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Transgender woman shocked by higher car insurance rates for women

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By clapclapclap
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clapclapclap

clapclapclap 9,000

Posted
Posted (edited)

https://www.wxyz.com/news/transgender-woman-shocked-by-higher-car-insurance-rates-for-women-in-michigan

(WXYZ) - She says her ability to drive didn’t change when she transitioned from life as a man to life as a woman, but her insurance rates sure did.

spl945383_009-e1423429595879.jpg?quality

Faith Frances asked that we use her first and middle name and omit her last name to protect her privacy.  

She thought she was the victim of discrimination against transgender people. When she fought for justice, she learned she is the victim of legal discrimination all women in Michigan are subject to. 

It is an issue we exposed. Car insurance companies are allowed to charge women a lot more for car insurance, simply because they are women

Faith contacted her insurance company because she changed her legal name. She never imagined it would skyrocket her car insurance prices $970.08 - almost $1000 a year.

“I don’t know. What do they think? My breasts get in the way of driving? I don’t know,” said Faith.

She jokes, but it is serious.  That $80 is a significant chunk of her income.

“If they would put my insurance rates back where it should be, I wouldn’t have to go to the food bank,” said Faith.

When it happened she contacted Attorney General Bill Schuette’s office. She thought it was transgender discrimination.  

She says she received a response from the Michigan Insurance Commissioner’s office. It explained it had nothing to do with her change of gender. Women who are born female also pay more.

It included a letter from Progressive Marathon Insurance Company.  She says the letter, ironically, revealed Progressive has a very unprogressive policy.

The letter reads in part:

 

On March 7, 2018, we received a call from Ms. (redacted), asking that we change her name from (redacted) to (redacted), and change her gender from male to female. (redacted) is right. This change did increase the rate by $80.84. We utilize gender and marital status as factors that, in conjunction with age, determine an individual driver class rating factor, which is used as part of a customer’s rate calculation in our Chapter 24 group rated companies.

 

“You are punishing me for being my true self, and you are punishing the rest of the women in this state for nothing more than we don’t have a penis,” said Faith.

She saw our reporting on how a lawmaker who controls insurance regulations has received numerous donations from insurance companies and wanted to share her story.

“Judge me by my driving record, not by what is between my legs,” said Faith.

Edited by clapclapclap
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Trey3216

Trey3216 15,378

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, clapclapclap said:

https://www.wxyz.com/news/transgender-woman-shocked-by-higher-car-insurance-rates-for-women-in-michigan

(WXYZ) - She says her ability to drive didn’t change when she transitioned from life as a man to life as a woman, but her insurance rates sure did.

spl945383_009-e1423429595879.jpg?quality

Faith Frances asked that we use her first and middle name and omit her last name to protect her privacy.  

She thought she was the victim of discrimination against transgender people. When she fought for justice, she learned she is the victim of legal discrimination all women in Michigan are subject to. 

It is an issue we exposed. Car insurance companies are allowed to charge women a lot more for car insurance, simply because they are women

Faith contacted her insurance company because she changed her legal name. She never imagined it would skyrocket her car insurance prices $970.08 - almost $1000 a year.

“I don’t know. What do they think? My breasts get in the way of driving? I don’t know,” said Faith.

She jokes, but it is serious.  That $80 is a significant chunk of her income.

“If they would put my insurance rates back where it should be, I wouldn’t have to go to the food bank,” said Faith.

When it happened she contacted Attorney General Bill Schuette’s office. She thought it was transgender discrimination.  

She says she received a response from the Michigan Insurance Commissioner’s office. It explained it had nothing to do with her change of gender. Women who are born female also pay more.

It included a letter from Progressive Marathon Insurance Company.  She says the letter, ironically, revealed Progressive has a very unprogressive policy.

The letter reads in part:

 

On March 7, 2018, we received a call from Ms. (redacted), asking that we change her name from (redacted) to (redacted), and change her gender from male to female. (redacted) is right. This change did increase the rate by $80.84. We utilize gender and marital status as factors that, in conjunction with age, determine an individual driver class rating factor, which is used as part of a customer’s rate calculation in our Chapter 24 group rated companies.

 

“You are punishing me for being my true self, and you are punishing the rest of the women in this state for nothing more than we don’t have a penis,” said Faith.

She saw our reporting on how a lawmaker who controls insurance regulations has received numerous donations from insurance companies and wanted to share her story.

“Judge me by my driving record, not by what is between my legs,” said Faith.

The Food Bank??  How much did that fucking transition surgery cost you??  Fuck me  

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Pato del Muerto

Pato del Muerto 52,625

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Posted (edited)

It’s not like the rates for different people are based on data accrued over decades and parsed by cost of repair and frequency of claim for different ages, genders, and geographical locations. 

