Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Got the bill for my '09 insurance. Ouch.

Ontario insurance sucks. No bones about it. Car, home, motorcycle, doesn't matter. $960 for a 3 star (highest you can get, which is basically 3+ years of riding insured and no claims) on a Versys 650, ($726 with at fault collision waved) which isn't a sport bike class. I can't do better by the variables. This is with TD, they had the best deal when I signed up 3 years ago with my Ninja 250 ($340 with collision and theft waved) and seemed reasonable when I moved up to the Versys last year. I should have shopped around this year.

When this bill came I was already disenfranchised by the Ontario scam insurance industry. Last week I received a letter from the Co-operators about having 30 days before a default opt-in back ground credit check would be used to aid in determining if I'm a slob who can't manage all aspects of my life beyond the essentials that an insurance company should concern themselves with. Such as "Have I ever made a claim: No", and "How long have you been continually insured with us: 6 years", "Do I make enough money and own enough assets to suggest I can keep my shit together: Yes". I'm shocked that they would bother with a credit check on loyal customers! Not that its a back stab so much that a loyal customer who has never made a claim would be a better indicator over a 2 year credit check which isn't a reflection of reliability or responsibility. Apparently they dont feel comfortable being able to only change all aspects of our argeement mid-contract and they need to pry into more aspects of my private life. Next thing they'll want to know my show size, whether I'm ambidextrose and whether my porn collection is prodominately asian.

They couldn't answer if I let them have access to my credit history, (I have fine credit, I checked for the low price of $25) how that would change my premium. Seriously. They can tell you at the drop of a hat what your rate would be on a new policy if you called, but the magic that is credit assessment will now be further convoluted by the magic of insurance credit history assessment. They seriously couldn't tell me if a credit score of 200 or 500 or 700 out of 900 would cause my premium to go up or down. They also skillfully but obviously avoided the words, "your premium will go down if we don't think in a million years you'll EVER make a claim".

I can only read this as a deeply cynical move during crappy times by a morally bankrupt industry that can only look for opportunities to raise rates whenever they can from what I can only assume as the good people. Like people who pay off their credit cards and debit. Those guys suck! They never pay fees and interest like the other deadbeats and unlucky who are already milked to the point of getting them off the road and out of home insurance.

If I could sue the Co-operators for anti-consumer practices I would. If they can't get their act together enough to tell me how my 1 year contract with them will change as a result of a corporate policy change, then I submit that they're incompetent to even move this item forward until they can at least explain their formula for assessment. Obviously they can't tell predict any changes to my premium without knowing my personal score, but they should be able to tell me what a 200 or 700 score would do to my premium!

Cash grab! I hate Ontario insurance. Highest in Canada and from what I gather when my American friends laugh at my rates, highest in North America!

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