re: WSJ: "Insurers Rake In Profits as Customers Pay Soaring Premiums"

I had Safeco auto coverage for 2 cars, just my wife and I. 1st year was (monthly) $225, 2nd year, $265, 3rd year $296. Their quote to renew us this time was at $396. Not a single ticket or accident during that time.

Went online the other day and did the runaround, ended up signing on with Progressive for $247. Could've had it even cheaper if I agreed to have that deal in my truck that tracks my driving but that feels sketchy.

Happy for now, but I'm sure at renewal they'll play the same game Safeco did.

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It’s so strange how in our culture we are insured up to our neck….house, cars, health insurance, life, renters. But when I travel back to my old country in SE Asia, people don’t have any insurance. You’d think it’s crazy with no insurance but life is business as usual.

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So how does it work? People insure themselves?

Yeah there were a few students from Saudi Arabia in my insurance and risk management class in grad school. It took them a while to understand how it worked.

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Seems like the longer you stay with your insurance company, the more they screw you. Had Allstate for 8 years and my car insurance went up by $2300 this six month period. Granted, I have four cars with two adult kids age 23 and 21, but no new claims or violations. They wanted to go from $5300 to $7600 for six months. Absolutely ridiculous. Ended up switching to another company and saved 50%.. I'm sure when it renews it will get jacked up, but bottom line, you should shop around every two to three years. When I called to say I'm not renewing with Allstate, asked why? I said your increase is insane. His reply, well I could have probably gotten it down a little for you.

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What an amazing story.

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... One factor in the run-up in insurance stocks: the recent willingness of regulators to allow large rate increases, even in states traditionally seen as tough on the industry. Last month, Allstate won approval for auto-insurance rate increases of 30% in California, 17% in New Jersey and 15% in New York. The company had threatened to stop renewing policies in those states after suffering losses.

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That’s one way to stop tax receipts from bleeding as they drive more taxpayers out of state

Reading all of these threads about insurance makes me want to keep my shitty, paid off car and never buy a house

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This is all a smoke screen to hide the fact they are applying DEI criteria to reduce the wealth gap between races AND use that as "just cause" with regulators for those allowed rate hikes which nets huge profits. Because that's all DEI is, in any application, a justification to rip somebody off.

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Blaming DEI has officially jumped the shark.

Profit margins are a percentage of revenue.

When costs go up, insurance premiums goes up.

Keep a 3% profit margin and you are "having record profits".
Do you think journalists get clicks by talking common sense? Or by pissing people off with clickbait?

It isn't just insurance. Every industry working on a margin uses this model. Hell... even your property tax assessors scam 2% off the gross (and they have zero risk of throwing a loss on the books)

Quick, time for big insurance to fund a PR campaign to smear “trial lawyers” and make the public forget insurance companies are going to increase your premiums 15% per year no matter what.

How many slip and falls did you sign up this week?