Loaded 4BWs don't make sense to me

[BimmerFan]

One more thing: there are two kinds of insurance companies, mutual and stock (for profit). Mutual (like State Farm, USAA) are owned by the policyholders, and any profits go back into the reserves or back to the policyholders. Stock companies like Geico also have reserves but the excess profits go to the stockholders.

I work for a mutual insurance company. We do not have teaser rates for new policies. What you pay your first year stays the same, unless you are a bad risk, have lots of claims, start buying expensive cars, etc. I can't speak to other companies and how they work, but I would suspect that kind of behavior is less likely with a mutual company than a for-profit stock company.

 

[Roadhawk]

We've been USAA for years and years now - great company IMO. Used to have Geico until they agreed to pay a dubious (trumped up/faked injury) claim against me where I wanted to fight it. I get it - not worth paying their lawyers etc...but I told them they would be dropped if they didn't fight it....and I did just that. Went with USAA and haven't looked back.

 

[Finally-a-V]

I sat there wondering, how do people with "normal" average paychecks, perhaps with kids, how do they afford this kind of stuff? How in the world do the younger folks making say $45K a year pay rent, car loans, food, medical and car repairs?

I have one word for you.....PLASTIC. I wonder the same thing. I believe (and see it at the stores and restaurants) people just put it on their credit cards and pay $500 a month (or whatever) and go deeper in debt every month. That's partly why our credit card debt surpassed $1 trillion. There's also no self control. Americans will not go without. Just look at what most people do at Christmas.

 

[BW56M]

Keeping up with the "Joneses".

 

[Roadhawk]

I know I'm different than many of you here who seem to go through new cars every other year or two...LOL...not knocking it....just a different approach. We don't buy cars often and tend to keep them. I've also never liked being in debt (I'm old school about a lot of things). Happy to be entirely debt free and have been since we paid off our house nearly 10 years ago. Paid cash for the BW.

While we're not rich, by any means, we're comfortably well off...and pretty much have always been. I'm very thankful for that. Its a very good time (and place...USA USA!) to be alive in many/most respects...but I do feel for the younger generation now in so many ways....with costs of things being up there.

I paid between $400-$600 a semester to go to college - and paid for it myself...working as a dishwasher in a restaurant. Can't even come close to that today....and the costs of housing...(we still live in the first house we ever bought right around the time we got married). My work colleagues always commented how we could afford our elaborate vacations every few years....well living in the house you could afford when you were in your 20s is a big part of that...but also perhaps not buying a new car every few years...(though I spent a fortune on the Audi...as my wife still reminds me....)

Sure I spend on stuff...our 3,000+ bottles of fine wines in our cellar is a testament to that (we drink them...not just stare at them...though many will ultimately be passed on to our children....and they approve....) But everything within budget and reason. Good investments and a decent retirement income (for both of us) have certainly helped.

Again....just not like a lot of folks...though I see the appeal to spend and live beyond one's means. Like many things I'm just out of step...

 

[DCV]

Well just spend spend then declare bankruptcy multiple times, just like you know who. Or just don’t pay your bills and tell people I’ll put litigate you.

 

[RKS]

One more thing: there are two kinds of insurance companies, mutual and stock (for profit). Mutual (like State Farm, USAA) are owned by the policyholders, and any profits go back into the reserves or back to the policyholders. Stock companies like Geico also have reserves but the excess profits go to the stockholders.

I work for a mutual insurance company. We do not have teaser rates for new policies. What you pay your first year stays the same, unless you are a bad risk, have lots of claims, start buying expensive cars, etc. I can't speak to other companies and how they work, but I would suspect that kind of behavior is less likely with a mutual company than a for-profit stock company.

We have had SF for decades for cars, homes, and business. Our rates aren't too bad even with 2 males well under 25 even though one of them just got over 6-month suspension for 104/65!

 

[coffee_time]

We have had SF for decades for cars, homes, and business. Our rates aren't too bad even with 2 males well under 25 even though one of them just got over 6-month suspension for 104/65!

That kid is GROUNDED

 

[TheShark]

We've been USAA for years and years now - great company IMO. Used to have Geico until they agreed to pay a dubious (trumped up/faked injury) claim against me where I wanted to fight it. I get it - not worth paying their lawyers etc...but I told them they would be dropped if they didn't fight it....and I did just that. Went with USAA and haven't looked back.

Geico! aren't they the insurance company that buys radar and LIDAR for local police departments? win-win for them

 

[RKS]

That kid is GROUNDED

He was 17 and I was the one punished. I had drive/pick up from school, weekend practices, and 2 hours early on game day. My wife and he decided that it was better than a 12-month suspension with privileges.

The worst part is that the idiot got a warning a month earlier. The cop called me from the scene and said "I was going 100 and he was pulling away from me." Now we monitor his Life360 (he used to disable it) and any thing 7 over; he loses his car for a week.

 

[BimmerFan]

He was 17 and I was the one punished. I had drive/pick up from school, weekend practices, and 2 hours early on game day. My wife and he decided that it was better than a 12-month suspension with privileges.

The worst part is that the idiot got a warning a month earlier. The cop called me from the scene and said "I was going 100 and he was pulling away from me." Now we monitor his Life360 (he used to disable it) and any thing 7 over; he loses his car for a week.

