Everything About Business Except The Bottom Line: FunnyBusiness

Filing an insurance claim can be risky business

"I'd found this flyer in a women's magazine in South Africa. It details the benefits of women-specific insurance, such as road-side assistance, and accidental HIV exposure medication. I thought, "Why is HIV medicine part of car insurance?" It was explained that carjacking and rape isn't all that uncommon. Yikes," wrote Flickr  member Squishy underneath this photo.

If Squishy  lived  in the U.S. and opted to purchase that road side assistance it could end up being one of the very expensive decisions she ever made. On the surface adding this to your insurance is a money saver. Insurance companies just charge about $10 a year for the add-on. Auto clubs like AAA can charge anywhere from $50-$100 a year.

While any financial adviser will tell you that living without insurance is very risky business, any one who has wanted to file a claim for a small item knows that insurance agencies keep track of  the number of claims you file in any given year. Their advice: If it's under $2,000, pay it out of your pocket.

Depending on the firm, it's three strikes and you are out. As Diana Ransom writes in this free area of the WSJ by calling for a tow or jump-start through your insurer, you run the risk of increasing your insurance premiums and possibly lowering your eligibility for future coverage.

"...many auto insurers -- including giants State Farm and Allstate -- typically treat these calls as claims, which the insurers may report to data-collection companies and which get used to determine premiums and decide whether or not to cover new applicants.

"We take all claims into account when we are trying to measure the cost of making a promise," says State Farm spokesman Dick Luedke. But he and an Allstate spokesman say their companies don't weigh roadside-assistance claims as heavily as accident claims.

How bad can it get? At The Newspaper.com, a website devoted to the "politics of driving" reports that insurance companies are raising the rates for people who lock their keys in their  cars or file claims under their road side assistance benefit.

Several insurance companies, for example, refused to cover Andrea Davis, 31, after she had two flat tires and locked her keys inside her 1999 Isuzu Rodeo. Davis learned her old insurance company, Geico, had reported her three claims to CLUE. Davis paid Geico $12 a year for roadside assistance, but the company never disclosed that using flat tire assistance would raise rates.

Chances are those companies checked out Ms.Davis in a little known database called  CLUE.

"The CLUE report and the insurance scoring system are tools insurers use to decide your risk profile, that is, how likely you are to file a claim against your policy. Insurers feed information about paid claims - perhaps even your inquiries about coverage that do not result in a claim - into a national database for use by insurers. Information included in the database, along with your insurance score, makes up your risk profile. Insurers use the profile to decide whether you get new insurance. At renewal time, your current insurer will probably review your claims history as well as your current insurance score to set your premiums - even to decide if you get to keep the insurance you have. When you shop for new insurance, the company may order a CLUE report. If information is inaccurate, you can be left without insurance while you work to correct the errors."

It's not just auto insurance of course. The same theory applies to homeowners insurance and of course if you pay that $5.95extra  each month to insure your mobile phone.

Beware. These policies really only allow one claim a year. Once you file two claims in a 12 month period, your insurance  on that phone number is suspended for 12 months.

What does that mean? Well, let's say you file two claims on a regular phone,  Your  insurance will be suspended for that phone number for 12 months. If you buy a new phone...let's say you want to upgrade to a smart-phone that costs $400, you will not be able to get insurance on that phone.

If you think you can add the insurance on the new  expensive model once your 12 months of suspension is lifted, think again.  You can only put insurance on a phone with 15 days of the sale. Gotcha.

Hat Tip to FAST COMPANY Blog"Guess Mom was right.Nothing is as good as it seems."

An Invitation to Join the Resistance

The year was 1972 or 1971( it is a blur) In Columbia, MO there was a "Gas War" where for a brief time--maybe it was just the afternoon--gas prices dropped below 20 cents a gallon.

That was the first time I remember being excited when the price of gas dropped.

On that day, I filled up my Dodge Dart for about what I now pay for 1 gallon of gas.

Like many people, I received an email yesterday suggesting there was a way to protest the price of gas without sacrificing. While my friend Charles sent me the email, there are many bloggers who are sharing that same message in their blogs --for whatever reason-- a lot of them seem be members of my space.