Hey, why don’t companies offer group auto policies to employees like health insurance?  Most companies have some sort of auto policy.

 

Edited by Pato del Muerto
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irishtexan

irishtexan 11,527

Posted
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Disregarding the inherent hilarity of the story, and my difficulty reconciling the costs for the gender reassignment surgery and her being on food stamps, a thousand dollars a year is a pretty significant difference based on gender. I'd like to see the actuarial data that supports this policy. 

1 minute ago, Pato del Muerto said:

It’s not like the rates for different people are based on data accrued over decades and parsed by cost of repair and frequency of claim for different ages, genders, and geographical locations. 

 

Is it though? I sure as shit don't trust insurance companies.

 

Edited by irishtexan
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conVINCEd

conVINCEd 21,472

Posted
Posted

What she’s omitting is that she filed for glass coverage 9 times last year and had an accident  a year ago that finally made it through the subrogation process and was charges as an at fault accident.

I don’t have any clue what actually happened here, nor am I familiar with the insurance laws in Michigan, but I would bet a few best buy coupons that we don’t have the whole story.  

An insurance agent

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Pato del Muerto

Pato del Muerto 52,625

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, BurntEyes said:

Age, sex and race.

Been going on forever and isn't changing soon.

Hell, for one of my motorcycles the major carriers were quoting more than the cost of the bike annual for full coverage.

Yeah, more than the cost new every year.

That case isn’t the cost of the bike, it’s the cost of the rider. 

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conVINCEd

conVINCEd 21,472

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, BurntEyes said:

Nope remove the PI clause and it still stays high. It's a case of they really don't want to insure it at all. 

A lot of insurance companies are adverse to bikes.  I always thought they should just say we don’t want to insure bikes, but for some reason they choose to do it with the price.  Probably trying to keep the rest of your business.

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conVINCEd

conVINCEd 21,472

Posted
Posted
4 minutes ago, Okie State said:

I always heard that men paid higher premiums and I never understood the logic behind that.

In a traditional family, the men do the majority of the driving.  I realize the traditional family is not as common as it once was, but if the wife and I are going anywhere together, there’s a 90% chance I am behind the wheel.

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Trey3216

Trey3216 15,378

Posted
Posted
7 minutes ago, conVINCEd said:

In a traditional family, the men do the majority of the driving.  I realize the traditional family is not as common as it once was, but if the wife and I are going anywhere together, there’s a 90% chance I am behind the wheel.

This, as well as the fact that men tend to still have testosterone running through our veins until our mid-30's when we begin to wise up a bit.  Mid 30's is typically the crossover point in men's auto insurance beginning to flatten out.  

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You don't know me

You don't know me 1,161

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, conVINCEd said:

In a traditional family, the men do the majority of the driving.  I realize the traditional family is not as common as it once was, but if the wife and I are going anywhere together, there’s a 90% chance I am behind the wheel.

Same here, and in the 10% of the time in which I am not driving I am instinctively slamming my foot on the imaginary brake on the passenger side.

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Trey3216

Trey3216 15,378

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, conVINCEd said:

In a traditional family, the men do the majority of the driving.  I realize the traditional family is not as common as it once was, but if the wife and I are going anywhere together, there’s a 90% chance I am behind the wheel.

That 10% the wife is driving is after we've been anywhere and I've had a few beers.  

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RollLeft

RollLeft 5,045

Posted
Posted

Insurance is an old industry and, when honest, only make actuarial decisions.  I suppose if we dug into it there are statistics that show women cost more in claims hence the premium.  I don't know if they drive any worse than men.  Maybe on average they drive more hours in the day?  Maybe they drive more expensive cars?  Maybe the accidents they get in are more costly?  Many factors....agh who are we kidding they are shitty drivers putting on makeup or are on the phone.  

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Trey3216

Trey3216 15,378

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, conVINCEd said:

Maybe, maybe not.  Out of curiosity, I'll find out how she would be viewed by a life insurance underwriter the next time I talk to one.

This is the more correct answer.  Perhaps.  I said yes, but it is definitely not a guaranteed yes.  

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Pato del Muerto

Pato del Muerto 52,625

Posted
Posted (edited)

Interesting. Are there actuarial tables on trans people yet?  

Could be an interesting mixture of physical risks associated with one sex and behavioral risks associated with the other. 

Driving is behavior driven, but behavior can be hormone dependent and some trans people do hormone therapy and some don’t. Same with gender reassignment surgery. 

Maybe the insurance companies, who aren’t exactly altruistic, put trans folks in higher risk groups across the board to cover their asses financially. 

Edited by Pato del Muerto
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