Insurance - A Good Thing to Have

It's easy to see why you would insure something of value. Insurance protects you against potential loss. So, why not insure everything? Hmmm ...

If you insure your car, and nothing bad happens to it ... you've still lost the money you paid for the insurance. If you get in an accident and your car is totaled but it wasn't insured ... you lose the total value of the car unless you can get someone else's insurance to pay for the accident. I'm just talking about the "comprehensive" insurance that pays for damage to your car. Liability insurance for automobiles is different and is required by law. The idea for liability insurance is you are protecting other people from loss you might cause them.

Back to automobile comprehensive insurance, though - you want to pay a small amount of money that you can afford - this is a known payment that you can plan on paying without any surprises. What you get for these insurance premium payments is protection from an unexpected sudden financial crisis that would occur if you wreck your car and it becomes useless. This actually works for anything of value that you want to protect - cars, houses, boats, snowmobiles, etc. It also works for life insurance protecting your family from financial problems if the main bread-winner were to die; or health insurance protecting you from unexpected sudden financial crisis when you or someone in your family becomes seriously ill or hospitalized.

Before the insurance company pays you any money, certain things need to happen that cause you a loss. Then you can file a claim to the insurance company that describes the loss and explains how it was covered by the insurance policy. Once the claim is accepted, the insurance company will issue payment to help you financially. Insurance companies get the money for those payments from people who are paying for insurance but aren't making claims on it yet. And if you're paying for insurance and you aren't filing a claim for damages, your payment is going to help the person who needs to file a claim.

The insurance company sets the amount of your payments according to the risk you have for making a claim and the law of averages. Using the car example, if you are a pretty good driver, you might get classified with a group of clients who are expected to have a major accident only once every eight years. This would be your risk category. On average every driver in this category is expected to make premium payments for eight years between major claims. Usually that works out pretty well for everybody.

I've heard people complain about having their premiums increased because they filed a claim against the insurance company. That can happen. If you had car insurance in a risk category expecting the car to be in a major accident every eight years, and the insurance company allowed a high-risk driver into your risk category, how would you like that? Maybe that high-risk driver could expect a major accident every four years. If that driver were allowed into your risk category, you would be paying for their frequent claims; and they would be paying for your infrequent claims. That wouldn't be fair.

To protect clients against higher-risk clients like this the insurance company will keep track of several factors they think might change the frequency or size of damage claims (risk factors). This is done to protect the clients who are not likely to file frequent, or large, damage claims. For car insurance, having an accident might signal a change in your driving capability. So having an accident might increase your premium for a couple of years just in case you are turning into a higher-risk driver. The insurance companies are cautious.

There are other factors that signal increased risk to the insurance company. These factors can also cause you to be placed in a category that requires a higher premium. For auto insurance, you don't need to file a claim to have your premium payment increased. All you need to do is get a ticket for a moving violation. If your credit score drops, it might signal the insurance company that you aren't paying attention to things low-risk customers would. They can interpret this to mean that you aren't attentive in your driving skills, or you might park you vehicle in a place where it could be damaged. Also, if you buy a more expensive car you are likely to have larger claims. All these things can indicate the insurance company might lose money on you if they don't adjust your risk classification.

This change in risk classification also works in your favor. Insurance claim records indicate that drivers under the age of 25 are more likely to be involved in accidents than middle-aged drivers. So, when you have your 25th birthday, your car insurance premiums are reduced. If you go three years without a moving traffic violation you will be seen as improving your risk classification and your rates will drop. The insurance company also sees less risk if you buy a less expensive car (with cheaper repair costs), or start parking in a private garage instead of on the street.

The calculation of risk is also considered for house insurance. That is why you can get reduced insurance premiums for having a security system, deadbolts, and fire extinguishers. For houses, they consider the neighborhood you live in and the types of claims the insurance industry has received from your neighbors. A neighborhood with a lot of vandalism can increase the cost of your insurance.

Similar calculations are used for analyzing risk factors for life insurance and health insurance. The claims history on smokers, people who are overweight, and the elderly shows them to be a higher risk for the insurance company. People who exercise regularly, have regular preventive health care, and eat a healthy diet are seen as lower risk than other people their own age who do not follow those practices.

You buy insurance for the times you will be filing a damage claim. Until that time comes, insurance will cost you a small amount of money. But when the time comes to file a claim, insurance is a good thing to have and you will be glad you have been paying for it.