YAInsuranceT

[mooncancook]

My AAA auto insurance just went up by more than $100 to over $1900 a year for 2 cars for no reason. Both my wife and I are between age 30-35, no bad record, never had any claim. We have a 04 Mazda6S and a 04 Subaru STi, each gets only about 6k mi/yr. I contacted my agent and she said she'll review it, meanwhile I'm doing some insurance shopping.

esurance seems to give me a really low rate, at $627/6 mo with similar coverage.
Bodily Inj: 25k/50k
Property: 50k
Uninsured: 25k/50k
Comprehensive: 500
Collision: 500
No towing/rental

This is like $650 less per year. Is this a no-brainer? AAA has excellent service but I'm not sure if it's worth $600 a year. Anyone here has experience with esurance?

 

[MrWizzard]

Its doubtful (although possible) that those two premium amounts are for the same coverage/ same usage/ same discounts.

Something is missing. Proceed carefully.

 

[Vette73]

I went from Geico to eSurance. Our coverage actually went up as they each had slightly different numbers. But our rates dropped like $400 or so a year.

No problems but also no claims.

 

[kornphlake]

My insurance is brokered through AAA, but is serviced by American Commerce Insurance Co. I think we pay about $150/6 months for a 2001 toyota sienna with a $500 deductible for comprehensive/collision, uninsured/underinsured coverage and liability. On a vehicle this old comprehensive and collision don't usually make sense, but it only cost about $5 per month extra. My 96 saturn carries liability only and I think it costs about $90 for 6 months. We do carry more than the state minimum for liability, but I can't recall how much, I want to say $100k for medical and 50k for property. My wife and I both have good driving records and are the same ages as you and yours.

Obviously your vehicles will be more expensive than mine because they're sportier, but I wouldn't expect it to be that much more expensive. The Quote from Esurance seems reasonable, I've never found a quote cheaper than AAA though, at least not through AAA California or AAA Oregon/Idaho. It could be the insurance company your local AAA brokers for just isn't cutting it. Make a stink about it with your broker and maybe they'll look into rates they can offer though a different insurance co.

 

[Bignate603]

My insurance is brokered through AAA, but is serviced by American Commerce Insurance Co. I think we pay about $150/6 months for a 2001 toyota sienna with a $500 deductible for comprehensive/collision, uninsured/underinsured coverage and liability. On a vehicle this old comprehensive and collision don't usually make sense, but it only cost about $5 per month extra. My 96 saturn carries liability only and I think it costs about $90 for 6 months. We do carry more than the state minimum for liability, but I can't recall how much, I want to say $100k for medical and 50k for property. My wife and I both have good driving records and are the same ages as you and yours.

Obviously your vehicles will be more expensive than mine because they're sportier, but I wouldn't expect it to be that much more expensive. The Quote from Esurance seems reasonable, I've never found a quote cheaper than AAA though, at least not through AAA California or AAA Oregon/Idaho. It could be the insurance company your local AAA brokers for just isn't cutting it. Make a stink about it with your broker and maybe they'll look into rates they can offer though a different insurance co.

You can't compare insurance easily unless you're in the same area, fit the same risk profile (age, sex, years driving experience, driving record, choice of cars) and even credit rating.

 

[StageLeft]

Wow, drop that crap. I am on geico now and dropped a ton when I went to them. It's almost impossible to predict which insurer is best. I "like" geico but ultimately with no claims don't give a damn. I pay about $600 every 6 months and would switch to another if I could save at least $100 in the 6 months. You should too, drop AAA like it's hot.

 

[Bignate603]

Wow, drop that crap. I am on geico now and dropped a ton when I went to them. It's almost impossible to predict which insurer is best. I "like" geico but ultimately with no claims don't give a damn. I pay about $600 every 6 months and would switch to another if I could save at least $100 in the 6 months. You should too, drop AAA like it's hot.

Geico gave me the lowest quote for auto but USAA gave more of a discount for combining things (auto, home, banking) so the total package ended up being cheaper. So far the service with USAA is awesome. I'm not saying that Geico's service was bad (they were actually one of the better insurance companies that I've dealt with) but I was genuinely impressed with USAA.

