Car Insurance

[aaronc879]

I just got my bill for my next 6 months of coverage for my car. It went up! It didn't go up much but my car value is going down, shouldn't the cost of coverage be going down with it? This is the second renewal in a row that has gone up. I'm wondering if this is a common practice with all insurers or if I should start shopping around. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks

 

[travelover]

It pays to shop around every few years. I combine my auto / home and umbrella policies to get the best rate.

 

[martyb]

While the value of your car is definitely going down all the time, the insurance company will most likely say that their cost of insuring for liability if you hit someone and do some damage, uninsured motorists, and repairs due to comp & collision to your vehicle are going up. Labor costs rise all the time, and it doesn't matter how much your car's worth, the body shop's still going to charge x amount to fix it. I feel your pain, though!

I agree with travelover to shop around, though. I'm currently with GEICO and have been for around 6 yrs now, but I'm starting to look around again.

 

[scrabbler1]

Your car insurance policy includes many coverages, some of which do not depend on the value of your car. As Martyb alluded to, the liability coverages depend little, if any, on the type of car you own or its value, while the physical damage coverages (Collision, Comprehensive) do depend on the type of car you own or its value. It is quite possible that your Phy Dam coverages can have a decrease in premium but the liability coverages can see an increase which more than offsets the Phy Dam decrease. You might have high Phy Dam deductibles and high Liability limits which would also skew the portion of your overall premium toward your liability coverages and make it more likely for your total premium to grow.

 

[heeyy_joe]

If you drive less than 5000 miles a year you can get them to knock down the premium.

 

[aaronc879]

If you drive less than 5000 miles a year you can get them to knock down the premium.

Unfortunately my average over the 10 1/2 years of the car is about 7500/yr and i'll likely be 6-7K/yr going forward. Close but not close enough.

 

[Lakedog]

Unfortunately my average over the 10 1/2 years of the car is about 7500/yr and i'll likely be 6-7K/yr going forward. Close but not close enough.

Most insurance cos I have dealt with consider 7500 miles a year low mileage and give a lower rate. As others have said, it pays to check around every couple of years if you start getting rate increases. Switched 2-3 yrs ago and saved about 30% for the same coverage (from Allstate to Geico) and so far no increases with Geico.

 

[easysurfer]

Has your credit rating changed? That could also impact the cost.

 

[ERhoosier]

+1 on the other coverages varying a lot more than simple collision ins on your car. This happened a few years ago now, but when I replaced my 9 yr old sedan with a similar (and more costly) new sedan my overall premium went DOWN a few bucks for exact same coverages. Turns of the rise in collision was more than offset by the DEcrease in medical injury coverage. According to insurance co, my new car was that much safer than my old one.

 

[NanoSour]

If your car is worth less than $10K, drop the comp and collision. Statistics are that the average driver gets into an "at fault" accident once every 11 years. If you're an older, safe driver, that number goes up quite a bit and the money saved will pay for any required repairs. Insurance is all about probabilities.

Google "do I need to carry comprehensive and collision coverage"

 

[scrabbler1]

I can't say I agree totally with the "drop comp and collision on your old car." As someone who worked in the actuarial field for 23 years specializing in personal auto, I know that comp tends to be a fairly cheap coverage on an old car. Comp also protects you against frequent nuisance losses such as window glass. I would suggest dropping only collision on an older car but keeping comp, and with a full coverage glass option assuming it is available.

 

[target2019]

I can't say I agree totally with the "drop comp and collision on your old car." As someone who worked in the actuarial field for 23 years specializing in personal auto, I know that comp tends to be a fairly cheap coverage on an old car. Comp also protects you against frequent nuisance losses such as window glass. I would suggest dropping only collision on an older car but keeping comp, and with a full coverage glass option assuming it is available.

Agree with you. In the area where I drive there are many problems, and we average an accident every 3-5 years. The other company always pays, but it is possible we could be found at fault on the next one.

On a 12 year old Toyota SUV the comp is 108 and the collision is 236. Car value is $3,500. The auto insurer actually suggested we drop this coverage. I can see situations where this would work in their favor, glass replacement being one example. For now well keep the coverage.

 

[panacea]

You might be able to save some money by reducing the underlying liability coverage on your auto insurance, as well as your home owner insurance. Assuming you have an umbrella policy, that effectively provides the coverage you need anyway. However, you can't eliminate it completely since the insurance company will have a minimum required level of liability you must maintain.

 

[Payin-the-Toll]

Had car insurance with a local Indiana company for over 40 years. Agent retired, so I got the new kid on the block, and rates climbed for 2 years. I kept calling him and complaining and he said that's just the way it is. Wife's mega-corp retirement area sent us a flyer for a special deal on car insurance from a national company. Tried them out and they cut the rates almost 50% for the same coverage. Let the old policies die and didn't even call for a refund for the months of coverage left. Nobody from the old company ever called to find out why I dumped them. About a month after the old policies were due, got a notice in the mail that the policies were cancelled, so I guess they didn't want to insure safe old drivers with almost perfect driving records who drive less than 5000 miles per year.

Agree with Scrabbler1 on not dropping comp and collision. Had a 97 Windstar for 12 years and the comp & collision was $75/year. So I paid $900 for that and figured if vehicle got totaled, even with the $1000 deductible, it would still be worth about $2k and I'd get my money back.

