Car Insurance

brij2006

Unfortunately the rates for insurance aren't negotiable.  I'm not sure if that was something 40 years ago or what, but I'll have clients not want to tell me what they're currently paying because they don't want me to have anything to compare it to.  It's so hard to get through to baby boomers that there's nothing I can do about the rate.  If I can't beat what they're currently paying, I'll tell them I can't beat it.
My only option when we have major rate increases is to quote with a different company, to change deductibles or coverages, or offer different payment options that may save them money (paying semi-annually instead of monthly, EFT payments, etc).

Also, as far as the $500 deductible, I know with our companies they only offer a $1,000 deductible on any new business.

LillibetteV

formerlyjessica490 said:

I need to bring this post back as I plan on calling our insurance company Friday to make some changes....do you guys know if I can negotiate to keep my $500 deductible? they told me if I wanted to change it to $1,000 we would save about $175 /year but I would like to try to score those savings to keep the $500 deductible and I'm not sure I can even ask that....

I go through this every year with my insurance because it goes up every year! We're more experienced drivers (without accidents), the car is older, my parents have the same insurance and their rates keep dropping....what the heck?! This past year I went through with a fine tooth comb and pulled everything I don't need in the policy, no matter how small. Towing? Gone - we have AAA so it's redundant. I'll keep my $7 thankyouverymuch. Arbella also gave us a 10% discount if we donated at least $25 to one of our favorite charities. Done. $25 that I was going to spend anyways to shave $100 off our bill? No brainer. But I had to spend a lot of time on the phone with the agent repeatedly saying "is there really nothing more we can do?"  We pay in full once a year to get an additional discount (and avoid the $6/month surcharge to pay over time). Still, it's $1,100 for one 2012 Subaru Impreza which I think is a bit outrageous, but I can't find anything cheaper without going to companies with bad reputations.

julieanne912

LillibetteV said:

formerlyjessica490 said:

I need to bring this post back as I plan on calling our insurance company Friday to make some changes....do you guys know if I can negotiate to keep my $500 deductible? they told me if I wanted to change it to $1,000 we would save about $175 /year but I would like to try to score those savings to keep the $500 deductible and I'm not sure I can even ask that....

I go through this every year with my insurance because it goes up every year! We're more experienced drivers (without accidents), the car is older, my parents have the same insurance and their rates keep dropping....what the heck?! This past year I went through with a fine tooth comb and pulled everything I don't need in the policy, no matter how small. Towing? Gone - we have AAA so it's redundant. I'll keep my $7 thankyouverymuch. Arbella also gave us a 10% discount if we donated at least $25 to one of our favorite charities. Done. $25 that I was going to spend anyways to shave $100 off our bill? No brainer. But I had to spend a lot of time on the phone with the agent repeatedly saying "is there really nothing more we can do?"  We pay in full once a year to get an additional discount (and avoid the $6/month surcharge to pay over time). Still, it's $1,100 for one 2012 Subaru Impreza which I think is a bit outrageous, but I can't find anything cheaper without going to companies with bad reputations.

Some of it maybe has to do w/ your zip code.  When we moved to a less nice area and rented a townhome while our house was being built, our insurance went up a significant amount.  When we moved into the house, back into a nicer area, it went back down again.  Now, the rental wasn't in the ghetto or anything but it just wasn't as nice as where we were before and where we are now.

It was fun to get a discount for being married.  H didn't believe me when I told him to call after the wedding to tell them we got married, he didn't see the point, but sure enough, we got a discount.  I feel like you end up getting penalized for a lot of things when you're married (hello, taxes) but at least insurance is cheaper LOL

formerlyjessica490

ok, thanks all. I'm changing a bunch of things right now to lower our premiums...I just hate insurance...such a rip off when you never need to use it.

jtmh2012

julieanne912 said:

It was fun to get a discount for being married.  H didn't believe me when I told him to call after the wedding to tell them we got married, he didn't see the point, but sure enough, we got a discount.  I feel like you end up getting penalized for a lot of things when you're married (hello, taxes) but at least insurance is cheaper LOL

It's funny.  We didn't get one because we were already over 30 when we got married.

jtmh2012

LillibetteV said:

Still, it's $1,100 for one 2012 Subaru Impreza which I think is a bit outrageous, but I can't find anything cheaper without going to companies with bad reputations.

