STATE FARM WILL NOT INSURE MY GLADIATOR1

[Grumpy_Guy]

Funny story about GEICO and USAA. As I'm an old fart, here are two old fart insurance stories.
Most people don't know that GEICO is an acronym. It stands for Government Employees Insurance Company. Back 'in the day' you had to be a US Government employee to purchase a policy. They were cheap back then!
Today USAA (United Services Automobile Association) touts its military heritage and all great things about it's past tradition of honor serving the US Military. What they neglect to mention is that when they were formed in 1922 by 25 US Army officers they considered enlisted personnel too dangerous (read Stupid) to insure their vehicles until the 1980's (or was it the 1990's)? So it was an Officer only Club.
These are not political comments or opinions, these are facts.

I had GEICO for over 20 years until I purchased a condo in Texas some 20 years ago.
It was A turbulent time and GEICO decided to cease insuring home in Texas and I was forced to look elsewhere for insurance.
I left Texas and moved to northern Virginia in 2005.

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[Grumpy_Guy]

Nice Gladiator. I am changing the subject here but did that super tall AM/FM antenna fix the horrifically bad AM/FM reception? I already went with a taller aftermarket antenna and it helped but only a tiny bit.

It’s 100 watt HF transceiver and a 75 watt 2 meter, the AM/FM is multiplexed and shares a CB/weather antenna on the front fender.
CB is occasionally handy when truckers provide traffic info. Weather is great for west Texas tornado warnings.

 

[Big John]

Another observation about insurance; You are participating in Government mandated gambling.
Insurance is mandated in all 50 states by the government in order to be allowed on government owned roads. Same as a driver's licence. No insurance? You are now an uninsured motorist AKA a criminal. No driver's licence? You are an unlicensed driver AKA a criminal.
By law, you must participate in government mandated gambling AKA insurance.
In a perfect world everybody would drive carefully and faithfully maintain their vehicles and animals would not commit Kamikaze attacks on your property. Insurance would be unnecessary. This is not that world.
So, how much are you willing to bet? How risk-averse are you? How financially stable are you?
Did you pay cash for your current Jeep? Can you pay cash for your next one without selling this one? How much do you trust your driving skills? How much do you trust the driving skills of the oncoming drunk one-eyed stoner that was just stung by a scorpion whilst simultaneously being bitten by a rattler? Who, coincidentally forgot to renew his driver's licence and thinks insurance is for wussies?
It's a gamble. In this case, full comprehensive would be your best bet, but unless you visited a world class fortune teller last week, you might be boned and only have liability.
Let me get personal.
My mother taught me to never use Hire Purchase, British for credit. She told me that if I could not pay cash, I could wait until I could afford it. I took her at her word.
We were poor, no shoes, dirt floor corncob poor. She bought my school shoes 3 sizes too big in January and stuffed the toes with newspapers and if I was lucky (not often) then the following year I could wear them without cutting the toes off. The shoes were only for school and came off whenever I got home from school. Uphill both ways in six feet of snow, Boo-Hoo.
You get the picture. I joined the Royal Navy at 14 (lied about my age) and sent the money home to feed my sisters and brother.
So why am I telling you all of this? For sympathy? Hell no! Just background so that you might understand my pathological quest concerning saving money.
Have I ever bought a new motorcycle? Yes, seven of them.
Have I ever bought a new car? Yes, six of them. (All Jeeps!)
Have I ever bought a house? Yes, three of them.
Have I ever borrowed money from anyone or from a bank? No, never.
Have I ever been stung by a scorpion? Yes, but not whilst driving.
Bitten by a rattler? Ditto last answer.
Stoned? Never. Drunk? The 5th. One eye? Nope.
Do I have a valid driver's licence? Always.
Do I have insurance? Only Liability for over 50 years.
That last one convinces people that I am insane. Why? My risk aversion is low.
Why do you care? My liability will cover you if I am ever stung, bitten, drunk and stoned.
How much money have I saved? More than enough to buy another brand new Demon powered Gladiator.
Do I drive super, super, super slow and carefully?
I raced Superbike on the European F1 circuits in the 80's and 90's.
I have driven at over 200 MPH on the Autobahns and had my Gladiator up to 147 MPH.
Don't worry, I've never had an accident and I probably never will now that I have one foot in the grave and one foot on a banana peel.
Am I insane? Probably.
It all depends on how risk averse you are willing to be.

 

[High Alextude]

At the end of the day, who’s scamming who? ?

 

[Teqsand]

nice big fancy words. You clearly have zero clue who I am or what my preferences are. Also, politics dont belong on this forum. Be careful to not get yourself in trouble

Might have been a pertinent retort had my comment been about YOU, clearly it wasn't.... and sorry, but politics whether we like it or not has a DIRECT AFFECT on our vehicles

 

[ShadowsPapa]

The company can pretty accurately predict the probability of you having a loss and the cost of parts

Actuaries, and the actuarial tables. Yes, there's a science to it.

 

[gunsnrods]

Sorry to interrupt, insurance varies wildly by state. I just moved from Geicio to State Farm this Spring. 2022 Glad, 2018 Toy, and a moped. My insurance here in Idaho is 1/2 of what I paid in Michigan in 2019.
I buy high limits, reasonable deductibles, tossed HO and umbrella into the mix. Credit score, driving record, annual miles driven, accidents, use of vehicle all play apart. Stay away from the various tracking devices that insurance companies are pushing. They are poison.

