stolen catalytic converter & aftermarket replacement through insurance- some takeaways

So, she's charging you for the stealership rip off. Unreal!

 

No, after I removed the shield and it solved the new noise problem I didn't charge her for the cat shield or the hour of installation... That parts on me... And I still have the shield so I can use it on my car or someone else's. So technically I lost an hour and some rivets... But it's the first time I've had things go wrong in 3 years of helping people and at least 4 hours total admin time, but it's just a hobby/side hustle so I'm actually blessed. Just a really bad day today, that's all.

 

I'm so sorry to hear that! Rent is going out of control, especially in your area. It's getting scary here too in Colorado. I don't get how rent can a lot of times be more than half the median wage. In other words half the population is somehow supposed to pay over half of their income on rent?! Not to mention nothing is available. As soon as one apartment gets on the market it's already got a long wait list and is occupied immediately.

I know people here who have moved into camping trailers. And that's pretty hard to do with winters that get well below 0⁰F, sometimes as cold as -40⁰F.

 

Insurance companies are not all equal. I've heard a lot of stories about Allstate dumping people after paying a claim. I have State Farm, and they have never dumped me after a claim (I've not had many claims), and have been happy with them for 30 years. YMMV

 

Friends who work in the industry tell me that all state goes out of their way to avoid paying claims to insured

 

If there's a company that doesn't avoid paying claims it likely will cost more than other companies.

 

The original PURPOSE for insurance used to be to provide coverage for an unaffordable loss.
Now people think that it’s somehow wise to file a claim for a $50 windshield repair.

If you have a 15 year old car and somebody does $2000 worth of damage to it then....yes!
In some cases the insurance company should have a right to total the car - especially if there’s a significant chance that the damage will occur again.....and again.

When I lived in the Carolinas, people thought it was their GOD given right to live in a shabby, single family detached dwelling 500 feet from the surf.....and you know what?

It is.

HOWEVER (comma!) while the US government MIGHT be stupid enough to pay for a new house for people who live next to a river more than once (or twice....or...15 times) insurance companies are smarter than that.
THEY will pay ONCE...and then they will exercise their right to either not pay multiple claims for the same loss OR they will adjust their rates accordingly. Insurance companies UNLIKE the government pretty much have to operate at a profit, and because they are evil capitalists they have to be MONITORED by dot.gov too.....which is why they are regulated by politicians who get donations from......
This is why it is getting harder and harder to find single family dwellings close to a shoreline in some places.

FOR THE SAME REASON it might be a little cheaper to insure a 60 year old driver with an 800 credit score, driving a Corolla in a zip code that doesn’t start with a 9 than it would be to insure a 17 year old driving a Corvette Z-06 in LA who already has 6 speeding tickets.

Don’t like it?
Neither did some Army ossifers about 100 years ago.
That’s why they pooled their money and started a little side hustle that went on to become USAA.


Me?

I HAVE USAA, and a $1,000 deductible.

Why?
Because they don’t offer a $2,000 deductible.

 

Too many individuals see an insurance claim as a Godsend,

I've heard too many of the same brag on how they padded an insurance claim by adding the loss of a thousand dollar pool cover they didn't have that they claim blew away in a hurricane, so they can get a new one.

Another one claimed hail damage to his porch rails and garage a dinged garage door that was superficial and hardly discernible. He then a few years later made a second hail damage for new gutter and gutter guards.

I have Allstate, and have had them for years. When my roof was damaged, the claims adjuster came out and asked me about a shed that I didn't own, small marks on my rain gutters and AC condensers. I told them that the shed did not belong to me and the damage to the rain gutters was hardly visible. The old AC condensers were faded and rusted and will likely be replaced in a year or two.

For my honesty, the claims adjuster waived the $500 deductible. I got a completely new replacement for a 15 year old nearly worn out roof that the settlement fully paid for with upgraded architectural shingles.

One wonders why insurance rates go up and why claims adjusters are so skeptical with some claimants.

 

USAA was great back in early 2000's... Very honest operation run as a nonprofit and my premium was less than $20 a month. But those days are over and I need to get away from these folks that never do what they say. Any suggestions for minimum legally required insurance coverage in Washington State?

 

A few years back, we had a severe hail storm. A lot of damaged roofs, siding, cars, etc. I asked my insurance company to have a look at our roof, and the inspector said we needed new shingles as well as new siding all the way around the house. I was surprised, and asked why we needed new siding, since there were only a few places that had obvious dents. He explained that when it came time to sell the house, those dents would reduce the value of the house. I told him I'd get the new shingles and didn't care about the siding. He was shocked. I wound up talking with two people from the company who wanted to be certain that I didn't want money for new siding. Nope. I didn't want the money nor all the waste for a few dents.

