• phx
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    11 hours ago

    Not just car insurance. My house insurance went up 25-30%, and the agent said there’s not much point in switching because companies “don’t want to take on houses older more than 40yo”

    While my general Province hasn’t been great for various disasters, my city and neighborhood are on the safer end. The house itself doesn’t have any of the nasty stuff like asbestos, aluminum wiring, failure-prone plumbing, etc. The furnace was replaced when I moved in, AC and after tank are new within 5 years, and the roof was just done.

    It’s just a fuck you tax at this point

  • wraekscadu@vargar.org
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    13 hours ago

    This is why consumer coops are so so important for stuff like this.

    The insurance of a person I’m close to from their coop is around 9% cheaper than other non coop alternatives.

    Consumer coops (irrespective of sector) always tend to have top notch customer service in my experience.

  • dan1101
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    16 hours ago

    I was with Erie insurance company for 15+ years when they pulled this, except it was closer to a 100% increase. No tickets or accidents but suddenly much higher rate. Switched to Progressive and was back to my old price.

  • SpikesOtherDog@ani.social
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    21 hours ago

    I go through an insurance broker and they said that it’s important to check around every renewal to see what is being offered. They rely on customers getting complacent. If everyone actually shopped around every year, it would theoretically drive prices down. They would have to resort to price fixing to keep their massive profits.

    • Shellofbiomatter@lemmus.org
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      2 hours ago

      For some unknown reason i have total irrational hatred towards this concept and really short fuse towards haggling.

      My countries telecom companies do the same or at least the most. Every 2 years the special offer they did ends and i have to start switching my number after which for a month every single telecom company starts to spam me with better offer which all are the lowest they can go. Last time they even started sending me chocolates. Like WTF, i just want a phone, not a bloody chocolate.

      At this point i flipped them all off and accepted I don’t need phone that much. My wife took over as she does want me to have a phone.

    • Fondots
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      19 hours ago

      I always hear about the importance of shopping around for insurance, and I don’t necessarily do it every single year, but probably about every other year

      And everywhere I look my quotes are always about the same, within a few bucks of what I’m already paying.

      And I guess if you add it all up over the years a couple of bucks a month difference does eventually add up to something kind of significant.

      But having been with my current company/agent for a while and having had to use my insurance a couple times over the years, I don’t mind that so much because I’ve found them pretty easy to work with. They’ve paid out when I needed them to without any drama, and they’ve been willing to cut me when, like when I had some billing snafu that was kind of my fault they were saw that I’d been a customer for a while with otherwise perfect payment history and we’re willing to waive some fees that were otherwise tacked on. And jumping ship to save very little money and not knowing if the new company is going to be as decent to work with just doesn’t seem like a smart move to me.

      Still pisses me off to no end that my insurance goes up every year though. My car’s not appreciating in value any, and I’m not getting any younger or more reckless on the road, nor have I reached the age yet where my mental faculties have started to nosedive, and I have a very clean driving history.

      • SpikesOtherDog@ani.social
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        9 hours ago

        Same as the other responder, it’s the homeowner’s insurance I’m typically shopping around for. I also have a habit of limping aging vehicles I purchased for $1000 beyond the 150k mile (240k km) mark. They tend to try sneaking full coverage in there and are VERY SURPRISED to see the cost come down significantly. If I’m lucky, I can get an overall discount by bundling both together.

      • chisel@piefed.social
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        15 hours ago

        I’ve had a similar experience with car insurance. Home insurance, though, my rates went up ~40% two years in a row. Switched companies and pay less than half of the inflated rates.

    • ramble81@lemmy.zip
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      19 hours ago

      Truth. I have a broker and every year before my renewal she price shops every provider to keep giving me the lowest price. Before that, my car insurance had steadily creeped up almost 50% higher than everything I was quoted. Do I have to change apps and remember who I’m with every year? Yes, but I’ve saved a lot of money in the process.

    • boonhet@sopuli.xyz
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      19 hours ago

      In my country for liability insurance at least, national traffic insurance fund website has a comparison tool. Just enter the data and get results for all the companies (minus the banks for some reason, they also offer insurance). The difference can sometimes be 5x or more and they offer the exact same legally mandated coverage (some have minor bonuses like “moose insurance” or legal aid, and no, those aren’t even always the most expensive ones).

    • PattyMcB
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      20 hours ago

      And you’re gullible enough to think they aren’t/won’t price fix?

      • xylol@leminal.space
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        19 hours ago

        Well you see with all the harvested data they have on everyone, including knowing what you pay now, it would be really difficult to offer you something cheaper. so really its your fault for paying so much already, and fitting into a part of the population that based on A/B testing can have their rates raised a certain percentage before they feel its too much to bother looking for alternative insurance companies /s

        • PattyMcB
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          19 hours ago

          I don’t understand why someone would downvote you. You added the /s, lol

          Seriously though, insurance companies spend more money trying NOT to pay the mark customer than they do just paying out for claims.

      • TrickDacy
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        19 hours ago

        I think they are “gullible enough” to believe that losing business is the only thing that would keep corporations from being shitty.

        • thejoker954
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          19 hours ago

          Except it’s a captive market. When it’s a law that you have to have something and there’s only a dozen or so “options” (especially when those options end up being owned by the same entity) they will never lose enough business to have to stop being shitty.

          • TrickDacy
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            19 hours ago

            No one is saying they’d clean up their act. But yes if they were constantly losing customers they’d obviously lower prices a bit. Keep in mind this is not blaming customers.

