1. Katrina, August 25-30, 2005: $48.4 billion

2. Andrew: $23.7 billion, August 24-26, 1992

3. Sandy: $19.3 billion, October 28-31, 2012

4. Ike: $13.6 billion, September 12-14, 2008

5. Wilma: $12.1 billion, Oct. 24, 2005

6. Charley: $9.1 billion, August 13-14, 2004

7. Ivan: $8.6 billion, September 15-21, 2004

8. Hugo: $7.1 billion, September 17-22, 1989

9. Rita: $6.6 billion, September 20-26, 2005

10. Frances: $5.6 billion, September 3-9, 2004

 

Tow truck operators are right up there with landlords and IRS auditors on the list of professionals you don't want to deal with. A man in Massachusetts has all the more reason to avoid a tow after he was hit with a $48,000 bill, Fox 25 reports.

Joel Ramer and his girlfriend were off-roading in Walpole, MA last week when they wandered were they shouldn't have. They landed in a mud pit on private property. Ramer said it took Assured Collision towing company 12 hours to free his vehicle from the muck. But when he got the bill for the tow, he thought the accounting department must have been off by a decimal.

"When I went to pick up the vehicle from Assured Collision, he'd informed me there was some damage done to the vehicle, but didn't get into details. He also informed me the bill was $48,000," Ramer told Fox. "I thought they made a mistake." The phrase 'some damage' was putting it lightly. Ramer says Assured Collision totaled his Jeep. "Frame is broken, leaf spring is broken, drive shaft is broken," Ramer said.

The itemized bill showed Ramer exactly what he was paying for. Assured Collision charged him $16,000 for an on-scene supervisor. That's $1,250 an hour. The Statewide Towing Association told Fox 25 that the actual industry standard is $175-$325 an hour. The company also claimed that power lines put them at risk, calling it a "hazmat situation." That allowed them to tack on another $5,000 fee for dangerous condition liability insurance. Finally, there was an extra $10,000 fee for an off-road recovery incident response unit.

Insurance won't help with the cost of the tow, so Ramer's broke Jeep is in Assured Collision's hands. On top of the enormous bill and busted Jeep, Ramer was arrested and cited for trespassing on land owned by a utility company and disturbing the peace.

By Robert Carper

While an underwriter, I was asked "Hey Robert what makes auto insurance rates rise?” That’s probably one of the most frequently asked questions in the car insurance industry. People want to know why they’re paying one rate today and a higher rate at the time of policy renewal. Consider the following reasons why auto insurance rates sometimes rise:

Type of car    –  A very expensive car tends to cost more to insure, but If your cheaper car has a large engine, weighs a lot or is an unusual model, it might cost more to insure than a more expensive small car. However, if you have a cheaper car, you will pay less for Comprehensive coverage, which covers damage caused by vandalism, hail, fire or animal accidents

Marital status –  It is viewed that married people are more responsible than young single drivers

Single drivers – Tend to have higher premiums. I am not sure why

Credit score - your credit score can cause your auto insurance to increase. If low, it could be an indicator of future claims. See this link for more information

Good grades  –  Being a good student tends to indicate that a driver is more continuous

Distance driven – The more miles, the higher likelihood a claim will occur. Consider city drivers verses rural drivers

Education   -   Auto insurers found a correlation between education and claims, with fewer claims from people with higher education levels. Each level of education you’ve completed may help lower your rate a bit

Your driving record - Your record of moving violations can affect your rates for life and health insurance in addition to car insurance. Some insurers permit three moving violations, but others allow only one. And some health insurers will reject you if you’ve had a DUI within the past three or five years. 

Speed - You’d expect a Porsche Carrera to cost more to insure than a Toyota Camry. But if you buy a six-cylinder Camry instead of the four-cylinder model, it is usually more expensive to insure. In general, a four-cylinder car with moderate horsepower is less costly to insure than a six- or eight-cylinder car.

 What you carry – If tow, haul, lift items on a regular bases, you may be considered a higher risk.

Household driver(s) (especially with bad driving records) can cause a rate increase



Most auto insurers use C.L.U.E. (I did) to help determine premium rates. What is it?

CLUE (Comprehensive Loss Underwriting Exchange)CLUE is a claims-information report generated by LexisNexis®, a consumer-reporting agency. The report generally contains up to seven years of personal-auto and personal-property claims history.

What a CLUE report contains
The report contains the following claim information provided by your insurance company:

Your name Date of birth
Policy number Date of loss
Type of loss Amount the company paid
Description of the covered property. Property address for homeowner claims or specific vehicle information for auto claims

What companies report 
Insurance companies report all claims for which they:
• Pay out money
• Set up a file for a possible claim
• Formally deny a claim
LexisNexis advises insurance companies not to report claims information when you contact them to simply ask a question about coverage or your deductible.

How insurance companies use CLUE reports
An insurer may request a CLUE report when you apply for coverage or request a quote. The company uses your claims history, or the history of claims at a specific property, to decide if it'll offer you coverage and how much you'll pay. Insurance company studies show a relationship between past claims and claims you report in the future.