 

[kornphlake]

You can't compare insurance easily unless you're in the same area, fit the same risk profile (age, sex, years driving experience, driving record, choice of cars) and even credit rating.

With the amount of information given I have no reason to believe our rates wouldn't be comparable, we are similar ages, have similar driving records, etc. The only difference I know of is the vehicles insured, the significant factors that are unclear are location and perhaps some minor risk factors such as occupation. Largely what will affect rates are age, driving record and type of vehicle, the other factors make a smaller contribution, not hundreds of dollars a month.

 

[boomhower]

Where you live can certainly make a massive difference.

 

[bruceb]

Almost all insurance companies will discount more if auto & home policies are with the same company. And you can up your deductible on comprehensive and save a bit there. Just keep a low amount on Glass breakage, in case a window breaks.

 

[Bignate603]

With the amount of information given I have no reason to believe our rates wouldn't be comparable, we are similar ages, have similar driving records, etc. The only difference I know of is the vehicles insured, the significant factors that are unclear are location and perhaps some minor risk factors such as occupation. Largely what will affect rates are age, driving record and type of vehicle, the other factors make a smaller contribution, not hundreds of dollars a month.

Area makes a huge difference. If he lives in an area with a high rate of car theft or accidents his insurance can be significantly higher, especially if his car is a car that has a high theft or accident rate.

While I agree that his insurance seems high you still can't really compare yours with his as long as some of the significant factors aren't the same.

 

[mooncancook]

Thanks for all the responses. I live in the Silicon Valley, an area with pretty low car theft and crime rate I think. I also have my condo policy with AAA. I had water damage claim on the home policy before, but it shouldn't affect my auto policy at all. And btw I really like their customer service on handling the claim. My last traffic ticket was 10 yrs ago, and my wife's was around 5 yrs ago, and both were taken care of with traffic school.

I'm leaning towards switching to esurance coz $600/yr is a lot considering I'm matching the almost exact same coverage as AAA, as long as esurance is not a shady company.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I switched to Progressive a couple weeks ago. Got a ridiculously low rate even without bundling any other coverage. State Farm would have been $1360/year for two cars. Progressive is about $760/year, and I actually have more coverage.

You never know. Each company seems to use a completely different metric to determine your premiums. I also got quotes from Farmers and Allstate, who quoted $1000 and $1400, respectively.

 

[Mermaidman]

Bodily Inj: 25k/50k
Property: 50k
Uninsured: 25k/50k

This is OT, but your coverage amounts seem low.

 

[MrWizzard]

This is OT, but your coverage amounts seem low.

I was going to bring that up but in the end it's the OP butt on the line. His agent should have talked to him about it already.

OP if he hasn't ASK!, tell them you have condo.

 

[mooncancook]

My agent asked about how many miles we drive per yr and she'll review it, but she has not responded back. I also bought my condo policy from the same agent. I'm not sure how much is considered good coverage, I can definitely try raising the coverage and get a new quote, so easy to do it online now.

 

[ViviTheMage]

My agent asked about how many miles we drive per yr and she'll review it, but she has not responded back. I also bought my condo policy from the same agent. I'm not sure how much is considered good coverage, I can definitely try raising the coverage and get a new quote, so easy to do it online now.

Having condo insurance with the same company typically makes the condo insurance a wash....at least with state farm it does.

 

[kornphlake]

You should have coverage equal to what you'd expect the damages to be if you were at fault in a serious accident. Medical bills will climb past $25k in just a day or two in the hospital, if one luxury class vehicle is involved (how many Mercedes and Escalades do you pass every day?) you'll exceed the limits of your coverage. What about two average vehicles, or one average vehicle and some other property like a telephone pole or someone's fence? The damage to property will climb past $50k easily as well. You can be sued for the value of your condo and any other assets, even though you haven't paid it off, you could be put in a situation where you'd have your condo taken from you and still have to make the mortgage payments. How much coverage is enough? That's up to you, how much does the coverage cost (usually <$10/mo to double the coverage) and how much do you own in assets? If you only have a few assets it isn't a huge loss and for some people the risk is worth the savings in insurance premiums (the person living in an apartment with a $500 vehicle can probably rebuild his life in just a few months after being sued for a million dollars.) I don't think I could tell you how much insurance to carry, it depends on how much risk you're willing to take. You have $10 in your pocket when you enter a casino, after playing $5 and loosing do you gamble on the other $5 in your pocket or do you cut your losses and leave knowing you might hit a jackpot worth thousands with one more bet.

