vehicle insurance

[Blackdog Lin]

(I couldn't decide where to post this - but frugality in the purchase is my goal, so.....mods, move if you like.)

Are any of y'all familiar with the ins-and-outs of car insurance? Trying to finalize the coverage on our new(er) vehicle we bought recently.

(1) does it make a difference in premiums whether the vehicle is categorized "work" or "pleasure"? I TOLD the lady that we were now retired and all (3) vehicles were not used for any sort of commuting, but she still categorized the pickup truck and the new vehicle as "work" vehicles. Do I care?
(2) she asked who would be the primary driver of the new vehicle. We don't really have one - I will drive it more times a week, but DH will drive it more miles. I told her just to put DH as the primary driver - but maybe that is costing me more? Do I care?
(3) I could sure use your opinions as to what y'all think about liability coverages. I read years ago that one should increase the basic liability coverage that the insurance companies give as their basic package ($50,000 each person, $100,000 each accident). Websites where I could research the question, maybe?

Thanks guys!

[awakenedsoul]

Hi Blackdog Lin, I think it does make a difference and I would make sure it's classified as "pleasure" since you are both retired. I remember an agent telling me, "I'm going to put down your use as pleasure," so that my premiums were lower. I would care if it cost more for my husband to be the primary driver. Do you think she is trying to make more money off of you? (I'm seeing a lot of this now.) If it were me, I'd have it changed to my name as the primary driver. As far as liability coverage, that's what I had on my used cars, once they were older. I never increased it, but my cars weren't worth much money. I preferred the lower premiums. (I never got in an accident when I had liability only, though.)

How much are the estimates? (If it's not too personal...) Do they seem too high to you? There are several discounts that make a difference, too. (I'm sure you already know that.)

[Sonora Shepherd]

You definitely want your cars to be classified as pleasure. We ended up classifying my husband has primary driver even tho we both drive about the same amount. As to liability, I guess it depends on your state. You probably have a minimum but you do want to protect yourself. Our experience: we were paying United $1700 a year for a 2002 Toyota and 2005 Dodge pickup. My friend said to call The Hartford, which we did and our premium for a year dropped to $750.00. During the process of signing up for the new insurance, I said I couldn't believe how much more we had been paying for the same coverage and the agent responded that someone had been making a pretty good commission. The Hartford is AARP, but you don't have to belong to AARP. They don't have local agents. We have excellent driving records which helped lower the cost. We are really pleased with them and have saved a bundle.

[goldensmom]

It does make a difference and yes you should care. Your address also makes a difference (in our case it is the county we live in) as well as age (mature driver - rates drop at 45). Our premiums are lower per our address but because my husband drives 30 miles to work in a high premium area, the insurance on his vehicle is higher. Multi-policies lower the rate. When our premiums recently increased, we learned that our credit score also counts in determining insurance rates. I complained, made a lot of phone calls and was told that because we don't have credit accounts, and although we have excellent credit scores, people with few or no credit accounts tend to have more accidents so rates are higher to which I said 'how does that make sense???? all to no avail. We have 300,000/100,000 liability. How insurance coverage is determined makes me crazy.

[Teacher Terry]

When we retired our insurance went down because they gave us a rate for people that usually don't drive more then $5,000/miles a year per car. They don't make you prove it. It was a significant reduction. The person with the best driving record should be the primary and we carry a lot more then the minimum required.

[Blackdog Lin]

K. - Thanks for all the ideas. As it turned out, I had to go to town to run errands anyway this morning, so I stopped into the insurance agency to visit with them about the policy. It was a bit eye-opening. (and you need to know that I'm in a very small town, everyone knows everyone else, I trust these people not to rip us off, but I also understand that they're in business to make money. so I know that it's MY job to ask the questions, and do the due diligence.)

(1) work vs. pleasure: she admitted that pleasure would be lower premiums, and it was pretty much a "whoops" thing. I'm annoyed that they messed up/overlooked this, but it's probably a genuine mistake. (they KNOW we're both retired now.)
(2) I asked about the primary driver on the new vehicle - she wouldn't give me a yes or no answer. So I explained that I drive the vehicle many more times a week/month/year, while DH drives it more miles, being the highway driver when we head out of town. And I said specifically that if it would lower my premiums that I should be put in as the primary driver. She said yes, she would do that. (which I suspect means that yes, me being the primary driver will lower the premiums.) But I had to specifically say it.
(3) I went over with her (again) about us being retired and not commuting or putting very many miles on a vehicle and having clean driving records and a very high credit score.....and I got the impression that my telling her this was gonna make her look into our coverage further. Like, if I wasn't on top of the questions, they were just gonna run with the current coverage/premiums.
(4) and the kicker: the new policy was of course with our old insurance company, the one we've had since (I found out) 2006. I asked her if she had "shopped us around" and she admitted not. (at this point she looked it up and said we'd had this company since '06.) So I asked her to shop us around to all the other companies they represent, and she said she would.

