Cost of Doing Business

Image: ChatGPT

Years ago, when my home and auto insurance was coming up for renewal, I thought I would shop around to make sure that I was getting the best price on my coverage. I had been with my insurance broker since the early 90s, when DW and I were renting an apartment near Algonquin College, and we felt that we were valued clients, but I wanted to see how valued we were.

Turns out, we were valued. When I called around to other insurance companies and told them what I was paying for home and auto insurance, many of them questioned why I'd bother shopping around. "I can't come anywhere close to what you're currently paying," one agent told me.

So we stayed put. Even decades later, when our brokerage changed hands and our insurance companies moved around, I shopped again and again, I was told that my existing rates were unbeatable.

But it actually pays to keep on top of your rates.

A couple of years ago, our insurance brokerage was bought out by a larger corporation. At the time, I received mail and was notified that I need not do anything, that our policy would stay as is. But then, when I approached the renewal date, I saw that our rates were higher than I expected.

Naively, I chalked this increase up to inflation. Since the start of the 2020 pandemic, everything became expensive. And last year, when we again renewed our insurance, I saw yet another spike.

When our Honda CR-V was written off, last month, after someone plowed into the back of it (no one was hurt), I worked hard to find a replacement vehicle over the holidays. My insurance company hadn't come to me with a settlement amount but that was okay: we were fortunate enough that getting a new set of wheels didn't depend on getting a settlement cheque.

As of writing this post, we're still waiting.

In speaking with our broker agent, after we bought the replacement vehicle, I tried to have the new car added to our insurance policy. Because our CR-V was in DW's name as the principal driver, I wanted to keep everything the same.

Unfortunately, our insurance doesn't allow for one person to be the principal driver on more than two vehicles. "That's fine," I said to the agent on the other end of the phone line, "drop her from the Honda."

We couldn't. Because the vehicle was still undergoing a claim dispute, nothing could be changed on the existing policy. "Can we not simply drop the insurance on the Honda?" I asked. "It's in a junk yard, stripped of its license plates. It's no longer road-worthy."

Nope, could not do. The broker suggested putting Kid 1, who is listed as a driver under our policy, as the primary driver for the new car. But doing so would increase our rates, and I didn't want to pay more than I already was.

Meanwhile, I was feeling ignored by my claims adjuster.

So, I started shopping around. I figured that I would simply put the new car on a separate policy with a different insurance agency. And what I found shocked me.

The first company that I visited for a quote was able to save me a couple of hundred dollars from my current insurer, if I moved my house and other car (our Niro) over as well. The next company I checked out went even further.

When I added the new car and moved both my home and Niro over, I was saving more than a thousand dollars. Which meant that since my original broker company was bought, I've been gouged by more than a grand on insurance.

I filled out the online application to this second insurance company and was told that I would be contacted shortly. The agent, Angela, called me within an hour.

We chatted about the application and about my home and driving situations, and she had all kinds of questions that weren't on the online application. When she was ready to give me a final tally, she paused, said, "That doesn't seem right... that's too much." After some clicks from her keyboard and another pause, she said, "That looks better."

The final amount was more than $1,700 lower than what I had paid, last summer, with my original insurers.

It was a no-brainer. I moved everything but the Honda over to this company. It's nothing personal: it's just business.

But then, it's more than just business. There's more than dollar figures here. My insurance adjuster has been dragging her butt, not responding for days, and low-balling the value of our CR-V.

It was a great vehicle, in great shape. Sure, it had substantial mileage on it, but no more than an average amount for its age and we kept the service up on it. It ran well and had no rust. With a Honda engine, it could have easily doubled its milage.

But it felt like our adjuster just saw it as a hunk of bent metal, to which she was trying to add the lowest set of numbers.

Her delays cost her. If she had settled fairly, I would have taken the cheque, said "Thank you," and would have blindly added the new auto to our bloated policy.

I guess I have her to thank for that.

Meanwhile, I've now left the country, without a settlement in hand, while a junk yard holds onto a car that they can't touch because it's still in our name. And a brokerage is out clients who had been loyal since the 90s.

That's the real cost of business.