In case you didn't receive the email, here is a portion from  Kimber-Lily's blog at my space.
Here's the idea: For the rest of this year, DON'T
purchase ANY gasoline from the two biggest companies
(which now are one), EXXON and MOBIL. If they are not
selling any gas, they will be inclined to reduce their
prices. If they reduce their prices, the other
companies will have to follow suit. But to have an
impact, we need to reach literally millions of Exxon
and Mobil gas buyers. It's really simple to do! Now,
don't wimp
out on me at this point...keep reading and
I'll explain how simple it is to reach millions of
people!!

I am sending this note to 30 people. If each of us
send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) ... and
those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 =
3,000)...and so on, by the time the message reaches
the sixth group of people, we will have reached over
THREE MILLION consumers.

If those three million get excited and pass this on to
ten friends each, then 30 million people will have
been contacted! If it goes one level further, you
guessed it..... THREE HUNDRED MILLION PEOPLE!!!

The invitation to join the Resistance Movement comes on the heels of Friday's announcement that the former CEO of EXXON is getting a $400 retirement package. Most of the posts on this particular subject seem to be direct lifts from the New York Times article or from a post that ABC News had on its web site.
What I didn't find is a lot of commentary about this from women bloggers. Yes, I found women bloggers who did a copy and paste of the news article and said it was outrageous, but so far I haven't seen any analysis.

I would like to see the analysis.
Does his compensation matter as we watch gas prices jump over the $3.00 mark?
Are people mad enough to try to "boycott Exxon and Mobile" strategy for the rest of the year? If people did that, would it make a difference or is the email just someone's idea of how to get his message out to 300 million people?

Are people mad enough that they are ready to conserve gas using other methods?

Are we seeing an increase in Mass Transit and our Mass Transit systems going to try to lure new riders?

If mass transit isn't an option, then what about carpooling? Are we seeing an increase in interest there? In doing this research I found a blog/community site called Pooln The blog itself is out-of-date but the site describes itself as
"..a national community for folks who are interested in carpooling. We're trying a community/social-network approach to carpooling here. Join the experiment! Register with us — it's free!"

Are people not writing about this because as much as we don't like paying more for gasoline, it still doesn't hurt enough to make us stop going to the fillin' station?

Image credit: Flickr image byjdardin

Tags: gas prices, carpooling, consumerism, business, mass transit, executive compensation

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Notes From The Road - The Border

After staring at the bumper of the car in front of us for about 20 minutes while crawling our way to have US Customs inspect our passports and ask us why we were visiting Canada ,my daughter  Berit asked, "How much do you save on your car lease if you agree to have the dealership's name on your car?"

When I explained to her that there isn't a reduction in price, she asked what only a rationale person would ask, "Then why do they do it?"

Good question. Why do people willing allow their cars to become  24/7 mobile billboards for a car dealership? I have no idea. I also had no idea just how many people feel compelled to use their cars to share a personal brand message.

If you live in New Jersey, you can't do it --at least that's the word from Wikipedia which says New Jersey bans license plate frames--do the legislators have some evidence that license plate frames increase fender benders? I find that hard to believe.

As far as advertising mediums go, the license plate frame seems a rather benign and ineffective method for getting a message out. Who reads this stuff?  And if they do read it ,who remembers them?

On Saturday evening, Berit and I did read these plate frames  for about 30 minutes on Interstate 5. Much to my surprise, over 50% of the cars had license plate frames..I was astounded.  While the majority of them were the traditional auto dealerships ---Honda of Kirkland (with their website address ) , South Center Acura of Seattle, and Downtown Toyota. there were some cars that opted to use the frames as a personal brand billboard.

In that brief time, we saw cars sporting a variety of messages including:

'The Scuba Diver"

"Heading In The Wrong Direction? God Allows U-Turns"

"No island like Samish Island"

"I'd rather be golfing"

"My other car is an airplane"

Is  it a west coast thing? I drive around Minneapolis every day and if people are sporting these license plate frames, it is completely lost on me.

According to some out- of- date statistics, back in 2001, car promotion products including key chains and license plate frames  were the 1 th best selling promotional products  ---accounting  for 3.4% of the $18 billion promotional product industry.

Which brings me to a more in your face concept--The ID IT! Plates which claims"tens of thousands" have been sold worldwide"

'Forget bumper stickers and other cheap, cheesy decals. Classy I.D. IT! Plates are available in elegant polished chrome or a luxurious gold matte finish and are carefully hand assembled to your text specifications. They mount safely to your vehicle and have been road tested in the frigid Canadian north and in dry desert heat. Your plate can be run through hundreds of car washes and will probably outlast your car! Click here to see who is using I.D. IT! Plates.

