<p>D is graduating & will live away from home permanently. Our state has very high insurance rates, so she will change her address to her new state. Now that we need to help her figure out what to do, it is probably time to make sure our own insurance is where it should be, as well. I have some questions:</p>
<p>What are the recommended coverage amounts? We currently carry bodily injury @ 100k/300k for both liability and uninsured motor vehicle. Is that adequate? Also, we are a no fault state, so I don’t know anything about coverage in non-no fault states. Is anyone here knowledgeable about this sort of thing? We carry comprehensive on all cars, but collision only on the two cars that are still worth carrying collision on.</p>
<p>I feel so inadequate when it comes to this stuff! We sort of rely on our State Farm agent, who we know through church. Our insurance rates seem high, but I don’t really know … we have had a couple claims over the years & they have been great … and no appreciable climb in rates after filing the claim (no at-fault accident claims recently - just one 6 years ago for D when she hit a parked car 2 months after getting her license). We also get a good discount on our homeowners by buying that & auto together. I hesitate to leave SF for homeowners because I like their replacement coverage.</p>
<p>Should we/can we carry her on our insurance somehow, even in another state?</p>
<p>Any and all comments, advice, etc is very welcome!!!</p>
<p>Our experience is that carrying her on your policy is not an option. If she is living on her own (whether or not in a different state), she needs her own policy. When DS graduated college, he did online rate comparisons (there are websites for this) and chose based on that (choosing a company with good rating and history).</p>
<p>I’ll leave to others comment on what coverage is adequate.</p>
<p>If you have any inclination to consider whether you can get better rates for your own policy, I would just comment that Sate Farm is certainly not unique in having replacement cost coverage for homeowner’s policy - unless you mean they have some specific feature that stands out in comparison to others. I have had replacement cost coverage in every renter’s (in my early days out of school) and homeowner’s policy I have ever had, no matter the company or location.</p>
<p>State Farm has a replacement coverage on the dwelling itself (say if it burns down) that at one time I don’t believe we were able to find with other insurers. It’s funny … I feel so “smart” in many areas of my life, but I feel completely and utterly ignorant when it comes to auto/home insurance. I have looked online for information, and I can’t figure out who to believe. JD Powers says Amica is great; when I look up reviews, I see many “hate 'em” reviews. My credit union likes Liberty Mutual & AAA; again, reviews vary. I don’t want a company that will drop me if I make a claim (have only had minor property damage claims, but I carry insurance in case I really need it - don’t want to be dropped or have the price jacked way up if I have to make a claim). In order to help D, I feel like I need to first help myself! :)</p>
<p>no-fault is for medical expenses only. Collision/comprehensive coverage is for damage to your car - even without it, your basic policy covers damage to someone else’s car. Liability limits - here is what they pay for pain and suffering, loss of life and limb, serious injury and disability. You should consider the assets that could be taken over and above the policy if the policy limits were reached and there was excess damage. If you have a home or considerable assets, an umbrella policy can protect you over and above your auto coverage, and you should discuss this with your agent who should be knowledgeable.</p>
<p>For your D, out of state, most likely your policy won’t cover, but ask your agent to be sure.</p>
<p>You can get on line quotes from other companies to see if they are in line with what you are paying - but you have to know what coverage you have in order to compare. Get out your policy and make sure you are comparing like things.</p>
<p>Replacement cost for the dwelling as well as contents is widely available. I think you are wise to be concerned that you won’t be dropped, etc. If you can’t find a way to feel comfortable with other than SF, stick with them. But there are myriad other long-established good companies.</p>
<p>Online reviews - well, I read them too for a number of things (mostly consumer products). Online reviews for insurers? IDK - there will always be disgruntled folks. But if the online reviews for SF are uniformly positive… well, then, you’re in the right place :).</p>
<p>My current experience (pedestrian husband hit by hit and run driver in March) with uninsured/undersinsured motorist – when your own insurance company stands in the place of the uninsured scumbag that hit you – is that the minimum is not a good idea. I believe our state’s minimum is like 10,000/20,000. I found out that we carry 250,000/500,000 which will probably be adequate for our situation – and we pay $108 per car per year for this coverage. </p>
<p>My H was seriously injured, but not permanently injured and will, with time and therapy, recover fully. If he’d been killed by said uninsured scumbag, or permanently damaged, it would be nowhere near enough. </p>
<p>This is apparently a fairly standard level of coverage.</p>
<p>All companies make money, even mutual insurance companies. The question always is what do you get for your money. </p>
<p>Insurance is one of those fields that have a standardized product, especially auto and home because, the entity that lent you money to buy that car-home, wants to be assured to be fully collaterized in case of an accident or fire. </p>
<p>Since the collapse of the financial markets, insurance companies are no longer making money on their financial instruments, and thus inorder to make money, insurance companies must increase revenues by competitive pricing; Since auto-home insurance is fully saturated, insurance companies must therefore take clients from other companies in the traditional manner of offering better service or better pricing, but the product itself remains the same. </p>
<p>Warren B has made a fortune by employing this philosophy.</p>
<p>I work for a State Farm agent in Texas…
*Your daughter will need to get her own insurance in the state in which she lives. If she stays with SF, she will qualify for the preferred rate because she was on your policy.
