Comedian Calls Out Progressive Insurance for Defending His Sister’s Killer ...

[Drunken Irishman]

http://gawker.com/5934436/comedian-calls-out-progressive-for-defending-his-sisters-killer-progressive-responds-in-heartless-robot-fashion

Disturbing story all around.

[Egalitarian Thug]

1. Make these people the legal guardians of 18% of the American economy. What could possibly go wrong?

[HiPointDem]

2. +1.

[AnotherDreamWeaver]

3. The page didn't load for me, kept trying to send me to a login page, then back again.

Safari then quit trying to load.

[Monk06]

4. In three provinces in Canada, BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, the government provides auto

insurance. Private insurance companies are not allowed to sell auto insurance policies.

This was done for the reasons cited in the OP. In BC, before the creation of ICBC, the Insurance Corporation of British Columbia, private insurance companies routinely refused to pay claims and forced customers to take court action. This was clogging up the court system and leading to intolerable financial and emotional hardship on the part of the insured.

So the government legislated private companies out of the market. The same thing we did for health insurance.

In BC we have a no fault system where each party is compensated regardless of who caused the accident.
Insurance is mandatory. You can't renew your license plates, or tags as Americans call them, unless you are insured. You have to renew your license plates every year and renew your insurance at the same time. Proof of payment is a non removable sticker on you plate/tag. If the tag is missing or out of date, you are charged with driving without insurance and you lose your driver's license as well. So it is impossible for a person to drive uninsured.

The minimum damage/liability is $1 Million. Bad drivers pay more and good drivers pay considerably less in premiums which are lower than private insurance companies who pass the costs of bad drivers on to good drivers by way of increasing premiums.

We have had this system since the mid sixties and it works like a charm and is self financing.

The long and the short is that private insurance companies are a racket and can easily be replaced by government run, single payer entities providing the same service or better at the same price or better.

Litigation is still a problem but only because of people who fake or exaggerate damages and sue ICBC for higher awards. But this accounts for only a small number of insurance claims each year.

[joeybee12]

5. That's what insurance companies do...hire lawyers...

Instead of paying claims. The whole industry is a scam.

[sendero]

6. Not really..

.... my son was recently at fault in a highway rear-end accident. It was absolutely his fault, and although I'm skeptical of the claims of injury by the person hit, she sued and my insurance company dealt with it. She turned down several offers and finally settled when the case was about to go to trial. This is typical. The insurance co handled everything and sent me letters every month or so until it was over. Believe me I was worried about having some kind of financial responsibility for this myself.

Now, a few months later that son had a fender bender in a parking lot that was really not his fault but they paid that one too and then a couple of months later cancelled him. I don't blame them, I would have cancelled him too.

FWIW the insurance co is State Farm.

And also FWIW, I've had my share of insurance claims (house and auto) over the years and feel like I've generally been treated fairly.

I do think Progressive is out of line on this and that by the time it is all over they will wish they would have just paid the damn claim.