Auto insurance has to be a good business right now

[jon-nyc]

Geico is giving everyone 15% off on their next renewal.

But their claims have to be down a lot more than that.

[George K]

@jon-nyc "A cynic is someone...."

But you're probably right.

I wonder if the other insurers will follow suit.

[Aqua Letifer]

Life insurance would be a fun one to calculate. More people staying home, more people dying of a pandemic no one understands.

[89th]

Jon I got an email from GEICO (our car insurance) about this. It's a total of $2.5 billion in revenue the company is giving up. But I didn't think about the flip side of their claims department probably hearing crickets right now.

[Copper]

Body shops must be hurting.

[Doctor Phibes]

We insure for business interruption

[George K]

@Doctor-Phibes said in Auto insurance has to be a good business right now:

We insure for business interruption

How Wimbledon-ey of you!

[George K]

@George-K Allstate is giving a 15% credit on the next two payments (April and May).

https://www.chicagotribune.com/coronavirus/ct-cb-auto-insurers-refunding-policyholders-coronavirus-20200410-mbgdnrc47fcdta6yz2bgxdlhny-story.html

[mark]

American Family is sending a $50 check for each vehicle insured.

We have 4 vehicles insured so we are getting the equivalent of 25% off our next two months premium.

[Axtremus]

My car insurer says it's also extending coverage to people using their personal vehicles to commercially deliver food, medicine and other goods.

[Doctor Phibes]

@George-K said in Auto insurance has to be a good business right now:

@Doctor-Phibes said in Auto insurance has to be a good business right now:

We insure for business interruption

How Wimbledon-ey of you!

Imagine how your numbers would look if you insured Disneyland.

[George K]

In a somewhat related vein.

Municipalities are seeing revenues fall because of a drop in red-light camera revenue.

https://www.businessinsider.com.au/coronavirus-disrupting-red-light-camera-company-revenue-2020-4

As Americans stay home to help slow the spread of the coronavirus, they’re driving fewer miles.

That’s great news for everyone: Air pollution is falling, crashes are down, and there’s no blood-pressure inducing congestion.

Well, almost everyone. For the companies that operate drivers’ most-hated devices – red light cameras – it’s causing a headache.

Redflex, an Australian company that operates “traffic safety programs” in roughly 100 US and Canadian cities, warned that less traffic and suspended construction amid the pandemic will be a stress on its balance sheet.

“Approximately 15% of group revenue is dependent on volume-based contracts,” the companysaid in a regulatory filingMonday first spotted by The Wall Street Journal, hinting at its business line that includes enforcement cameras. “We anticipate our revenue from these contracts will be impacted broadly in line with the reduction in traffic volumes as well as the duration of the disruption.”

Shares of Redflex, which trade in Australia, are down 46% since the beginning of the year.

[mark]

Good! Maybe they will go out of business.

[Mik]

State Farm is giving us a 25% refund on our three auto policies.

[LuFins Dad]

I haven’t seen anything from State Farm yet.

[George K]

Got some cash in my checking account from Allstate last night.

[Horace]

I'm totally pillaging my health insurance this year. I hit my deductible so now it's game on. Blue cross blue shield can suck on that MRI bill.

[Ivorythumper]

I'd guess the life insurance companies are going to be hurting...

[LuFins Dad]

@Ivorythumper Why so? There are fewer accidental deaths and crime related deaths right now, which disproportionately effects the young, which normally mean larger payouts and ahead of schedule. At the same time while there is an increase of the number of deaths, I am finding it difficult to find how many people died last week vs. how many died the same week last year... But I’m sure that the COVID-19 deaths aren’t completely on top of the normal death toll.

In addition, as already touched on, this is disproportionately affecting older people, many of whom carry only modest policies or no policy and in many cases, it’s only moving the payoff up by several months. We’ve all seen the story where some doctor estimated that 90% of his patients that died of this crap would have died anyway over the next year. So instead of August, it’s April.

Finally, how many people just increased or opened policies? My bet is far more than what is typical.

[Horace]

I wonder if the cost of life insurance has spiked because of this.