Car insurance "My Rate"

[LBrown59]

With those experiences, I am surprised that you would let an insurance company install a monitoring device in any of your vehicles.

This stuff is insidious corporate big brotherism. There are cameras everywhere we go, including red light cameras and speeding cameras which pay their owners a cut of the fines. We can't shop without a plastic ID card that logs all our purchases, unless we are willing to pay exorbitant jacked up prices. The government is monitoring our phone calls without warrants and wants to track all our Internet activity. Now insurance companies want to install data loggers in our cars and trucks.

We are fast losing our freedoms. Please, don't sign up to be monitored to "save" a buck. You are selling not only your and your family's rights, but in the end, the rights of all of us.

very well written reply.

 

[RollTideRam]

To me, it seems this is how car insurance works. You get a good rate to start, then after about 3 years the price has increased to more than what other companies charge. I was with Progressive 3.5 years ago. No wrecks or tickets, but the price kept going up. I then went to Allstate for a better rate, and price has been going up since. I bought a 2005 Dodge Neon last month to drive to work. I gave 8k for this car. When I put it on my Allstate policy the premium was higher than my wifes 07 Pathfinder, that cost 28k. So it was time to start shopping again. JC

 

[LBrown59]

To me, it seems this is how car insurance works. You get a good rate to start, then after about 3 years the price has increased to more than what other companies charge. I was with Progressive 3.5 years ago. No wrecks or tickets, but the price kept going up. I then went to Allstate for a better rate, and price has been going up since. I bought a 2005 Dodge Neon last month to drive to work. I gave 8k for this car. When I put it on my Allstate policy the premium was higher than my wifes 07 Pathfinder, that cost 28k. So it was time to start shopping again. JC

I have been with GEICO for probably 30 years.
I have tried many times over those 30 years to get coverage for less with virtualy every insurer out there .
None of them have ever beaten GEICO or even matched GEICO .

 

[ray66v]

To me, it seems this is how car insurance works. You get a good rate to start, then after about 3 years the price has increased to more than what other companies charge. I was with Progressive 3.5 years ago. No wrecks or tickets, but the price kept going up. I then went to Allstate for a better rate, and price has been going up since. I bought a 2005 Dodge Neon last month to drive to work. I gave 8k for this car. When I put it on my Allstate policy the premium was higher than my wifes 07 Pathfinder, that cost 28k. So it was time to start shopping again. JC

Of course, they do offer teaser rates to get you in.

They also use formulas to rate your risk potential, and use pricing to adjust their earnings to loss ratio. Even though you have not had a claim, they can still determine you to be a risk using information like geographic data, credit information, employment, children, and vehicles. Changes in these formulas can cause rates to go up or down.

If they decide to target an area, they will either try to gain, or sometimes lose customers in that area, using pricing, due to these calculations.

Again don't just use price to select an insurance co. A bad company does not even want you to go to your repair shop, and will work diligently to get you to theirs. One insurance co. actually owns their own shops!! A good body shop is important to protect your interests. they are you only line of defense against insurance companies that are only interested in profit. If you deal with an independent body shop, and have been satisfied with their work, ask them who is good in your area. Ask the body shop how hard the insurance company pushes used, and aftermarket parts usage. A good company will often allow flexibility in these areas. A bad company will have a strict 12 month / 12k miles, and over they have to use used, or aftermarket parts if they are available.
Does the company balk at paying to remove, and when necessary replace, the trim work in areas that are being painted? Or do they insist on "Earl Schiebing it"?

I could go on for days.

Like I said, there is soooo much you guys don't know going on behind the scenes.

 

[Bird]

I guess all these insurance companies are always changing something and/or raising the premiums. In the early 70s, I had Farmers Insurance. The only accident my wife has ever had was when she was rearended on the freeway in Dallas. She and both our kids went to the hospital, and fortunately were treated and released, but I paid the bills. The driver who hit her also had Farmers Insurance. They did eventually pay, but my agent was no help at all, and they sent a handful of checks; i.e., a check to me and the hospital, to me and the doctor, to me and the radiologist, etc. for each of the 3 of them. I had to go to all of them and get them to endorse the checks since I had already paid all the bills.

So I changed to State Farm Insurance, had it for many years. They paid for a new roof on the house after a hailstorm, and they paid for a car that my daughter wrecked and totalled. But after I retired, my agent put her son to work for her, and I wanted him to get both my auto policy and the travel trailer policy to renew at the same time, and wanted them to just draft my checking account for the premiums. After I gave up on him and changed companies, his mother called to tell me they could do what I wanted.

Not long ago, I checked again with Geico and their rates aren't bad; would only cost me about $10-$20 more than I'm paying AAA right now. And yesterday, I checked again with AARP's Hartford, and their premiums would only cost me about a hundred a year more than I'm paying.

But as mentioned previously, AARP is big in the insurance business, so we do have the AARP (United HealthCare) medicare supplement.

 

[kthompson]

Bird, if you don't mind my asking, how long have you had the AARP Medicare Supplement and it is a Medicare Supplement and not a Medicare Advantage product, correct? The reason I am asking I have their Medicare Supplement package on my desk to sell it and their rate structure is very different than any other company I have ever seen. They have three different rates for the same product to begin with but over time all end up at the same price (think it takes 10 years). I am not saying they are not fair in this and it is possible some other company uses the same just in my years a first for me.

"But as mentioned previously, AARP is big in the insurance business, so we do have the AARP (United HealthCare) medicare supplement."

