I haven’t read all the comments but do have a question. Our insurance is insane and we have no accidents/tickets but do have 5 drivers on it. I went through a broker to try and find a cheaper rate and he told me that based on my current policy that I needed to INCREASE the coverage (aka pay more) in order to be able to get cheaper rates next year. Is this accurate? I don’t want to pay more!
That sounds odd to me.
Your policy might be high if any of the drivers are younger - because younger than 25 pays more, even if they have good grades and other discounts. But maybe that driver turns 25 next year?
I don’t know your coverage but usually there are “minimum coverage” companies - like 15/30 or 25/50 and I think those are for people with bad credit, etc. If you’re with one of them, maybe the comment is meant to say - mainline companies won’t insure folks to that little level - so you need to show yourself to be competitive rate wise?
I don’t know - just grasping at straws.
You might ask the broker for an explanation - it’s a fair question. Or perhaps shop at a 2nd or 3rd to get another opinion.
But as you laid it out, it seems an odd statement for them to make. But perhaps them explaining as to why they said that might provide clarity.
When we had our kids under our policy, we always carried whatever policy limits were necessary for coordination with the umbrella policy. I think it may have been $300,000/$500,000. Once the kids were no longer on our policy because they were out of state and had to get their own policies, i believe our rates went back down.
When I got my new 2018 prius prime, rates increased because I got collision coverage.
I tend to trust my broker to advise me on thoughts about reducing premiums.
Are any of your divers males under age 21? We found those to be the highest ticket items. When we added our one son to our auto policy, our rate for the whole policy doubled. And when we added a third car, that meant that one car was for his use…and our rates went up…again.
When we added our daughter, it was just a little blip.
Hold on… let me find the email and I’ll paste what he said
Ask your broker for what discounts may be available. Our kids got discounts for having taken driver’s ed and also for being good students which gpa above some threshold.
The discounts really mattered.
This is the first email he sent. So I guess the bodily injury part we have isn’t high enough?? I mean if it isn’t then why were we allowed to have that option? Sorry guess I’m confused.
I really do appreciate the opportunity to quote your business! Most of my companies are really not offering rates when the current bodily injury is the state minimum. This is just advice and maybe we can find something for you but you would need to bump your current bodily injury to 50/100. I do think you should have better liability limits than you currently have but this could open up a few other companies to offer you rates. Not sure if you would be wlling to try this but your renewal is in July so this would only be a small bump for the next month and may really open you up for better quotes.
I cant guarantee of course but that would be my advice here. Once you can show me that your current policy is at 50/100 then I can submit that and hopefully get better results
NOPE! Not yet. Scary is my son will get his license next year. I dont even want to imagine the cost
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Our son took drivers Ed, and was an honor roll student. It was not a noticeable reduction on our car insurance, but YMMV depending on where you live.
Yup we have all those discounts
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and a follow up response
Yes unfortunately on my end w the amount of drivers and vehicles based on whats out there looks like your prices the best. Prior low limits when running rates w new carriers they charge higher rates bc they do not like when anyone carries bare bone coverages. Even no fault accidents are surcharged as well. My biggest suggestion at this time is up your current limits so in future we can rerun rates to hopefully find better rates. Unfortunately based on what you currently have, for me to match there isnt anything cheaper at this time !
Yeah. It sounds like you are with one of the subprime carriers - like the general. So I’m guessing you have 15/30 or 25/50.
I don’t know your finances but I suspect most mainline are at the 50/150 like he states or even higher - 100/300.
So likely more coverage, higher prices but maybe more options and who knows if someone is new in the area and aggressive. That was my current company although the increases have been nuts.
If you have the time for a million phone calls, you can fill out one of the online forms - that routes your info to everyone to quote. Literally your phone will ring off the hook but perhaps one comes through for you. Brokers have some or many companies they write. But not all. Those search mechanisms may bring more. But I was annoyed by the constant ringing of the phone. It was crazy how many calls I got.
Yea we are with Progressive. I plan on shopping around and figured a broker was the way to go! sigh
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I’m surprised progressive writes that low.
We’ve had so many. They tend to start yiu low. Then go up. Then u gotta switch to the next low.
There’s so many insurers you’ve never heard of. That’s where the brokers do well.
Our last two were donegal and Stillwater. Didn’t know either.
Oh my son just moved. We had State Farm. Wife switched him to Lemonade I think it’s called. New online company. Said rates really cheap.
Obviously every one’s situation is their own so what works for us price wise will likely differ for others.
But you might check out lemonade.
There’s a company called lemonade? Lol
LMND is the stock symbol. Market cap $1.4 billion.
I think it’s a purely online insurer and not via brokers.
To answer your question - yep - apparently I’m now a customer.
Perhaps there’s other online only insurers too. I don’t know.
We ask our broker to only get us policies with companies she has worked with who are good about paying claims as needed. We don’t want a company who will fight us when we are already upset that there was some accident causing a claim.
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Young adult men have the highest car insurance rates, and not just to age 21. It seems that if you keep them with driver permit as long as you can, to not have to add them on car insurance. In our state (AL) I have heard from other parents about it being double what the rates are for their daughters. IDK with which policies a guy’s rate goes down if he gets married, but also have heard that. Our one daughter, we didn’t have her get her driver’s license until she was 17 - she needed more practice. The other daughter was ready for her license at 16.
We have also not had the minimum on those auto break-out, and we also have an umbrella policy. IMHO one wants to have the coverage, especially if there is a bad wreck and the other driver is underinsured/uninsured.
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This is one area where we’ve been very lax. We’ve had MetPay for the longest time for both the house and the cars and H just refuses to look for alternatives/change. I am pretty sure we could get a better deal if we tried.
How does one find an insurance broker? Would be nice to get someone else to do all the research.
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Google or ask a few neighbors who they use. A few are bound to use brokers.
You can also take a company like travelers. Go to their site. Find a local agent. They’re likely a broker.