Fuel Gauges and Insurance

[Justin Fidler <justin@codeboy.net>]

Two things:

1.  Someone I know works for GEICO at their corporate HQ.  I've seen some
of the internal corporate memos regarding issuing policies, and their
pricing (compared to competitors) is based on their low overhead.  There's
nothing lavish about their operations (perhaps keeping true to their
acronym -- Government Employees Insurance Co).  While I think the
insurance industry in general has many problems with overcharging and
such, I don't think GEICO should be singled out -- they're all just as
bad.  Contrary to what someone else stated, GEICO does insure high-risk
drivers -- in fact, they now have an ad campaign on the radio touting it.
GEICO has a subsidiary that does this insurance, so the costs of that
operation don't spill over into their normal (low-risk) operation (so lots
of high-risk drivers don't affect the rates of low-risk drivers).  If
anyone wants more information on the insurance industry, I'd be glad to
provide it off-list.

When pricing out insurance, I found the companies look at their own
statistics for your zip code.  If they don't have adequate data, they use
an industry-wide rating.  So, I found that some insurance companies
(Company A) that have a lot of customers in my zip code (which is
very high-risk), and an unusually high rate of claims will charge lots,
versus insuring with some random company that doesn't have any customers
in your area (after all, the industry averages mean someone's got to have
claim experience at the high end -- perhaps Company A).  Some companies
also don't take into account where your vehicle is parked (GEICO doesn't),
which makes a big difference where I live. The trick is to track down all
these companies -- I found a good list at http://www.gacc.com/mia -- it's
the Maryland Insurance Administration, and they list a bunch of companies
and their average rates -- could be useful in other states as well.

2.  Is the A4 fuel gauge "driving-sensitive"?  I was on a roadtrip this
weekend, and I was at a nice highway cruising speed.  I noted the fuel
gauge as I exited the highway, and about 5 minutes after I was on city
streets (stop-n-go), the reading dropped by nearly a 1/4 tank!  What's
strange is I took it out the next day, and I was driving on city streets
for a while (fuel gauge still low), and once I got on the highway, its
reading actually increased!  So does the fuel gauge look at your driving
style and apply some sort of weighting/multiplier to the actual fuel tank
reading?  My car does NOT have the trip computer.

Justin
97 A4 1.8tq