Insuring Your Own Failure

My daughter has moved out and my auto insurance agent informs me that he can no longer insure her since she’s moved to a different state. My wife recommends an online insurance reseller that we’ve done business with before, albeit for life insurance.

Even though I typically have my — young — adult children handle their own affairs, this is a new situation for my daughter and I don’t want her to get talked into coverage she doesn’t need. Therefore, I put the online quote in her name, but the contact information is for me so I can review it. I receive a follow-up call from Online Auto Insurance (OAI).

Caller: “Hello, this is [Caller] with OAI. Is this [Daughter]?”

Me: “No, this is her father.”

Caller: “May I speak to [Daughter]?”

Me: “No, she’s not available. I’m the one that requested the quote. We’re still reviewing quotes. Your company is one of our finalists, but we need a few more days to decide. We’ll call you back when we’re ready.”

It should be noted that I’m being totally honest; their quote was one of the best.

Caller: “I need to speak with [Daughter].”

Me: “I said we’re still reviewing quotes and we’ll get back to you. We liked your quote.”

Caller: “I need to talk to [Daughter].”

I don’t recall the specifics of what he says, but it is basically, “I’m going to keep calling you until I talk to [Daughter] because she’s the only person I’ll accept ‘stop calling me’ from.”

Me: “You know what? I’m done. You were one of our best quotes, and it was likely that we’d have selected your company. I’ve told you nicely that we’re still reviewing quotes and will be in touch. But you’ve made me mad with your unwillingness to do things on our timeframe, so we won’t be calling you back or doing business with your company in the future. Goodbye.”

Caller: “Okay. Goodbye.”