auto insurance - what am I missing

[stockrex]

the 4 M's of adulthood,
marriage, mortgage, midgets et minivan.
but the last one is getting expensive.
we have more than 2 vehicles but only 2 drivers.

Here is my question:
why is it that our insurance does not take into consideration that we can ONLY drive 2 vehicles at any given time?
Unless I call and cancel collision, I have to pay it even if the automobile is sitting in the driveway, *&^%^%$?? and it is the full amount, something like $440 per vehicle.

Is there any solution to my issue? is there a product or an insurane co give a better rate for having multiple vehicles? and I am not talking 10% off for multiple vehicles.

 

[getnpsi]

When i added a junk ford aspire to my plan for commuting, the 3rd car lowered my insurance for 6 months by 10 dollars! Ask about multi-car discounts, and play with the annual miles driven for each vehicle. Try to make the car worth the most get the least use in other words.

 

[dwendt44]

Shop around.
My insurance rates varied quit a bit from company to company.
Watch the particular coverage. Some try to slip in more than necessary. Or skimp on one thing or another.
Compare apples to apples.

 

[ekpolk]

All of the above. And remember, the vast majority of "insurance fraud" is actually perpetrated by insurance companies. Don't trust what any of them tell you any further than you can throw your minivan. If nothing else, agents will compete for your business.

 

[Shannow]

Had great case with an insurance company that I was a long time customer with, and in our early relationship they gave great value.

One year, I misplaced my renewal, and as it was getting near due, went online for a quote...it was $50 cheaper (around 7%) than I recalled the renewal being.

Tried to complete the transaction, but it shut me down when I entered the rego number, as I already had a valid renewal to use.

Printed the online quote, found my renewal, and there WAS a $50 difference.

Brought it to the attention of a friend who was a telephone consultant of the Co, and was told that simply didn't happen, took it to the agent, and they apologised for the "computer error", and offered to fix it.

There's lots of profit in lots of $50 "computer errors"

 

[eljefino]

Ask if you can get "any owned vehicle" coverage.

There are lots, and I mean lots, of people who register their cars as shills for boyfriends/girlfriends who have OUIs, SR22s, and should be paying out the nose or not driving. The honest among us pay.

 

[simple_gifts]

I once asked my I.C. why I have to pay full price for additional cars and their stock answer is "that's the way we do it" Three cars, only 1 driver (me) EVER. If they had any gusto, they would insure based on miles driven (for liability) and their regular statistics (sex, age, record), instead of just the number of cars.

 

[refaller]

I had the same agent and insurance from when I was 16 till 35. Had multiple cars and houses. My new housing bill came with a 50% increase. I asked my agent (whom I have known since we were kids and he inherited the business from his dad) and he said he would get back to me. Never did. A week later I shopped around. Saving over $2000/yr between 2 cars and 3 houses with greater coverage. I say it is time to shop around and see what you get. FWIW, Erie Insurance has been great for and to me.

ref

 

[mrsilv04]

I have four insured vehicles for one driver.... ME.

I finally figured out a way to get even.

My two oldest vehicles (1990 and 1986) are both old enough to qualify for "collector car" insurance.

One caveat is that no one under 25 years of age can drive either vehicle.... period. (Well, they can, but it is the same as driving uninsured). Plus, I have to provide proof of insurance on a separate "daily driver" vehicle, which is my Silverado.

Both are insured for their replacement value, for less than $200 a year. The deductibles for comp and collision are $0 as well.

 

[simple_gifts]

You might want to look into a mutual insurance company like Amica. I don't feel compelled to pay stockholders when it comes to insurance. Depending on the financial success of the company that year, you usually get a percentage of your payments refunded.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutual_insurance

Quote:

In a mutual insurance company, any distributed surplus funds is paid entirely to policyholders, whereas in a proprietary company (one with shareholders) a proportion of the surplus (typically 10%) is paid to shareholders,

 

[rjundi]

In NH at least you get a 25% discount overall for having more than 1 vehicle on the same policy. Seems quite fair.

 

[Schmoe]

Everybody is different, got to read the fine print.

 

[javacontour]

You may only be able to drive two at a time, so that would drive down your liability coverage.

However, comprehensive and collision can happen even if you are not driving.

A tree can fall on your car, even in the garage, etc. Someone could attempt to steal cars you are not driving, etc.

So some parts of your policy are not impacted by how much you drive.

Others, such as collision and liability are impacted by the number of miles you drive. (Perhaps collision not so much if the possibility someone collides with an unused at the moment car, you get the idea.)


I have four cars, like you, and three drivers. I'm with USAA and get the more cars than drivers discount. However, one of my drivers is a 17 year old male, so that's the big rock in the jar. Two of the cars are liability only as they have over 200K miles on their clocks. He is insured on one car, the 2002 Camry with 216K miles.

The minivan is set for 5K miles/year as we only drive it on weekends typically, or on trips. The same for the Camry, 5K miles/year. My wife and I each are set for 15K miles per year on our respective daily drivers.

So make sure you have the mileage on each vehicle set, and if any of them are good for liability only (I doubt it in your case) look at that.

You probably don't need rental car coverage to provide a loaner if your car is in the shop given the number of cars you have, so if you have that, you can drop it.

I carry a $1000 deductible, and that drops my premium significantly. If you can afford four cars, you can probably afford a large deductible if you are not already carrying such.

But I wouldn't expect the multi-car discount to take off more than 10-20% due to the factors I've already listed.

 

[Randy_O]

Quite a few companies give discounts to motorists who drive a lower than average number of
miles per year. This also works for multiple-vehicle owners with vehicles that are only used once
in a while. It might work for you too. You can also consider dropping collision and/or
comprehensive coverage for cars which are older than 7-10 years. It’s usually not
cost-effective to continue insuring cars worth less than 10 times the amount you pay
for coverage. Check with the Hartford ( http://hartfordauto.com). They give good multi-line discounts.

 

[Gary Allan]

You're charged a minimum for any vehicle since it can be driven. You don't have to be behind the wheel. It can be stolen and destroy property and harm people.

You're insured in anything that rolls down the road ..even a forklift or bulldozer.

 

[crinkles]

28 year old male, married, 05 camry, $600 per year. $1,000 co pay

 

[Schmoe]

Raising the deductible, if you can, helps a lot. But 1K?....OUCH for lot of people. One thing USAA does is that if you have a vehicle listed as recreational, i.e. not the daily driver, you can just keep the minimal on it. When you want to take it out, say go on a trip like we do with the F150....two females, I NEED the room for luggage........I go online and get full coverage on it for that duration. Then, when back at the house, get back on line and take it off. Also, check how many miles you drive annually. You should be able to get a discount for that as well. But lately, a lot of states are upping their minimums.