When our youngest was 17, he got a ticket for littering or something stupid like that... because after he got pulled over, he tossed his cigarette out the window. Afraid of getting caught for underage smoking, I guess.

The big dummy should have just paid the ticket and moved on, but no, he had to tell Mom, so we had to punish him (I was livid about the smoking because I suspected him of it and he lied LIED LIED to me, to my face, that he was not smoking) and Mom was adamant that we not take away the car, as that just punished her, not him.

So we took away his phone for a day. One day. You thought the world had ended! OMG. That's how you get kids these days... LOL

Well just spend spend then declare bankruptcy multiple times, just like you know who. Or just don’t pay your bills and tell people I’ll put litigate you.

OK, so I certainly do not condone this and I know that we all pay for this behavior and I hate that, but it reminds me of a story. It's a true story. Promise.

A masseuse that I went to was telling me about how the Sheriff came to visit the night before, to serve her husband/boyfriend/life partner. Turns out that he had a credit card, and he asked to her call and change the billing address, since she was a co-borrower. The bank said no, the cardholder had to make the request, not her. So he just got uppity and said "fine then, if I don't get the bill, I don't pay it". So he didn't pay it and eventually it ran up to the limit and so they took him to court. He agreed to settle on something like 10% of the balance. She said he knew that would work, because he'd done it before. The bank (different bank I presume) had pissed him off, so he purposely ran it up to the limit and didn't pay, waited for the court summons, and settled for a lower amount.

I used to work at a bank, I know how bad actors can easily slip through the system. Heck, it happens at the insurance company I'm at now. There's a reason we have a special unit that does nothing but investigate fraud. And another unit that does nothing but litigation. And of course, all of those costs are passed on to us, the good people.


Grrrr.

 

[coffee_time]

He was 17 and I was the one punished. I had drive/pick up from school, weekend practices, and 2 hours early on game day. My wife and he decided that it was better than a 12-month suspension with privileges.

The worst part is that the idiot got a warning a month earlier. The cop called me from the scene and said "I was going 100 and he was pulling away from me." Now we monitor his Life360 (he used to disable it) and any thing 7 over; he loses his car for a week.

My first and only child is 19 months old. These are the moments that scare me. Newborn stage? Easy. Toddler? Tantrums can be ignored. A 17 year old boy? PLEASE NO.

 

[RKS]

My first and only child is 19 months old. These are the moments that scare me. Newborn stage? Easy. Toddler? Tantrums can be ignored. A 17 year old boy? PLEASE NO.

It's the youngest you have to worry about, so if you stick with just one; you might be safe.
My 20 YO is a great kid, has never been in serious trouble, sophomore in Mech E, and is already in an engineering co-op. My younger one will either be a CEO or a prison gang leader.

 

[Shifty]

A friend of mine uses Hagerty insurance for his collector cars and says they are very cheap compared to the majors. I'm not sure if the Blackwings will qualify, however.

 

[Jameson's Viggen]

A friend of mine uses Hagerty insurance for his collector cars and says they are very cheap compared to the majors. I'm not sure if the Blackwings will qualify, however.

I have Grundy MVP.

They'd allow a collectors policy on the BlackWing if I add another daily to the mix. I have two collectors and the wife's DD already.

 

[Kevin0311]

Hagerty DOES list the blackwing, i have had and currently have a car with them, requirements for mine are stored in locked garage, have proof of another newer car that i daily and while no mileage restrictions they did ask what is the furthest i would drive it distance from garage in one trip. This is what was asked for me and my SS sedan, i did add my ZL1 convertible for several months but ended up taking it off as the wife and i got rid of her Solstice convertible so she wanted to use the ZL1 vert regularly during the week during the summer and that would have stretched the policy terms. This was for Guaranteed agreed payout insurance, they might offer other policies less strict.

Pricewise the ZL1 was few hundred cheaper for the year and the SS was a little less, with my limits/coverages.

 

[steve134]

Spend some, invest some, strike a balance.

I upset the balance a bit not going to lie

 

[Roadhawk]

It's the youngest you have to worry about, so if you stick with just one; you might be safe.
My 20 YO is a great kid, has never been in serious trouble, sophomore in Mech E, and is already in an engineering co-op. My younger one will either be a CEO or a prison gang leader.

My boys are just so good (and good...and slow drivers...how did they get that from me?) My wife has prohibited me from telling stories of my (somewhat wild) youth....but too late...they already know them. I've admonished them many times for being so tame...

 

[Finally-a-V]

17 YO boy. I'd be more concerned about a 17 YO girl. I worked with a guy years ago who had a boy and a girl about two years apart. He told us he'd take a boy any day over the girl. He had some great stories.

I priced Grundy and Haggerty. I'm paying less than both (with no restrictions). Haggerty was almost double what I'm paying and Grundy was about 10% higher.

 

[jbawden]

My childhood and early adult life was a fine lower middle class existence; never having excess but not wanting for the basics (and in 2024 America, myriad resources to shield anyone from "going to bed hungry"). I was fortunate to take advantage of a job opportunity that presented itself 24 years ago and have worked hard to elevate my level of financial comfort (and married an accountant, haha).

Money/wealth give you options and choices, but it's also a serious responsibility and exposes one to unusual vulnerabilities, perhaps inversely similar to those of limited wealth and resources. I'll take my spot all day long, but its not like wealth is 100% good and poor is 100% bad, its way more nuanced than that.

Mr. B.I.G. said best: