Sunday, May 27, 2012
If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It...
Ah, I see that Google has managed to screw up their blog editor in the same fashion MySpace screwed theirs up... ironically, the whole reason I migrated from MS to Google in the first place... Doesn't seem to recognize the beginning of a new paragraph. Way to go, jackasses... As I mentioned in the title, if it ain't broke, don't fix it!
It's Really Too Bad The Stupidest People Have The Simplest Jobs...
... Because they find the most creative ways to screw even THAT up.
Rewind to 2009. I took out a new commercial insurance policy on my taxicab -- then the 1995 Mercury Grand Marquis you see in my cover photo. Standard liability limits in the state of Virginia for a taxicab are $125,000, with more coverage available if you so choose (some clients require more).
As previously documented in my blog, in late 2009, I bought a GMC Safari 6-passenger minivan to replace the Mercury. My insurance carrier refused to write the policy on the van for $125,000, citing passenger capacity required them to write the policy limits at a minimum of $500,000 -- nearly doubling my premium.
I wasn't happy with the idea, but after thinking about it, it was actually a good idea -- $125,000 doesn't go far if 6 passengers are injured. In late 2010, I had a minor fender-bender, that could have happened to anybody. Why it happened to me is beyond my understanding -- It's almost too stupid to go into detail.
I got choked on a sandwich I was eating while I was driving, and pulled to the side of the street to try to clear myself or get help. In my panic, I did not realize the column shifter did not quite go into "Park". Needless, to say, the transmission was neither in Park nor Reverse, and when I jumped out of the van to try to clear what was choking me or get help, the van rolled ten feet forward, damaging the car ahead of it. We're talking approximately $2,000 damage to a Volkswagen, it was nowhere in the league of totalling a $150,000 Mercedes. These idiots declined to renew me at the end of the term, citing a loss.
This is already BS, because I was paying $2,800 a year -- for liability only, and had been insured with them for over a year. Due to a redundancy in DMV policy, also previously documented in this blog, I had to put the vehicle, insurance and permits in another person's name so that I could keep working... This policy was written with myself added as a driver on the policy, and was written for $125,000 liability limits without issue. SAME CARRIER! Then, when I picked up a client last summer that requires $500,000 coverage to carry them, I asked to be upgraded to $500,000 limits, and was told that they could not do it.
Say WHAT?! I told the agent, "Call them back and tell them that this change WILL be done by sundown, or I'm going elsewhere, because they're not going to tell me they can't do what they FORCED me to do two years ago." It was done, but not without serious inquiry into the primary use of the vehicle... Can you idiots not READ that you have insured this vehicle as a TAXICAB? What else do you think I'm using it as, a LUNCH TRUCK?! So already these MORONS have refused to do one thing the same way twice. The engine in the van developed problems two weeks ago. Not wanting to take a gamble on minor repairs, given the amount of noise coming from under the hood, I decided to temporarily switch into another vehicle until I could afford to replace the engine.
Due to some issues with the person under whose name I chose to insure and register the van, I decided to do things a little differently this time, and took out a new policy, writing a check for a $550.00 down payment. All two weeks ago. Three days later, my check had been deposited, but the new policy was not on file with the DMV. Several calls back to the agency finally revealed that the carrier was refusing to write the policy because I was on it as a driver. Uh... say WHAT? You've been doing it without incident or issue for nearly two years, and NOW it's a problem? My AGENT even gave them hell!
He was certain he could get it pushed through, so I gave him a few days to hammer it out with them. Over the course of which, I just got more and more angry about it the more I thought about it. I pay my premium, I'm not bouncing off of everything in sight, and I haven't had a ticket in over 4 years! Keep in mind I drive about 50,000 miles per year. Some people average an accident every year or two, and they're giving ME a hard time? If these morons knew how much money I save them avoiding people who shouldn't even be driving, they'd give me a discount!
