Insurance

Well, thanks to the Great Flood of 2009, my home insurance bill almost doubled this year. I called my dude at Farmers Insurance to ask for a little explanation (after all, they couldn't possibly penalize me for something that I had absolutely no control over and that could not have been prevented, right?). He was a super nice guy who started off by telling me that once you file a claim you're 3-4 times more likely to file another one. I get that if, say, you're an insurance scam artist. I don't really see how I had much of a choice, coming home at 10pm to an inch of water throughout my whole house. But I get it... people abuse the system, so we all pay for it.

I moved on to ask him if there was anything else I could do to bring my rate back down (apparently a single claim says on your "record" for 3 years... so my premium would be up for that whole time period). He said I could try switching over my car insurance (which would save at most a couple hundred bucks). Then, followed one of the best conversations I've had in a long time...

Insurance Agent: "Well, I see that you currently have a $500 deductible."

Me: "Yes, I do."

Insurance Agent: "If you were to bring that up to, say, $2,500, you could significantly decrease your yearly premium."

Me: "Well, wait a minute. Didn't you just say that I'm 3-4 times more likely to file a claim now? If that's the case, why the heck would I raise the deductible I have to pay?!"

Insurance Agent: "Well, um... uh, well, that was an, um, a statistic. I wasn't speaking specifically to you."

Yeaaaaahhh... so, needless to say, today I did some insurance shopping. I'm happy to report that AAA (who currently carries my car insurance) was more than happy to pick up a new customer at a similar rate to what I was paying last year. And, I'll get a 10% discount on my car insurance now! I'm super proud of myself for not only standing up to Farmers, but for taking the time to go find even better insurance! Hooray!