Words/Phrases You're Sick Of Hearing?

[Tom Geiger]

The one I'm MOST sick of hearing is "I CAN'T" when it means "I'm too damm lazy to try hard enough".

I used to get that from construction contractors at work, thinking they'd shirk on the job.  So I'd tell them that I had to take them at their word that they couldn't.  But that I certainly could find another contractor who could!

[mustang1989]

The one I'm MOST sick of hearing is "I CAN'T" when it means "I'm too damm lazy to try hard enough".

I had a really good friend one time who had a good "counter punch" for that one. Don't say you can't , just say you won't.

[Danno]

Her's an interesting story regarding auto insurance.

I got a call from Allstate (or was it State Farm?)... one of those two. Anyway, they wanted to give me a quote on auto insurance. So I said fire away! But you aren't going to beat the rate that Geico is charging me.

And here's the weird part... they asked me what car I was insuring. So I told them, 2007 Mustang GT. And here's the really weird part: they told me that they do not insure my car! Yep, they flat out refused to offer me insurance based on the car I own.

Needless to say, I was pretty shocked. If my car is some sort of "high risk" car, you'd think they would jump at the chance to insure me and stick me with some outrageous premium! But no... they just said that insurance for my car was not available.

That's exactly right.  Each insurance company has its own philosophy as to what kind of business it wants to ~ or is willing to ~ insure.  Some just don't want high performance cars.  Some don't want anything that could be considered commercial.  Some don't want to insure in certain geographical areas.  So, their rates may be set accordingly.  They may not want the business, but if someone is willing to pay way too much, they'll accept it rather than be accused of discriminating.  On the other hand, the smart customers shop around, as Harry said.  

Some companies have a loss-ratio experience that tells them car freaks are great customers because they take very good care of their "babies."  Others don't give car freaks a chance because they still subscribe to the antiquated notion that hotrodders from hell are gonna be bad risks.  

Often, specialty insurers are the best bet.  For example, I pay an annual premium for my Malibu that's little more than the monthly premium for my Passat.  Same driver, same zip code, same, same, same.  Sure, I drive the Malibu less, but it's worth about the same on a stated value policy.  The whole point is, my Passat carrier won't insure my Malibu at stated value, and my Malibu carrier knows how car freaks take care of their cars.  I win.   

 

 

 

[Tom Geiger]

 

Often, specialty insurers are the best bet.  For example, I pay an annual premium for my Malibu that's little more than the monthly premium for my Passat.  

I used to have a classic car policy for my collector cars.  At first I only had the 1960 Buick when it was 25 years old and I put historic tags on it.  After maybe two years I get a notice I'm being dropped. Reason?  "Daily use of collector car, car not stored in locked garage".   I call  these idiots up and they say they gathered this bit of intelligence by calling my next door neighbor.  I go and knock on the door next door and inquire.  The lady says that an insurance company called and asked if "the blue car was parked outside".  I look back at my house and I see my BLUE  Nissan Stanza, my BLUE '73 Scamp and my BLUE '73 Barracuda.  I call the insurance company back and read them the riot act, about intrusive spying etc.  They stood their ground that there terms said they could use any means possible to investigate me. I made them reinstate the policy.  Then I found a new insurer.

[Danno]

I used to have a classic car policy for my collector cars.  At first I only had the 1960 Buick when it was 25 years old and I put historic tags on it.  After maybe two years I get a notice I'm being dropped. Reason?  "Daily use of collector car, car not stored in locked garage".   I call  these idiots up and they say they gathered this bit of intelligence by calling my next door neighbor.  I go and knock on the door next door and inquire.  The lady says that an insurance company called and asked if "the blue car was parked outside".  I look back at my house and I see my BLUE  Nissan Stanza, my BLUE '73 Scamp and my BLUE '73 Barracuda.  I call the insurance company back and read them the riot act, about intrusive spying etc.  They stood their ground that there terms said they could use any means possible to investigate me. I made them reinstate the policy.  Then I found a new insurer.

Wow.  That sounds like exactly the wrong company to do business with!   

Fortunately, mine has not been like that at all.  Been with them for years.  

[Harry P.]

If State Farm refuses to insure a Mustang GT, I wonder if they offer coverage to owners of Camaros and Challengers?

Anyone out there with either of those cars insured by State Farm?

[Mark]

After I bought my house, while I had a mortgage, the property taxes and homeowners' policy were paid from an escrow account.  The banks that handled the mortgage (it changed hands five or six times over fourteen years) shopped the insurance around every year.  Every two or three years they'd find cheaper insurance (not by any great amount, just a few bucks) and I'd have a different insurance agent.

The last one would bug me every few months: "we can handle your car insurance too, let us give you a quote".  At the time, I had my daily driver (an '88 Dakota) and a '62 Fairlane.  I had (still do have) regular car insurance on the Fairlane because the "collector car" policies put a lot of restrictions on the car's use.  I've got a mileage restriction but I could drive it to work if I wanted to.

