Managed Car:210 Seconds on How To Triple Car Insurance Premiums
From: Susan Cook
Series: The River Is Wide
Length: 04:16
Managed Car: 210 Seconds on How to Triple Your Car Insurance Premium
Automobile insurance companies - tired of paying so much when a vehicle needs repairs or gets totaled- are bringing managed care- make that managed car- to the out-of-control automobile repair industry. Managed car is here. No more calling up your local garage or VIP and saying-"Hey, I have a funny noise. Can you fix it?" and getting an automatic go-ahead like "Oh sure. When would you like to bring it in?"
Before that repair gets made you will require prior authorization from a car manager who your automobile insurance company has hired . Her job- yes- she does have some automotive training- is to determine if the repair is really necessary and how much you will be able to have done without your car insurance premium going up.
After your insurer has paid millions to set up the bureaucracy of thousands of customer car representatives to take calls, in high rent districts in major call centers from east to west, a sample call to your automobile insurer managed car 1-800 line might go like this:
Welcome to Automobile Behavioral Health. Please be advised this call may be recorded for quality assurance. Please press one if you are a member and two if you are a car mechanic. BING. Please enter your Car Mechanic provider ID or your Automobile Behavioral Health member ID. BING.For eligible repairs, press one. For prior car authorization , press two. If this is an emergency and you are calling after hours, please call your local emergency tow truck number. Please be advised that may not be covered under your policy.
Twenty short minutes later, your managed car customer service representative answers.
"I'd like to get my front end aligned."
"I'm sorry. Your policy only allows 1 alignment per year. You already had that done this year."
"Well, I hit a big pothole. The steering's off."
"We can't authorize that. "
"I need to have this done. You are placing my vehicle at risk by not authorizing this."
"You can appeal this decision by contacting one of our appeal boards. If you'd like I'll send you a form. If they refuse, your insurance premium may increase because of unnecessary repairs."
"But what I do with my car mechanic is none of your business.
"Is there anything else I can help you with today?"
" Who are you to tell me how to take care of my vehicle? And why should what my mechanic decides have anything to do with my car insurance? "
"Your mechanic is on our Preferred Provider panel and he knows that if he provides the service without authorization, we won't send him anymore cars to repair and possibly remove him from the panel. Has he hired a staff to consult with us about prior authorization?
"Then I'll go some place else. "
"Is automobile insurance required in your state?'
"Of course it is."
"All insurance companies now require that you see car mechanics on their provider panels. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
Click.
She goes back to taking calls; that's why she's paid $35000 a year.
You go back to your vehicle, listen to the "thump, thump, thump" and think, "This car will be a piece of junk. And if I happen to get in an accident and it gets totaled, the insurance company won't pay me enough to buy another one."
Exactly.
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Piece Description
Managed Car: 210 Seconds on How to Triple Your Car Insurance Premium
Automobile insurance companies - tired of paying so much when a vehicle needs repairs or gets totaled- are bringing managed care- make that managed car- to the out-of-control automobile repair industry. Managed car is here. No more calling up your local garage or VIP and saying-"Hey, I have a funny noise. Can you fix it?" and getting an automatic go-ahead like "Oh sure. When would you like to bring it in?"
Before that repair gets made you will require prior authorization from a car manager who your automobile insurance company has hired . Her job- yes- she does have some automotive training- is to determine if the repair is really necessary and how much you will be able to have done without your car insurance premium going up.
After your insurer has paid millions to set up the bureaucracy of thousands of customer car representatives to take calls, in high rent districts in major call centers from east to west, a sample call to your automobile insurer managed car 1-800 line might go like this:
Welcome to Automobile Behavioral Health. Please be advised this call may be recorded for quality assurance. Please press one if you are a member and two if you are a car mechanic. BING. Please enter your Car Mechanic provider ID or your Automobile Behavioral Health member ID. BING.For eligible repairs, press one. For prior car authorization , press two. If this is an emergency and you are calling after hours, please call your local emergency tow truck number. Please be advised that may not be covered under your policy.
Twenty short minutes later, your managed car customer service representative answers.
"I'd like to get my front end aligned."
"I'm sorry. Your policy only allows 1 alignment per year. You already had that done this year."
"Well, I hit a big pothole. The steering's off."
"We can't authorize that. "
"I need to have this done. You are placing my vehicle at risk by not authorizing this."
"You can appeal this decision by contacting one of our appeal boards. If you'd like I'll send you a form. If they refuse, your insurance premium may increase because of unnecessary repairs."
"But what I do with my car mechanic is none of your business.
"Is there anything else I can help you with today?"
" Who are you to tell me how to take care of my vehicle? And why should what my mechanic decides have anything to do with my car insurance? "
"Your mechanic is on our Preferred Provider panel and he knows that if he provides the service without authorization, we won't send him anymore cars to repair and possibly remove him from the panel. Has he hired a staff to consult with us about prior authorization?
"Then I'll go some place else. "
"Is automobile insurance required in your state?'
"Of course it is."
"All insurance companies now require that you see car mechanics on their provider panels. Is there anything else I can help you with?"
Click.
She goes back to taking calls; that's why she's paid $35000 a year.
You go back to your vehicle, listen to the "thump, thump, thump" and think, "This car will be a piece of junk. And if I happen to get in an accident and it gets totaled, the insurance company won't pay me enough to buy another one."
Exactly.
Transcript
Managed Car: 210 Seconds on How to Triple Your Car Insurance Premium
-Susan Cook
Automobile insurance companies - tired of paying so much when a vehicle needs repairs or gets totaled- are bringing managed care- make that managed car- to the out-of-control automobile repair industry. Managed car is here. No more calling up your local garage or VIP and saying-"Hey, I have a funny noise. Can you fix it?" and getting an automatic go-ahead like "Oh sure. When would you like to bring it in?"
Before that repair gets made you will require prior authorization from a car manager who your automobile insurance company has hired . Her job- yes- she does have some automotive training- is to determine if the repair is really necessary and how much you will be able to have done without your car insurance premium going up.
After your insurer has paid millions to set up the bureaucracy of...
Read the full transcript
Timing and Cues
210 seconds
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