I think I missed the $500 deductible on your comprehensive and collision. Unless your loan states you need to carry a low deductible, I'd raise that to $1000 or higher. $1000 should be pretty easy to come up with if you can afford to own a condo in silicon valley. Raising the deductible can make a huge difference in the cost of a policy.

 

[MrWizzard]

Having condo insurance with the same company typically makes the condo insurance a wash....at least with state farm it does.

That's cool. One note though, talk to your HOA about what you are actually responsible for if the place burns down. Lots of condo owners do not know that they are responsible for insuring all the carpet and cabinets, toilets light fixtures, anything extra, (Called additions and alterations) some HOA polices cover things like this but more and more are cutting coverage on those things to save money and keep HOA fees down. Then they mail out a letter at some point of the change. Most Condo owners never read those letters, heh.

Also look into loss assessment coverage.

These things crank up the cost of the policy but are well worth it.

 

[mooncancook]

Basically my HOA insurance cover what's outside and I have to cover what's inside. I don't have to cover the structure or anything like that so my condo insurance is pretty cheap, between $300-400/yr iirc.

I'm supposed to have some kind of discount for having both my auto and home policy with AAA, but apparently my auto policy is getting too high for no reason. I'll try reducing deductible to $1000 and see what difference it makes.

 

[JeffreyLebowski]

You should have coverage equal to what you'd expect the damages to be if you were at fault in a serious accident. Medical bills will climb past $25k in just a day or two in the hospital, if one luxury class vehicle is involved (how many Mercedes and Escalades do you pass every day?) you'll exceed the limits of your coverage. What about two average vehicles, or one average vehicle and some other property like a telephone pole or someone's fence? The damage to property will climb past $50k easily as well. You can be sued for the value of your condo and any other assets, even though you haven't paid it off, you could be put in a situation where you'd have your condo taken from you and still have to make the mortgage payments. How much coverage is enough? That's up to you, how much does the coverage cost (usually <$10/mo to double the coverage) and how much do you own in assets? If you only have a few assets it isn't a huge loss and for some people the risk is worth the savings in insurance premiums (the person living in an apartment with a $500 vehicle can probably rebuild his life in just a few months after being sued for a million dollars.) I don't think I could tell you how much insurance to carry, it depends on how much risk you're willing to take. You have $10 in your pocket when you enter a casino, after playing $5 and loosing do you gamble on the other $5 in your pocket or do you cut your losses and leave knowing you might hit a jackpot worth thousands with one more bet.

I think I missed the $500 deductible on your comprehensive and collision. Unless your loan states you need to carry a low deductible, I'd raise that to $1000 or higher. $1000 should be pretty easy to come up with if you can afford to own a condo in silicon valley. Raising the deductible can make a huge difference in the cost of a policy.

Your situtaion is all location dependant. In most states you can be sued, but they can not go after your primary residence, and specific other property types.

A sfar as the actual auto rates, location makes a HUUUGE difference, even if in the same area. I live in northern Dallas county. If I was 2 blocks further north I'd be in Collin County and be able to save almost $100 a month on auto and home owners insurance.

 

[MrWizzard]

Your situtaion is all location dependant. In most states you can be sued, but they can not go after your primary residence, and specific other property types.

In CA, I don&#8217;t think they can kick you out of your home, but they can put a lean against it so it just sits there until you sell it or refinance. They can also garnish your wages.

That's something a lot of the younger people don't realize. It's not only what you have but your potential. Although rare I have seen it happen.

 

[bruceb]

You really do need to up your Liabilty coverage to at least 100/300/100 (uninsured motorist)