SPOKANE, Wash. — Venessa Russell has owned her 2020 Kia Telluride for three years and has been with her insurance company, Safeco, owned by Liberty Mutual, for nearly five years. However, when she got this message from her broker, citing they were “declining the quotes due to the Kia being on the policy,” she was shocked.
“You pay every single month on time, never lapsed, never nothing, and to have him just say thanks for that free money for the last couple of years. Now I’m dropping you,” said Russell.
Russell’s broker added that this is due to a “trend on social media showing people how to steal and carjack Hyundais and Kias.”
Russell says she was denied by all major insurance companies solely due to the make of her car. She added all drivers listed on the insurance have had no accidents and received no tickets in the last twenty years. Her broker was able to find one smaller company that would insure her Kia, but the cost was simply too high.
Russell was quoted $7500 a year to insure two cars with three drivers coming out to over $600 a month. That’s a $200 monthly increase from her previous insurance. This additional cost was after dropping a driver and a car from the insurance.
Russell says it just wasn’t feasible, “right now it’s covering the extra cost of groceries or what you know, gas even for the month, but $200 right now, I think to anybody, it’s a lot.”
Russell was able to find an affordable insurance provider. However, they were unable to cover both her home and car, so she has two different providers.
We reached out to Safeco for a statement, and they told us they”do not publicly comment on individual underwriting decisions, and each risk is evaluated on its own merit.”
