Car Insurance Time

[TromboneAl]

Since my daughter's leaving for college in a few weeks, I'll be removing her from the car insurance. And while I'm at it, I'm going to shop around, and also look into ways to reduce the premiums.

Any tips on things to consider?

The Kelley Blue Book value for our two cars is $6,900 and $6,800 respectively, and I'll be considering whether to drop collision and comprehensive. Currently (with DD on policy), we pay a total of $680/year for C&C.

Thanks!

 

[Andre1969]

I've thought about dropping the collision and comprehensive myself. I drive a 2000 Intrepid with around 108,000 miles on it, and it's paid for. I think in my case though, the C&C only adds like $300 per year, if that. Last time I checked, the KBB retail on my car is still around $5-6,000, so I figure it's worth it to keep the C&C.

You might want to try Erie Insurance Group. That's the company I'm with, and if you're a good driver, and depending on the neighborhood you live in, they might be able to give you a great rate. They saved me a lot of money, but my uncle, who lived in a different county at the time, tried my agent, and they couldn't save him any money.

 

[Nords]

Any tips on things to consider?

USAA's clientele has been dying off and they're expanding membership. You might want to see if you're eligible. You'd also be able to negotiate a package deal on home, personal property, auto, & liability.

A little-known company, Armed Forces Insurance, has been expanding from property insurance to auto coverage. They have the same loose membership requirements and they're trying to go head-to-head against USAA.

GEICO will give you a discount if you're a Berkshire Hathaway shareholder.

Is there any chance that your daughter will be an "occasional driver" on your policy? Some insurance companies ding you for that risk whether or not you expect it to ever happen. Of course if you take away her keys, change the door locks, and disown her they might give you a break.

We drop collision & comprehensive after five years. For those BB values, after a serious accident you'd probably go out and buy a replacement anyway and you might even save/invest enough on premiums over the next decade to pay for it. As for theft, anyone who breaks into our cars is welcome to them.

Our neighbors drove a 12-year-old minivan that was rear-ended. They were the kind of owners who washed the car every Sunday, waxed it monthly, shrink-wrapped the floormats to keep them looking good, and ran to the dealer at the first sign of any engine trouble. The only collision damage was the back hatch (crunched out of alignment) and cosmetic. I would have had it back on the road after an hour with a crowbar and a sledgehammer. However their insurance company declared it totaled, cashed them out for $2800, and took possession of the vehicle. (Its salvage value was probably $2800!) They'd been paying a couple hundred in annual CC premiums for the car's entire life and yet they were essentially forced to replace the vehicle at a much higher cost.

Many drivers keep high UM/UIM coverage for the risk of high medical bills/long-term care if their kids are seriously injured in an auto accident. If your health plan (or disability insurance) already covers you and your spouse, then with your kid out of the coop you might be able to cut back on UM/UIM.

 

[Patrick]

Al, I'd try getting quotes from Progressive, GEICO, Nationwide, and AAA.  Last time I did this AAA was cheapest by far.

Also, if you want to carry high liability amounts, look into adding an umbrella policy over the regular vehicle coverage: it's usually much cheaper than increasing the coverage on each vehicle to the same amount.

Good luck,

Patrick

 

[JPatrick]

Since my daughter's leaving for college in a few weeks, I'll be removing her from the car insurance.  And while I'm at it, I'm going to shop around, and also look into ways to reduce the premiums. 

Any tips on things to consider?

The Kelley Blue Book value for our two cars is $6,900 and $6,800 respectively, and I'll be considering whether to drop collision and comprehensive.  Currently (with DD on policy), we pay a total of $680/year for C&C.

Thanks!

As Nords stated, you need to watch that dropping the college kids if you think they may be drivers when they are home etc.  Our policy provided a big break for our kid who was over 100 miles away without a car. Plus, his grades were such that he got a big "good student discount." That was important when he took his car to school the second year.

 

[Mr._johngalt]

Since my daughter's leaving for college in a few weeks, I'll be removing her from the car insurance.  And while I'm at it, I'm going to shop around, and also look into ways to reduce the premiums. 

Any tips on things to consider?

The Kelley Blue Book value for our two cars is $6,900 and $6,800 respectively, and I'll be considering whether to drop collision and comprehensive.  Currently (with DD on policy), we pay a total of $680/year for C&C.

Thanks!

I would drop the collision and keep the comp., maybe adjusting the
deductible. We have not had collision coverage for years. With $250 deduct plus
towing (2 adults with good records), we pay $610 per year. I have also found that I can always get a better premium if I shop hard enough.
The test comes when you have a claim. BTW, the best claim service I
ever had was from GMAC. We are not with them at present.

JG

 

[Mr._johngalt]

And another thing.......we have 2 vehicles about the same value as
TromboneAl.