I feel the same way.  We're paying $1,800/yr on 4 vehicles and that's after our insurance just bumped our bill $30 every 6 months.  Vehicles are older, but up went the rate and we pay way more in insurance than we'd ever get back if something happened to the vehicle.

brij2006

LillibetteV said:

formerlyjessica490 said:

I need to bring this post back as I plan on calling our insurance company Friday to make some changes....do you guys know if I can negotiate to keep my $500 deductible? they told me if I wanted to change it to $1,000 we would save about $175 /year but I would like to try to score those savings to keep the $500 deductible and I'm not sure I can even ask that....

I go through this every year with my insurance because it goes up every year! We're more experienced drivers (without accidents), the car is older, my parents have the same insurance and their rates keep dropping....what the heck?! This past year I went through with a fine tooth comb and pulled everything I don't need in the policy, no matter how small. Towing? Gone - we have AAA so it's redundant. I'll keep my $7 thankyouverymuch. Arbella also gave us a 10% discount if we donated at least $25 to one of our favorite charities. Done. $25 that I was going to spend anyways to shave $100 off our bill? No brainer. But I had to spend a lot of time on the phone with the agent repeatedly saying "is there really nothing more we can do?"  We pay in full once a year to get an additional discount (and avoid the $6/month surcharge to pay over time). Still, it's $1,100 for one 2012 Subaru Impreza which I think is a bit outrageous, but I can't find anything cheaper without going to companies with bad reputations.

I've gotten to the point that I've prepped my clients to expect a 2-5% increase each year.  Gone are the days where your premiums stay the same. 
Each address is placed into a territory and those territories have different rates.  Sometimes the companies revamp those and someone is put into a more expensive or cheaper territory.
There are also other factors such as credit, length you have been with your carrier or prior carrier, claims history, age of client, features of vehicle, horsepower, probability of that specific vehicle being stolen (Cadillac Escalades are the highest rated), among many other things. 
There are so many factors that go into the rates that it's honestly hard to explain how/when there's an increase.  And trust me, as agents, we're just as frustrated as you are when a company takes an increase.  3 years ago Allied Insurance moved our territory to Chicago.  We're 3 hours from Chicago in a very rural area! I saw premiums increase by anywhere from 15-47%.  The 47% was on my own homeowners insurance.  The reasoning it was rated so much higher was a blend of the territory change, it being an old home and now rated higher, our remodeling discount dropped off, and they switched from a $500 to mandatory $1,000 deductible so they were gouging the rates on anyone still with a $500 deductible.  I don't even want to tell you the type of conversation we had with both our underwriter and representative from Allied.  It wasn't pretty and there was seriously no way I could explain that to a client without them getting beyond pissed off, and I was already pissed off with them.

LillibetteV

julieanne912 said:

LillibetteV said:

formerlyjessica490 said:

I need to bring this post back as I plan on calling our insurance company Friday to make some changes....do you guys know if I can negotiate to keep my $500 deductible? they told me if I wanted to change it to $1,000 we would save about $175 /year but I would like to try to score those savings to keep the $500 deductible and I'm not sure I can even ask that....

I go through this every year with my insurance because it goes up every year! We're more experienced drivers (without accidents), the car is older, my parents have the same insurance and their rates keep dropping....what the heck?! This past year I went through with a fine tooth comb and pulled everything I don't need in the policy, no matter how small. Towing? Gone - we have AAA so it's redundant. I'll keep my $7 thankyouverymuch. Arbella also gave us a 10% discount if we donated at least $25 to one of our favorite charities. Done. $25 that I was going to spend anyways to shave $100 off our bill? No brainer. But I had to spend a lot of time on the phone with the agent repeatedly saying "is there really nothing more we can do?"  We pay in full once a year to get an additional discount (and avoid the $6/month surcharge to pay over time). Still, it's $1,100 for one 2012 Subaru Impreza which I think is a bit outrageous, but I can't find anything cheaper without going to companies with bad reputations.

Some of it maybe has to do w/ your zip code.  When we moved to a less nice area and rented a townhome while our house was being built, our insurance went up a significant amount.  When we moved into the house, back into a nicer area, it went back down again.  Now, the rental wasn't in the ghetto or anything but it just wasn't as nice as where we were before and where we are now.

