Derek Tharp

Professor | Financial Planner | Researcher

[Derek Tharp @derektharp]

@Big12Conference @brettyormark maybe rethink this kick ‘em while they’re down approach?

[Derek Tharp @derektharp]

Hey @Rivian, would love to share with my neighbors how cool Rivians are but somehow my Gen 2 with Connect+ still doesn’t have Halloween mode. Support says they aren’t allowed to manually push it out.

What’s going on? How can a vehicle still not be tagged for an update?

[Derek Tharp @derektharp]

My latest at the WSJ

https://t.co/RugGPFwJ7m

[Derek Tharp @derektharp]

@chrisstanchak @jimfarley98 How do you do a big vehicle announcement and not show the truck?

[Derek Tharp @derektharp]

I posted a detailed critique of @LegalEagle's Tesla/insurance video, arguing he conflated business/personal auto policies regarding terrorism exclusions. As a professor interested in P&C insurance (but isn't a lawyer), I'm concerned about potential consumer harm from his misinformation and his wide reach.

My analysis suggests personal auto policies generally DON'T exclude terrorism, contrary to the claims in his video. LegalEagle misrepresented a business auto policy as a personal auto policy, doesn’t address standardized ISO policies used in all US states, and seems to not appreciate how TRIA relates to certification of terrorist acts in commercial policies. But, of course, I could be wrong on the legal interpretation. Given that scared Tesla owners might make costly decisions based on incorrect info, I'd appreciate legal minds reviewing my work.

@LawfulMasses @Barnes_Law @stevelehto @NickRekieta @UncivilLaw @legalmindset - would any of you be willing to fact-check me? Happy to be corrected if I missed something important. Real people with could be making harmful financial decisions based on LegalEagle’s video.

https://t.co/Ii2mFE7IjV

[Derek Tharp @derektharp]

Google's AI search is getting interesting... I was just searching for a link to @LegalEagle's @Tesla video and I was really surprised to see that Google had already incorporated my YouTube criticism of LegalEagle into an AI overview.

I find it particularly interesting that his video has 740,000 views (on YouTube alone) and my criticism of him has about 330.

I'm really surprised a video with 330 views would even get on Google's radar to mention given the search terms. It does make me wonder if Google is somehow trying to weigh the quality of arguments in their overviews, as putting LegalEagle's transcript into Gemini will flag the many errors in his video.

On the other hand, they didn't quite capture my point -- the issue isn't that terrorism exclusions are narrowly interpreted by courts on personal auto policies, it's that terrorism exclusions aren't on personal auto policies in the first place.

[Derek Tharp @derektharp]

@LegalEagle I love your videos, but you should really take your video about Tesla vandalism and insurance coverage down. It's misleading and doing a disservice to your viewers. https://t.co/UGjKVjFicN

[Derek Tharp @derektharp]

@SawyerMerritt FYI

[Derek Tharp @derektharp]

A widely-shared @LegalEagle video claims @Tesla owners could lose insurance coverage due to terrorism exclusions and Trump administration classification of vandals as domestic terrorists. The video is well on its way to surpassing 1,000,000 views, but it is extremely misleading.

In my response video, I break down what LegalEagle gets wrong. Additionally, I show that his mistakes were "hidden" in plain sight.

I also dive into actual considerations relevant to terrorism coverage on personal auto policies, such as ISO personal auto policy forms, TRIA's post-9/11 framework that nullified terrorism exclusions for personal/commercial coverage, and landmark cases like Pan American World Airways v. Aetna that show how courts narrowly interpret war-like exclusions.

Ultimately, I think there's real concern that Tesla owners who believe this misinformation could make decisions that are detrimental to their financial well-being based on completely incorrect information. I'm a fan of LegalEagle, but he missed the boat on this one and owes it to his viewers to do better than this.

https://t.co/jzVBlw9nqE

[Derek Tharp @derektharp]

@LegalEagle @Tesla @NYKChannel FYI... here's a deep dive on the recent misleading video from LegalEagle

[Derek Tharp @derektharp]

@espn Weak flagrant but Clark had to foul. You can’t just give Reese two offensive rebounds

[Derek Tharp @derektharp]

@hovinthenorth @alsetcenter @MarkRober Saw this and thought the same thing 😅

[Derek Tharp @derektharp]

@bjmtweets @alsetcenter @Tesla If you could do it in real fog conditions, then that’s great, but I don’t think there’s much to learn from any tests attempting to use any form of artificial fog.

[Derek Tharp @derektharp]

@ZacksJerryRig @JayDook So I was just imagining things when I engaged FSD and ended up at my destination 100 miles later without touching my steering wheel?

[Derek Tharp @derektharp]

@mrmoneymustache a Google search led me to randomly stumble upon folks in the MMM forums talking about risk based guardrails. Very cool to see people talking about my work with Justin Fitzpatrick “in the wild!”

Unfortunately, it looks like there’s some significant confusion in the MMM forum about what RBGs are and how they are used, though.

Just sending an open invitation to write something or otherwise have some sort of discussion about RBGs. They can be very useful for folks retiring early.

[Derek Tharp @derektharp]

I DM’ed you and you weren’t able to resolve it. Just asked me to call a Harry & David support number (the same support number that will tell me I need to speak with my rep who will then not return my emails, and we’ll be right back where we are now).

Just want folks to know how terrible the customer service is at 1800flowers and Harry & David

[Derek Tharp @derektharp]

@1800flowershelp my experience using Harry and David this year has been absolutely horrible. I’m trying to place over 100 orders, but the corporate rep I was assigned hasn’t replied to any of the ~10 emails I’ve sent since December 16th.

My teammates and I have spent at least 10 hours waiting on hold over the past weeks and no one has been able to fix the problem for us.

One person was able to get my rep to call me back and he gave me instructions to submit my order spreadsheet, but I submitted that last week, nothing has been done, and he’s still not responding to my emails.

[Derek Tharp @derektharp]

This nightmare continues… What is going on?!

After at least 20 hours on the phone, a few dozen unanswered emails, and unsuccessful support via X, I was available to get an order placed (after Christmas) for 100+ gifts that had an estimated delivery of January 2nd. That sucks for obvious reasons, but, what other option did I have at that point?

Now I realize orders aren’t arriving yet on 1/2 so I log in to see what’s going on and I learn that the ORDERS HAVEN’T EVEN SHIPPED YET?! Absolute worst customer service experience I have had with any company ever.