Insurance company tips

[cam76034]

After reading Flyin96M's difficulties with his insurance company, I thought I'd suggest some of the ways I have found to reduce my premiums. Some of these you may already be using, some you might not be aware of.

1. Put all your eggs in one basket. If you insure your homeowners, auto, boat, etc...policies all with the same company, you get a discount. Although Geico had the better rate for just my autos, they don't offer homeowners. I listed everything insured and faxed it to several companies, as well as independent agents. Best bottom line total ended up being with Allstate.

2. If your car is paid for, only carry liability coverage. BUT, make sure you have adequate uninsured/underinsured motorist protection. Paying for collision basically protects you from your own bad driving. If you are in an accident caused by the other guy and its his fault, you're covered by his insurance (if he has any) or your own that way. No points against you if you make a claim this way either. The downside to this is that you're not covered for things like hail damage and vandalism. However, the money you save by not paying comprehensive/collision premiums will quickly add up and you can set those $$$ aside for any unforseen incidents like that.

3. Ask for a "pleasure vehicle" rate. Considerably less than the standard rates and I carry this on all five vehicles insured. Since I work from home, I didn't think it was right that I should pay the same as someone who drives 30K a year, so I asked my agent about it and he came up with this angle. State Farm never even asked me how many miles I drove a year. Allstate's cutoff is 7000 miles annually per vehicle. They neither monitor nor enforce this, although Allstate did ask what my monthly mileage was (real difficult to figure that one out)

4. When they ask if the car is parked in a garage or the street, the preferred answer is garage. When they ask if it has any anti-theft devices, the answer is yes. (isn't the locking steering wheel key lock supposed to deter theft?)

5. Other discounts: Defensive driving, obviously. Good student discount. (Keep at least a B average) Move to Tarrant county (rates are cheaper than Dallas!)

Hope something here might help someone!

[Dave04]

Be carefull with #2... I have a Dodge truck that's been paid off for a while and I'm still carrying full coverage on it. Why? Basically, I couldnt afford to go out and buy a new or similar truck right and now and I need the truck. Dropping the comprehensive coverage only makes sense if you have a means to replace the vehicle (or do without it) in the event of it being totalled.

Also, something else you forgot to mention... consider raising your deductible. This makes a lot of sense for me with the truck. I've got a $500 deductible, so I pay anything cheap out of pocket, but I still have good coverage in the event of something more severe. And... a higher deductible will lower your rates.

[sammm]

Be carefull with #2... I have a Dodge truck that's been paid off for a while and I'm still carrying full coverage on it.

I still have full coverage on my '97 truck. It's worth it to me for piece of mind.

[channelmaniac]

With all the speed demons around here, you forgot the #1 source for insurance discounts...

Defensive driving certificates.



Using a single insurance company does help quite a bit. We use Farm Bureau and have home, car, and life insurance through them. Geico was $180 MORE every 6 months and tried to tell us how bad FB was as an insurance company. We have nothing but praise for them and just saw it as slimy tactics by the gecko.

RJ

[cam76034]

Be carefull with #2... I have a Dodge truck that's been paid off for a while and I'm still carrying full coverage on it. Why? Basically, I couldnt afford to go out and buy a new or similar truck right and now and I need the truck. Dropping the comprehensive coverage only makes sense if you have a means to replace the vehicle (or do without it) in the event of it being totalled.

Also, something else you forgot to mention... consider raising your deductible. This makes a lot of sense for me with the truck. I've got a $500 deductible, so I pay anything cheap out of pocket, but I still have good coverage in the event of something more severe. And... a higher deductible will lower your rates.

Doh! I did forget. I also carry a $500 deductible. I agree with what you said about full coverage to a point, I carry it on my truck for the same reason. To me, it doesn't make sense to carry full coverage on any vehicle with a replacement value of less than $5000. The one accident I've had in the past ten years wasn't my fault, the other driver had no insurance, and the 93 GMC truck I was in had liability only. I did collect a nice $3000 check under the uninsured motorist provision from my company, and all it needed was a new door and paint on the driver's side, none of which was ever done. Had I been paying for full coverage, I actually would have gotten less because of my deductible.

[POS Racing]

Uninsured / Under-insured coverage is a must have around these parts. We have had two accidents (over the span of 20 years) where the person at fault did not have any insurance...

[Radio-Active]

Using a single insurance company does help quite a bit. We use Farm Bureau and have home, car, and life insurance through them. Geico was $180 MORE every 6 months and tried to tell us how bad FB was as an insurance company. We have nothing but praise for them and just saw it as slimy tactics by the gecko.

RJ

I also have Farm Bureau and have not found any cheaper rates. Farm Bureau is a co-op and owned by it's members.

To me, I could not justify dropping the full coverage for a mear $100/6 months extra it costs.

As far as the question to what the insurance will pay for a vehicle once it is totalled, you can always dispute the amount by collecting ads in local papers and autotraders. You can usually have the option of purchasing the car back at a salvage price from the insurer if you don't think it is too bad.

The problem with saying, "I put $1300 in parts in the vehicle in the last year" is only going to make the insurance adjuster think you have a vehicle that had problems. Maintenance is to be expected on an older vehicle. If they are accesories that don't change the value, ask if you can remove them before they send it to the salvage yard.

[SirHustlerEsq]

sneed has a program for miatas driven less than 5000 per year. They quoted me $198 per YEAR.

[cam76034]

sneed has a program for miatas driven less than 5000 per year. They quoted me $198 per YEAR.

Sweet! Liability only I assume. How do they verify you keeping it under 5000? And what happens if you hit 5001?

[black roadster]

sneed has a program for miatas driven less than 5000 per year. They quoted me $198 per YEAR.

This was something I heard about years ago. The problem is they will not cover cars with rollbars.

[Magma]

I have full coverage and listed as a pleasure vehicle 15K per year and it runs about $70 a month