JG

 

[maddythebeagle]

I think TB Al owns his own house and probably doesnt care about his credit, but all of the insurance shopping for quotes counts as inquiries on your credit report. When I was getting a home loan 8 years ago, they questioned a few recent inquiries, only a couple and I said I was looking for insurance (as if they need to ask )

 

[Mr._johngalt]

I think TB Al owns his own house and probably doesnt care about his credit, but all of the insurance shopping for quotes counts as inquiries on your credit report. When I was getting a home loan 8 years ago, they questioned a few recent inquiries, only a couple and I said I was looking for insurance (as if they need to ask )

I don't care much about my credit report either. Saw it once. It was as
thick as the New York phone book. Couple of small errors. I didn't even
bother to correct them. Looked golden to me, just quite lengthy.
Anyway, I don't worry about it getting longer as long as I can hold onto
all of my credit cards

JG

 

[TromboneAl]

I have a security freeze for all credit inquiries, so if I had to remove that it would be a bother.

With collision and comp, the new rate will be $1164 per year.  Eliminating collision would save $408, eliminating comprehensive would save $92.

JG, why do you drop the collision but not the comp?

 

[Patrick]

I think TB Al owns his own house and probably doesnt care about his credit, but all of the insurance shopping for quotes counts as inquiries on your credit report. When I was getting a home loan 8 years ago, they questioned a few recent inquiries, only a couple and I said I was looking for insurance (as if they need to ask )

All inquiries for the same purpose within a two-week period only count as one inquiry.

 

[Nords]

Plus, his grades were such that he got a big "good student discount." That was important when he took his car to school the second year.

That's a good point.

Hawaii just started requiring driver's ed for a license and there are stricter driving limits on 16-17 year olds. (My 12-year-old is still ticked off at the governor.) Your insurance company may give your daughter a rate break for (1) being a good student, (2) completing a driver's ed or defensive-driving course, and (3) turning 18.

 

[AltaRed]

Trombone, like JG, I have Comprehensive on a 91 Dodge Caravan, but have had no Collision for many years. I keep Comprehensive so that if it is subjected to vandalism, the insurance company will pay up. Otherwise, you are on your own.

In other words, I will gamble on those things I can best control myself, but seek protection (and compensation) from things I cannot control.

 

[nwsteve]

keep Comprehensive so that if it is subjected to vandalism, the insurance company will pay up. Otherwise, you are on your own.

One more reason to consider Comprehensive is the glass protection. Probably only part of auto jnsurance I even come close to breaking even. With the interstate travel and dirt/gravel haulers around here, loosing a window or significant trip is almost a guarantee every couple years. The new windows with radio are particularly expensive
nwsteve

 

[azanon]

I wouldn't carry comprehensive or collision on a vehicle worth less than 7K.   I normally keep my deductibles at 1K, so my risk in your case would be about 5.8K dollars (taking out the deductible).   

One thing i dont think people realize about insurance is that the game is to avoid using it if at all possible.   Lets say, for instance, you have a collision incident for 2K dollars.   Minus a 500 dollar deductible, you get back 1500.   What happens after you file for this collision?   Ding ding, you get a prize, your rates go up, and they go up enough to more than recoup the money they paid you.     What happens if you report more than 2 collisons within a certain time period with an insurer?  Ding ding you get a prize, you either get dropped or you get placed in a "high risk" high fee category so they can recoup (and then some) the money they paid you.    (i'm speaking from 1st hand experience here, btw) In the end, the insurer will win.   Common sense says they have to, otherwise they'd go out of business.  Same is true for your homeowners policy.   

Heck, if you ask me, the only critical insurances are your health and a decent term life policy (if you have loved ones).   

Most of us are really savy with money and keep an emergency fund on hand to deal with short-term disasters.   I'm for getting to the position of self-insuring asap.   With a 6.8K dollar car, i'd definitely only have liability.   I've self-insured my 95' nissan 240 for about 5 years now (only 82K miles).

My wife's 2004 jetta wagon is still worth ~ 19K so i do insure it.

 

[Patrick]

Are there any states that allow you to self-insure on liability with just one or two cars?  Here you have to have at least 11 vehicles.

Thanks,

Patrick

 

[yakers]

My wife & I pay some $1,800 a year to cover our three cars. Not too bad for southern California. But my son turned 16, has a permit and wants a license. My insurance wants an ADDITIONAL 1,800 to add him as an occasional driver. I checked another company and they would not cover anyone who has not been driving three years. I want my son to be able to drive occasionally but at this cost its crazy.
Is there a good strategy for insuring younger dependents?

 

[JPatrick]

My wife & I pay some $1,800 a year to cover our three cars. Not too bad for southern California. But my son turned 16, has a permit and wants a license. My insurance wants an ADDITIONAL 1,800 to add him as an occasional driver. I checked another company and they would not cover anyone who has not been driving three years. I want my son to be able to drive occasionally but at this cost its crazy.
Is there a good strategy for insuring younger dependents?

