As I said in an earlier post, nothing is free in the insurance world. Marketing tricks are meant to confuse you and make your decision to leave your current insurance company harder. In addition, insurance companies tell you plenty of things that their market research has shown that you want to hear – but may not necessarily reflect the truth.
1. Offering you a “No Cancellation” guarantee. They don’t have to cancel your insurance to make you go away. If you have a series of accidents they won’t cancel you – but how long will you want to pay the higher and higher premiums they are giving you to make you go away? This is the insurance marketing trick that lots of people misunderstand. Having your insurance canceled is a scary idea. It rarely happens to people the insurance companies want to keep.
2. Accident Forgiveness is not as simple as it sounds. They will forgive the “property damage” part of your accident if you have a fender bender – but if someone claims bodily injury, then that part of the claim will not be forgiven. Insurance companies generally don’t immediately surcharge you for an accident anyway, and if you are a good driver otherwise, you may never see an increase if you have one accident during your tenure with your insurance company.
3. We will waive your deductible for windshield chips! I’ve addressed this one once before, and that advice is still true. THERE IS NO FREE CAR REPAIR. Pay the $25 to fix the chip yourself and reap the benefits of lower premiums in the long run. Are you seeing a pattern to these marketing tricks? They are making you worry about things that don’t matter in the long run.
4. Name your own price. I don’t even want to address this one, as it’s so ridiculous. You can always name your own price; just decide what kind of coverage you want. Want to pay nothing at all for insurance? Don’t have it! Want to pay less for your insurance? Don’t fall for crazy lies and marketing tricks, instead, call an independent agent.
5. “Guaranteed low price”. This is almost as patently ridiculous as “Name Your Price”. Maybe if you put this guarantee under your pillow at night, the “guarantee fairy” might come and leave you a quarter. No one can guarantee a low price, or any percentage of savings, or anything solid like that when it comes to insurance. Insurance pricing is not flexible, as it is based on statistics and facts. It can’t be discounted at a whim; coverage can be removed, but you can’t just lower the price to match someone else’s price. Insurance is not a TV. This is the worst marketing trick of all.
So to sum this all up in a few words, DON’T FALL FOR MARKETING TRICKS. Marketing people will tell you anything that focus groups have told them you want to hear. Instead, be an informed consumer and seek out the truth. Most people want to save money on insurance, sure – but don’t let your desire to save make you abandon reason. You aren’t shopping for gimmicks, you should be shopping for good insurance coverage – at the best price. The ads where they tell you all of these lies cost big money – and how do you think they make it? Call us instead of whoever is trying to play marketing tricks and mind games on you. (Spoiler – it’s us.)