What a publicity stunt by our regulators to assert our cars are responsible for global warming, then promoting PAYG as a great remedy. Talk about playing to ignorance.
Oldest sales trick in the book: Create a ‘problem’ and then be the one with the ‘solution’ to gain money & power.
Using the same flawed logic that man is the problem, I suppose the unregulated vehicular mileage and industrial activity on the part our prehistoric native peoples is the reason our Sierra Nevada range no longer has active glaciers carving out valleys such as Yosemite & Kings Canyon. Our reckless ancestors’ carbon footprint melted it, and the sun had nothing to do with it. Yeah, right.
Our planet may be warming, but you regulators might want to check out that big hot sphere that comes up each day as the source of all that heat.
California’s full-time government types spend way too much making up creative ‘stuff’ like PAYG to justify their jobs.
Interesting assumption that people will drive that much less solely to save money on car insurance. I suspect the people who buy this will be the ones who drive under 10K miles anyway and want credit for that.
I agree it will be the people who hardly drive who will sign up. You have to realize sooner or later they will be allowed to track where you drive too and then rate accordingly. Also, soon, with less gas being used for low mileage drivers and the hybrid cars the State will need to start charging you by mileage to make up for lost gas tax revenue. These little tracking devices will come in handy then and the State will gain access and the bill will hit you at the pump by a special surcharge. Keep your tracking devices. I’ll pay based upon assumed mileage.
Sooooo if the low-mileage drivers take advantage of pay-as-you-go, the insurance co’s will bring in less revenue. But does their exposure decline?? No it doesn’t. Look for non PAYG rates to go up, or for the PAYG rates to to be unfailry laddered so that the revenues stay constant. Or look for PAYG to eventually be the only way to go.
I am sure that the regulators must have certainly considered that rather than using this as a means to garner attention for reducing rates and improving the environment blah, blah, blah, that other classes of drivers will be impacted.
As the insurers gain a tool to match risk and rate, eventually others (high mileage drivers or those that can’t be/don’t want to be verified) will no longer be subsidized for this rating factor; therefore, their rates should go up. And, of course, having already thought this through, there will be no regulator pressure to artificially surpress rates for this class. Nor will there be any consumer groups claiming this is an unfair rating criterion.
This is all “much ado about nothing”. Technically, the rates are mostly set at various increments for rating. But since most people “fudge” low when estimating, ninety percent of the folks would probably get a higher premium if they actually turned in legit miles. I would also
submit that anyone who really drives in the 1500-2000 annual mileage range at least in Calif) is probably over 80 and isn’t the safest driver or exposure anyway (age disrimination?).
Represent low mileage up front and then let your policy cancel for non-payment when it’s time to make the final tally. Because you can’t get credit for the coverage you bring to a new carrier anyhow, repeat this approach. Carriers will identify themselves for abuse based on how low they’ll let consumers peg the initial estimate.
Sounds familiar. Exceed your allotted miles and your rate goes up 10 times per mile, if you’re driving to one of your friends or families’ home the rate is 1/2 price, driving after 7:00 is free. Cancel your policy mid-term and pay a $300 cancellation fee. Verizon is now selling auto insurance
Anyone who didn’t see this coming just hasn’t been paying attention for the last several years. Insurance as a socio-political mechanism to control behavior? Color me surprise. I’ve already bought my home in Nevada. I’m outta here!
So to summarise, pay-as-you-drive insurance is the answer to global warming! Is it really rational to think that signing up for a different kind of auto insurance is going to make people stop running their kids to soccer practice, ride the bus instead of driving their car, stop taking family vacations in their minivans, etc.? They somehow lost sight that this idea wasn’t appealing to the voters because people wanted to drive less, it was appealing because people thought that they were being charged too much for the time that they currently drive.
On the other hand, if they throw around important terms like “reduce dependence on foreign oil” and eliminate “55 Ba-Gillion tons of CO2 emissions” then it must be the good and decent thing to do…..right? By the way, isn’t someone running for some office in the near future……?
The Commish needs to be called out on this one — what a sham!
For or against PayGo insurance, it is sure a jump in logic to say that PayGo will reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
The things we let politicians get away with saying!!
Reminds me of a bit recently on The Daily Show where they show a video of all the times CNN says “we’ll have to leave it there” right after a politican says something ridiculous and unfounded. Call ’em out!
Paying by the mile won’t cause me to drive less; here’s why…
You know most people won’t accept an electronic gizmo to be installed in their vehicle that will track their mileage. I bet most policies will just have a verification process where you have to bring the vehicle in to the agent at renewal time for mileage verification off the odometer.
Depending on the vehicle, odometers can be disconnected. Bam; instant solution to “global warming”. The “mileage” driven by California drivers would plummet.
I could even market simple instructions on ebay on how to “Verify that your odometer is properly connected and functional”.
I think this needs to be a pay at the pump option. Type in your Vin and Pin and you buy coverage everytime you buy fuel.
or at vehicle registration as part of the license fees. The cost to use the roads should also be based on the amount of miles an individual puts on their vehicle.
Soon everyone will be covered by insurance from the federal government and you will just pay for insurance at the gas pump. So how do we make a living from this? Insurance over the internet, gas pump insurance, Federal health insurance. Were does the professional insurance agent fit in. Oh well…..Can you say? Welcome to walmart, can I help you?
For checking mileage, Agents and or Brokers should be able to charge a small non-refundedable fee paid by the insured. This can help to make up the loss of commission because the annual premium be less per policy on drivers who are involved in the program.
What a publicity stunt by our regulators to assert our cars are responsible for global warming, then promoting PAYG as a great remedy. Talk about playing to ignorance.
