I know its hard to compare rates for different areas, etc, but compared to other people I know of similar age with similar driving records who live near me I am paying far more (like 2-3 times more per year). I have been looking into buying a new car but the insurance cost makes it difficult to come up with a way to pay both insurance and loan payments without getting a loan for way too long a term to make sense.
i've been toying with the idea of talking to an independent agent. will do so this year for sure as I added another car this time fully comp. just recently. 
In reply to Tk8398 :
Ask yourself, "how's your credit report?"
Your credit score has a large factor in your insurance rates. Partly because they will charge you more if the think you will fail to make payments on-time. Also, because they seem to correlate poor financial responsibility with poor physical property responsibility.
In reply to Tk8398 :
My thoughts for you:
1) Only get the insurance you need -- if you have a big loan and not a big savings account, you probably want the comprehensive and collision in case a bad thing happens.
2) Consider increasing your deductibles - but make sure you have the savings to cover the deductible in case a bad thing happens
3) If you car is really old, paid off, and you have decent savings in case a bad thing happens, consider dropping comprehensive and collision. In this case you are insuring yourself against the bad thing.
4) If you have multiple cars and can stand to lose one (ie lots of savings and no loans), maybe you can drop collision and comprehensive on one or both of them.
5) Some places will give you a break if they have your auto and home policies
6) Like anything, shop around to see who will give you the best deal. (I'm going to take my own advice on this one - thanks for the reminder)
7) If you have AAA which give you towing coverage, you don't need your insurance to provide that to you.
8) Get married and get old -- your rates will go down if you have no incidents. Young men have a statistically higher accident rate and are charged more because of it
9) Shop different cars for the same coverage, you'd be surprised how rates vary from car to car. The kinds of cars owned by young men tend to have higher rates - look outside this class of vehicle for a lower rate.
I'm sure other folks have even better ideas. Good luck and Happy New Year.
In reply to John Welsh :
oh yeah just took a hammering but i'll be able to pay off the credit cards in a few months so I'll look then.
rocketrich1 said:In reply to Tk8398 :
3) If you car is really old, paid off, and you have decent savings in case a bad thing happens, consider dropping comprehensive and collision. In this case you are insuring yourself against the bad thing.
An argument against dropping comp and collision is that you're then at the mercy of someone else's insurance company if they hit you.
In reply to TenToeTurbo :
Yes agree with you 100%. I have an alternate strategy I suppose. My premise is that if I'm willing to drop the comprehensive and collision, I'm willing to live with the loss of the car without compensation. Stuff happens and I'll move on. I'd rather save that money than pay it to an insurance company (and lose it forever) if I can live with the loss.
As a car enthusiast and dedicated DIY guy, I have a rule of thumb where I want the number of cars I own to be greater than or equal to N+1, where N= the number of drivers in the household. This give me and the Missus two cars to drive while I'm fixing or doing maintenance on the other. This same rule allows for me to lose a car without loss of transportation. I realize this approach isn't for everyone.
Every time I drive I'm doing everything I can not to get into an accident. That doesn't mean that some uninsured person won't hit me, but at some point the number of cars I own allows me to "self insure". I think its a good strategy for a DIY car enthusiast. Happy New Year!
I have combined insurance house and car which gives me a small discount. Lately it has not seem to matter even with being older since insurance premiums keeps rising due to recent weather mishaps and rising home valuations.
rocketrich1 said:
9) Shop different cars for the same coverage, you'd be surprised how rates vary from car to car. The kinds of cars owned by young men tend to have higher rates - look outside this class of vehicle for a lower rate.
I came to say this. I'll never understand how it gets calculated, but there can be huge differences between seemingly similar cars. My personal experience was with my wife's '02 Sunfire. When I asked about it the agent said that particular car had an unusually high rate of personal injury associated with it. Flip side of that is I hear corvettes are usually cheap, but I have never priced it.
I have 4 vehicles - 2 cars, a truck and a motorcycle.
The only 1 that has full coverage on it is the motorcycle. It was only $40 a year extra.
The 2 cars and the truck, I have less than $6K CAD into them in total. I can walk away from any of them. So no collision and no comprehensive.
I didn't really think about the credit score making a difference, that's a good point. I actually haven't checked in a while but I also don't have any other dept or loans or anything like that currently and it was good last I checked. I have gotten quotes for various different cars but most don't seem to make a huge difference. I remember I asked about a focus SVT once and even liability only was so expensive I decided not to buy one, but last year I owned a Mercedes s55 amg for a couple months and even that wasn't any more expensive then my 96 Subaru.
I wish insurance companies would offer a policy that insures the driver instead of the vehicles. In the summer, my drivable vehicles far exceed the number of drivers. I’m paying a fortune for cars that sit in the garage accept for an occasional drive.
