so I am posting it here where the most people will read it and hopefully pass it on. I don't yet know what can be done about it but I intend to spend a lot of time, energy and money to resolve this problem for seniors. I know that are a lot of seniors in this forum.
Here is my story.
Today I received the insurance renew premium for my motorhome from GMAC Insurance, I believ that is totally owned by General Motors.
I moved my insurance to them a few years ago when I learned that State Farm covers my Motohome as a large car and not a Motorhome.
After about 4 years with GMAC they decided that this year I should pay them 471.00 every six months instead of the 409.00 I have been paying, even though the motorhome is now 3 years old and has 9000 miles on it and should be less premium, due to its depreciated value.
I immediately phoned them and asked why they would do this as I have never had a claim, accident or ticket in the last 30 or 40 years. I have the lowest rate in the books from State Farm for my other three vehicles.
This is what you need to know about age discrimination and insurance companies.
You are now charged according to your age. They told me that I was being surchaged because my wife turned 65 last month. Can you believe this. My wife doesn't drive the motorhome and is not a principal driver and she cannot be removed from the policy, because she lives in the same household that I do. I told them she has never driven this motorhome and probably never would unless it was an emergency, even though she has been trained to drive it.
They refused to make any adjustments unless I get a divorce and send them a copy of the final degree
I discussed this with some neighbors and two of them told me that their companies had surchaged them for 3 years because due to the law of averages they were within three years of having a major costly accident. One did not and after three years they dropped her rate back to what she had been paying before. The other one did and her rate will stay surcharged for ever. These are both senior women in their 50's The will next be surcharged when they turn 65.
I asked about myself and they told me I am already being surcharged as I was over 65 when I wrote this policy with them. I won't be surcharged again until I hit 80 in 4 more years.
I discussed this with my wife who is a Commercial lines (business) Insurance broker and she said that unfortunately yes they can do that as it is not illegal or discrimination at this time.
So............maybe we need to make it illegal and age discrimination because you are all going to have to deal with it.
Let me hear from you about your feelings on this big rip off we are all going to be subject to. I will return from vacation in 10 days and will be writing lots of letters, making phone calls and talking to some legal talent, as well as our state insurance commissioner.
Best to all and thanks for listening.
Thanks to Nigel if you would please leave this thread up here for replies.
Bebop

If I remember my history insurance was started out to be a way to spread risk but has now become a way to make a quick buck.

I sometimes feel that my life is controlled by them as they put more and more restrictions on me and people who serve me because of the fear of claims.

Cousin Ken

bebop,
i understand your frustration. but at least you have an insurance. in my country unfortunately most of the seniors not only have no insurance, but thay have to live with about 25 US dolars a month, their money is totally gone in three days for living costs and then they live dont ask me how.
you're still doing good. maybe is not quite on topic, but i think is about seeing a full or empty half a glass. being able to take a vacation for instance is something my seniors would never even dream of.

Age discrimination has been going on for years in the insurance business. We have seen this in how teen drivers pay through the nose for their policy. It is really all about propensity studies or a matrix on age related accidents. It seems unfair to be sure, no one wants to be categorized as a higher risk than someone else. However, insurance companies are in it for the money.

I certainly don't have any intent to offend. I hate paying the myriad insurance premiums that I pay.

Regards,

Dennis L. Almond
aka...TwoNuts

With all due respect, those surcharges are probably justified (and are probably legally required to be by the State insurance commission) by actuarial tables. We have to accept the fact that as we age, our reflexes, vision, hearing, physical strength, memory, etc., start to diminish, making us more prone to accidents. We're probably lucky that at some specified age, we don't have to surrender our licenses and give up our driving privileges. Luckier still that in most states we don't have to be periodically re-tested (and we probably should be). We shouldn't hang on until the 'kids' have to take away our car keys.

Although I sympathize, we should probably be turning our attention to areas where TRUE age discrimination is less justified.

Just one old codgers (me) reality check. Flame me if you must. It's just my opinion.

chas

The State of Pa. has taken away my mother's license, because at 85, and a recent accident, she's now considered too much of a safety risk.

The insurance company also dropped my father, because he too is considered 'high risk' However he was able to find a company that will insure him, at a high cost, for 6 months at a time. He too is close to losing his drivers license.

