We're All Millennials - Part II

On Yonge Street north of St. Clair:
new bells for Yorkminster Park Baptist Church

I got the annual invoice for my condo insurance the other day. The price seemed to have gone up quite a lot from last year. I checked. It had. By more than $150.00. They wanted me to pay $870 for coverage that, back when I started buying home insurance, cost less than $300.* 

I have never changed my insurance company, but, over the years, my insurance company has changed on me, as bigger companies consumed smaller ones and then merged with other big companies. 

Most recently, INTACT absorbed my insurer.

It never mattered whose logo was on my yearly invoice. I can't say I ever felt like I was treated like a person, or that the random broker I connected with each year knew or cared anything about me. 

Every year when I asked them if I wasn't being over-insured, I got patronizing explanations for why my coverage could not be changed, but they could offer me a better rate if I insured my car with them. Every year I told them I'd never owned a car. 

Last year INTACT took away a discount I used to get for being mortgage free. They explained the discount applied only if I had a real home. Condos, evidently, aren't real homes.

For as long as Bruce and I have had a roof over our heads, I have put up with this nonsense.

But, the form letter INTACT sent this year, telling me I'd get a better deal if I also insured my car, and charging me 18% more than last year, motivated me to look online for alternatives.

My expectations weren't high as I googled "condo insurance." I'd looked the year before and found prices were not all that different. So you can imagine my surprise when I found a policy this time for $350.00.  I'm going to say that again: I could get exactly the amount of insurance I wanted for $500 less than what INTACT was going to charge me.

I had one last conversation with a random INTACT broker, and cancelled my policy.

Let's check for signs of millennialism. I was dissatisfied with the status quo (✔️), wanted the lowest price possible (✔️), and was annoyed with the grown up at INTACT (✔️) who not only lectured me about changing my insurance provider (✔️) but who also called me "dear" (✔️). 

In case you're wondering, my new insurer is Square One. They don't sell automobile insurance. 

Thanks for reading.

Karen

*I'm claim free.