In reply to rustybugkiller :
Plus infinity. I'm one person and can only drive one car at a time.
Classic car insurance is somewhat priced like this. It's honestly one of the main reasons I want to ditch my R53 MINI for a classic Mini.
Make sure they have your annual mileage accurate. I have a few cars that maybe see a thousand miles a year and I make sure they don’t have them as more (they automatically up the mileage every year arggghh) because the more you drive the more you pay
Tk8398 said:I know its hard to compare rates for different areas, etc, but compared to other people I know of similar age with similar driving records who live near me I am paying far more (like 2-3 times more per year). I have been looking into buying a new car but the insurance cost makes it difficult to come up with a way to pay both insurance and loan payments without getting a loan for way too long a term to make sense.
You need to buy the right options. Adaptive cruise control, blind spot warning etc. really cut your insurance rates. To the point when you consider the option package cost and the insurance savings you are money ahead.
pushrod36 said:rocketrich1 said:
9) Shop different cars for the same coverage, you'd be surprised how rates vary from car to car. The kinds of cars owned by young men tend to have higher rates - look outside this class of vehicle for a lower rate.
I came to say this. I'll never understand how it gets calculated, but there can be huge differences between seemingly similar cars. My personal experience was with my wife's '02 Sunfire. When I asked about it the agent said that particular car had an unusually high rate of personal injury associated with it. Flip side of that is I hear corvettes are usually cheap, but I have never priced it.
I bought my second Corvette because the insurance for a driver my age was cheaper than a SUV or several sedans.
Now you have to get the right insurance company and the right model. If you’re under 45 forget it, anything with sporty pretensions will cost too much.
Increase the deductable.
Do you need collision.
Lowest possible liability
I remember (in '06) switching from an '84 3/4 ton Suburban to a 6 Y/O 2000 F-350 dually Cowboy Cadillac and the ins on the 2000 was LESS than on the 22 Y/O burb. I asked why and was told probably because personal injuries were less expensive due to air bags. I had fully expected the much newer more expensive truck to cost more.
That said, I don't understand why insurance for the same F-350 without comprehensive or collision is costing me almost 50 cents a mile now even though I went through the plug in module thing to verify infrequent use. I don't even drive the damn thing more than 2500 miles a year. I've put less than 30,000 miles on it in 13 years.
With 4 cars i think me and the wife are paying $104 a month with full coverage on 2 thru Progressive
Antihero said:With 4 cars i think me and the wife are paying $104 a month with full coverage on 2 thru Progressive
Last quote I got for full coverage on a new car (I asked about the Fiesta ST and Subaru Crosstrek) was around $180 per month for just the one car. I current have a 96 Legacy and 87 300SDL with the minimum mileage on the 300SDL and just the distance to work and back on the Subaru (liability only on both) and it still is similar to what you are paying just for myself. Most people I have asked are paying $80-100/month for full coverage on one or more cars.
I hate to be that guy, but if the insurance premium is the difference between affording a car and not, you likely can't afford it either way.
To the point: I always use independent agents. Usually get best rates by combining my home (or renters) and car insurance. Always shop around every 2 years. Rates are weird however, my GS500 beginner bike is more expensive to insure than my R1 death-missle for example. A good agent will try out a few permutations of cars, plans, and coverage to find you a deal. In general, prices seem tied to advertising budget. For example, Geico is always way higher than anyone else to a point where I can only imagine their customers just don't bother to compare at all. No poorly accented lizard is worth paying 200% to stay legal.
rustybugkiller said:I wish insurance companies would offer a policy that insures the driver instead of the vehicles. In the summer, my drivable vehicles far exceed the number of drivers. I’m paying a fortune for cars that sit in the garage accept for an occasional drive.
Guy I used to drink with was a manager at the DMV. Every night around his third vodka cranberry that came up. It'll never happen because it's not good for the insurance companies bottom line, despite how much easier and simpler it would make like for millions of people.
To the OP, how possible is a move? How possible is renting a garage in a zipcode with lower rates? Location can play a huge part of insurance costs in addition to credit and annual mileage.
RevRico said:rustybugkiller said:I wish insurance companies would offer a policy that insures the driver instead of the vehicles. In the summer, my drivable vehicles far exceed the number of drivers. I’m paying a fortune for cars that sit in the garage accept for an occasional drive.
Guy I used to drink with was a manager at the DMV. Every night around his third vodka cranberry that came up. It'll never happen because it's not good for the insurance companies bottom line, despite how much easier and simpler it would make like for millions of people.
That's not even necessarily true. Besides, insurance rates will usually depend on the car AND the driver, not just one.
OP, the only answer is to shop around.
In reply to Tk8398 :
Interesting thing on my FiST. It is listed on my insurance as a plain Fiesta, just like my '13 SE.
Where you live affects the cost.
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