If an accident is Your fault or not, does it matter?
This question is to educate you on the particular insurance company you’re talking to and how they evaluate your driving record, or what your driving record will be once you’ve had an accident. Some companies will evaluate you on only accidents that are your fault with damage more than a certain amount, say $850. Other insurance companies will hit you with a charge even if you’re the one who has been rear-ended. In some states, fault is not taken into account and is not considered an activity worthy of police time and attention-the result; everyone pays their own damages.
As with the previous question, “Which is insured first, the car or the driver?
The answer is going to vary with insurance company underwriting philosophy and state law. Also, similar to the last question, you’re going to have a hard time sorting between which information is company underwriting mumbo-jumbo and which is state law. Once again, a broker, representing many companies is going to be more familiar with the difference than any captive agent, only representing one insurance carrier.
The immediacy and confidence in delivering the answer is going to be a key indicator of a person’s time on the job, experience in the industry and of how knowledgeable they are; or aren’t. Note taking will be a key to delivering best possible comparison and ultimate outcome. Note taking is also a key test of patience. You shouldn’t strive to greedily take up a person’s time, but you shouldn’t feel as if they are holding themselves aloof, or are giving you the bum’s rush.
You want to use this question to get the answer, but also to feel out their patience and willingness to educate you on what is, at the end of the conversation, your choice. Any representative who considers you unworthy of their time, should be considered unworthy of your business.
Every professional agent knows, an educated consumer is a great customer, and often a free-of-charge, walking, talking billboard for their business. A great insurance consumer knows that a patient-educating insurance agent is worth their keep, and a hearty endorsement because of their exceeding rarity in this world consumer-trampling, greasy rat race salespeople and their greasy rat race sales tactics. The rare gem of an insurance agent is likely to be a broker.
And remember, as you conduct this tedium of sifting between the rats and gems, you still get what you give. Be persistent and insistent, but not rude or vulgar, you don’t need to sink to their level. You will not win them over and you will lose your dignity in the process, cursing them out is a lose-lose scenario, so just hang up or walk out and move on.
What difference, if any, do moving violations make?
Like the first two questions, you are trying to get a sense of each insurance company’s underwriting philosophy and interpretation of state law and the sense of the person you’re talking to and their patience, knowledge and professionalism. …