I'd give the insurance agent the information on both vehicles.  Every time, he (same guy, not a flunkie from his office) would call back with a quote on the Dakota only.  My reply would be "...and?", to which I didn't get a reply.  "You forgot something; when you remember what it was, get back to me".  After the third such go-round, I told him what he had forgotten, and not to bother me again.  Not long after that, I paid the mortgage off and switched the homeowners' policy to the company that insures the vehicles. 

[sjordan2]

Her's an interesting story regarding auto insurance.

I got a call from Allstate (or was it State Farm?)... one of those two. Anyway, they wanted to give me a quote on auto insurance. So I said fire away! But you aren't going to beat the rate that Geico is charging me.

And here's the weird part... they asked me what car I was insuring. So I told them, 2007 Mustang GT. And here's the really weird part: they told me that they do not insure my car! Yep, they flat out refused to offer me insurance based on the car I own.

Needless to say, I was pretty shocked. If my car is some sort of "high risk" car, you'd think they would jump at the chance to insure me and stick me with some outrageous premium! But no... they just said that insurance for my car was not available.

Must have been Allstate. State Farm gave me excellent rates on my Porsche and Corvette. Of course, Knoxville is not Chicagoland.

I recently saw a TV item that reported, as usual for a long time, the Viper is the most expensive car to insure at a bit over $4000 a year.

Edited February 28, 2016 by sjordan2

[Deathgoblin]

Phrases I'm tired of hearing...  How about "I'm sorry but we're going to have to let you go."?  Found out Wednesday that my contract isn't being picked up at my current job and I'm going to lose this position at the end of the month.

[Snake45]

Phrases I'm tired of hearing...  How about "I'm sorry but we're going to have to let you go."?  Found out Wednesday that my contract isn't being picked up at my current job and I'm going to lose this position at the end of the month.

Sorry to hear this. I've heard it too many times myself. And have no guarantee that I won't hear it again on any given day.

[Deathgoblin]

Sorry to hear this. I've heard it too many times myself. And have no guarantee that I won't hear it again on any given day.

Me either.  This is my second job change in a year.  Lost my job of 14 years last May due to sleep issues.  They treated it like a discipline problem, and just as I got medication to help with it they terminated me.  At least they were nice enough to give me a good severance.

[Pete J.]

That's exactly right.  Each insurance company has its own philosophy as to what kind of business it wants to ~ or is willing to ~ insure.  Some just don't want high performance cars.  Some don't want anything that could be considered commercial.  Some don't want to insure in certain geographical areas.  So, their rates may be set accordingly.  They may not want the business, but if someone is willing to pay way too much, they'll accept it rather than be accused of discriminating.  On the other hand, the smart customers shop around, as Harry said.  

Some companies have a loss-ratio experience that tells them car freaks are great customers because they take very good care of their "babies."  Others don't give car freaks a chance because they still subscribe to the antiquated notion that hotrodders from hell are gonna be bad risks.  

Often, specialty insurers are the best bet.  For example, I pay an annual premium for my Malibu that's little more than the monthly premium for my Passat.  Same driver, same zip code, same, same, same.  Sure, I drive the Malibu less, but it's worth about the same on a stated value policy.  The whole point is, my Passat carrier won't insure my Malibu at stated value, and my Malibu carrier knows how car freaks take care of their cars.  I win.   

 

Ok, it sounds like it is time for a bit of information on how insurance companies actually work.  Having spent a good part of my life as an underwriter(the guy who cancels your insurance and says no we don’t want you) and as a licenses agent I think I can boil this down.

Way back in the dark ages, insurance was your neighbors.  Small rural communities agreed that if someone’s house or barn burned down, everyone would pitch in and rebuild it.  That way no one had to struggle alone to rebuild and it could be done quickly.  This is the idea of shared risk.  Everyone shares the risk and all benefit. Because these things don’t happen frequently and they happen randomly, all have a similar risk of loss. In today’s world it is just easier to estimate the losses and charge everyone who is similar, a fee(premium) and then pay people to do the work rather than to call you up and tell you to get your hammer and nails, and go over to Joe’s house, we are going to rebuild it.

Now suppose a stranger comes to the small town.  Nobody knows him and all is ok for a while.  Then people notice that he spends a lot of time in the tavern and tends to fall asleep in his barn while smoking his pipe because his wife won’t let him in the house after he has been drinking.  Also, word gets back that he was kicked out of his old town because he burned down his barn twice.  Well the towns people realize he is more likely to burn his buildings down and they don’t want that and tell him to move on because he is causing undo risk to the rest of the town. 

This is exactly what real insurance companies do today, but they use money instead of your labor.  The town they have is their client base and they try to gather as much of a similar group of people as possible because they can more accurately predict their losses.  Based on expected losses plus expenses and profit, they then know how much to charge people.  If you or your vehicle or your home don’t fit the profile of their client base, they don’t want you because you do not have a predictable expectation for them and they don’t let you come into their town. 