Oldest sales trick in the book: Create a ‘problem’ and then be the one with the ‘solution’ to gain money & power.
Using the same flawed logic that man is the problem, I suppose the unregulated vehicular mileage and industrial activity on the part our prehistoric native peoples is the reason our Sierra Nevada range no longer has active glaciers carving out valleys such as Yosemite & Kings Canyon. Our reckless ancestors’ carbon footprint melted it, and the sun had nothing to do with it. Yeah, right.
Our planet may be warming, but you regulators might want to check out that big hot sphere that comes up each day as the source of all that heat.
California’s full-time government types spend way too much making up creative ‘stuff’ like PAYG to justify their jobs.
Interesting assumption that people will drive that much less solely to save money on car insurance. I suspect the people who buy this will be the ones who drive under 10K miles anyway and want credit for that.
I agree it will be the people who hardly drive who will sign up. You have to realize sooner or later they will be allowed to track where you drive too and then rate accordingly. Also, soon, with less gas being used for low mileage drivers and the hybrid cars the State will need to start charging you by mileage to make up for lost gas tax revenue. These little tracking devices will come in handy then and the State will gain access and the bill will hit you at the pump by a special surcharge. Keep your tracking devices. I’ll pay based upon assumed mileage.
Sooooo if the low-mileage drivers take advantage of pay-as-you-go, the insurance co’s will bring in less revenue. But does their exposure decline?? No it doesn’t. Look for non PAYG rates to go up, or for the PAYG rates to to be unfailry laddered so that the revenues stay constant. Or look for PAYG to eventually be the only way to go.
I am sure that the regulators must have certainly considered that rather than using this as a means to garner attention for reducing rates and improving the environment blah, blah, blah, that other classes of drivers will be impacted.
As the insurers gain a tool to match risk and rate, eventually others (high mileage drivers or those that can’t be/don’t want to be verified) will no longer be subsidized for this rating factor; therefore, their rates should go up. And, of course, having already thought this through, there will be no regulator pressure to artificially surpress rates for this class. Nor will there be any consumer groups claiming this is an unfair rating criterion.
This is all “much ado about nothing”. Technically, the rates are mostly set at various increments for rating. But since most people “fudge” low when estimating, ninety percent of the folks would probably get a higher premium if they actually turned in legit miles. I would also
submit that anyone who really drives in the 1500-2000 annual mileage range at least in Calif) is probably over 80 and isn’t the safest driver or exposure anyway (age disrimination?).
Represent low mileage up front and then let your policy cancel for non-payment when it’s time to make the final tally. Because you can’t get credit for the coverage you bring to a new carrier anyhow, repeat this approach. Carriers will identify themselves for abuse based on how low they’ll let consumers peg the initial estimate.
Sounds familiar. Exceed your allotted miles and your rate goes up 10 times per mile, if you’re driving to one of your friends or families’ home the rate is 1/2 price, driving after 7:00 is free. Cancel your policy mid-term and pay a $300 cancellation fee. Verizon is now selling auto insurance
Anyone who didn’t see this coming just hasn’t been paying attention for the last several years. Insurance as a socio-political mechanism to control behavior? Color me surprise. I’ve already bought my home in Nevada. I’m outta here!
So to summarise, pay-as-you-drive insurance is the answer to global warming! Is it really rational to think that signing up for a different kind of auto insurance is going to make people stop running their kids to soccer practice, ride the bus instead of driving their car, stop taking family vacations in their minivans, etc.? They somehow lost sight that this idea wasn’t appealing to the voters because people wanted to drive less, it was appealing because people thought that they were being charged too much for the time that they currently drive.
On the other hand, if they throw around important terms like “reduce dependence on foreign oil” and eliminate “55 Ba-Gillion tons of CO2 emissions” then it must be the good and decent thing to do…..right? By the way, isn’t someone running for some office in the near future……?
Thank You Brent
“reduced dependence on foreign oil”
The Commish needs to be called out on this one — what a sham!
For or against PayGo insurance, it is sure a jump in logic to say that PayGo will reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
The things we let politicians get away with saying!!
Reminds me of a bit recently on The Daily Show where they show a video of all the times CNN says “we’ll have to leave it there” right after a politican says something ridiculous and unfounded. Call ’em out!
@ Bob, too funny.
Figure out how to make a volcano go off and we’ll have the solution to “global warming” for the next 100 years.
Paying by the mile won’t cause me to drive less; here’s why…
You know most people won’t accept an electronic gizmo to be installed in their vehicle that will track their mileage. I bet most policies will just have a verification process where you have to bring the vehicle in to the agent at renewal time for mileage verification off the odometer.
Depending on the vehicle, odometers can be disconnected. Bam; instant solution to “global warming”. The “mileage” driven by California drivers would plummet.
I could even market simple instructions on ebay on how to “Verify that your odometer is properly connected and functional”.
I’ll make MEEEEEEELLIONS.
I think this needs to be a pay at the pump option. Type in your Vin and Pin and you buy coverage everytime you buy fuel.
or at vehicle registration as part of the license fees. The cost to use the roads should also be based on the amount of miles an individual puts on their vehicle.
Soon everyone will be covered by insurance from the federal government and you will just pay for insurance at the gas pump. So how do we make a living from this? Insurance over the internet, gas pump insurance, Federal health insurance. Were does the professional insurance agent fit in. Oh well…..Can you say? Welcome to walmart, can I help you?
For checking mileage, Agents and or Brokers should be able to charge a small non-refundedable fee paid by the insured. This can help to make up the loss of commission because the annual premium be less per policy on drivers who are involved in the program.