And just who has these I.D. IT! Plates? According to the web site tens of thousands have been sold around the world.

"Webmasters - Small Businesses - Manufacturers - Corporations - Auto Dealerships - Political Organizations - Retail Stores - Limousine Services - Real Estate Companies - MLM's - Internet Businesses - Service Businesses - Schools - Universities - Trade Unions -  Associations - Churches - Individuals"

You'd think if tens of thousands of companies have these billboards on their cars that at least one real client would be more than delighted to have her business used in the I.D. IT! promotional materials.Instead, the company uses a pretend company in its promotional material.

Curious isn't  it?

. Tags: Business, advertising, car, license plates

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Name

It's about the health Insurance, stupid

I've been struggling with the case of Ms. Michelle McCusker--the 26 year old pre kindergarten teacher who got herself fired from a Catholic School for sharing that she was pregnant and had not intention of marrying the dad.

For the past week I've tried to decide how I feel about the case. Religious rights vs. job discrimination?

On this one, I really do see both sides. I searched the blogs looking for insight and clarity...for that one post that would bring it home to me. For that post that would resonate so strongly that I could say..YES that is what I believe.

I think I found my answer.  Maybe the issue isn't as fundamental as a religious rights vs women's rights, after-all.

Maybe  it' really about practicality. The girl needs health insurance.--- It's really expensive to have a baby particularly when you are out of work and do not have health insurance.  This concept really resonated since I just got my new health insurance bill... almost $700 a month ...just for me. And, I don't have any major health issues.

I came upon this realization after reading Amy Welbourn's Open Book where she shares a time when she worked at a Catholic School that also fired an unwed pregnant teacher.

"My sense of the situation in my school is that not even the teacher in question herself really took that much issue with the letting go - and she wasn't Catholic - but what stuck in the craw was the diocese's withdrawal of her health insurance. A group of pro-lifers even went to the diocese, in the person of the Chancellor (a religious sister), and argued on the teacher's behalf. No dice. Tough. The situation was finally saved by a local pastor (priest - an old Irishman. They tend to come through.) who worked something out so she could be supported and receive health care.

Irony?

After the baby was born, she was re-hired, and taught at the school for another year. It was all very legalistic and tricky, and besides, other situations had worked themselves out. All of this before she had the good sense to get out of teaching and go into real estate, at which she has been, in the years sense, tremendously successful..."

Of course I have not personally chatted with Ms.McCusker. I do not know her motivations.

But I do understand medical bills and the need to have really good health insurance. So, if her issue is that she needs health insurance to protect the life of this unborn child, then I would be very comfortable supporting her.

And, I hope her former employer does too.

Welcome to St.Paul

Some cities choose to welcome visitors with a sign saying Welcome to New Haven,we’re an All-American city.

St. Paul, Minnesota welcomes visitors who cross their city limits with a police officer standing in the middle of the street pointing a laser gun at motorists.

When asked, officials of the St. Paul police department say their greeting to the “other” city isn’t about increasing the city coffers but rather a deep abiding commitment to safety.

I’m not buying it. Completely.

If it looks like a money making scheme and it acts like a money making scheme then chances are it is a money making scheme. Just how much money St.Paul is earning from this meet, greet and tag policy is not known.

The city, according to the sources I chatted with, doesn’t’ have a database indicating which speed traps racked in the most amount of money.

Instead everything is lumped into one bit category. How convenient.

I just contributed $150 to city of St .Paul coffers. My speeding ticket was actually for $168 but by agreeing not to take it to court and risking a “guilty” verdict, I am avoiding having my insurance company notified of the violation .

As long as I don’t get another speeding ticket in 12 months it will never go on my record. If history is any indication, I won’t get another speeding ticket until 2044. Let’s just say if I’m lucky enough to make it to 2044 the only motorized vehicle I'll be commandeering will most likely be a motorized scooter.

I did hesitate in accepting the city’s generous offer to keep this unpleasantry off my driving record. In many ways, it felt like I was being bought off.By accepting their offer of not telling my insurance company there is now no public record of my complaint against the city’s policy of positioning a speed trap right at the city limit.

