To me it is not any different then asking a stranger or friend how much money do you make or how much is your house worth or how much money and or savings do you have in your bank account or whatever etc etc… That is just rude… There are just somethings that are personal…
Kinda like when we used to have to ask a customer what their annual income was while applying for a shop CC, I hated asking that, I never thought it was any of my business, but part of the job none the less, they changed it later, to the customer entering it in themselves…
Anyway had a guy come in very well dressed with a very nice car, to buy tires, well he said he needed the CC and that was the only way he could buy them… I signed him up and when I ask his income he said $300,000.00 a year, I about fell over, I was not impressed by his income as much as I was wondering why is someone needing NEW credit to buy a $1200.00 set of tires (around 2015)… He was approved with the highest limit I had ever seen and bought the best tires, so I knew he paid his bills…
Point is, that stuff is just plain personal and no one should ever be put on the spot like that out in the open, in private for business is one thing…
BTW, you might be surprised at how many people have NO idea what their annual income is, not even a rough guess, I had to many times get my calculator out and help them figure that out… lol
Exactly. Insurance uses all those factors to determine rates. Just moving 2 miles south into MA and my insurance rates will go up 30% (at a minimum). When I moved to NH from central NY back in the 80’s my insurance TRIPPLED (with a higher deductible)…Same insurance company (state farm). I called around and State Farm was in the ballpark of everyone else. You can’t really compare anyone else’s insurance to yours. Way too many factors to get an accurate comparison.
Exactly!
And, some insurance companies may use “factors” that one might never think would affect one’s rates or coverage. When I applied for homeowner’s insurance from the same company that has insured my vehicles for many years, I was initially rejected for home insurance.
So, I phoned their main office and was told that because there is a farm in back of my property, they weren’t interested in insuring my home. I asked why, and they told me that “typical daily farming activities could put your home at risk”. Huh?
So, I took photos, and used info from my municipality to prove that the farm was actually used just to grow hay, and that there were only two harvests per year. That made the difference, and they agreed to cover my home.
If such strange factors can play into home insurance coverage, there could also be some strange factors in play when it comes to car insurance rates.
Apparently not …lol … It wouldn’t bother me at all if someone asked what I paid for auto insurance. After all I purposely logged in to a car forum expecting to discuss car issues, and like I say above, if a poster prefers not to answer, easily done, just ignore the question. Conflating asking about a car insurance premiums vs asking about a poster’s salary & saving account info, in a car forum? IMHO that’s a bit of a stretch.
If asking someone about the cost of their car insurance is inappropriate here , just curious, what do you folks think? Does the same apply to asking about these other car expenses?
Everything you mention is publicly available information except for traffic citations. I don’t think we should expect anyone to disclose traffic citations either.
OK. While I don’t entirely understand the break-down, I appreciate your opinions as noted above, and I will forthwith accept your recommendations; providing every one here does the same of course .
In summary, by consensus here, it is perfectly acceptable to ask another poster about the price they pay these car-related expenses:
Gasoline
Oil
Oil filters
Repair parts
Shop parts & labor rate
Emissions testing fee
Annual registration fee
Tires
Coolant
Towing fees
Car prices
But it never acceptable to ask another poster about the price they pay for
