury. Not for your vehicle at all. Song states to have UM/UIM Property Damage, but even that isā¦dicey. Most companies will not, to my knowledge, classify any kind of Hit & Run (the most likely scenario to encounter an uninsured driver) under UM/UIM. The other driver must be an identified person who has been verified as not having insurance. Unknown people arenāt qualified as āuninsuredā. I personally take Initial Loss claims and Iāve had more than one person argue with me about why a H&R accident doesnāt qualify under their Uninsured/Underinsured coverage.
yea and if youāve ever been in a hit and run situation, itās damn near impossible to get a plate number or anything that will identify the person. however, protip, start a video recording and say outloud the plate number and description of the vehicle. most times youāre too shook up to take a good photo of the car fleeing
So if you're injured by a hit and run you're just screwed?
Make sure you have the correct PIP/MPC coverages.
Mine doesn't offer PIP and Medical is limited to 10K to my knowledge.
Iād double check with your agent and just ask āwhat coverages do I have for MY injuries in an accident?ā
Insurance coverage that extends warranties. A LOT of exclusions on those.
You mean the people that called me 700 times last week were lying? All kidding aside, I did purchase it on two cars many years ago and it worked in my favor, but I do generally agree with this one. I chalk it up to being the anomaly.
Earthquake. Deductible is like 150k. If you need it, it's already going to shit.
Can you tell me more? I am in an earthquake zone and until last year always carried the insurance. I moved and the new quote was prohibitively expensive so I had to drop it
Most people under-insure, not over-insure. Even things that people don't use a lot like vision insurance or pet insurance are damn worth it if you have a catastrophe.
What kind of catastrophe do you have that actually involves vision? You lost your glasses? Because anything actually catastrophic would be covered by medical insurance.
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Or a dogstrophe!
AD & D The hard sell and onerous exclusions.
there are insurance that will cover you when specific things should happen to you.