Man insurance is such a scam. They'll only actually offer hypothetical coverage if they know you won't need it đ
Actually need it? "Well, we have to make a profit! Why would we pay for that thing you're paying us to cover?"
An insurance company takes the data it has about whatever someone wants to insure, uses its actuarial system to find out what its risk value is, and then charges you slightly more than that value over time.
You will probably never need the service, but if you do, theyâll help you out. Because theyâre charging more than the actual risk value, over time and over a large enough subset of clients, theyâll make some profit, even while paying to replace or fix peopleâs houses. Which is fine, they are providing a service and thereâs absolutely nothing wrong with profiting from providing a service. You win, they win, everyone benefits.
In return, you get the peace of mind of knowing that if the worst happens, youâll be at least somewhat better off and able to afford to rebuild.
If the risk of event X gets too high in an area, and the company isnât allowed to say, âYouâre covered for everything but X,â the company would either need to charge enough to cover essentially the value of the house on such a short timeframe as to be untenable, or stop providing coverage. They donât have infinite money, so if theyâre forced to provide coverage at a lower rate than the risk level, and something like a massive hurricane or flood or fire happens, they go bankrupt. Now no one gets their house rebuilt.
Just because a company only operates where they make a profit doesnât make them a scam. They arenât a charity or a public service.