Ah. Yes, i suppose that’s possible. That would be even sadder than my current view of him, but it wouldn’t be the first time i took an overly charitable view of someone.
I’ve done the same.
This is why it’s bothersome when people claim things like “Albert Einstein was undoubtedly the smartest person who ever liver. He was responsible for the theories of general relativity and quantum physics. Those were the most difficult theories ever created. Nobody else was smart enough to create those theories.” Einstein was just a very smart person who happened to be at the right time and the right place to create those theories. Among the 100 billion people who have ever lived over the past 200,000 years, there were undoubtedly many smarter people who lived in the wrong time and wrong place to create those theories.
Yeah, I’ve taken IQ tests, and done well on the Mensa test, but that’s mostly because my brain works the same as the test-makers of the world.
I’ve heard people say it’s good to join Mensa just to put it on your resumé.
The idea of wanting recognition for that is repugnant to me.
Some insurance companies give (or gave) a discount on car insurance for
being in Mensa.
Geico did for a while.
Best typo of the month.
Probably no different from the discount they give to AARP members, or those in the military or the university alumni associations, etc. In other words, the discount is widely available.
Sounds similar to rental car discounts, the principle being that the list price is so inflated that they’ll give you a discount on just about any pretext. Mensa membership sounds like a pretty shaky basis for an insurance discount. The driver’s age and driving record are several orders of magnitude more important, followed by type of vehicle.
Insurance companies will give a discount to almost anyone who switches companies. They gain a customer, and know that they’ll be raising the premiums every year anyway. It’s a cheap way to get new customers. Saying it’s for “Mensa” or “veterans” is just another hook.
I think I’m a sucker for having stayed with the same company for half a century and never made an accident claim. But they do give me the maximum possible “good driver” discount and I can’t be bothered exploring whether some other company could do better.
Ive switched insurance a few times over the years, for various reasons. I’ve always gotten the same or better coverage for less money.
But nobody else is smart enough to figure that out.
How much money would you say you paid them over all those years without getting a penny back?
We made this mistake for ten years and found out that we could have saved $500 a year in 2024, and smaller amounts each year going back to 2015 if we had asked for verification that our agent was actually “shopping” every year instead of believing that XYZ insurance company that was the cheapest for our specification in 2012 was still the cheapest at every renewal. We just took our agent’s word for it.
Turns out they get a slightly higher commission on renewals for exactly this reason.
I just check with an insurance broker periodically. No work on my part.
Scary thought, isn’t it? Probably something on the order of $50K! But the liability part of the insurance is legally mandatory, and that’s the majority of the cost. And I did get some of it back due to a couple of claims under comprehensive, not accident claims. But yes, I’ve been an ideal customer for them in terms of their profitability.
The company I’m referring to, State Farm, doesn’t use independent brokers and has its own agents. I’m not saying this is good or bad, but it’s a different model. State Farm subsequently sold their Canadian business to a Canadian insurance company, and they have the same company-agent model.
According to my friend whose entire career was at State Farm, the company agents generally have a terrific annuity business, which basically means that they sit back and do nothing while the money rolls in. Great example of the old “nice job, if you can get it”.
I stuck with State Farm and now its successor in Canada for both home and auto insurance because when I’ve needed coverage, I always got it, and I don’t necessarily trust other companies to do the same. When I had roof damage a few years ago due to a hailstorm, they fully covered the cost of upgraded architectural shingles. I actually came out ahead. That was the largest insurance claim I ever made.
I’m always happy when my insurance money is completely wasted. Obviously I want to waste as little as possible, but I’d rather have the cheapest insurance that meets my needs and I never use it, than the cheapest insurance that meets my needs and I use it.
To stay on topic: I assume there are strips where Dogbert sells shart insurance.
I don’t know, but I know that for awhile Dogbert was selling expired lottery tickets at a discount. The reasoning was very sound: these tickets aren’t going to win, but they’re 50% cheaper than the new ones that aren’t going to win either! 
Is this the insurance thread now?