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State sponsored car insurance racket, or Progressive policy?

State sponsored car insurance racket, or Progressive policy?

I received Progressive, forced insurance scam emailan email from Progressive Insurance yesterday evening stating that my son, Conner, would be automatically added to our policy on April 12, 2024. So I called Progressive to tell them not to add him, as he does not drive our vehicles and does not have his own vehicle despite holding a driver’s license.

Conner completed driver’s education, which is apparently all you have to do to obtain a full driver’s license in Kansas, which explains why half of these mother fuckers in Kansas can’t drive for shit. Driver’s education consisted of 8 hours of classroom tuition and six hours of on-road tuition; no test is required upon completion of driver’s education. I have seen Conner driving, and it’s dangerous in my view; without another driver to correct him, he does not have the decision-making skills to drive safely. He needs more tuition before being let loose on the road, but the state of Kansas is happy to unleash him.

This sounds like insurance companies have negotiated a deal with the state of Kansas to force parents to have their children on their insurance policies. Of course, because they are new drivers, this adds more than 100% to the price, which has almost doubled since 2020. Currently, we pay $210 per month for Erin and I, with two 14-year-old Ford’s on the policy. Being forced to add Conner will increase our policy to $490 monthly, which is entirely unaffordable, for basically nothing, as he’d not be driving our cars!

Here are the options, pay the extra 133% more cash, have Conner pay $280 from his part-time income, have Conner get his own insurance on a nonexistent car, kick Conner out of the house so he is no longer part of the household, or have him surrender his driver’s license. Or, switch insurance companies to the cheapest liability-only insurance with the maximum deductible possible, or just cancel all insurance and assume the risk of driving uninsured and unregistered, as we cannot renew our tags without insurance.

The logic is that any licensed driver in the household has access to the vehicles registered at the property, and all licensed drivers must be insured. Of course, an unlicensed teen would never take the car without permission, would they? If an adult child takes a car without the parent’s permission and gets in a wreck, the insurance company would have no liability to pay, as that child is not listed on the policy. The child should have the total liability to cover the other driver’s claim and face whatever legal consequences are associated with driving uninsured, including car theft; it’s all about personal responsibility in my mind.

According to the DMV staff, Progressive is lying to policyholders.

Today, a day after the above was written, I called the DMV and asked whether my son, who recently received his license, needs to be added to our insurance simply because he lived with us. The lady who I spoke with said she faced the same issue with Progressive, being forced into paying for insurance, but she switched insurance companies, and the problem went away, which would indicate that Progressive is scamming people, citing nonexistent state laws, based upon what the DMV lady told me.

So, I will hunt for new insurance before April 11 and maybe find a better deal. We have been with Progressive since 2011 and have been happy until now. This is similar to the situation with Cox Communications, whom I was with until they lied to me, so I looked at my options and found AT&T Fiber.

Final Update and resolution

It’s a week later, after many phone calls, I concluded that all insurance companies operating in Kansas force newly qualified drivers onto the homeowner’s policy if they don’t have their own insurance. I called AAA Insurance, The General, and obviously Progressive. The final call was to Geico, and that was the only company that tried to actually sell me insurance and succeeded. I ended up with a policy matching Progressive’s coverage, which includes renter’s insurance for $277, which is about $67 more than the pre-increase price but $213 less than the new Progressive price, and provides coverage for our son.

Adding Conner to the Progressive policy costs more than I will pay for the new Geico insurance. The moral of the story is that in Kansas, don’t allow your kids to get a full driver’s license unless they have moved out or have their own insurance policy, regardless of whether they have a car (joke). We probably could have found the extra $280 in a pinch, but in the long term, that is not sustainable. But, mostly, I didn’t want to pay it; it’s ridiculous to charge 133% more to add a teen driver who won’t be driving our cars.

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