I understand that sometimes people choose to take the money -- like my daughter did when her car looked like it had been worked over by a ball peen hammer after the storm. Of course it reduced the resale value of the car and looks ugly. But the hail did not damage the functionality of the car. She needed the money and didn't need a perfect looking car -- which someday might get another beating in another storm.

My Prius received a rather ugly gash in a door from a rock thrown by the wheels of a truck. (I have a Dashcam, and showed the video clip of the rock flying at me to my insurance agent. He was impressed, but said he didn't need it at all to process my claim.) They fixed the door so it looks new. Comprehensive with no deductible.

I've also had several (yes, several) windshields replaced on another car when they got broken by rocks while driving, and once when it cracked just by driving the car to a shopping center on a very cold day (from our semi-warm garage). Again, no questions asked, comprehensive, no deductible.

Insurance companies probably figure out pretty fast who is honest and who is not.

 

The last time I hit a deer I just did the work myself even though I have full coverage on the Avalon. To me, it was cheaper than the deductible.

I've never heard of a $50 windshield repair. For a rock chip that hasn't even cracked I was quoted $100 years ago as the base price. I bet it's more now since things keep going up. (e.g. It used to be $50 to have tires mounted and balanced, now it's $130.) Because of windshield replacement prices I usually replace mine by myself, or even repair it myself by drilling out the rock chip with a diamond drill and then filling it back in with an epoxy.

But back on topic, if insurance should and will only help out once, then people who have things happen to them several times have two options, to just keep forking out the money themselves or give up.

Like the guy who put on a cat shield and still got his catalytic converter stolen 3 times. Insurance stopped helping. Should he keep forking over the money for new OEM catalytic converters that end up going to thieves for free and for catalytic converter theft prevention devices that are no longer enough to thwart the thieves or should he give up and forget owning a car?

It seems like everyone else's solution is "just move away." As if leaving your job and place you grew up in and where all your friends and family is is the best idea just because crime has risen in your area. Maybe it is. If you can't beat the thieves and the police and insurance won't help, then maybe it's time to give up and move.

The other option is to just stop owning a car all together. I've often contemplated what not owning a car would be like. Good thing there aren't many catalytic converter thefts where I live because there's hardly any public transportation. No taxis, hardly any buses. I don't even think I could get a ride on Über if I tried. There is a bus that runs to the ski area, but that's about it. You can't use it to go to the grocery store. And nearby we have a state record of -60°F to give an idea of what winter is like here. It's been snowing a little every night this past week. But if my ancestors lived here without any vehicles I guess there's no reason I couldn't if push comes to shove. I'm not sure if the wife and kids would be on board with that idea though.

 

There are nearly 8 billion people on this itty-bitty, insignificant rock.
We are all much more similar than most people realize, and yet we're each still unique.

There are a LOT more options for car cat theft than just those that we discussed in this thread or in this forum.
Same for high crime, or lots of other things.

Me?
I live in a very low crime area BUT many of the 18 million people who live in just a few coastal counties on the left coast would rather sell both kidneys than live in the deep South.

ONE specific problem (Prius Cat theft) can have multiple solutions and these MAY include:
Deterrents (Tilt alarm, Cat shield, Doberman, Colt Combat Commander)
Mitigations (change government, aftermarket cat AND cat shield, change car, change zip code, recall governor)

If you're reading this and you really do not know what to do, I really do not know what to tell you!
...well I WILL say that it's a LOT harder to recall a governor than it is to ELECT one.
They use a MUCH different method for vote counting and verification for each.


I've said before that insurance companies are not going to keep paying out $1500 claims on $3,000 cars....and there's only a limited number of times that they will do so for $30,000 cars.
Same thing goes for houses in hurricane country or river flood zones.
Same thing goes for stores that keep getting vandalized in high crime areas.

THAT part of it is pretty simple.
I would not wake up and go to work if I didn't get paid to do so.
I DID get up and go to work this morning even though I could get paid $2400 a month NOT to do so....but that's a different problem for a different thread.

