Is it a Good Idea to Find Insurance for Things that Haven’t Ever Had it Before?
When somebody mentions buying insurance to you, you probably think about insurance for your health, your house or your car. The insurance industry, that’s been trying to expand its business, has been busy these days trying to tap into the fears people have of being surprised with unexpected expenses for something or the other that could become damaged, that could fail, or get stolen. Simply imagine, they tell you – what if your cell phone falls under a bus, what if your pet gets bitten by another dog? All of that is going to be an unforeseen expense that could totally break your plans for the month. Don’t you prefer to find insurance for a little peace of mind here? Possibly, you do; and perhaps you don’t.
It doesn’t matter what sort of sudden problems you might be dealing with – it could be insurance for the price of a vacation you just bought (they will make you whole if you find that you cannot make it), it could be the $5000 it costs to help your pet with his tumor. They promise to help you. Pet insurance companies are actually doing booming business – there are a 5% rise annually in the amount of people who take these policies out. And approximately one in four smartphone owners has insurance as well. It’s practically impossible these days to go out and buy anything without being offered insurance for it. Insurance companies have just discovered a fantastic way to milk you for little additional money at practically zero costs to themselves.
The thing is, to find insurance for your cell phone or any of these other things doesn’t really save you money. It’s easy to add it up. You pay around $6 a month to insure a smartphone. When you really lose your cell phone and put in a claim, there is $100 deductible. And they don’t even cover damage to your phone that might occur when you drop it or something. They only cover you when you totally lose the phone or drop it in a bucket of water. If you lose your phone, one year after you start your insurance policy you will be out $172 to claim the $200. Why is this worth it?
You know what it feels like to go find insurance for your health and then to have them give you a hundred exclusions for what they won’t pay for, don’t you?
It works out no differently with pet insurance. Most pet owners actually consider their pets to be part of their family. There are reports of families that have actually been bankrupted taking care of their pets. Does that make it a great deal to get insurance for your pet? To start with, their co-pays, premiums and deductibles can set you back hundreds of dollars each year. And then, they have a really low ceiling for reimbursements. And the regular visits to the vet your pet needs to stay healthy? They don’t cover that.
A far better idea to try to find insurance for these things would be to simply safe money yourself. They call it self-insurance. You act as your own insurance company.