 

[zinger1457]

I use to switch auto insurance companies all the time because of large increases (50% from Geico in 1 year) even though I had a clean driving record and no accidents. I've been with Prog* since I purchase by current car in 2006 and my rate has stayed steady or gone down a few dollars every year. Now paying about $160/yr less then what I paid in 2006 when the car was new. Besides fixing a few windshield chips I've only had to file one claim (for a rental car accident) during that time.

 

[easysurfer]

I just switched my auto, condo, umbrella from Geico to American Family. For me, the rates were comparable. I do like having an assigned local agent in AmFam versus the call center of Geico. Though, Geico's call centers have been pleasant to work with, even when I cancelled -- there wasn't too much of the please, please stay with us sales pitch.

 

[aaronc879]

I just switched my auto, condo, umbrella from Geico to American Family. For me, the rates were comparable. I do like having an assigned local agent in AmFam versus the call center of Geico. Though, Geico's call centers have been pleasant to work with, even when I cancelled -- there wasn't too much of the please, please stay with us sales pitch.

American Family is the company i'm thinking of leaving after 14 years. My old agent retired a couple years ago and ever since then my rates have been going up for what seems to me to be no reason.

 

[frank]

does anyone here have amica insurance for home and auto? I was wondering how you like them. I am thinking of leaving state farm after 30 years because they raise rates annually, have changed deductible to percentage of insured property, have local agents but when you have a claim, the local agent is just a referral to an adjuster. drop coverages for different perils on a yearly basis, such as mold.

 

[HillCountry]

I traded in my old car for $1K when I got my new car of $50K. The insurance only goes up a coupe of 100$. That really surprised me.

 

[Totoro]

I traded in my old car for $1K when I got my new car of $50K. The insurance only goes up a coupe of 100$. That really surprised me.

As others mentioned, it depends on the kind of insurance you have.

If you only insure damage to others (the one that is legally required) the value of your car doesn't matter.

 

[HillCountry]

As others mentioned, it depends on the kind of insurance you have.

If you only insure damage to others (the one that is legally required) the value of your car doesn't matter.

Maybe people on this board are pretty rich and self insured. For me, a 50K car that I use every day, I want comprehensive coverage.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

does anyone here have amica insurance for home and auto? I was wondering how you like them. I am thinking of leaving state farm after 30 years because they raise rates annually, have changed deductible to percentage of insured property, have local agents but when you have a claim, the local agent is just a referral to an adjuster. drop coverages for different perils on a yearly basis, such as mold.

I have Amica and couldn't be happier. I dumped (FIRED) USAA to go with them...that should tell you something. I was with USAA around 15 years with no claims EVER and they kept raising the rates. When I went with Amica, the year long policy cost the same as 6 months with USAA. I have yet to have a claim, but all the interactions I've had with them have been grade A. Most of the rating firms put them on par with USAA.

Sent From My Motorola Startac. Please excuse grammatical errors.

 

[Mulligan]

Maybe people on this board are pretty rich and self insured. For me, a 50K car that I use every day, I want comprehensive coverage.

Well, I am even a couple lengths further down the totem pole than you are, HillCountry. Including a purchase I will be making this week, I haven't bought $50,000 worth of cars in the past 20 years, and that is not even accounting for trade in values. While I could afford the monthly payment I guess, the sales tax, insurance, and annual property tax bill would force me to take Prozac.
I will shop my insurance on this one, but my monthly bill on existing one was about $23 so I doubt there will be much savings unless I can get a better home insurance rate which always seems to jump on me.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[REWahoo]

I have Amica and couldn't be happier. I dumped (FIRED) USAA to go with them...that should tell you something. I was with USAA around 15 years with no claims EVER and they kept raising the rates. When I went with Amica, the year long policy cost the same as 6 months with USAA. I have yet to have a claim, but all the interactions I've had with them have been grade A. Most of the rating firms put them on par with USAA.

Out of curiosity I went online and got a quote from Amica for our auto insurance. For the same coverage I'm getting from USAA Amica was $100 higher (annual cost). And that doesn't include the ~$400 annual Subscriber Savings refund I've been receiving or the ~$900 'Sr. Bonus' Subscriber Savings refund.

Never hurts to check...

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

Out of curiosity I went online and got a quote from Amica for our auto insurance. For the same coverage I'm getting from USAA Amica was $100 higher (annual cost). And that doesn't include the ~$400 annual Subscriber Savings refund I've been receiving or the ~$900 'Sr. Bonus' Subscriber Savings refund.

Never hurts to check...

If you bundle (home and auto) it's better to call since they don't show the discounts on line. Also, they send out dividend checks (basically refunds). Although not guaranteed, they average a 20-25 percent dividend a year depending on the policy. That will not be included in the quote (since not guaranteed). I'm sure not everyone will be underwritten the same, but for me Amica was a much better choice than the fleeing I got from USAA.

Speaking of that, I need to call USAA and get my ENTIRE SSA back since I haven't had any coverages with them in a few years.

Oh, one last thing on Amica...you need to have stellar credit, nothing on your drivers record..they are pretty picky on who they will insure..at least that's what I've heard.

Sent From My Motorola Startac. Please excuse grammatical errors.