Insurance companies are NOT going to keep making stupid commercials featuring lizards and middle-aged women if they start losing money because geriatric Priuses keep getting decatenated in places where they can only be "legally" repaired by replacing them with new, $1400 OEM unit (or "used" $250 replacement )

Me?
If somebody cuts the cats out of one of my vehicles then it will be about a $200 event.
I have a $1000 deductible, so the math is easy, even for a person living in the deep South.
If it happens AGAIN I will replace them again but I'm also going to CHANGE something.
My $200 repair bill will inform that change.
I have 2 spare cars....several places to park, close neighbors, I already have multiple cameras, a working knowledge of electronics, access to chemical, acoustic, electrical, and "other" deterrents.....so I'm thinking that I am NOT going to change cars, houses, sleep under my car at night, or start pop-riveting people onto my front lawn.

All of this is VERY unlikely to happen for the same reasons that it IS NOT happening locally.
Cat crimes HERE are HIGH RISK, low return ventures.
Thieves, like insurance companies, or as some would say INCLUDING insurance companies, are not going to get up and go to work if they don't get paid for it.

 

Then, there are those who leave their car running with their kid in the back seat while they go into the convenience store to pick up cigarettes.

They raise the premium for all of us when their car is hijacked or stolen.

 

So do people who leave their cars parked out in front of their houses unattended in high crime areas.

It's easy to cast dispersions on people who engage in activity that many can agree is unwise - or even amoral.....but insurance companies do not discriminate between the offensive, smoky, red-stater and the nice, educated, folks who are forced to park outside because they're sub-letting their garage....or cannot afford one.
Insurance companies don't care.
They charge higher rates for more expensive cars.
They charge higher rates for people who are poor drivers.
They charge higher rates for people who get lots of speeding tickets.
They charge higher rates for people who are unlucky.

They charge higher rates for people who LIVE where OTHER people are poor drivers....drive more expensive cars....get lots of speeding tickets....or are just plain unlucky.....which is why they always want to know things like.....WHERE you live.


They charge US higher rates because they want to operate at a profit....and NO.
.....it's not "fair."
If you want "fair" then nationalize the insurance industry.

BUT(!!)
Don't fool yourself into thinking that this will make it more efficient, more innovative, or less expensive.

Real-World Example (just in time for Earth Day!!!)

Space-X
NASA

 

Nationalize the insurance company? That's leftist socialism. In the South?

 

It's a solution.

I NEVER said it was a GOOD solution!

 

Up here we have Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, loosely connected to the BC provincial government. They’re pretty much THE insurer; others can offer collision/comprehensive, but AFAIK its ICBC only for the basic liability insurance. And for the vast majority it’s one stop shopping; they do their full insurance package through ICBC.

All said they’re pretty fair, and the claim process is VERY streamlined: one phone call interview with ICBC, then off to your preferred accredited body shop. They do the assessment and handle all further interactions with ICBC. You cut the body shop a cheque for the deductible, and you’re done.

 

So pretty much every man for himself? No point in having a justice system or insurance companies? If I get robbed, kidnapped or murdered it's my fault and problem for not carrying around a concealed weapon or knowing karate?

 

Sounds like Syria, Afghanistan or Somalia. Or even the King Soopers Market in Colorado.

 

That's not even CLOSE to what I said or....even close to what I meant.

The example I used to use when I lived in SC is:
How many times do we, as taxpayers, want to pay flood insurance claims for people that live in their ancestral homes.....100 feet from the surf zone?
How many hurricanes will it take before states and/or insurance companies start deciding not to rebuild their houses?
1?
10?
If insurance companies are forced to treat everybody equal under the law, then that means that everybody is covered equally - right?
$1200 every six months for basic liability - regardless of how many tickets you get
....or accidents....only it MIGHT not be $1200 when all is said and done because....hey....equality=equity - right?
Same for comp and collision - right?
Why do I have to pay more for comp and collision for my 2020 GMC than somebody with a $500 Pontiac Grand Am?


This isn't even an equality versus equity question.
Insurance companies are state regulated PRIVATE companies.
I'm a full-throated proponent of the concept of public accommodation, BUT(!!) They either HAVE to assess financial exposure individually or collectively.
Collectively just doesn't sound like it will work out all that well, but that's me being me again.

AND....that's INSURANCE.
I will not address the crime aspect because it's even MORE complicated.

I live in a VERY low crime area but I still have many security cameras, privacy fencing, enhanced locks, close neighbors...etc.
I do this NOT because I fear being robbed or kidnapped, but rather because I want to be a harder target so that nobody is tempted to to rob me. I'm actually biologically and economically protected from being kidnapped.