scott@hou2g.UUCP (Racer X) (09/04/85)
New Jersey is definitely the most expensive state when it comes to auto insurance. And it is, I've heard, also the safest, IF ONLY FATALITIES ARE CONSIDERED. Yep, we have the lowest per capita (or at least one of the lowest) death rate due to auto accidents--actually pretty surprising to those who've driven here. We also have probably more ACCIDENTS than most states, and one of the highest number of suits. Not to mention the average size of legally awarded "settlements". This explains the high liability insurance costs. New Jersey also has more lawyers per capita than any other state--more even than the entire country of Japan! Gee, you think there's a connection? Of course, any tirade on NJ insurance would be incomplete without mentioning the misnamed "no-fault" insurance. In this state, if you have a heart attack while waxing your car, you are covered. Fine, you say. But we are REQUIRED BY LAW to have and pay (through the nose) for this coverage! Most people don't realize the "no-fault" doesn't refer to the insurance at all. It refers to the legislators, lawyers, bureaucrats, and insurance companies who say this mess is "Not my fault". Fed up, Scott
warack@aero.ARPA (Chris Warack) (09/04/85)
> $1500.00/year! The really sad part is that $1500.00 is a > good rate. It's on my dad's block policy. The other quotes > I got ranged from $1800.00 (20th Century) to $2400.00! (AAA). I don't know about all this. Me [23] and wife [22] live in LA. 20 miles one way to work. 1985 Honda Accord LX; no accidents, no tickets. The premium is between $600-$700 annually. I can't remember the exact figure because it has fluctuated a couple times. [Most recently they sent us a check for $32 as a rebate because they lowered our premium.] We have good coverage including uninsured motorists and even rental car fees while our car is out of commission. Shop around. Chris -- _______ |/-----\| Chris Warack (213) 648-6617 ||hello|| || || warack@aerospace.ARPA |-------| warack@aero.UUCP |@ ___ | seismo!harvard!talcott!panda!genrad!decvax!ittatc!dcdwest! |_______| sdcsvax!sdcrdcf!trwrb!trwrba!aero!warack || || \ Aerospace Corporation, M1-117, El Segundo, CA 90245 ^^^ ^^^ `---------(|=
nyssa@abnji.UUCP (nyssa of traken) (09/05/85)
I must agree that New Jersey has some of the stupidest insurance
laws in the world.
Looking at some of your statistics, consider that while New Jerseyians
probably have the most accidents per capita, they probably also
drive more per capita (In my case, my commute is over 60 miles/day,
my father is nearly 100!). What is the accident rate per mile driven
in this state?
No fault pertains only to coverage of personal injuries. If you have
an accident where the other driver is at fault, and (s)he won't
admit it, you MUST go to court to get your car repaired, or pay for
it yourself. Your insurance company may do that for you (they may
give up for you, as well!), but if they do, you can bet that that
will mean much higher premiums in the future.
Of course, if both parties in an accident are insured by the same
company, it will be as if you collided with an inanimate object
(ie. your fault), even if you have no blame whatsoever.
Clean driving record, $1000 deductibles, yet still paying $931
in New Jersey, I am
--
James C. Armstrong, Jnr. {ihnp4,cbosgd,akgua}!abnji!nyssa
Maybe they'll want one of your women to experiment on, perhaps
I shall take this one to them!
-who said it, what story? (Get the reply to me by Thursday!)evan@petfe.UUCP (Evan Marcus) (09/05/85)
In <3501@topaz.RUTGERS.EDU> scott@hou2g.UUCP (Racer X) writes: > > (ravings about NJ being dangerous if you count all accidents, not > just fatalities, etc...) > New Jersey also has more lawyers per capita than any other > state--more even than the entire country of Japan! Gee, > you think there's a connection? More lawyers per capita than Japan? Gee, while NJ certainly does have a lot of lawyers, the per capita part means per person. My friend is a lawyer, so per capita, his house has more lawyers than New Jersey or Japan. Combined! In fact, more than the rest of the world put together!! [Just wanted to show how statistics can lie!] --Evan Marcus -- {ucbvax|decvax}!vax135!petsd!petfe!evan ...!pedsgd!pedsga!evan There was a major earthquake today in the tiny African country of Togo...