All companies have rules for who they will accept.  They may not be published to the public but they do have rules.  I have been a member of USAA since 1972 and back then they only insured US military officers.  Talk about a predictable group of people, they had it and their premiums were very low because of that.  So you may not be able to look up the risk factors your company is looking for, but shopping around to find a good rate will likely get you into a group of people similar to yourself. 

 

[Tom Geiger]

 No I didn't burn down the barn!  It was the cow!  She kicked over the lantern!  

[Ace-Garageguy]

This is one I heard more often than you'd believe, while working as an estimator in a body shop..."the car wrecked".

In most cases, the cars were certainly smarter than their drivers.

BAD CAR! BAD BAD CAR !!!

[SfanGoch]

This is one I heard more often than you'd believe, while working as an estimator in a body shop..."the car wrecked".

In most cases, the cars were certainly smarter than their drivers.

BAD CAR! BAD BAD CAR !!!

Smart phones, TVs and cars; just stupid end users. Your move.

[Ace-Garageguy]

I came across another dumb-write wonder today: somebody explaining to someone else they didn't "real eyes" what something meant.

I guess the writer didn't realize the meaning of "real eyes". 

[SfanGoch]

Those people probably missed first through eighth grades. Their absence notes must've been a hoot.

[Harry P.]

Your move.

So who won the match?

[Tom Geiger]

This is one I heard more often than you'd believe, while working as an estimator in a body shop..."the car wrecked".

In most cases, the cars were certainly smarter than their drivers.

BAD CAR! BAD BAD CAR !!!

I had a friend like that. Greg was a nightmare on cars.  He drove them like he stole them, seldom did a car last 3 months at his hands.  If he caused them to mechanically fail, either through hard driving or lack of maintenance, they simply "blew up".  No mention of involvement or responsibility on his part.  My favorite were the ones he literally drove off the road. Always a heroic story about how he sacrificed the car to save a dog, squirrel or kid on a bike that suddenly popped out in front of him....  

[SfanGoch]

I had a friend like that. Greg was a nightmare on cars.  He drove them like he stole them, seldom did a car last 3 months at his hands.  If he caused them to mechanically fail, either through hard driving or lack of maintenance, they simply "blew up".  No mention of involvement or responsibility on his part.  My favorite were the ones he literally drove off the road. Always a heroic story about how he sacrificed the car to save a dog, squirrel or kid on a bike that suddenly popped out in front of him....  

My nephew owned a 1964 Biscayne. He used it to haul his band up and down the East Coast for gigs. My Taurus was getting a new engine and I asked him if I could borrow his car to take care of a few things. As I was driving along, I heard a loud rattling sound from the engine compartment and saw steam. I pulled over into a gas station and popped the hood. First thing I did was take off the radiator cap. Weird, no more steam and no water in the radiator. I also smelled burning oil; so, I checked it. The dipstick was bone dry. Almost 5 gallons of coolant/water and 5 quarts of oil later, I cranked it up and drove straight home without any problems. I told my nephew what happened. I then asked him when was the last time ( he had the car for almost two years at this time) he checked/changed/added anything. "Huh? You mean I'm supposed put oil in the engine?"

[Tom Geiger]

And that's a testament to how bullet proof  old Chevys were back then!

My sister's husband is a mechanic and would find cars for family.  My wife's brother needed a car, so he found him a low mile little ole lady Pontiac Sunbird.  A few years later the nice mechanic got a profanity filled phone call from the purchaser's wife that the car "just died" and was sitting in the middle of the traffic circle a few towns away.  Upon fetching the car and bringing it back to his shop he concluded that they drove this car 50,000 miles without ever opening the hood or doing a bit of maintenance.  The engine had no oil whatsoever and had seized. It had no brakes nor fluid in the master cylinder. All four tires were bald beyond having had tread for a while. And they were screaming that he sold them a bum car!

[Ace-Garageguy]

 I then asked him when was the last time ( he had the car for almost two years at this time) he checked/changed/added anything. "Huh? You mean I'm supposed put oil in the engine?"

Yeah, sadly for the cars, I've had a number of customers and parents of young drivers over the years relate similar tales. One young lady whose daddy gave her a beautiful new Lexus sporty van thing drove it for years without so much as opening the hood. Poor little car developed a small oil leak that would have been a minor warranty repair, ended up seizing the engine.

Then there was the "professional" adult girlfriend of a business associate who drove her almost-new Jag with the coolant warning light on, until it died in a steaming pile. Killed the engine, and the heat destroyed every seal in the front of the transmission.The car was simply too expensive to repair, and was junked. Her rationale was that her boyfriend (when she was a young hippy chick) drove his ropey old beater Toyota with the warning lights on all the time. Of course, the same ditzy broad had routinely locked her dogs in the Jag too, and they'd shredded the dash and the seat backs by this time.

Edited March 4, 2016 by Ace-Garageguy

[SfanGoch]

So who won the match?

The guy on the left, natch! He taught Bobby Fisher everything he knew about chess.  

[Harry P.]

I knew it!

He's wearing glasses. Everybody knows that if you wear glasses, you're smart...

[Ace-Garageguy]