Car Insurance Thread

PITTM · #1 10-31-2007, 02:17 PM

Hey guys,

I just renewed my car insurance policy and was pretty stoked to save like 150 bucks over the next 6 months. I thought it would be really helpful to be able to see a range of what people driving record is like/what state they live in/what their car insurance company/rates are as we dump an assload of money into car insurance every year.

I got into an accident when i turned 16(9 years ago). Swerved to miss someone coming at me head on and ended up flying between 2 trees, landing in the ditch and shockingly no one was hurt(witnesses said they thought we would all be dead). Ive gotten 2-3 tickets but those are all off my record now. So officially, my record is "clean", in that the state of California has assigned me 0 points.

2 years ago I was insured through Mercury Insurance, I paid 830/6 months. Last year I switched to esurance and paid 692/6 months. When I just turned 25 last month I was told that my car insurance rates would plummet. So i called esurance to see if I would get a discount. They informed me that all of their rates were going up, so that while I would be getting a "discount" my rates would be going up. After this, I called a bunch of places(geico, progressive, etc) and geico ended up being by far the cheapest at 510/6months. I am pretty stoked about this, but at the same time I have always found it a bit troubling that the state forces us to have insurance and the rates are generally so insanely high. It seems like theyre kind of subsidizing the insurance companies with this law, no?

Coverages:
Bodily Injury Liability(BI) $100,000 / $300,000

Property Damage Liability(PD) $50,000

Uninsured & Underinsured Motorist $100,000 / $300,000

Comprehensive(COMP) $500 deductible

Collision(COLL) $500 deductible

Henry17 · #2 10-31-2007, 02:20 PM

[ QUOTE ]
I am pretty stoked about this, but at the same time I have always found it a bit troubling that the state forces us to have insurance and the rates are generally so insanely high. It seems like theyre kind of subsidizing the insurance companies with this law, no?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not sure about the States but in Canada we only need to buy 3rd party insurance which is pretty minimal. I'm pretty sure that is the same in the States. Your coverage seems to be much higher then what would be legislatively required by law.

PITTM · #3 10-31-2007, 02:22 PM

Yeah, that another one of the problems, the insurance knows the exact coverage people are required to have, so that is expensive, but adding more to it really doesnt add much more in cost, so I generally get better than the minimum, as I believe my benefits are double the minimum and it made my yearly premium go up like 10% or so.

Brad1970 · #4 10-31-2007, 02:53 PM

Insurance is the biggest legal scam in the world.

yad · #5 10-31-2007, 02:59 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Insurance is the biggest legal scam in the world.

[/ QUOTE ]

except that it is actually one of the great inventions of civilization and is one of the key innovations that make a modern economy possible.

maryfield48 · #6 10-31-2007, 05:07 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, that another one of the problems, the insurance knows the exact coverage people are required to have, so that is expensive, but adding more to it really doesnt add much more in cost, so I generally get better than the minimum, as I believe my benefits are double the minimum and it made my yearly premium go up like 10% or so.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's not why the additional coverage is so cheap. At least it's not the only reason. If you think about it you will quickly realize that the first $100k of coverage is much more likely to be called on than the next $100k. It's a function of the Frequency/Severity relationship.

As to your main argument, I think that the fact that auto insurance is mandated by law has the effect of lowering prices per dollar of coverage, since if it were optional, the people who buy it would be worse risks on average than the general car-owning population.

It's the same reason individual health insurance is usually so much more expensive than group policies - anti-selection.

private joker · #7 10-31-2007, 07:23 PM

God I hate car insurance companies. Really the worst. Is there some special circle of hell where all insurance adjusters and brokers can go?

As a poker player they offend me even more. These people are the ultimate bet-welchers. An insurance policy is a wager -- we are betting that [censored] will happen to us. They are betting that [censored] will not happen to us. When the [censored] inevitably happens, then the insurance company hunts for reasons not to pay their end of the wager. They say the [censored] happened for the wrong reasons. They say the policy didn't cover that kind of [censored]. They say the [censored] was your fault even when the police say otherwise.

What bastards.

qdmcg · #8 10-31-2007, 09:21 PM

[ QUOTE ]
God I hate car insurance companies. Really the worst. Is there some special circle of hell where all insurance adjusters and brokers can go?

As a poker player they offend me even more. These people are the ultimate bet-welchers. An insurance policy is a wager -- we are betting that [censored] will happen to us. They are betting that [censored] will not happen to us. When the [censored] inevitably happens, then the insurance company hunts for reasons not to pay their end of the wager. They say the [censored] happened for the wrong reasons. They say the policy didn't cover that kind of [censored]. They say the [censored] was your fault even when the police say otherwise.

What bastards.

[/ QUOTE ]

[img]/images/graemlins/heart.gif[/img]

Temp Hutter · #9 11-01-2007, 03:31 PM

[ QUOTE ]
Yeah, that another one of the problems, the insurance knows the exact coverage people are required to have, so that is expensive, but adding more to it really doesnt add much more in cost, so I generally get better than the minimum, as I believe my benefits are double the minimum and it made my yearly premium go up like 10% or so.

[/ QUOTE ]

The minimum coverage in most states is pretty low. If you have a decent amount of assets you should look into an umbrella policy. I think in my state I am only required to have like $50K in coverage for bodily injury. So if I really hurt someone in a car accident that $50K is going to be gone quickly in medical bills. Then I become personally liable. That is where the umbrella policy kicks in and covers me an additional $1M. It is an umbrella in that it is over my auto and homeowners policies.

Granted I had to up my coverage beyond the state minimums in order to get the umbrella, but the peace of mind is worth it if you have assets that you want to protect.

droopy0021 · #10 11-02-2007, 05:57 PM

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I am pretty stoked about this, but at the same time I have always found it a bit troubling that the state forces us to have insurance and the rates are generally so insanely high. It seems like theyre kind of subsidizing the insurance companies with this law, no?

[/ QUOTE ]

I'm not sure about the States but in Canada we only need to buy 3rd party insurance which is pretty minimal. I'm pretty sure that is the same in the States. Your coverage seems to be much higher then what would be legislatively required by law.

[/ QUOTE ]

We pay more in the US because courts like to award people large amounts of $$ for stuff like pain & suffering. Your rates will be determined by: your age, car you have, where you live (which factors in accident frequency/high traffic patterns/legal system attitude towards lawsuits).

You can save $$ by combining auto & renters/home ins and save as much as 10-20%.

And most state laws don't require insurance, just proof of financial responsibility and some sort of funding to meet the minimum requirements....you can keep a separate account with at least $10,000 (will vary by state) waiting to pay if/when you hit someone. Or you can carry an insurance policy for a lesser rate.