tommie@psivax.UUCP (Tom Levin) (09/05/85)
In article <413@aero.ARPA> warack@aero.UUCP (Chris Warack) writes: >> $1500.00/year! The really sad part is that $1500.00 is a >> good rate. It's on my dad's block policy. The other quotes >> I got ranged from $1800.00 (20th Century) to $2400.00! (AAA). > >I don't know about all this. Me [23] and wife [22] live in LA. 20 >miles one way to work. 1985 Honda Accord LX; no accidents, no tickets. >The premium is between $600-$700 annually. I can't remember the exact >figure because it has fluctuated a couple times. [Most recently they >sent us a check for $32 as a rebate because they lowered our premium.] >We have good coverage including uninsured motorists and even rental car >fees while our car is out of commission. > >Shop around. I DID shop around! I must have called at LEAST 12 places. All of them said that $1500.00 was a great rate and I wouldn't find anything cheaper. The problem is I'm under 25, single, and the scirocco is a very expensive car to insure (high rip-off rate, expensive to repair, etc.). -- __________________________________________________________________ Tom Levin (Captain Fiduciary) "There is no problem so big that you can't run away from it!" - Snoopy the dog {ttidca|sdcrdcf|logico|scgvaxd|bellcore}!psivax!tommie
welsch@ihu1e.UUCP (l.a. welsch) (09/06/85)
> > New Jersey is definitely the most expensive state > when it comes to auto insurance. And it is, I've > heard, also the safest, IF ONLY FATALITIES ARE > CONSIDERED. > I can remember a time in the 70's when N.J. not only was one of the safer states but also was also one of the cheapest states to buy insurance in. When I was in my early 20's I was able to buy 100/300 thousand liability for under $75.00 a year. Three events happened to change this. They were 1. N.J. went to NO Fault insurance while maintaining essentially the same fault insurance. 2. N.J. went to universal coverage, forcing insurance companies to cover bad risks. 3. N.J. forced competitive insurance companies out of the N.J. market. In one year in N.J. my insurance bills quadrupled! If anything they should have dropped since I had one more year of experience driving with no accidents, no tickets, etc. The insurance company I had was forced out of the state, because they wanted to raise their rates and not cover what they considered to be poor risks. The notion of fault and recovery has gotten so far out of hand as to be rediculous. I am at the point now where I feel that suits for fault in automobile cases should be banned. By going out on the roads as either a pedestrian, or in an automobile there is a certain probability of your being in an accident. If you want insurance against an accident buy it. Buy it in whatever quantity makes you feel safe. As it is now all we have is a roulette game, where what is recovered depends on the insurance and wealth of who is "responsible" for the accident. Larry Welsch
maa@ssc-bee.UUCP (Mark A Allyn) (09/09/85)
> I must agree that New Jersey has some of the stupidest insurance > laws in the world. > > drive more per capita (In my case, my commute is over 60 miles/day, > my father is nearly 100!). > > Clean driving record, $1000 deductibles, yet still paying $931 > in New Jersey, I am > -- > James C. Armstrong, Jnr. {ihnp4,cbosgd,akgua}!abnji!nyssa My commute is about 40 miles each day (20 miles each way) and I don't pay any insurance at all with the exception of my homeowner's insurance. How do I do it?? I do it on my bicycle and not only is it cheaper insurance wise it is much better for me health wise and I feel so much better when I get to work in the morning after the hour and a half's aerobic excercize. With getting 30 miles per slice of bread I am Mark A. Allyn !uw-beaver!ssc-vax!ssc-bee!maa
todd@scirtp.UUCP (Todd Jones) (09/13/85)
> My commute is about 40 miles each day (20 miles each way) and I > don't pay any insurance at all with the exception of my homeowner's > insurance. How do I do it?? I do it on my bicycle and not only is > it cheaper insurance wise it is much better for me health wise and > I feel so much better when I get to work in the morning after the > hour and a half's aerobic excercize. > > With getting 30 miles per slice of bread I am > > Mark A. Allyn Yeah! I commute 20 miles a day by bike. It's not much slower than a car and it feels good. One question: do you ride in the Seattle rain that we are lead to believe pours on your fair city more often than not? ||||||| || || [ O-O ] Todd Jones \ ^ / {decvax,akgua}!mcnc!rti-sel!scirtp!todd | ~ | |___| SCI Systems Inc. doesn't necessarily agree with Todd.
