Retirement & Car Insurance

[Helena]

fyi

Most car insurance policies are written,
to and from work and pleasure, once
you retire, changing to pleasure only
should reduce the premium a little...
every little bit helps

[Achiever51]

After I retired, I contacted my insurer (AAA) about reducing my rate. My agent asked if I'm a member of AARP (sure am!) and told me that because of a relatively new relationship between the Auto Club and AARP, my annual premium would DROP BY $300 !!

Well worth the $12 membership charge to belong to AARP!

[homestead]

Try this , get a quote from AARP, (hartford) insurance.
Ours dropped $700 /yr by switching from allstate.

Homestead

[Peaceful_Warrior]

Even though I'm only 30, my rates dropped when I showed my agent that I was a part-time driver only driving 7,500 miles or less per year. I had to show proof of this through odometer dating, but it's definitely saved me some $$

[igsoy]

my insurance (Progressive) started using some weird metric for credit rating and it says that I am not getting their lowest tier rates because

A)my earliest reported account was opened after age 21 (can't do anything to fix that now, can I, how is this useful 17yrs later?)

B) * no history of car loans or leases was provided (had one 10 yrs ago...)

C) only 1 loan or account with current payment status (my credit card, I have no mortgage loan and hate to think this is harming my credit and costing me more for insurance...)

Anyone else have these issues with lack of loans affecting their insurance rates?

[W2R]

Quote:

Originally Posted by igsoy my insurance (Progressive) started using some weird metric for credit rating and it says that I am not getting their lowest tier rates because A)my earliest reported account was opened after age 21 (can't do anything to fix that now, can I, how is this useful 17yrs later?) B) * no history of car loans or leases was provided (had one 10 yrs ago...) C) only 1 loan or account with current payment status (my credit card, I have no mortgage loan and hate to think this is harming my credit and costing me more for insurance...) Anyone else have these issues with lack of loans affecting their insurance rates?

I don't know much about this but it seems to me that insurance companies check your credit when determining your rates. Instead of focusing on details, try to raise your credit score in general and maybe that would help to offset their issues with your lack of car loans and mortgage (which is pretty ridiculous, I admit!)

[audreyh1]

Yep! Our rates came down after retirement since we were no longer commuting to work!

Audrey

[Bigritchie]

What is the world would credit rating have to do with car driving safety?

[MileKing]

Many auto insurance companies are now using "insurance scores" as part of the input to what you pay. Apparently there is a link between credit worthiness and auto insurance claims.

III - Credit Scoring

[GLM]

Some insurers use credit scores in setting rates, but not all. Therefore you may want to shop around if you have a thin credit history.

[igsoy]

That's just the thing, though, we have nothing derogatory on our credit report, it's just that we don't have any loans out (we did ten years ago, car loans plus the mortgage), and only one active credit card which we pay in full every month.

That's why I was wondering if anyone else that has a paid off house and no car loans (something that might be common in early retirees) has had the same issue with their car insurance or if it is just Progressive doing this to us?

Their notice specifically mentioned that they "evaluate credit history info differently than a lender would, so it is possible to have a very good credit score, yet still not get the best insurance credit rating."

Is this actually an argument to keep the mortgage and to take out car loans?

Is it really necessary to pay interest just so I can get lower insurance rates?

[Moemg]

No, I have a paid off mortgage and I haven't had a car loan in twenty years .I do have two active credit cards that I pay off each month .I switched to Hartford through AARP and lowered the cost of my policy by over $400.00.