Back to the boxes from the OP, not that experienced with over the road truck insurance but a few years ago had a client on who owned a moving company. He ran a box on those trucks that limited the RPM per gear to reduce his insurance rates. Also some companies are running GPS systems which are used to track speed (yep they compare it to the speed limit there) and route in effort to patrol their drivers and cost. I know that some of that comes into play for their insurance and can be used to help defend them in case of claim they were driving too fast or speeding or such.

There are things you can pay attention to that helps identify the type of company such as do they go over what options there are and what each does and how it may benefit you and the cost. Do they explain the limit options or only want to sell the legal minimum? Credit ratings play a big part of premium ratings with some insurance companies. The worse your credit score the higher the insurance rate. Realize bad credit score comes from more than paying bills late. The good companies should be giving your long term discounts to keep you and discounts if you have both home and auto with them.

State Farm use to be known for great agents but that seems to have been lost with a hiring discrimination law suit they lost about 20 years ago. They are not the only NAME brand company today who recruits based upon minority discrimination numbers compared to test scores or experience and such. It is Federal Law and a shame that if a certain gender or ethic back ground person is needed to met the requirement it matters not no qualified person fits those requirements. Then we wonder why the BIG 3 are in trouble.

 

[Nissan197]

I started out with State Farm then went to Progressive. I was with them for several years until they hiked my rates for unknown reasons. Went with Safeco and I have noticed their rates are slowly increasing. I remember my dad always saying to always check around to keep the insurance companies honest.

 

[RobJ]

I started out with Allstate because that's what my parents had and I just used the same agent. He retired and a new guy took over, which was fine until I had a problem. He never got around to doing anything, just kept putting me off. A friend of a friends parents owned a State Farm office, so I talked to them and got a better rate with good discounts every year for being a safe driver with no tickets. About a year or so after moving to Texas and going to a local agent, I received my bill and the rates had doubled on me. No accidents, no tickets, and no notice of the rate increase. My agent wasn't any help either, she just said that I had to pay that amount to keep my coverage.

I searched the net and asked around who to switch to, and heard good things about Geico. I was hesitant about them because I hate their commercials and always think that if a company has to resort to silly gimmicks and massive advertising, then there is a problem. I called them up and my yearly rate from before the big jump in price from State Farm for full coverage well above the minimums went from almost a grand a year, to $650 a year. Just over a $300 a year savings with Geico compared to State Farm for the same coverage before the big rate hike.

I bought Steph a new car a few months ago and put her on my account for the same rate. She has several tickets, but no accidents. Her car is new and worth allot more then my 98 F250, so I expected hers to be more, but it wasn't.

Eddie

Texas rates are some of the highest in the country...it sucks. On your 98 do you still have full coverage? Going to liability only will save plenty. When we bought the kids cars and tey were insured in our name (before then got their licenses), liability only was about $400 a year. About double for the daughter who is still in highschool. As far as my son, on a wim I mentioned he was in college and in a smaller town (College Station), half hour later his dropped by $500 a year to what we paid...he's 19yo, we just used the dorm address and zip.

I'm with Nationwide now as I changed when Farmers jumped me. Last year I researched and got a better deal with Allstate. When I got the bill my sons insurance was double the quote!!! WTH!!! I forwarded emails and such but they wouldn't change it. Called nationwide and it was the 30th day after I dropped them, last day to reinstate my 5+ year old policy. The new policys were more.

I really hate insurance companies. I need to go ahead and drop the collision on my 99 truck and my wifes 99 suburban. I'm sure if there is any major damage in a wreck they will total them and I'll get a few grand.

Good Luck,
Rob

 

[Bird]

Bird, if you don't mind my asking, how long have you had the AARP Medicare Supplement and it is a Medicare Supplement and not a Medicare Advantage product, correct? The reason I am asking I have their Medicare Supplement package on my desk to sell it and their rate structure is very different than any other company I have ever seen. They have three different rates for the same product to begin with but over time all end up at the same price (think it takes 10 years). I am not saying they are not fair in this and it is possible some other company uses the same just in my years a first for me.

Kenneth, I may be in a little different situation than most. Since I retired from the City of Dallas, I stayed with their insurance. Of course, I pay for it via deductions from my pension each month. Theoretically at least, the City still partially (very little) subsidized retirees' premiums, but not retirees' spouses or dependents. I'm not too sure that I couldn't do better on the open market, but if a retiree ever drops the City insurance, he/she can never get back on it. Now the City requires any retiree who reaches Medicare age (65) to go on Medicare, then they have the option of "Secure Horizons" (United HealthCare's Advantage Plan) or AARP Plan C, F, or K. I don't know whether AARP offers any other plans or not. But anyway, I've been on Plan F for 4 years and my wife joined me on it this month. So my premiums, just for Plan F, didn't double, they would go from $67.36 a month to $298 a month; however, I'm getting a discount to $218.75.

The good part is that I don't have any deductible or co-pay; don't even get a bill, I can pick my own doctors (if they accept Medicare), and I don't need a referral to go to a specialist. The bad part (besides the high premiums) is that if it's something that Medicare does not cover, then the insurance won't pay anything either. And of course, Plan F does not include any prescription coverage (Medicare Part D), for which my premiums went from $76.47 for me to $280 a month for both of us.

 

[kthompson]

Bird, thank you and will not hijack this much further.

Rates vary by area on those products but it looks like the city is paying about 50% of your premiums. It also looks like your wife got the just turned 65 (or within three years of having done so) rates.

If you are buying your own Part D plan there is a good site to compare plans, Medicare.gov. I am an agent and recommend it. I do not like the Medicare Advantage Plans. We are having more and more physicians and now hospitals not to take them. Also if a person has large and often claims they end up with large out of pockets to pay. They cost less and should. Some of the Medicare Advantage plans to me are not as good and Medicare with NO supplement.