So I figure I'm gonna end up saving us some money (how much I don't know yet) - but the fact remains that if I hadn't been not only paying attention to the new policy, but going in and asking the questions about the policy and TELLING them to look into this and that - it would be same-o same-o and we'd be overpaying for however-many years. I'll let you know.

A lesson learned. I still need to research liability coverages - I intend to get that done in the next 6 mos. before the next premium comes due. But I feel better that we will be paying lesser/fair premiums for our coverage for now.

Have y'all looked into your vehicle insurance lately? How long has it been since you did? Maybe it's time.

Thanks for the input!.....

[Packy]

Car insurance. Well, I don't carry any "comp & collision" because my vehicle is older & paid for; but, I do carry just about the max coverage for personal injury & as much as I can afford for liability/property damage. I'm an older driver, who keeps his mileage way down (8,ooomi a year, total,) on both vehicles. 6k on one, 2k on the other. Plus, no tickets. But, anymore--you hit someone--like one of those Harleys or a Porsche'--you'd better have plenty of liability coverage! Not a place to skimp. I just wish--and it's wishful thinking--that we had a "no fault" insurance system in place. The risk-takers who expose themselves to risk, should pay the price, instead of littlebittyme! But, the trial lawyers and ambulance-chasers on the Back cover of your phone book, and their friends in the legislature, just would not allow it. There's a pretty little widow in this town, whose late husband was bombing along on his big Triumph on a fine January day, when a middle-aged woman, not expecting a streak of lighting, made a left turn in his path. What would have been a fender-bender, turned into a fatality, and the woman's insurer paid out around $5 million to the Widow. Funny thing is--the Triumph guy--he was IN the casualty insurance business--he should have known the risk involved. Prolly, though, the Law Firm who brokered the settlement got half..

[bae]

The short answer is "it depends". Each insurance company will have different mysterious rules for how they determine the rate.

The trick is to find an insurance agent or broker that you trust, and who will lay out everything clearly for you.

I have very complex insurance needs, I work with someone who is very very good at helping me figure out the optimal choices, does a lot of looking around to find things that solve my problems, and seems completely trustworthy.

[jp1]

Blackdog, is your insurance person an agent or a broker? There's a big difference. An agent represents the insurance company's interest, whereas a broker represents your interest. If she's an agent she will default to her primary employer (State Farm or whatever) but depending on her agency agreement can shop around to other insurance companies in certain circumstances (sometimes they can only do this if the client gets declined for coverage by the agent's primary insurance company.)

The trick in getting your auto insurance premium down is not to try and convince the agent with arguments like "but really, we have a great credit score so shouldn't that bring the price down". Auto insurance rating plans are filed with your state insurance commission. There is no flexibility in them. The flexibility is that there are certain credits that can be applied. Many happen automatically because they are based on your zip code or your driving record, etc. Some (such as low mileage discounts) may need to be asked for. A better tactic might be to outright ask, are there any other credits that I might qualify for. That said, I'm somewhat concerned that your agent didn't apply the "pleasure only" credit initially, especially after you had stated that you and DH were both retired. If she quotes policies regularly she should know where the potential credits are and suggest them to you, not the other way around.

Regarding liability limits, every state has required minimums, normally stated as a 3 number limit. For instance California's are 15/30/10. The first number is the amount of bodily injury per person, the second the total bodily injury per accident and the third the property damage limit per accident. Obviously California's required limits are not sufficient. (Imagine having an accident with a school bus with 30 kids on it, causing it to flip over into the ditch. $30,000 won't go very far in paying their medical bills. Nor will $10,000 pay for the damage to the bus, or if you cause a relatively new car to be totaled.) Rather than upping the limits on your auto policy, which can get pricey, it might make more sense for you (or anyone) to consider getting a personal umbrella that will sit on top of your auto and homeowners policies and provide coverage if the limit on them is used up.

Personally, if I were you, I'd be inclined to shop a couple other agents at this point. One thing to consider, though, is that there would be a short rate cancellation penalty if you cancel the policy before its expiration date. If you do get quotes from other insurance companies and find a better deal you should call this agent and ask what that penalty will be before you bind coverage with the new carrier to make sure that it makes sense financially. Depending on the penalty it might well make more sense to hold off moving coverage until the current policy's expiration date.

[goldensmom]

K. -
Have y'all looked into your vehicle insurance lately? How long has it been since you did? Maybe it's time.

I shop yearly, usually when our auto premiums are due and they've gone up. With a multi-policy discount one company is higher with one type of policy and another higher with another type of policy. One quote gave a lower auto premium but our home/farm was double. I get quotes for all of our policies and go with the lowest total price.

[Teacher Terry]

I get quotes yearly from a bunch of companies. I don't trust someone else to do it. It really does not take that long online.

[Blackdog Lin]

I appreciated the info regarding agents vs. brokers. Our hometown agency is (duh) agents. I didn't realize the difference - but frankly, I don't even know if there are insurance brokers in our area. I'm out here in small-town nowheresville.

Well, anyway I feel good about asking the questions and making my agent work to get me the best price. Have enjoyed the conversations with y'all about vehicle insurance.....thanks!.....