Insurance for the unloved
03-02-2004, 01:03 PM
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Insurance for the unloved
Pardon a semi-lengthy post, looking for advice for a friend:
He's a bright guy but was a bit young and irresponsible, and two and a half years ago he all but totalled a brand new car. Nobody was hurt, he just spun it out into a ditch and it rolled. Insurance covered the damage but the car was in the shop for two months. I know him well and he became an incredibly responsible driver after that.
A few months after that he got a ticket for going "1-4 mph over the limit" on a road where the police routinely give out such tickets. (My sister has gotten two for going maybe 47mph in a 45mph zone.) My friend's kind of shy and not very argumentative, so he just swallowed it but was pissed.
Anyway, he's now the "accelerate slowly to speed limit, put on cruise control, drive in right lane, always use turn signals" sort of driver and a few months ago, around the same time I got the s, he got his dream convertible too. (A Boxster.) One night, late December, he and I were lost in a local township downtown, in the dark, trying to find a restaurant we were supposed to meet friends at for dinner. He was watching traffic and I was being the passenger seat driver ("turn left here... turn right there") and at one point I told him to turn left... right where there was a 'no left turn' sign! He wasn't paying attention, he stopped, gave his turn signal, waited for traffic to clear, then turned, and boom blue lights and, well, another ticket. (I think this was a 'unauthorized turn' 2 points ticket.) He was even more pissed and I felt really responsible, but well...
Anyway it turns out that he didn't fight that one either, b/c he felt it was his mistake, and a few days ago he got a letter from State Farm (his insurance provider for the last 10 years, since he was 16) that he's being dropped. We met for dinner last night and he was really down about it, he's been a phenomenally safe driver for two years now, and he feels let down.
I feel kind of responsible, and wanted to see if I could get some help w/answers to a few questions:
1. Does he have any options to contest the dropping of coverage or is it generally not worth fighting?
2. If he needs to get coverage by 3/17 (when he will be "dropped" by SF) what are good recommendations? Where should he start and what should he expect?
3. Any ultra-courteous drivers here who seem to get some bad breaks? Another guy I know is the worst driver I've ever seen, constantly tailgating, cutting people off, road raging, racing, speeding... and he's never gotten a ticket. Other people like the one I'm talking about actually follow the rules about car lengths, etc., when driving, and this sort of thing happens. I think I'm about as pissed off as he is; it just seems to darn inequitable.
Anyway, any thoughts would be appreciated.
He's a bright guy but was a bit young and irresponsible, and two and a half years ago he all but totalled a brand new car. Nobody was hurt, he just spun it out into a ditch and it rolled. Insurance covered the damage but the car was in the shop for two months. I know him well and he became an incredibly responsible driver after that.
A few months after that he got a ticket for going "1-4 mph over the limit" on a road where the police routinely give out such tickets. (My sister has gotten two for going maybe 47mph in a 45mph zone.) My friend's kind of shy and not very argumentative, so he just swallowed it but was pissed.
Anyway, he's now the "accelerate slowly to speed limit, put on cruise control, drive in right lane, always use turn signals" sort of driver and a few months ago, around the same time I got the s, he got his dream convertible too. (A Boxster.) One night, late December, he and I were lost in a local township downtown, in the dark, trying to find a restaurant we were supposed to meet friends at for dinner. He was watching traffic and I was being the passenger seat driver ("turn left here... turn right there") and at one point I told him to turn left... right where there was a 'no left turn' sign! He wasn't paying attention, he stopped, gave his turn signal, waited for traffic to clear, then turned, and boom blue lights and, well, another ticket. (I think this was a 'unauthorized turn' 2 points ticket.) He was even more pissed and I felt really responsible, but well...
Anyway it turns out that he didn't fight that one either, b/c he felt it was his mistake, and a few days ago he got a letter from State Farm (his insurance provider for the last 10 years, since he was 16) that he's being dropped. We met for dinner last night and he was really down about it, he's been a phenomenally safe driver for two years now, and he feels let down.
I feel kind of responsible, and wanted to see if I could get some help w/answers to a few questions:
1. Does he have any options to contest the dropping of coverage or is it generally not worth fighting?
2. If he needs to get coverage by 3/17 (when he will be "dropped" by SF) what are good recommendations? Where should he start and what should he expect?
3. Any ultra-courteous drivers here who seem to get some bad breaks? Another guy I know is the worst driver I've ever seen, constantly tailgating, cutting people off, road raging, racing, speeding... and he's never gotten a ticket. Other people like the one I'm talking about actually follow the rules about car lengths, etc., when driving, and this sort of thing happens. I think I'm about as pissed off as he is; it just seems to darn inequitable.
Anyway, any thoughts would be appreciated.
03-02-2004, 01:15 PM
#2
Hmmm...I"ve seen some threads with similar questions. Let me try to find them and give you a link.
The biggest problem here will be his age. He's in the highest risk driving group without having had the accident/tickets. Even if he gets insured, it's going to cost a fortune I'm afraid.
The biggest problem here will be his age. He's in the highest risk driving group without having had the accident/tickets. Even if he gets insured, it's going to cost a fortune I'm afraid.
03-02-2004, 01:26 PM
#3
OK...here's a link that may help. You may want to PM some of these people to find out how they got insured after getting tickets, etc.
http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.p...threadid=184165
This one is even better. About insurance issues for guys in their 20s:
http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.p...light=insurance
Anyway, I just did an advanced search for "insurance" in S2000 Talk - you can probably find some more if you want. Good luck!
http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.p...threadid=184165
This one is even better. About insurance issues for guys in their 20s:
http://forums.s2ki.com/forums/showthread.p...light=insurance
Anyway, I just did an advanced search for "insurance" in S2000 Talk - you can probably find some more if you want. Good luck!
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