OK. How many cars and how much?
Shopping for Insurance
- Thread starter grampi
- Start date
JHZR2
Staff member
See if Erie does insurance in DE. Report back what you find.
Agree, the kids seems coddled too. Why is she putting in all this effort? If the kid wants a car, let him get it registered in his own name and pay his own insurance. IF that was done at the start she wouldnt have put herself in this position.
Thats the way it worked in my home when I grew up and that is the way it worked for my kids too. Where is the responsibility being taught here? I bought my owns cars, registered them in my name and searched out and paid my own insurance. I dont get it.
Im sure more to the story and I feel for people who let a child get them in this position, but they enabled it.
They seem to cover a bunch of nearby states like PA and NY but avoid NJ and DE.
I just got my renewal. I cover the 4 vehicles in my sig. Wife, two kids 22 and 18 and myself. $4330 for the year through New York Central Mutual. I dropped the collision on the 2016 malibu and 2015 versa to get the price down to where it is. I will likely be adding my 20yr/old son and another vehicle to the policy soon, so I'll be up over $5K.
It has it's moments, but It's nothing like the brochure.
Very interesting, Grampi. In my experience, USAA has been prohibitively expensive for over a decade. Their last quote was literally 2.5X what I'm paying for Progressive coverage in South Texas.
In my 25+ years of service, I've seen far too many people gravitate to them, because "they're for the military" or some other meaningless marketing crapola. They're in business to make money...not to serve military members and veterans.
USAA was originally established for military officers. At some point in the 1990s (if I recall properly) they opened up their products to all people in the service. Then in the early 2000s they welcomed any vet with a DD214. Today's commercials include relatives of any of the above. The next step might be to offer membership to anyone who's seen a John Wayne movie...
One can agree or disagree with their marketing and membership push. A huge drawback, however, is that by letting in so many people the overall risk pool has been adversely affected with many, many more claims paid and in queue.
What was once something special for members of the military is now just another ho-hum company. I'm actually surprised they're competitve anywhere.
The part that puzzles me is that opening up the membership to more people SHOULD mean lower rates. I think the company has just gotten greedy...
No disagreement here. Their incessant flag-waving keeps 'em coming, though.
My risk pool rant is based on several conversations with their reps over the years. I still shop car insurance every six months, so it's become something of a bargain-hunting game to me. Their current rate quotes are so high for my situation, the last time I laughed in their faces (March 2024) they asked me to join a telephone conference call with some managers to get to the bottom of the delta in my quotes.
I currently have three cars - two old ones with liability only and full coverage on a 2008 Charger R/T. Liability coverages are 250-500-250 with comprehensive and collision only on the latter. Six months of Progressive is $703; USAA is a bit over $1700 for all three cars.
The explanation I got most recently was that USAA has a huge presence in Corpus Christi (with the Navy base), and as a result they pay out a lot of claims in the area. This actually jives with previous experiences I had when stationed other parts of TX with significant military populations. The heightened risk, as explained to me, was due to a large number of young Soldiers/Sailors/Airmen/Marines/Coasties, who are historically riskier drivers with more tickets, accidents, and claims.
On the other hand, when I stationed in Milwaukee (2001-03), USAA was significantly less expensive than anyone else...possibly because there were so few military in the area. The last time I had their insurance was in 2012-2014 when stationed in Tucson. Not once since...although I'm always checking for a deal.
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A guy I know just has a dealer plate and insures that and drives several cars that way. He's a full time teacher, part time mechanic, and doesn't sell cars to often, but I guess he finds it worth doing.
JHZR2
Staff member
Depends upon your risk pool. If you’re very choosy, sure. But insurance is weird.
There’s a cross between the inherently discriminatory practices associated with pricing and allowing insureds, versus the overall societal outlook of being non-discriminatory in everything. I wonder if they’ve gotten caught up in this balance. If they have to take the worst risk, they will have higher costs that still pool everywhere.
I don't know what magical matrix the auto insurance companies use to determine who pays what, but I wonder how their profit margin is today vs years ago. Vehicles are expensive, fixing them is expensive. Then you have medical expenses and lawsuits.
I had a bad year myself with two comprehensive claims from deer hits. One was just shy of $9K. The more recent one with my 2022 Frontier was $4707 for a grille, bumper, one headlamp and the associated decorative plastics bits. I could have fixed the Frontier myself, but parts are not easy to come by. The parts alone were over $3500 as nothing aftermarket is available. I filed the Fontier's claim just as I got my renewal, so i'm sure i'll pay for it next year.
I had a bad year myself with two comprehensive claims from deer hits. One was just shy of $9K. The more recent one with my 2022 Frontier was $4707 for a grille, bumper, one headlamp and the associated decorative plastics bits. I could have fixed the Frontier myself, but parts are not easy to come by. The parts alone were over $3500 as nothing aftermarket is available. I filed the Fontier's claim just as I got my renewal, so i'm sure i'll pay for it next year.
I pulled the trigger today. I canceled my USAA policies and went with the companies my independent agent shopped for me. Not a huge savings, but about $750 a year. The best part is I now have an agent who will shop companies for me any time I want him to...
