check with your auto insurer , retiree's may pay less

[mathjak107]

i happen to notice on my declaration page that i was still classified as driving to work .

since we are retired i called geico and asked them if it is any less if the mileage is the same . they said yep , if you use the car for 100% pleasure the savings is about 80.00 a year for the same mileage . she said if i get a share of berkshire they offer a discount for that too .

most insurers do charge more if your are listed as driving to work .

[travelover]

Interesting. I have AAA and retiring didn't change my rate much at all. I was warned that when I hit Medicare age my rate will go up as Medicare does not coordinate with auto insurance in Michigan.

[mathjak107]

did you tell them you retired ? you have to call and tell them .

[Music Lover]

The first day after retiring I changed my auto insurance from "all purpose" to "pleasure". I got a $86 refund for the remaining ~6 months, so about $190 in savings per year.

[FUEGO]

We saved about $20 per year here in NC with Farm Bureau.

Better than a sharp stick in the eye.

[Walt34]

For us it is a bit cheaper but not significantly. Like FUEGO's I think ~$20/year.

[travelover]

Quote:

Originally Posted by mathjak107 did you tell them you retired ? you have to call and tell them .

Yes, we discussed it and he noted that with my commute length, the difference was small.

[jazz4cash]

Hmmm. May need to look into it but of the several insurers I've had the past 15 yrs, only once did they ever notice that I am not listed as primary on any vehicles (since I had a company car). It seems they only care about the number of miles although I could make an argument that commuting in rush hour traffic carries more risk.


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[pjm-7]

AARP/Hartford gave me the discount as a retiree (after I asked) for both auto and home. Being a home-body has benefits!

[rdy2go]

The ISO (Insurance Services Office) way of rating vehicle use rates pleasure use at the same rate as driving to-and-from work under three miles. If you work in a small enough town, the rates are the same whether you are still working or not. If you commute more than three miles, it is a higher rate. Insurance agents in small towns would just rate everyone as pleasure use since it is the same rate, but that made the computers unhappy, so they would have to change people's use to working, but under three miles to shut up the insurance company's computer.

Some companies like senior drivers due to fewer miles driven, more responsible, slower drivers and some don't like older drivers since they know they will age and become hazardous drivers one day. The accident statistics for drivers over about eighty look just like the stats for inexperienced teenage drivers. Most companies don't like that age band either.

[Options]

Did this and saved about $500/year as I mostly only drive once a week to the store now--and that's less than a mile.

[mamadogmamacat]

Calling my insurer to tell them i was retired (and also to e-mail the homeowner's bill to me now as i also paid the mortgage off at about the same time) was on my to-do lit for the first week of ER. Saved 20% on auto and 10% on homeowners. I was surprised the homeowners went down.....perhaps because I'm home more they assume I will be there to make sure say a fire or some such hazard does not get out of control? The auto policy now lists me as "retired", with no mileage amount listed. Before my commute distance was 7.5 miles each way.

[FUEGO]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Options Did this and saved about $500/year as I mostly only drive once a week to the store now--and that's less than a mile.

Saved $500/year? That's more than our entire auto insurance bill for two people for the whole year.

[ExFlyBoy5]

I tried that with Amica when I first retired, but was already at the lowest tier for mileage, so there was no savings for me. Oh well.

[athena53]

I also called our agent after I retired; DH was already retired. They doubted the rates would change and we never got a refund so I guess they didn't.

[CountryBoy]

After 14 years with Erie Insurance (paying $530.00 a year) I just switched to 'Metromile', effective July 1--today!

It's only available in 7 states, but as I live in a city neighborhood with everything within walking distance, I rarely use my car. Mostly for a monthly trip to visit family that live 50 miles south.

My rate is $21.60 a month, plus 3.6 cents per mile. (You have to keep a GPS/mileage tracker plugged into your odb port in your car.)

BTW, this isn't one of those 'barely legal' car insurance; when I first talked to them, I said I wanted to keep all the coverage of my Erie policy.

[scrabbler1]

Back in 1988 when I turned 25, my insurance company changed my age class from the high-rated "male under 25" to the lower-rated "male 25-29" age class. That saved me a bundle, but upon closer examination they had mistakenly changed my use class from "pleasure" to "work" even though I never used my car to drive to work. I wrote my agent a letter and they changed my use class back to "pleasure" reduced my rate further to where it should have been the whole time. Always pays to check your class rating definitions closely, especially when you are expecting a change to it!