It was fun to get a discount for being married.  H didn't believe me when I told him to call after the wedding to tell them we got married, he didn't see the point, but sure enough, we got a discount.  I feel like you end up getting penalized for a lot of things when you're married (hello, taxes) but at least insurance is cheaper LOL

Yea but we actually bought a house is a really nice area! As in our town consistently makes those "top 10 places to live" lists. And we had been living in a so-so neighborhood of Boston before that so it makes no sense. 

julieanne912

jtmh2012 said:

julieanne912 said:

It was fun to get a discount for being married.  H didn't believe me when I told him to call after the wedding to tell them we got married, he didn't see the point, but sure enough, we got a discount.  I feel like you end up getting penalized for a lot of things when you're married (hello, taxes) but at least insurance is cheaper LOL

It's funny.  We didn't get one because we were already over 30 when we got married.

And we were 32 and 33 when we got married, and still got the discount!  No rhyme or reason I guess.  

julieanne912

jtmh2012 said:

LillibetteV said:

Still, it's $1,100 for one 2012 Subaru Impreza which I think is a bit outrageous, but I can't find anything cheaper without going to companies with bad reputations.

I feel the same way.  We're paying $1,800/yr on 4 vehicles and that's after our insurance just bumped our bill $30 every 6 months.  Vehicles are older, but up went the rate and we pay way more in insurance than we'd ever get back if something happened to the vehicle.

And see, $1800/year sounds so cheap to me for 4 vehicles!  I think I mentioned upthread somewhere that we're in the $2,500 range for 2 vehicles, our camper, and a small utility trailer (which is practically nothing, cost wise).  

jtmh2012

julieanne912 said:

jtmh2012 said:

I feel the same way.  We're paying $1,800/yr on 4 vehicles and that's after our insurance just bumped our bill $30 every 6 months.  Vehicles are older, but up went the rate and we pay way more in insurance than we'd ever get back if something happened to the vehicle.

And see, $1800/year sounds so cheap to me for 4 vehicles!  I think I mentioned upthread somewhere that we're in the $2,500 range for 2 vehicles, our camper, and a small utility trailer (which is practically nothing, cost wise).  

I get annoyed considered one of them is what I call the "sunny day collector car".  Like I can't remember the last time it left the garage.  Another is a small pickup truck that I was debating getting rid of as we don't use it much, but it's nice for bringing stuff home from Lowes/Home Depot.

julieanne912

jtmh2012 said:

julieanne912 said:

jtmh2012 said:

I feel the same way.  We're paying $1,800/yr on 4 vehicles and that's after our insurance just bumped our bill $30 every 6 months.  Vehicles are older, but up went the rate and we pay way more in insurance than we'd ever get back if something happened to the vehicle.

And see, $1800/year sounds so cheap to me for 4 vehicles!  I think I mentioned upthread somewhere that we're in the $2,500 range for 2 vehicles, our camper, and a small utility trailer (which is practically nothing, cost wise).  

I get annoyed considered one of them is what I call the "sunny day collector car".  Like I can't remember the last time it left the garage.  Another is a small pickup truck that I was debating getting rid of as we don't use it much, but it's nice for bringing stuff home from Lowes/Home Depot.

Yeah, we very rarely use H's truck, and it's parked in the garage.  But it's the most expensive vehicle to insure, because apparently F250 and 350s are high on the "most stolen" list.  He bought it in July of 2015 and it still only has 8,000 miles on it.  He works from home when not traveling, so all he uses it for is to run quick errands near the house. I occasionally drive it to work when he needs my car to go downtown (truck is too big to park downtown), and we use it to take the camper out on our camping trips.   

Meanwhile, I bought my car in July of this year and I already have 6,500 miles on it.  

labro

julieanne912 said:

jtmh2012 said:

julieanne912 said:

jtmh2012 said:

I feel the same way.  We're paying $1,800/yr on 4 vehicles and that's after our insurance just bumped our bill $30 every 6 months.  Vehicles are older, but up went the rate and we pay way more in insurance than we'd ever get back if something happened to the vehicle.