 

[GladLad]

I work in the insurance industry.

Quick, get someone to sign us all up under a group discount!

Stay away from the various tracking devices that insurance companies are pushing. They are poison.

I was asked about that today. I declined as I'm not one to make rash decisions, but I'm otherwise a good driver and tabled it to look into later. Why don't you like it?

After hanging up, my immediate thought was what will offroading look like on the device.

 

[Hootbro]

Stay away from the various tracking devices that insurance companies are pushing. They are poison.

Agreed. I had a tracker with Progressive to try and get a reduced rate and it was a debacle in practice. Does not account for driving in areas with short cycle stop lights or if somebody cuts you off causing a hard brake event. It got me nothing after six months of use.

As to insurance, I had Nationwide for close to 25+ years with no claims and eventually just felt that my loyalty gave me nothing in return to them in reduced rates. Started to shop around and went Progressive for a couple of years and now currently with Liberty Mutual. Found that one just needs to shop around and compare every few years as there is no loyalty benefit to sticking with any major Tier 1 insurance carrier anymore.

 

[gunsnrods]

The tracking devices are poison. Previous poster correct, hard stop in traffic or avoiding a nut pulling out in front of you can be construed as aggressive driving. A dog belongs on a leash except in wide open spaces or tracking a game bird. I do not.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

The tracking devices are poison. Previous poster correct, hard stop in traffic or avoiding a nut pulling out in front of you can be construed as aggressive driving. A dog belongs on a leash except in wide open spaces or tracking a game bird. I do not.

I hear ya and here's something to back your thinking - real story, I know the guy and the exact place it happened:
East 14th in Des Moines. Heavy traffic, especially commute times. It's a mix of residential, business and more with some areas open where you can get to the speed limit and others not so much.
Friend was driving south on E14th headed to the south side, in a semi-residential area on the north part of that street. Idiots still back out of their driveways onto that busy 4 lane. Traffic moving the speed limit and some moron zips backwards out of his driveway onto the street and friend had to do a fast swerve to avoid hitting that clown.
Police 2 or 3 cars back sees the maneuver and pulls him over and tickets him - reckless driving. So that was on his record as he wasn't able to PROVE what happened. IMO the moron backing onto that street should have been the one charged.
You know what those trackers would have recorded...........
And here sometimes to need to do some maneuver to avoid hitting a big dog, or deer (DNR says never swerve or brake to avoid hitting a deer but if you have full awareness and are alert, sometimes it's the better option). And yeah, we have clowns skipping stop signs to get ahead of you onto the rural roads and highways - you are the only vehicle in sight for a good quarter mile but they have just got to be ahead of you instead of waiting 10 seconds for you to pass - so you have to hit the brakes.

 

[Grumpy_Guy]

Agreed. I had a tracker with Progressive to try and get a reduced rate and it was a debacle in practice. Does not account for driving in areas with short cycle stop lights or if somebody cuts you off causing a hard brake event. It got me nothing after six months of use.

As to insurance, I had Nationwide for close to 25+ years with no claims and eventually just felt that my loyalty gave me nothing in return to them in reduced rates. Started to shop around and went Progressive for a couple of years and now currently with Liberty Mutual. Found that one just needs to shop around and compare every few years as there is no loyalty benefit to sticking with any major Tier 1 insurance carrier anymore.

 

[Grumpy_Guy]

There is a new road I use frequently.
Initially it appeared on my Car Play GPS.
I updated my Garmin to include it.
The Garmin displays the speed limit as 39 mph, the posted speed limit is 40mph.
I can just imagine what the tracking device would provide an insurance complany. I’d bet it would continually identify me as doing 10 mph over the limit and adjust my driving habit trend as constantly exceeding the speed limit by 10 mph!
I doubt that would lower my cost of insurance!

 

[Grumpy_Guy]

There is a new road I use frequently.
Initially it appeared on my Car Play GPS.
I updated my Garmin to include it.
The Garmin displays the speed limit as 30 mph, the posted speed limit is 40mph.
I can just imagine what the tracking device would provide an insurance complany. I’d bet it would continually identify me as doing 10 mph over the limit and adjust my driving habit trend as constantly exceeding the speed limit by 10 mph!
I doubt that would lower my cost of insurance!

 

[ShadowsPapa]

There is a new road I use frequently.
Initially it appeared on my Car Play GPS.
I updated my Garmin to include it.
The Garmin displays the speed limit as 39 mph, the posted speed limit is 40mph.
I can just imagine what the tracking device would provide an insurance complany. I’d bet it would continually identify me as doing 10 mph over the limit and adjust my driving habit trend as constantly exceeding the speed limit by 10 mph!
I doubt that would lower my cost of insurance!

So you drive 48 instead of 50. No biggy.

I recall during discovery when I and my insurance company were suing the kid that pulled out in front of me on a rainy day and caused a major accident. Their attorney was sure trying to trip me up - kept asking if I knew what the speed limit was and where it started. Yup, its 45. Where are the speed limit signs. Blew him away when I told him almost exactly where each sign was, where the no passing zone started and ended, that one of the speed limit signs was just on the south side of a certain driveway and more. I could have drawn him a map of the area with the location of each sign and what they said. I knew how fast I was going, what gear I was ink even the music playing on the radio. He finally stopped asking me questions. Hey, I can't help it - I drove that danged street 6 days a week for months in all kinds of weather, knew the traffic patterns and so on. They lost.

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