*Do not trust those sites that give you quotes for multiple insurance companies. There is no possible way for them to have access to SF’s (or other companies’) pricing formula; therefore, you will not get an accurate quote. It is best to go to each company’s web site or call an agent.
*In Texas, all homeowners policies are not created equal. I don’t know about other states, but here they are not the same. For instance, most policies cover “sudden and accidental” water damage like a washing machine overflowing, but not all cover “slow leaks” such as a drip in a pipe inside a wall that is not discovered until much damage is done.</p>
<p>No matter which state you live in, you might want to consider increasing your uninsured/underinsured coverage to equal that of your liability coverage (some states require it to be the same). With the bad economy, many folks are carrying the bare minimum, and sadly many are taking a chance and leaving the scene of an accident.</p>
<p>My carrier had no problem leaving my S on my policy even tho he is a recent grad working and living OOS. He does not have a car with him, however. Thus, he is insured if he borrows a friend’s car, or when he comes home to “visit” and drives my car. $100/$300k coverage is adequate, according to my attorney.</p>
<p>So is D moving to the great state of Washington?</p>
<p>We had DS shop around. Told DS that the only loyalty he had was to his pocketbook. And to protect that pocketbook, to get the max coverage possible because of his potential as an engineer, growing retirement account, and other assets. Cost of increased coverage-miniscule. </p>
<p>Hypothetical, If you had another well known company, would you shop it or not?</p>
<p>We have this coverage also…and we don’t have State Farm. In fact, all of my neighbors have this coverage and have a variety of insurance carriers.</p>
<p>My HO carrier suggested (by mail) that we reduce the replacement coverage to reflect the current building costs. If the house burned down, the insurance co only had the obligation to the replacement cost not the value that was appraised 3 years ago. It cost them money to suggest a lower value, but they kept me as a customer.</p>
<p>$100K/$300K is what the school district requires if you want to drive your car on a field trip. For someone without assets, that’s an amount that would probably cover most accidents.</p>
<p>If she had more assets to protect, it would make sense to go up to $250K/$500K and buy an umbrella for $1M.</p>
<p>Time for her to get her own insurance…this is all part of growing up.</p>
<p>I’m confused. We hope to lend my d. our car for the summer. She is planning to move to another state (as a resident of the new state). We called our insurance co. and they said there was no problem keeping her on our insurance while she borrows the car. In the past, we were told that the insurance goes with the car, not the driver (even though the more drivers in the family the higher the insurance). Therefore, if anyone were to borrow our car, they would be covered under our insurance. If that were true, it would be important to verify coverage before borrowing a friend’s car, but I rarely hear of anyone doing that.</p>
<p>There may be a difference between borrowing a car for the weekend or a week, and “borrowing” a car for an indefinite time of 3 months or more. A conversation with your insurance carrier might be necessary to clarify things in a specific case.</p>
<p>On liability limits, we have 300/500K and I feel like we might be underinsured. I’d like to get an umbrella policy, but have not gotten around to it. For a young person without substantial assets 100/300K is probably fine. For those of us who have any assets left after paying for our kids’ colleges, I would suggest a higher liability limit.</p>
<p>I have found an agent here through Dave Ramsey’s ELP program. I am going to talk to him tomorrow to find out if we are adequately covered & to get some quotes from him. I am having trouble getting a replacement cost quote online … not sure if it’s our state or if it’s due to the age of our home. I want to discuss everything with someone who represents more than one insurance line. My agent is a great guy, but our insurance just keeps going up & up.</p>
<p>I am going to suggest Zander Insurance to my D, since she is in Nashville. It’s another Dave Ramsey suggestion. When we did some online quotes for her, they came in with the best rates. She can at least talk with them. Found out that AAA doesn’t underwrite insurance in TN … they do here, so I learned something new. AAA is one I plan to use to compare with the quotes I get from the guy I will talk to (as well as my State Farm quote).</p>
<p>Thanks for all the feedback. If there are any insurance agents out there who would like to give their 2 cents, I would love to hear your thoughts.</p>