Here is how I was ticketed.

Usually to get to St.Paul I just take I-94. But on this particular morning I took the scenic route. For several years the Ford Ave bridge had been under repair. Now there's a beautiful four lane bridge spanning the mighty Mississippi and joining Minneapolis and St.Paul. As I was driving on the new bridge ,which just begs to be ridden at about 40 -45 miles an hour, I saw something in the distance.

I actually sped up a bit so I could see what it was. It was the police officer tagging my speed. He was standing in the middle of the street. The 30 mile an hour speed limit sign was parallel to his position.

Was I speeding? Absolutely.

Was I aware that I was speeding. No.

Was there a posted speed limit sign as I got on the bridge? No.

As I told Sr. Commander Gregory Pye of the St.Paul Police Department I wouldn't have had an issue getting ticketed if the police office had been a block past the speed limit sign.

Pye asked, " You really didn't know the speed limit was 30?"

"How would I know that? There isn't a speed limit posted when you enter the bridge."

Then Officer Pye shared this little factoid which anyone who has ever gotten a speeding ticket knows. If the speed limit isn't posted assume it's 30 MPH.

Senior Commander Pye said that traffic safety is one of the top priorities of the citizens of St.Paul. I applaud that.

And, if I had been barreling down a neighborhood street, I wouldn't have an issue. However, having the policeman in the middle of the street is #1 dangerous. #2 distracting.

If I wasn't so intrigued by what was in the middle of the road, I may have seen the speed limit sign at then end of the bridge and would have slowed down to be in compliance.

My challenge to Senior Commander Pye is this: If the goal is really to get people to pay attention to the speed limit rather than add money to the city's general fund, why not post a speed limit sign at the beginning of the bridge not at the end of it.?

If the city doesn't want to do that, then have the policeman tag people a block after they've had a chance to see the speed limit sign. Make it fair. Tagging people at the city limits before they have even seen a speed limit sign feels slimy.

Senior Commander Pye didn't make any promises but he did say it would take my suggestion under consideration.

The Fixer

It could be semantics. It could be different business practices. Or, it could be greed. This is a look at how different businesses interpret the request to "fix" a problem with a car.

The car in question is my son Noah's 94-dark green Jeep Grand Cherokee with about 150,000 miles on it. For the past year the electrical windows haven't worked.

This required some interesting maneuvering at drive up ATM's, fast food restaurants, and toll booths( we don't really have toll roads  in Minnesota and Wisconsin) but a trip to Chicago would require some interesting contortions to get the money in the "catcher" do-floppy at a toll booth,

But,given that we live in Minnesota and Noah goes to the University of Wisconsin, having a car with windows that didn't roll down wasn't that big of a deal. In the winter we like those windows rolled up.

After driving around this way for almost a year, Noah took the car to our favorite auto repair shop and they "fixed" the problem for $400.

Oh the joy of being able to electrically roll a window up and down.The joy lasted three weeks.

Unfortunately, the window stopped working in the down position. So now, instead of having a window that wouldn't roll down, Noah had a window that wouldn't roll up.

A window in the down position is a much bigger problem.

Noah took the car back to our favorite auto repair shop and they said it would now cost an additional $600 to fix the problem. They assured us that this was a new problem, not the old problem that cost $400.

Noah and I were not amused. Time for a second opinion. The second opinion cited a different problem and said it would cost $500 to “fix”.

Noah then took it to the Jeep dealership. They charged him $60 for the diagnosis and then quoted yet a completely different reason for the problem and quoted him about $1200 to get it fixed.

At this point we decided to go to our auto body shop, Wreck Bros ( I kid you not) and he recommended that we go to Sparks(I'm not making these names up)

Sparks“fixed” the problem for $200. With one inconvenience. Noah can’t open the passenger side window from the driver side control panel.

Sparks explained that the other businesses idea of “fixing” the problem was to install all new parts.

Sparks is in business to repair the malfunctioning part.

“So,” we asked, “what was the problem?”

Sparks responded, “A screw.”

“A screw?” we were incredulous.

“Yes,” said Sparks,“The screw had broken off so we glued a new one back on.”

End of repair. The car is fixed. We got screwed and saved a heap of money.

P.S. Noah called the Jeep Dealership and shared what happened. The Jeep dealership is refunding his $60.