Huge losses from national disasters prompt industry to jack up prices and pull back from some markets; ‘worst possible scenario’ for consumers
After Allstate suffered billions of dollars in losses and failed to get the rate increases it wanted, it resorted to the nuclear option.
The insurance giant threatened last fall to stop renewing auto insurance for customers in three states that hadn’t given in to its demands, which would have left those policyholders scrambling for coverage. The states blinked.
In December, New Jersey approved auto rate increases for Allstate averaging 17%, and New York, a 15% hike. Regulators in California are allowing Allstate to boost auto rates by 30%, but still haven’t decided on its request for a 40% increase in home-insurance rates after the insurer refused to write new policies.
For many Americans, getting insurance for both their cars and homes has gone from a routine, generally manageable expense to a do-or-die ordeal that can strain household budgets.
Get hit by someone that’s totally irresponsible in New Hampshire and tell me you’re not fucked!
Obviously. I’m just saying- what are you supposed to do if you need insurance but no one will insure you and this is happening to huge numbers of people? I’m sure the Fuck Cars folks would tell us to just not drive. I live in a semi-rural subdivision down a country road from a four-lane highway, two miles from the nearest bus station. It was -16 this morning when I woke up.
For starters you are supposed to demand better transit. While expensive, there is no reason you can’t get great transit to your sub division - and since it is great transit everyone could get rid of a car (not all cars: you keep the SUV to tow the boat!) and save money overall.
I believe the reason is in the first part of that sentence. Who’s going to pay for it? We’re not inside city limits. There’s only a city bus. There isn’t a county bus and there never has been.
You and your fellow citizens are. That’s why it’s called public transit. There should be a light rail for you that’s accessible. Obviously there’ll still be some commuting you have to figure out yourself but most of the world has figured out getting a train from suburbs to city.
How? No one is collecting funds.
Light rail going off a highway miles out of city limits, down a country road and into a subdivision?
My last job was 10 minutes by car even further away from the city than I am and the only access road was on the highway. Have fun with that.
That is a political problem. Those can be fixed. I don’t know how, but they can be fixed.
If you don’t know how, what makes you think anyone else does?
I have a rider on my insurance specifically to cover additional costs incurred if I get in an accident where the other party is at fault, but has no insurance themselves. It doesn’t cost that much more… yet.