Sounds bad, but that is about what I paid. The fun thing is that the high premiums keep on coming til they turn 25.
I know some people who buy old junkers for the kids and pay only liability and somehow have the policy only cover them in the junker and not your Lexus.
I chose to bite the bullet and buy a later model car that had decent safety features so he would have a chance to survive in the city. Sure nuff, some fool crosses the median hits him and 3 others head on 70 MPH.  The car/airbags saved him.

 

[SteveL]

I looked up your profile and it says far N. Calif. That being the case, you are stuck with the Prop. 103 approach to car insurance. Basically, this banned territorial rating and focused rates on miles driven, driving record etc. However, the practical effect was to jack up the rates for rural (non-urban) areas in order to produce lower rates in urban areas. Rural drivers in Calif subsidize their urban counterparts to the tune of several hundred dollars per household. If you have low miles driven, and clean records, I would get a quote from Mercury, and/or 21st Century Insurance Companies. These are companies whose main focus is Calfiornia. Both have Web presence and give reasonable service. I was in the Insurance business for 29 years. For more info on Prop 103, I refer you to http://www.insurance.ca.gov/docs/Factsheet/Prop_103_Fact_Sheet.html
Also, if your daughter retains your home as her permanent residence, unless she is 21 and/or has her own insurance, the company knows she will drive your can when she comes home to visit. Hence, they will resist not having her on your policy. You can get a break if she is more than 250 miles away at college.

 

[TromboneAl]

Thanks for the info, guys.

They haven't resisted taking her off the policy. When she comes home for a month for Christmas, will we have to put her back on?? Next summer for three months??

What's the rationale for keeping the comprehensive? It costs a lot less, but the risk for that kind of claim is a lot less also.

 

[malakito]

Can I add a semi-thread hijack question?

How does the insurance company decide how much my car's worth? I want to try to figure out what coverage I'm actually getting for my premium. The insurance company (USAA, by the way) is reluctant to explain it to me, but they claim that just looking at the KBB value, for example, isn't "right".

malakito

 

[REWahoo]

Can I add a semi-thread hijack question?

How does the insurance company decide how much my car's worth? I want to try to figure out what coverage I'm actually getting for my premium. The insurance company (USAA, by the way) is reluctant to explain it to me, but they claim that just looking at the KBB value, for example, isn't "right".

It's been a few years since my daughter totalled a USAA insured car, but the explanation I got at that time on how they reached a value was a combination of KBB and local ads. In my case the car was almost a junker, so I didn't have a lot of ground to argue they were lowballing me, even though I thought the car was worth more than they did (but when is that not the case?).

REW

 

[SteveL]

RE: What a total is worth to an insurance company.....Your policy says they owe you "Actual Cash Value". Via court decisions, this has been determined to be the market value of the car at the time of the loss. Given that a willing buyer and seller can't haggle and come to a price for a piece of bent scrap, the adjuster tries to use available sources to estimate market value. In discussions with adjusters, it can be helpful to call their attention to new tires etc, the mileage, condition. Also, using Edmunds web site to get a market value for the car can be evidence that the market value is higher than you are being offered. Insurance companies have a duty to act with "good faith" towards their policyholders, and many will seek to reach a fair price with you. USAA is among the best.(Been with them for 37 years.)
RE: Daughter...you will be fine if you don't add her until she has an accident in your car next Christmas vacation. Sometimes the companies get a little peeved about youthful operators...I'd ask them. If you get non-renewed, it can be unpleasant.
RE: dropping Comp and Coll....Another alternative you might consider is increasing your deductible to $1000 on the collision. I carry a large deduc. on my house and cars. Yet another alternative is dropping just the collision. This lets you keep the theft and glass coverage. I just had a $400 windshield put into my 1995 volvo....I paid only $50.

 

[Nords]

The insurance company (USAA, by the way) is reluctant to explain it to me, but they claim that just looking at the KBB value, for example, isn't "right".

I've asked this question flat-out of USAA.

USAA won't tell you their method for fear that they'll disclose business secrets (which their competitors will use against them) or be subject to litigation if they change their valuation methods.

Edmunds made a big splash a few years ago by adjusting for ZIP codes while KBB didn't. That may be part of USAA's claim that KBB isn't "right", but KBB does use ZIP code data now.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Car Insurance Time Revisited

I am going to be renewing my car insurance also. This particular subject was touched on earlier.

Is it best to get a medium liability say 100/300k or go with the minimum (25/50k) and get a larger say 2m Umbrella?

I am not sure if we ever got a consensus on it. Sorry if I am repeating ourselves.

SWR