Random Thoughts... [Automotive Edition]

In addition to what CrzRsn said above...

Yeah but if you are labeling it as "risk" you would think it would have something to do with how bad you fucked up and how likely you are to do it yourself. A rate hike like that I would expect from something like a speeding ticket, not a mistake literally every driver will make at some point.

IIRC, the stats say most people will not be rear ending another vehicle. IIRC, only about 30% of all crashes in the US are rear-end collisions.

Further, that is EXACTLY how risk is calculated in part.

  1. Were you at fault for rear-ending someone else through negligence? Yes. You are now statistically a higher risk than a baseline driver.
  2. Did you cause more than average amount of damage? Yes. You are now statistically in in an even higher risk category.
  3. Rear end accidents are some of the more medically damaging types due to whiplash and such. This increases the potential amount the insurance company would have to pay out. You are therefore elevated another risk category.
Risk is therefore calculated in part based on your likelihood of causing another claim, the likely amount of that claim. The dollar amount of their potential exposure tells them "how bad you fucked up", the level of responsibility and negligence tells them how likely you are to do it again.

Speeding tickets do not generally get rate hikes anywhere near that high except under special circumstances (doing 99 in a 55, serial offender, etc.). Accidents are what will jack your rate like mad.

I got both at faults revoked by taking them to court over it, but that doesn't change the fact that they looked at a case where the other guy's car was in a place it shouldn't have legally been and gave me 100% fault. Oh also I had a witness for the accident that was telling me "don't worry I saw everything, people do what he did all the time it's awful". This also cost me my deductible which they do not refund when you get their decision overturned.

Uh... It's a deductible. You paid it to the repair facility. You don't get that back unless they didn't do the work.

I'd probably be less pissed if not for the incompetence. Like I didn't immediately switch insurance, maybe the decision was fair. But after this recent incident I am just disgusted. I had an independent agent too, who was supposed to have my back with this shit, but apparently lied to me when I asked her to check other companies rates given she said the maximum difference would be like maybe 200$.

Hilarous though: Do you know what their argument was? That you legally can pass on the right anywhere your car will fit. Now I both looked it up and found otherwise (iirc the cars have to be stopped to take a turn, this case was someone stopped to LET ME GO and he got impatient and went around them and hit me) and the judge sided with me confirming it, but can you imagine if it were true.

Wow, you found incompetence in Massachusetts. How... unsurprising.

Also, if they were working from a national call center, there are many states where it is legal to pass on the right in such circumstances. They may have simply been confused or just stupid.

Get a dash cam.

I mean I guess if you believe that it SHOULD cost me an extra 2k to be insured, because I have a turbocharged shoe that's main selling point is how fast if can zip between cars, and you just gave me premission to basically lane share on a very large number of roads. But I am not enough of an asshole to do that sort of thing anyway unless it's to avoid another dangerous situation.

Just because the insurance company says it's the law, doesn't mean it is. They can be wrong. So, no, they didn't give you permission to lane share and you can't even claim ignorance as the judge told you otherwise already.
 
A rate hike like that I would expect from something like a speeding ticket, not a mistake literally every driver will make at some point.
How is a piece of paper with a fine on it more of a risk than actual property damage that cost the insurance company several thousand dollars?


I got both at faults revoked by taking them to court over it, but that doesn't change the fact that they looked at a case where the other guy's car was in a place it shouldn't have legally been and gave me 100% fault.
Can you tell us what happened exactly?


They did this to me twice. The specific reason I went to gieco is when on the phone with them asking how the fuck he wasn't at least 50% at fault the girl said "idk I'll try but he has gieco and they don't compromise". WOW. I feel kind of bad for her because that probably got her fired and she seemed at least vaguely sympathetic.
You've been taken advantage of. Your insurance insures you - it is then their problem how they collect from the other company. So either they were ignorant, they lied to you, or you were actually at fault.


I had an independent agent too, who was supposed to have my back with this shit, but apparently lied to me when I asked her to check other companies rates given she said the maximum difference would be like maybe 200$.
Do NOT use an agent, they're all incompetent and they only work a few companies.


Hilarous though: Do you know what their argument was? That you legally can pass on the right anywhere your car will fit. Now I both looked it up and found otherwise (iirc the cars have to be stopped to take a turn, this case was someone stopped to LET ME GO and he got impatient and went around them and hit me) and the judge sided with me confirming it, but can you imagine if it were true.
Need more details as to what happened. Regardless, agents aren't lawyers and don't know the laws (or anything at all, for that matter).


