Roving for Auto Insurance
What have I been looking for with auto insurance? Basically lower
auto insurance, but higher coverage. I want to get an umbrella policy
in the future. Also wanted a bulk discount so I priced home insurance
out. Everyone basically came out the same. I also wanted a company
that wouldn't bs me too much and not cause me heartache. That's why
the ratings were important to me. Hope this helps you when searching
for auto insurance.
Summary/Tips
- Price out insurance every 2 years. Rates change, violations roll off, etc.
- Go with the higher collision deductible, lower comprehensive deductible. That was for my case, could be different.
- Amica, USAA and Erie seemed to be the favorite insurers.
- Don't be afraid to switch companies and shop around. Or even call your existing insurer to reprice.
I've been with Liberty Mutual for awhile now and always thought I
was paying ridiculous rates. Well finally, I decided to do something
about it and shop around. I surfed around on various forums on auto
insurance to refresh my memory on what I should be looking for. Things
I was trying to figure out were what companies should I be looking for,
what kinds of premiums I should be getting, the ratings for various
insurers and the types of coverage I needed.
Types of Coverage
Now that I look back at the coverage I used to have, it was pretty
low. And although it was low, my premium was high and understanding
deductibles made it clear to me why that is the case. Let's talk
coverage first. I used to have a 100/300/100 coverage - which means
that if I was in an accident, I would be covered for bodily-injury
liability claims up to 100k per person in an accident up to a max of
300k for the accident. The 3rd number there is for property damage, so
again, if I was at fault for an accident, then my coverage for property
damage such as the car or anything else I hit like.. say, a house...
would be covered up to 100k. So the story there is don't hit a house
or a Ferrari. And if you are going to - then look into having an
umbrella policy when you do it. I bumped my coverage up to 250/500/100
in preparation for an umbrella policy. That's typically the minimum in
order to qualify for an umbrella. I kept the same for Uninsured
Motorist coverage - which covers you in the event that you are in an
accident with someone who doesn't have enough insurance to cover the
bills or is even uninsured.
Medical expense I didn't spend much time researching and did 5k.
Income loss I declined because I'm assuming my short-term disability
would cover me there. Perhaps I should check.
On to the collision and comprehensive coverage. As opposed to the
liability coverage, these are the coverages on your own vehicle. Here,
the numbers to look at are the collision and the comprehensive ("other
than collision") deductibles. Collision covers you for just that - an
accident involving another car or crashing into a tree. Comprehensive
covers accidents such as a deer hitting or theft or a rock shattering
your windshield. So in deciding what coverages to take - I decided
that collision repairs will be far more expensive and typically you
want to take as high a deductible as you can afford out of pocket. I
feel like if I'm in an accident, I can cover up to $1000 so that's what
I chose as my deductible. Plus collision claims really affect your
insurance, thus why most people try to avoid filing claims. For
comprehensive, you would think similarly however the price difference
in lowering your deductible is much less than if you were to lower it
for collision. Also, according to a few agents I've spoken to,
comprehensive claims don't count as significantly towards your
insurance premium - obviously don't abuse it but don't be afraid of it
either. Finally, the cost to repair something for comprehensive - say
a broken windshield - may be more than paying for the lower deductible
anyways, so why not use that insurance. Here, I went with $100
deductible - and it worked out that I would need to be claim free for
about 2.5 years to start seeing the benefit of a higher deductible on
my premium vs say a $50 deductible. In other words, I'll pay $25 for
example on my $100 deductible vs $50 on my $50 deductible. After 2
years I'm ahead on my $100 deductible policy. Many claims within 2
years, I'm screwed. You get the point.
Suggested companies/Ratings
Now that I picked the coverages, who should I go with? I searched
around and found a few links. In reading, there were bound to be
people that were happy and unhappy with a particular insurer. I did
find that some of the top ones were Amica, USAA (only for military and
relatives), Erie Insurance, and Wawanesa (in California) also seemed to
be popular. Those findings were backed up by a JD Powers auto insurer
ratings link that I had previously posted. Geico came out cheap to and
seems to work for many people. Ameriprise comes out cheap also but
they seem to have a tendency to jack prices up after the first year.
I'm currently with Liberty Mutual and will be with them for a little
bit until a claim is closed and an accident rolls off my record. But
when I do, I'm going Erie or Amica. Amica can come out more expensive
than most - but it didn't turn out that way when I was just pricing it
out. But again, my accident is really hurting me so I just have to
wait it out. I took notes on people's opinions of various companies so
if you want more - just let me know in comments and I'll try to back it
up.
Miscellaenous Thoughts
My insurance is going to get so much better in a few years. Most
insurers charge for accidents/violations within the last 3 years,
meaning the premiums will be higher. After 5 years, they can start
giving you the discounts, like safe driver discounts,
preferred/platinum statuses. So once my wife's accident comes past 3
years next year, my insurance apparently will go down by 300 a year.
Don't be afraid to switch companies. It's not always good to stay
with the same company in the hopes that your loyalty to them will lower
your rates.