Fair? Perhaps. Because of safety reason, it's probably justified. The younger you are, the more insurance you pay. And now with people living and driving longer and longer, the older you are, the more you'll pay for insurance.

However in Bebop's case, he's not a risk. I know he's not that old I know he's been driving that big ol RV for quite some time without any claims. In fact he has an excellent record. Therefore, I do not think this rate increase is justified, and if I know Bebop, he'll not stand for it.

Good Luck

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Larry
SynthZone Map

Life is not fair. Insurance is even more unfair. But as I've said before, we here on the SZ are a special bunch of people. We have talent, smarts and - in most cases - enough money to enjoy ourselves and our lives. Unfortunately, the high cost of insurance is one of the prices we (gladly ???) pay to live the lives we lead.

I have not reached that age plateau yet, but I know that senior living is not as exotic as it seems. Unfortunately, we seem to charge the seniors for things that the wage earners could and should more easily shoulder. I used to pay $2 for a 30-day prescription of Vytorin, now that I'm retired it's $39. Who can afford it more?

Auto insurance is outrageous. Pay, pay pay and if you get a ticket or have a fender bender your rates skyrocket even higher for 3-5 years. Have another incident and good luck renewing your policy at all.

Unfortunately, the insurance companies have the upper hand--mainly because the state insurance commissions are primarily run by retired insurance company executives and CEOs. They also have a huge lobby at both the state and federal level, which pretty much allows them to do anything they wish.

Age descrimination--you betcha! It exists everywhere. While some businesses will give seniors a 10% discount to get our business, this is not the case with insurance companies. They damned well know that by law we cannot drive our motor vehicles without first obtaining insurance. Consequently, they can establish bullsh** sur-charges, most of which are based upon figures they generate to justify those increases in premium.

In reality, despite our constantly failing body parts, seniors, in most cases, are better drivers than teens and adolescent adults. They tend to drive a bit slow, they're more cautious and they drive far less than those who still must make a daily commute to work and home. They usually do not drive drunk, they tend to be far more curtious and when road conditions are marginal, they'll more than likely not go on the road at all. Granted, we all see stories about the 95-year-old that drove through a store window, or hit a half-dozen people at a bus stop. However, these instances are extremely rare, so rare in fact, that the news media jumps on it as if someone just landed on Mars. What we do not see is the millions of uninsured drivers that get into accidents every day. We don't seem to hear much about the illegal aliens that make up a huge number of the uninsured that drive illegally throughout the nation.

IMO, if I were an insurance company, I would do anything to attract the business of senior citizens--including provide them with lower rates. Unfortunately, greed does strange things to people, and insurance companies seem to be run by greedy people.

Gary

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Travlin' Easy

[This message has been edited by travlin'easy (edited 02-15-2008).]

Bebop, saw my father-in-law's insurance rate skyrocket at the age of 80, ands his agent was a relative. Sad that costs increrase when income sometimes decreases.


Russ

thank you my friends for your in depth replies.
My point is and was that I am not happy with my wife a non driver being surcharged because she reached 65. I have long ago accepted that I pay a surcharge for myself, due to my age. That is well and good because I am the driver, even though I have been driving RV's in combined lenght since 1979 with never a claim. We traveled full time, playing concerts all over the country, in a 40 foot 5th wheel RV with a sedan one ton dually pulling it for 5 years. we returned home without a scratch on either unit. I think the point really is that I have paid them preminums for many vehicles in the last 60 years and never drawn against those premiums, so I should now have all the credits I need to contine my coverage without additional cost. To surchage me 124.00 a year because my non driving wife had a birthday?? Time for some changes to be made.
Thanks again to all you that posted thoughtful insightful comments regarding this situation.
Incidently pay back is hell right. What goes around comes around
I have just decided that I will not be buying a new GM car that I have scheduled for this year and instead will buy from another company, even though I have a 2000.00 discount from GM that I will be cancelling.
I think those decisions will offset their decision to screw me over for a lousy 124.00 a year that represents very little to both of us.
I am also posting in RV magazines and forums so everybody knows their rules with more then a 14 day notice
I don't get mad, I get even
Best to all,
Bill