I mean I guess if you believe that it SHOULD cost me an extra 2k to be insured, because I have a turbocharged shoe that's main selling point is how fast if can zip between cars, and you just gave me premission to basically lane share on a very large number of roads. But I am not enough of an asshole to do that sort of thing anyway unless it's to avoid another dangerous situation.
You're complaining about high insurance rates in the very same post where you're admitting to reckless driving. And I'm not an actuary, I have no idea how much it "should" cost for for insurance.
 
Right, but we have no clue if she locked up the tires, considering her car has ABS she shouldn’t have been able to lock anything up at all.
Assuming the ABS is fully functional. In the UK if you go into the back of another car it's considered your fault regardless as you should be leaving enough space to stop in an emergency based on the performance of your own car. I had a bit of a scare t'other week when a German registered Golf estate decided it needed to be in a layby right now and the Audi TT behind it had to stand on the brakes. Turns out a Triumph Acclaim doesn't stop as easily on a wet surface and I locked the front left wheel because no ABS in 1983, still plenty of room twixt me and the Audi but his stopping was far less dramatic...

The only time I've crashed into another car was in the Doloshite and I reversed into it while parking at about 10mph.

3556370

3556371


The first garage quoted £2200 to repair the Fiesta, the second quoted £1800. That was for a new bumper, new bootlid, new glass, new trim, new rear light, paint and fitting. I talked the guy into having me repair it out of my own pocket as otherwise both of our cars would have been written off.

I bought a second hand bootlid from a scrapyard for £80, the bumper given a skim of filler and had the lot painted and fitted for £400 by a local body shop in the end. More fitting for a car worth £800... No garage would touch the Dolomite as it was going to be too much metalwork so I hammered the worst of the dent out with a hammer and a block of wood, brought the bumper out to the correct level with extra washers and replaced the quarter bumper with one from eBay for £40. The bootlid is still slightly bowed and needs tweaking at the hinge but it's not really noticeable at a glance, so meh.

Insurance repair costs are all based on using brand new parts to bring the car back to essentially "as new" condition. Hence the costs being so extreme, if you were just bringing it back to a presentable condition which would last the life of the car it'd be far cheaper.
 
Insurance repair costs are all based on using brand new parts to bring the car back to essentially "as new" condition. Hence the costs being so extreme, if you were just bringing it back to a presentable condition which would last the life of the car it'd be far cheaper.

This is not true, at least not in America. More often than not, the insurance company will quote repairs with knockoff reproduction parts because they're cheaper than OEM, and for 99% of people out there, it makes no difference. That was the case with my Mustang. They essentially told me that if I wanted OE parts, I'd need to pay the difference out of pocket. Luckily, they based my quote on the retail value of new OE parts, when in reality no dealer charges that much. My mechanic was actually able to get OE parts for cheaper than the quoted reproduction part values. Insurance companies will also try to force shops to repair parts instead of replace them. After the initial insurance adjuster inspection, they wanted my shop to plastic weld a crack back together instead of replacing the whole bumper, but my shop ended up finding broken clips that could not be replaced so the insurance company reluctantly agreed to cover the replacement.
 
Speaking of rear-ending, this happened a few streets away from me and I'm just amazed at how it happened. There was a tipper truck in front of these that had presumably either slowed for the speed bump that is behind the camera or was stopped.

alvington-crash2-1024x578.jpg


How fast must the Benz driver have been going to shove the pickup so far forward and then embed his/her car under the rear of it? It's a 30mph zone near two schools.

I hope everyone can see this image.
 
Speaking of rear-ending, this happened a few streets away from me and I'm just amazed at how it happened. There was a tipper truck in front of these that had presumably either slowed for the speed bump that is behind the camera or was stopped.

alvington-crash2-1024x578.jpg


How fast must the Benz driver have been going to shove the pickup so far forward and then embed his/her car under the rear of it? It's a 30mph zone near two schools.

I hope everyone can see this image.

“This evening on Too Late To Look.”
 
This is not true, at least not in America.
Interesting. In the UK the bodyshops generally don't try and keep the costs down as it'll be paid be the insurance company anyway.

All the parts for the Fiesta I mangled were coming brand new from Ford.
 
Interesting. In the UK the bodyshops generally don't try and keep the costs down as it'll be paid be the insurance company anyway.

All the parts for the Fiesta I mangled were coming brand new from Ford.
It depends on the shop here but between deductibles and premium increases it makes sense for them to keep costs down.
 
TIL my wife and receptionists have something in common (no, I didn’t sleep with them!). They all think I’m insane for driving a convertible with the top down in October.

I told them, the rule is easy: no rain, no top.
 
When I had my Miata, I drove top past the first snow every year. And started up before it thawed every spring.
 
People have been trying pop-up roof lights off and on since the 80s. Doesn't seem to really have taken off at any point. Which, IMHO, is kind of puzzling. You'd think some form or another would have caught on even as a cult favorite styling element, but nope.
 
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