I'm not happy Bob! Not. Happy.

Ever see the Pixar movie The Incredibles?   There is a scene early on when Mr. Incredible, now an insurance agent, is told by his boss that insurance companies are “not in the business of providing insurance, but in the business of making money for (their) stockholders.” 

They want your money, but woe betides the hapless customer who makes more than a single claim.  Even if that claim is not paid, it will go against you, and you could have your insurance cancelled unceremoniously.  Or, as in our case, with a form letter.   That’s right, even if they deny your claim, the simple fact that you make one can get your insurance cancelled.  This is  our story.

In 1994 my wife took out a policy with Erie Insurance, for Auto/Condo/Renter’s insurance.   Between that time and today she has made two very small claims on her auto insurance.  Once when someone keyed her car, and this past year when the creek across the street from our house flooded and caused minor damage to her car.  Both of these claims were for a few hundred dollars.   When I moved to Virginia in 2006 I switched my insurance to Erie also, so that it would all be bundled together.

In 2007 my wife and I bought a house.    According to the letter we received Erie asserts that we made a claim for water damage in 2007.  Neither my wife nor I recall any such claim.  In any case, no payout was made.   But it still counts as Strike One against us.

In 2010 we made a claim when the drain pipe in our neighborhood backed up into our basement, causing damage to the basement and the loss of thousands of dollars of personal property.   This claim was paid out.  Strike Two.

In 2011 we also made a claim, when a severe rainstorm caused water to seep into our basement again, although this time is was simple rainwater damage, and our agent said our insurance did not cover it, so again, there was no payout made.   STRIKE THREE!    Goodbye insurance!  We got a letter in the mail the other day saying that “due to frequency of claims” our insurance was being Non-Renewed. 

So in essence, over an 18 YEAR period, my wife has made two very small claims on her auto coverage, and we have made (at least as far as we are concerned) 2 claims for water damage, only one of which was accepted and paid out.   And yet I am now told by my agent that  she can find no regular insurance company that will write our Homeowners policy with the 3 claims. She is having to go through one of her  surplus lines  companies, which is sure to cost us hundreds or thousands of dollars. 

To say I am disappointed about the Non-renewal of our policy would be an understatement.  Disgusted would be a better word.  After 18 years and thousands of dollars in premiums, to have our insurance cancelled for “frequency of claims” seems excessive and unfair.  I suspect that this decision was probably not made by an actual person, but by an actuarial table.   If so, I suggest that in future they might want to have real people making decisions instead of programs.

We plan on never using Erie again (as if they’d even have us because we are so demanding, actually expecting an insurance company to, you know, give us INSURANCE when we PAY FOR IT).   And we plan on telling everyone we know not to use them.  We’ll be blogging.  We’ll be posting on Facebook.  And on Consumer’s Checkbook too.    It may not help us, but maybe one person will see our story and be forewarned.  

So just a word to the wise.  Just because you are making those monthly payments doesn’t mean they can’t just cancel your insurance and bad mouth you to every other insurance company in the world if you are presumptuous enough to actually expect them to do what you have been paying them for, even if you’ve been doing so for decades.  Remember,  Insurance companies aren’t in the business of providing insurance.  They are in the business of making money for their stockholders.