        • PattyMcB
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          19 hours ago

          Insurance companies not being shitty? LOL

          • TrickDacy
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            19 hours ago

            How is it a thing that someone is belittled for saying something likely true and makes no implications unless you invent them? No one is saying it’s the customers fault or that insurance companies would be angels if we forced them to.

            • PattyMcB
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              19 hours ago

              Uhh… you did, though…

              losing business is the only thing that would keep corporations from being shitty

              • TrickDacy
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                19 hours ago

                The thing about words is that they can mean many things. Your choice to read them as uncharitably as you can imagine is not damning evidence.

              • TrickDacy
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                19 hours ago

                Yes your refusal to admit that you making shit up in your head not being objective reality is what I’m talking about

  • Asafum
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    20 hours ago

    every year I get a letter from my health scam insurance company that essentially says “due to the law (that we’re going to eventually pay the right politician to get rid of) we’re informing you that our rates will increase by 30% next year.”

    Every year 30% more.

  • TrickDacy
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    19 hours ago

    That shit keeps happening to me. It’s a new scam they’re running. I know because I keep changing companies due to it. Each time they pretend that’s just how much insurance costs now, or try to blame it on me moving (each time to a lower crime area). Then I find another company that’s offering me slightly more than I paid last term- the kind of increase you (unfortunately) expect from these vultures. But now those old standard increases have become not enough. Seriously had these sons of bitches try to raise my insurance rates 50-200% multiple times in a row, multiple companies doing the same shit. This ought to be investigated by a government agency and multibillion dollar fines issued. Instead, it’s just “how it is” now in America.

    • underscores@lemmy.zip
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      16 hours ago

      “this should be investigated by the government”

      you are aware your government is intentionally allowing anti consumer practices, right ?

      • TrickDacy
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        16 hours ago

        That was kinda the entire point I was making actually

  • HerbGrower@slrpnk.net
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    17 hours ago

    Replace car with bike and no longer need insurance. Insurance companies hate this little trick!

    • Gormadt@slrpnk.net
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      4 hours ago

      Oh I wish I could but my local infrastructure ain’t human centered, it’s car centered.

      I may only be 13 miles from where I work but with roads near me being 50+mph with no shoulder or streetlights

      • HerbGrower@slrpnk.net
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        34 seconds ago

        Aren’t US ebike regulations super generous, like to the point its pretty much just an electric equivalent to a 50cc bike with pedals on it.

    • TubularTittyFrog
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      16 hours ago

      so simple. if only everyone could live within a few miles of their workplace and all their other responsibilities.

      oh wait, they can’t, unless they can afford crazy high rents of urban centers.

      • DudleyMason@lemmy.ml
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        11 hours ago

        If your shitbag local government isn’t developing mass transit, that’s your fault. Start making some elected officials miserable until they start funding a real transit network.

        But don’t pretend like your choice to shit on the only habitable planet we have for the minor convenience of having a stupid little zoom-zoom cage isn’t just that: a choice.

        • TubularTittyFrog
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          10 hours ago

          my shitbag local government has the best mass transit in the country by many metrics.

          still, it doesn’t go to rural areas or anywhere that isn’t a wealthy suburb full of white people.

          but yeah, i’ll get write on that. ii’ll just donate a few trillion to my local government so they can build electrify trains through all 351 towns and cities in my state.

      • HerbGrower@slrpnk.net
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        12 hours ago

        Stop living in massive cities then if they are so expensive. Always lived in towns rather then cities, can get anywhere by bike in not much time at all.

        Oh no wages are a little lower. So is rent and tax. Plus much better access to green spaces generally - though I now live on the coast so green spaces are mostly replaced by blue ones. Decent green spaces are like 20 minutes away by bike rather than 5 now.

        • TubularTittyFrog
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          11 hours ago

          most small towns in america have no jobs that pay a living wage.

          that’s why people drive 3-4 hrs a day to a city. so they can afford to live.

          glad you live in your little bubble, did you inherent your home from your parents too, like every other lazy townie? not everyone gets hand outs like that in life. they have to pay their own way and their inherent little to nothing.

          people live where this is economic opportunity, because they need it to survive. many folks jobs don’t exist in rural areas.

          and nobody in small town america rides bikes.

          sounds like you are talking about europe.

          • HerbGrower@slrpnk.net
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            11 hours ago

            Yes, I am talking about Europe. Why so aggressive about assuming I inherited anything? I haven’t.

            • TubularTittyFrog
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              10 hours ago

              you realize there is a whole other 6 continenets, 5 of which aren’t europe where many people live? that has massively large distances between population centers.

              or not, i guess.

        • TubularTittyFrog
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          16 hours ago

          those things don’t exist outside of urban centers.

          i own a car because I like getting out of the city and to the countryside. also not possible by bicycle or public transit.

  • khepri
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    16 hours ago

    Time to switch and save lol. I change phone plans and car insurance about once every three years at least because no matter what they find a way to run up the price on you over time, so there will always be much much better offers out there

    • pool_spray_098
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      16 hours ago

      I’ve been on $30 per month T-Mobile with unlimited data for almost 20 years now.

      Gonna ride this one to eternity.

  • cRazi_man@europe.pub
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    20 hours ago

    Wow thats a good quality version of the meme. Share the template plz. I got potato quality in my library:

    • lividweasel
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      20 hours ago

      Your Tom is just fine the way he is.

      Your version is also more historically accurate.