tommie@psivax.UUCP (Tom Levin) (09/13/85)
>My commute is about 40 miles each day (20 miles each way) and I >don't pay any insurance at all with the exception of my homeowner's >insurance. How do I do it?? I do it on my bicycle and not only is >it cheaper insurance wise it is much better for me health wise and >I feel so much better when I get to work in the morning after the >hour and a half's aerobic excercize. Ask the two guys around my company how healthy riding bikes to work is... Both of them have been hit by cars. (one car even tried to hit my buddy several times!) -- __________________________________________________________________ Tom Levin (Captain Fiduciary) "There is no problem so big that you can't run away from it!" - Snoopy the dog {ttidca|sdcrdcf|logico|scgvaxd|bellcore}!psivax!tommie
maa@ssc-bee.UUCP (Mark A Allyn) (09/19/85)
> >I feel so much better when I get to work in the morning after the > >hour and a half's aerobic excercize. > > Ask the two guys around my company how healthy riding bikes to work is... > Both of them have been hit by cars. (one car even tried to hit my buddy > several times!) Rest assurred - I take all precautions I can. I have a generator light set on my bike plus those battery operated running flashlights which can strap onto your legs. I strap one onto each leg. By the time I am finished I am lit up like a Christmas tree. I set my commute route so that it goes through the least traffic; bypassing busy area. I also adjust my commute time (I am on flexitime) so that I am offset from the normal rush hour. I get up at about 0400 to 0500 to start out which means that I am IN THE OFFICE by at the latest 0630 when the commuting hour is just beginning. Likewise I leave early in the afternoon ahead of the afternoon rush. I use a helmet, wool bicycling pants and long sleeve shirts at all times in case something were to happen. I also CONSTANTLY use my hemet mounted mirror to keep an eye on traffic. Mark A. Allyn !uw-beaver!ssc-vax!ssc-bee!maa
scott@hou2g.UUCP (Racer X) (09/24/85)
>In 1977, Massachusetts became one of the first states to outlaw discrimination >in insurance rates due to age, sex, and/or marital status. (At that time I >was 24, male, single, clean driving record, and driving a 4-year-old Japanese >station wagon. My rates dropped from $889 a year to $332... by extrapolation, >your $800 would have been $2100 under the "free market"!) My, my, my! Aren't YOU happy! But what about the 35-year-old woman, married, clean driving record, with an 8-year-old dodge whose rates went up from $100 to $300? She's subsidizing you, who are a higher risk. Not allowing insurance companies to tie premiums to risk is a good way to drive up rates for everyone but the high risk cases. And "drive" several companies out of business. Scott J. Berry
kedlaya@ihuxf.UUCP (Kedlaya<) (02/04/86)
I received an ad in the mail from GEICO (Govt. employees insurance company), announcing that their auto insurance rates are very low for GOOD drivers. Since they had a toll-free number for 24hrs a day, I called them up to get their quotes.I was told (in the ad) that it would take me only 10 minutes to get the info. After a long conversation (about 25 min at 11.00PM CST), after the sales-person had obtained all info about me on the phone, (they even wanted to know my level of education), I got the quote for my car. Here are some of the details.. Car Make --> Mitsubishi Cordia '85 Insurance (GEICO quote) -> $950 for 12 months. Current insurance -> $280 for 6 months (State Farm) Who is a GOOD driver is not known. All I can say is:: I have had a driver's licence for 3 years. No tickets on record. No accidents. I was angry with GEICO for 2 reasons: 1. They were wasting our time. (their claim -> we MAY be able to save you money. This wording may be OK for legal purposes, but the figures indicate that it is ridiculous to spend time with them.) 2. They have all info about me. (I suspect that they SELL this info to other people, such as publishers, and anyone else who BUYS the bio-data.) I would like to report this to some Consumer Rghts forum, Association, etc. Any help on: How to approach the appropriate people, Whether this experience is worthy of reporting, would be sincerely appreciated. Thanx in anticipation.... Ram Kedlaya ihnp4!ihuxf!kedlaya (312) 979 5154