Author Topic: Car insurance rates - how to get it lower???  (Read 3118 times)

mousebandit

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Car insurance rates - how to get it lower???
« on: May 14, 2016, 10:43:45 PM »
I'm going over MMM 2015 annual expenses and looking at his car insurance - under $400 for two cars.  It says he's with geico, which is who we go through.  We have older rigs, drive very little, and only have basic liability coverage.  We are paying about $50 per rig, per month, and haven't had anyone able to quote us cheaper.  I don't think we have any tickets on our records.  How in the world is MMM getting it so cheap, or are we getting ripped off?  Or are there criteria I'm not considering that we can adjust to get it down to $20 per vehicle per month?  Husband is 39 and I'm 45, since age brackets matter. Thanks! 

MouseBandit

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Re: Car insurance rates - how to get it lower???
« Reply #1 on: May 14, 2016, 11:28:28 PM »
We have two vehicles, one with full coverage, one with liability only (but both with roadside assistance). We pay $290/6months, which breaks down to around $24/month per vehicle. And that also covers an extended warranty through them called mechanical breakdown insurance that is a 100K/10 year coverage one the one full coverage car (yes, extended warranties are bad, but I did the math and it's just about $400 for the life of the coverage and I like the odds for that price). And that's through GEICO too.

I imagine if I dropped the full coverage and mechanical breakdown coverage on that one vehicle we'd be well below $25 per car.

One of the things that really reduced our rates was to get them to run our insurance through a subsidiary called GEICO County Mutual instead of regular GEICO (and this was not something they automatically tell you about - it took two different agents to hit on one that brought the county mutual option). The only disadvantage was they don't have accident forgiveness, but that isn't something we care about, so it was a no-brainer to switch. This apparently isn't available in all states, tho. But that coupled with us getting the multi-vehicle and homeowner's discounts reduced it by a substantial amount from what I used to pay.

Monkey Uncle

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Re: Car insurance rates - how to get it lower???
« Reply #2 on: May 15, 2016, 11:21:00 AM »
Your premium does seem pretty high for basic liability on old vehicles that don't get driven much.  DW and I pay $59/mo to insure two vehicles, and we actually have collision and comprehensive on one of those.  The one that has liability-only coverage is only about $15/mo.  We have the low mileage discount, which kicks in if your total driving is less than 8,000 miles/year.

Are you sure your driving records are clean?

Where do you live?  If you live in a high-traffic, high accident risk area, it could impact your premium.

Tjat

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Re: Car insurance rates - how to get it lower???
« Reply #3 on: May 15, 2016, 01:13:13 PM »
Seems a bit high. How's your credit score?

Just because geico is cheap for MMM, it isn't going to be cheapest for everyone. Shop around

Spork

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Re: Car insurance rates - how to get it lower???
« Reply #4 on: May 15, 2016, 01:34:27 PM »
Also realize: Rates vary wildly by state (and again by vehicle, driver, zip code). 

It's easy to see everyone around you getting cheaper rates and feel like there must be SOMETHING you can do to get yours in line.  Sometimes you can.  Sometimes you can't.

That's not to say don't try.  But if someone quotes you "That seems high, mine is $X" ... that doesn't mean a lot without a lot of context.

mousebandit

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Re: Car insurance rates - how to get it lower???
« Reply #5 on: May 15, 2016, 04:57:35 PM »
Ok, thanks!  I am going to double check everything and get quotes.  We also may try getting quotes for husband and I separately, to see if that switches it up.  At least I feel pretty hopeful that we can get it lowered!  A couple of days ago, I wouldn't even have questioned that!  So, Ty again MMM community!

MouseBandit

mousebandit

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Re: Car insurance rates - how to get it lower??? UPDATED!
« Reply #6 on: May 20, 2016, 05:09:06 PM »
UPDATE!  Got some online quotes and got the policy down from $1663/yr to $932/yr, with better coverage!  Woo hoo!  Thanks for the encouragement to do some looking!  Always thought GEICO was the cheapest, but for us, Country Companies (through the Oregon Farm Bureau) was WAY better!  :-)

Mouse Bandit

 

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