Despite the premiums we all pay them month after month, insurance companies can be shockingly stingy when it comes to actually helping us. They will wheel and deal, nitpick and obfuscate, in the hope that we simply give up or take the crumbs they offer us.
But one netizenhad the chanceto flip the script and make the insurance company eat its own word when they were told to come back with another quote. OP maliciously complied and did exactly as asked. Readers shared their enjoyment of someone sticking it to a hostile insurance agent and really getting their money’s worth.
Insurance companies will bend over backwards to try and limit the payouts we are entitled to
Image credits:Enver GÜLMEZ (not the actual photo)
So one netizen saw an opportunity for malicious compliance and decided to take it
Image credits:Karolina Grabowska (not the actual photo)
Image credits:u/No_Builder7010
Insurance and boats have a long history together
Image credits:Scott Graham (not the actual photo)
OP isn’t the first and won’t be the last person to have to deal with an insurance agent that will go out of their way to prevent a claim from being honored. Often, insurance companies will maintain somewhat confusing policies or complex contracts in order to limit their own risk, often at the cost of providing good services to their customers. Even if one is using a reputable broker, it’s important to remember that most brokers get the majority of their fees from the insurance provider, not the client that they ostensibly represent. It’s not hard to see the conflict of interest here.
Indeed, until the 14th century, most insurance laws, policies, and concepts were all tied up in ships and cargo, as the sea was still a dangerous, fickle place. No doubt ancient shipowners could relate to OP’s misfortune to have their vessel damaged while at shore. While it’s a modern misconception that contracts are a relatively recent development, it’s quite likely that OP’s story had its own versions even two thousand years ago. While unfortunately, we do not know, arguing with an insurance agent might be more of a time-honored human tradition than we might think.
Insurance companies are often too paranoid about fraud
Image credits:René Ranisch (not the actual photo)
To play the devil’s advocate, vehicle insurance fraud is still quite commonplace. Between 1999 and 2006, therewere over 20,000suspected fraudulent accidents in the UK, where people staged collisions to get overcharged for repairs. This is a shockingly high number, given the amount of cameras and general car knowledge that the average person has. These sorts of scams are perhaps why the agent in OP’s story demands two quotes, as it’s pretty easy to see how a person may collude with a mechanic or boatyard.
However, the agent should have considered the facts. The US has pretty heavy laws around insurance fraud, including prison sentences of up to twenty years in extreme cases, as well as fines and other punishments. It seems a bit strange for a person with no previous history of scams to risk all that over $2500.
OP answered some reader questions
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