It took several days to find out it was a no-go, at which I told the agent that I didn't even want to do business with this carrier anymore, they were too much of a headache. Anyway, I contacted an agency I used previously, and it's going to cost quite a bit more, which my current agent tried to emphasize as the reason he did not want to write it through the channels the other agency would use. Too bad, dude. The money I save with these idiots is NOT worth the way they jerk me around, in ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM. I am done.
I've been out of work two weeks because of these jackasses, and I expect to be out of work another week before things are taken care of, because I need the down payment back that I made on the policy they refused to write, to make the down payment on a policy that WILL be written! Like I said, it's too bad the stupidest people have the simplest jobs, because they can't even do THAT right!
I wasn't happy with the idea, but after thinking about it, it was actually a good idea -- $125,000 doesn't go far if 6 passengers are injured. In late 2010, I had a minor fender-bender, that could have happened to anybody. Why it happened to me is beyond my understanding -- It's almost too stupid to go into detail.
I got choked on a sandwich I was eating while I was driving, and pulled to the side of the street to try to clear myself or get help. In my panic, I did not realize the column shifter did not quite go into "Park". Needless, to say, the transmission was neither in Park nor Reverse, and when I jumped out of the van to try to clear what was choking me or get help, the van rolled ten feet forward, damaging the car ahead of it. We're talking approximately $2,000 damage to a Volkswagen, it was nowhere in the league of totalling a $150,000 Mercedes. These idiots declined to renew me at the end of the term, citing a loss.
This is already BS, because I was paying $2,800 a year -- for liability only, and had been insured with them for over a year. Due to a redundancy in DMV policy, also previously documented in this blog, I had to put the vehicle, insurance and permits in another person's name so that I could keep working... This policy was written with myself added as a driver on the policy, and was written for $125,000 liability limits without issue. SAME CARRIER! Then, when I picked up a client last summer that requires $500,000 coverage to carry them, I asked to be upgraded to $500,000 limits, and was told that they could not do it.
Say WHAT?! I told the agent, "Call them back and tell them that this change WILL be done by sundown, or I'm going elsewhere, because they're not going to tell me they can't do what they FORCED me to do two years ago." It was done, but not without serious inquiry into the primary use of the vehicle... Can you idiots not READ that you have insured this vehicle as a TAXICAB? What else do you think I'm using it as, a LUNCH TRUCK?! So already these MORONS have refused to do one thing the same way twice. The engine in the van developed problems two weeks ago. Not wanting to take a gamble on minor repairs, given the amount of noise coming from under the hood, I decided to temporarily switch into another vehicle until I could afford to replace the engine.
Due to some issues with the person under whose name I chose to insure and register the van, I decided to do things a little differently this time, and took out a new policy, writing a check for a $550.00 down payment. All two weeks ago. Three days later, my check had been deposited, but the new policy was not on file with the DMV. Several calls back to the agency finally revealed that the carrier was refusing to write the policy because I was on it as a driver. Uh... say WHAT? You've been doing it without incident or issue for nearly two years, and NOW it's a problem? My AGENT even gave them hell!
He was certain he could get it pushed through, so I gave him a few days to hammer it out with them. Over the course of which, I just got more and more angry about it the more I thought about it. I pay my premium, I'm not bouncing off of everything in sight, and I haven't had a ticket in over 4 years! Keep in mind I drive about 50,000 miles per year. Some people average an accident every year or two, and they're giving ME a hard time? If these morons knew how much money I save them avoiding people who shouldn't even be driving, they'd give me a discount!
It took several days to find out it was a no-go, at which I told the agent that I didn't even want to do business with this carrier anymore, they were too much of a headache. Anyway, I contacted an agency I used previously, and it's going to cost quite a bit more, which my current agent tried to emphasize as the reason he did not want to write it through the channels the other agency would use. Too bad, dude. The money I save with these idiots is NOT worth the way they jerk me around, in ANY WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM. I am done.
I've been out of work two weeks because of these jackasses, and I expect to be out of work another week before things are taken care of, because I need the down payment back that I made on the policy they refused to write, to make the down payment on a policy that WILL be written! Like I said, it's too bad the stupidest people have the simplest jobs, because they can't even do THAT right!
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