Auto Insurance Roulette: Is it Worth the Gamble?

1. We have all heard it. Jokes, “yucks”, and false promises of auto insurance carriers promising they can each save you $500-$700 over the others. They are more like comedy clubs than critical support networks.
2. Remember, EACH company promises the impossible. Believe it, and you probably believe, “Mexico is Going to Pay For a Wall!”
3. Certain lies, told often enough, settle in as accepted truth.
4. But does anyone really think a wall will ever be built, regardless of who pays for it?
5. And do any of you think even one of these companies has “The Holy Grail” that lets it sell a valuable product for less than it costs to produce?
6. That’s exactly what these companies want you to believe, if only they can package their lies in a distracting, funny, message.
7. We all know ‘The Geico Gecko”. Isn’t he cute?
8. Or Progressive’s hilarious Flo and Jamie, and their new truculent girl agent? Aren’t they whacky?
9. Or Allstate’s “Mayhem”? Or its deep-voiced, “Save 40%” guy who wants to put an electrical “Nanny” in your car?
10. And, we all love Farmers Insurance’s “Hall of Claims”, “We know a thing or two because we’ve seen a thing or two!”.
11. Can Anyone stand Liberty Mutual’s insipid scenes on the waterfront or the guy with the ostrich! “I can saaave you!”.
12. What’s going on here? It appears to me to be a pitched battle for “the lowest common denominator”.
13. These ads assume and depend upon their having the dumbest customers on earth.
14. I would like to believe that once they hook you on the “fire sale” price, they will upsell you on coverages or options, but they don’t!
15. My average client knows 10 times more WV divorce law than what happens when a claim arises. Perhaps that’s because they or a friend have been through a divorce but not a serious accident, not yet!
16. At what point do any of these “mascots” remind you that you risk financial and personal ruin if you select the wrong coverages?
17. Which whacky character points out what happens to YOU if you are seriously injured or killed by an uninsured or underinsured “tortfeasor”?
18. Do they even tell you what those terms mean?
19. Does Flo explain that you can lose your house and face bankruptcy if you buy a cut-rate policy and hit a kid who skate-boards from behind a sign into your path?
20. They should, but they don’t!
21. And what of the kid whose life you took or ruined?
22. Everyone loses but Flo and Jamie and their greedy bosses.
23. Have you heard “Mayhem” explain to you the benefits of owning “a personal umbrella”?
24. Of course not! He literally could not care less. He just wants to hook you.
25. Does USAA’s retired general say anything except inane “general”ities?
26. Of course not! He’s there to sell insurance, not to explain insurance.
27. He’s USAA’s cheerleader, not its teacher.
28. You should see what I see as the lawyer of an innocent passenger or driver.
29. His or her life is turned upside down, sometimes literally!
30. My job is to turn it right side up and get her, him, or them a fair result.
31. Perhaps my client was a passenger, free of all fault, or a driver crossing a four-lane highway WITH the light who was creamed by an SUV that ran the stoplight!
32. I can think of two former clients who suffered greatly for want of coverage.
33. The first had $200,000 in medical bills and permanent injuries.
34. The other had $25,000 in medical bills and lost wages in the first two weeks.
35. Their claims are worth at least $100,000 and $500,000, respectively!
36. But, one had just $25,000 per-person liability coverage and a $25,000 underinsured limit.
37. The other had NO underinsurance protection, and his adversary who ran the red light had only $25,000 liability per person. And my client had NO underinsurance?
38. What does that mean?
39. It means the person with the one half million dollar claim maxes out at $50,000, with $250,000 in insurance subrogation claims looming to take most of that.
40. And, that client must contest with other injured passengers over the $25,000 per-person liability limig.
41. With luck, she might get to keep $10,000 of her half-million-dollar claim.
42. The guy with $25,000 in medical bills, who checked the, “I don’t want underinsured coverage” box on his policy application will soon learn that the $25,000 liability coverage of the person who creamed him is ALL he can collect.
43. The cut-rate policy provided him no protection against an uninsured “tortfeasor”.
44. And, from that sum will come his lawyer’s fee, expenses, and those pesky “subrogation claims”.
45. He too will be lucky to clear $10,000 from his $100,000 claim.
46. These potential tragedies are looming behind every false promise of Progressive, Geico, Allstate, Farmers, and Liberty Mutual!
47. My explanation here isn’t as funny as Flo’s little finger, but then her brain is no bigger than this tip of my little finger.
48. It is one of the biggest scams going on in America, and to me it just isn’t funny.
49. That’s why I write on the subject.
50. Just go to my Blog and search for “Insurance” or “Umbrella”.
51. See you there!  www.hunterlawfirm.net/blog

This post was written by Burton Hunter