And see, $1800/year sounds so cheap to me for 4 vehicles!  I think I mentioned upthread somewhere that we're in the $2,500 range for 2 vehicles, our camper, and a small utility trailer (which is practically nothing, cost wise).  

I get annoyed considered one of them is what I call the "sunny day collector car".  Like I can't remember the last time it left the garage.  Another is a small pickup truck that I was debating getting rid of as we don't use it much, but it's nice for bringing stuff home from Lowes/Home Depot.

Yeah, we very rarely use H's truck, and it's parked in the garage.  But it's the most expensive vehicle to insure, because apparently F250 and 350s are high on the "most stolen" list.  He bought it in July of 2015 and it still only has 8,000 miles on it.  He works from home when not traveling, so all he uses it for is to run quick errands near the house. I occasionally drive it to work when he needs my car to go downtown (truck is too big to park downtown), and we use it to take the camper out on our camping trips.   

Meanwhile, I bought my car in July of this year and I already have 6,500 miles on it.  

Is there possibly a discount for a low-mileage vehicle? Since you aren't driving it every day, maybe your insurance offers something like that?

jtmh2012

labro said:

Is there possibly a discount for a low-mileage vehicle? Since you aren't driving it every day, maybe your insurance offers something like that?

Actually, everything but my car is marked low mileage.  I actually get forms about once a year having to "prove" it.

Now I will say, I do still have the can't get them anymore $100 deductibles.  I could probably save some raising it and no, I'd never file a $150 claim, but when shit happens, I don't want to have to be coughing up a big deductible.

brij2006

jtmh2012 said:

labro said:

Is there possibly a discount for a low-mileage vehicle? Since you aren't driving it every day, maybe your insurance offers something like that?

Actually, everything but my car is marked low mileage.  I actually get forms about once a year having to "prove" it.

Now I will say, I do still have the can't get them anymore $100 deductibles.  I could probably save some raising it and no, I'd never file a $150 claim, but when shit happens, I don't want to have to be coughing up a big deductible.

I'd recommend to do some looking into that.  Before H and I were married he was all proud of his $0 comprehensive deductible with State Farm.  Then I quoted him with a different company and he saved $150/month by switching and increasing his deductible to $100 on comprehensive (they didn't offer the $0).  So in 1 month he made up that difference.

jtmh2012

brij2006 said:

I'd recommend to do some looking into that.  Before H and I were married he was all proud of his $0 comprehensive deductible with State Farm.  Then I quoted him with a different company and he saved $150/month by switching and increasing his deductible to $100 on comprehensive (they didn't offer the $0).  So in 1 month he made up that difference.

Yeah, I probably could have long since saved up the difference.  Not like I don't have it in a savings account already.  I just hate unplanned expenses even when I have the money.....:(

julieanne912

@labro I'll tell him to look into it, that's a good idea.  

short+sassy

jtmh2012 said:

brij2006 said:

I'd recommend to do some looking into that.  Before H and I were married he was all proud of his $0 comprehensive deductible with State Farm.  Then I quoted him with a different company and he saved $150/month by switching and increasing his deductible to $100 on comprehensive (they didn't offer the $0).  So in 1 month he made up that difference.

Yeah, I probably could have long since saved up the difference.  Not like I don't have it in a savings account already.  I just hate unplanned expenses even when I have the money.....:(

I have a $100 deductible also.  But, when I've looked into raising it and saving on my insurance, the savings are miniscule.  I'd only save about $4 month to raise it to a $500 deductible.  I'd have to go 8 years without either an at-fault accident or being hit by an uninsured motorist to break even on that.  My city has one of the highest percentages of uninsured motorists in the country.  I already pay super high rates because of that.  So, no thanks!

In fact, I originally lowered it from $500 to $100 when I was hit by an uninsured motorist and had to eat the deductible.  Since then, I've had one accident that was my fault (though many years ago) and one accident where I eventually got my deductible back...4 months later.  Never even questioned their driver was at fault, just hugely dragged their feet.

I was expecting both a big deduction when I turned 25 and when I got married.  Neither of those events did much.  I called about the turning 25 one.  They gave me some song and dance that they'd just had a big increase so, the fact that mine went down a little, was reflected in that.  Sure, whatever.