23rd May 2006, 11:14 AM
Here's what I don't get. What's the deal with raising insurence rates after an accident? Isn't the whole purpose of insurance supposed to be that they get a LOT of money from someone over many years so that if they do get into an accident, a small amount of what has been payed is more than enough to pay for it? I'm not a rastafarian accountant, so maybe I'm missing something about "dividends" or "market point fluctuations", but seriously, what's going on? I'm hearing horror stories about tiny scratches or "bumps" getting massive insurance price increases and I'm wondering, aren't the insurance companies supposed to expect such things? I really can only see this being a good response in the event of someone causing enough damage that the insurance they pay is not enough to pay for the accident.
"On two occasions, I have been asked [by members of Parliament], 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?' I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question." ~ Charles Babbage (1791-1871)