Posted on 09/08/2007 5:19:30 AM PDT by rightwingintelligentsia
Tony Soprano would be so proud. New Jersey, home of the fictional mob boss, has been crowned first in the nation for having the most residents who enjoy illegitimate farm-use discounts on the price of their auto insurance.
It's a heady distinction, sullied only a little by the fact that Jersey has the 11th-smallest farming industry among the 50 states.
Farmers or not, you can't say Jersey folks aren't resourceful. They emerged as kings in a recent report titled "Scam Alert: Study Reveals Crafty Urban Residents Cheat Auto Insurers." It is the fruit of research by Quality Planning, a San Francisco company that uses sophisticated analytical tools to verify policyholders' applications for insurance companies.
Runner-up: Connecticut Nipping at New Jersey's heels for the flimflam farm-vehicle title is Connecticut. Yes, that Connecticut, whose capital, Hartford, home to 18 insurance companies, calls itself "the insurance capital of the world." Call it Yankee ingenuity. Only five states have fewer farms.
Quality Planning's analysis of 150,608 conveyances nationwide whose owners claimed they were used in farming found nearly 8% registered "in areas where, according to a 2000 Census Survey, absolutely nobody is engaged in agriculture."
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.moneycentral.msn.com ...
I wonder if we will get any stories on how insurance companies call cities 60 mi from an ocean “coastal”
Insurance companies commit more fraud than their customers do. I am no supporter of the insurance industry...which is legalized scamming...esp w laws and contracts requiring purchasing insurance
BTW here in NWNJ we have plenty of farms with legitimate farm use vehicles.
Hurricane and flood anyone? Good luck.
I suspect the agents were in on it to. They would obviously have to know better.
c’mon. Who else is a more faithful correspondent? You can probably even arrange to have your bill delivered on your birthday every year. At least somebody will remember.
Didn’t Al Bundy do that? The policy required him to keep a live chicken in the car.
Guess who the biggest opponent of “mandatory” auto insurance policies are? Insurance companies themselves. Why, you might ask? Simply because insurance companies know better than anyone else that regardless of any law, the rates of noncompliance are virtually identical, (5 to 10 per cent say, maybe a bit more in some areas) but their expenses increase quite a bit - everyone signs up now, but as always let their policy lapse. Just a big pita all the way around.
Here in virgina we have ten's of thousands of people with two acres and one horse claiming they are farmers. The even run farm tags on their horse trailers when the take the old plug out to some, tax payer paid for, riding tail.
One of the day sysadmins here has a few acres and a few cows, he get teh farmers discount, on taxes, insurance, and get tax free ag gas and diesal.
Lawyers are one of the major enablers of insurance fraud. They used to chase ambulances. Now, they have slick TV commercials showing people who claim to have received hundred of thousands of dollars in insurance claims.
I hate those commercials as much as the Viagra, feminine hygiene products, and the male enhancement products.
I agree, the agents try to get the discounts for the drivers any way they can so they don’t lose the business.
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