Author Topic: Negotiate new premium??? Help!  (Read 5455 times)

Kaikou

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Negotiate new premium??? Help!
« on: September 23, 2015, 08:03:03 PM »
So my Geico auto insurance premium is set to go up for the next 6 months. It will now be 410 from 390 for the same coverage. What can I do to get it lower or back down to the old price. My total discount for coverage is $80. My policy coverage is :

Bodily Injury Liability
$194.87 for $15,000 per person/$30,000 per occurrence

Property Damage Liability
$184.22 for $10,000 per occurrence

Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury for $15,000 per person/$30,000 per occurrence

Underinsured Motorist
$16.62 for $15,000 per person/$30,000 per occurrence

What exactly do I need to do? what should I be paying?

hay_otsuka

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Re: Negotiate new premium??? Help!
« Reply #1 on: September 23, 2015, 08:19:26 PM »
Have you shopped around? Bad driving record?  I pay about the same for 50x the coverage

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P1

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Re: Negotiate new premium??? Help!
« Reply #2 on: September 23, 2015, 09:06:19 PM »
See if you can get them to lower your annual mileage, that will save you a little bit.

DEL

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Re: Negotiate new premium??? Help!
« Reply #3 on: September 23, 2015, 09:10:43 PM »
Rates vary by location and driving history, therefore your best bet is to shop around as suggested above. Most insurance companies allow you to do this online, so you can play around with quotes. Or give them a call, they are usually very nice and eager to help (obviously they want your business)

My wife and I also have Geico and we recently upgraded our coverage to the $100k/$300k level for bodily injury liability and uninsured motorist liability. We also bumped our property damage liability as well from $50k to $100k. It raised our 6-month premium by maybe $20 or so. We decided to get extra coverage, now that we are married and have significant assets and earnings that could be seized in the event that we get into an accident and a lawsuit is settled in our disfavor.
« Last Edit: September 23, 2015, 09:12:53 PM by DEL »

Kaikou

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Re: Negotiate new premium??? Help!
« Reply #4 on: September 23, 2015, 09:39:29 PM »
Did progressive quote online $390. Same as my current coverage. Will I have to go back and forth between them to stay at the same rate?

DaveR

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Re: Negotiate new premium??? Help!
« Reply #5 on: September 23, 2015, 11:11:19 PM »
I had the same thing happen to me a while back. My agent told me that there were some changes to the reserves (for claims) required by the state. Some demographics had rates adjusted so they could get the risk profiles back where they wanted. Basically, they jacked up my rate so that I might decide to go elsewhere.

Shop around, insurance companies underwrite policies based on lots of factors, many of which have nothing to do with you individually.

Kaikou

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Re: Negotiate new premium??? Help!
« Reply #6 on: September 24, 2015, 02:55:25 AM »
So I have 2 quotes:

Progressive $390
GEICO $410

Both for 6 month coverage seen in OP. Who else should I check? Thought these were the 2 lowest?

Villanelle

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Re: Negotiate new premium??? Help!
« Reply #7 on: September 24, 2015, 05:06:24 AM »
So I have 2 quotes:

Progressive $390
GEICO $410

Both for 6 month coverage seen in OP. Who else should I check? Thought these were the 2 lowest?

Lowest is going to be different depending on the person and his situation.
Call every company you can find, or look for an online system that will get you multiple quotes.

Also, if you want to reduce the bill, consider increasing your premium if you can afford a higher amount should something happen.  Also, make sure you are comparing Apples to Apples, with regard to the smaller things like roadside assistance, rental car coverage,etc.  Some policies may include these and others not. You'll have do decide if you want/need them, but it's another thing to check to make sure the premiums you are quoted are for comparable products.   

Tjat

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Re: Negotiate new premium??? Help!
« Reply #8 on: September 24, 2015, 06:46:46 AM »
Ask to be rated as a new customer and shop around. Also consider a 12-month policy. The way you are set up now, you'll see a rate increase every 6 months.

$20 increase is pretty minor though, seems like frantically shopping around is a bit of an overreaction. That said, make sure you are making a conscious decision to carry such low limits. If you're keeping them low just to get a low premium, you're really taking on a ton of risk. Any accident over 10mph is going to max out your limits and then they could come after your personal assets.

Lady Fordragon

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Re: Negotiate new premium??? Help!
« Reply #9 on: September 24, 2015, 07:15:23 AM »
Increasing your deductible is always a sure fire way to decrease the overall premium.

MissStache

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Re: Negotiate new premium??? Help!
« Reply #10 on: September 24, 2015, 07:43:26 AM »
Did progressive quote online $390. Same as my current coverage. Will I have to go back and forth between them to stay at the same rate?

No, that isn't how insurance pricing works.  In six months your Progressive premium could shoot up and your GEICO premium could drop.  Insurance companies are constantly adjusting their rates dependent on the overall payment of claims in your state, region, and/or zipcode.  Sometimes they take rate increases, sometimes they take rate decreases.  Even if your risk as a driver stays exactly the same, the activities of all the other drivers around you can and does impact your rates.  They don't lower rates to try and get new customers in.  If you wait 6 months and call Geico again, you are just as likely to be given a quote for a higher premium than a lower premium.   There isn't any negotiation when it comes to insurance premiums.  They are set by computers and rigidly applied.

Personally I wouldn't switch over $20 if I was happy with my current coverage.  It would probably need to go up $50 or more for me to consider shopping around, and even then I may still stay.

Have you tried calling Geico and asking if there are any discounts?  Big insurance companies often offer discounts for all sorts of things- Federal employees, college alumni, professional organizations.  Maybe one of them will apply to you.

Also, what are your coverages?  You may be able to tweak those a bit to reduce your rates. 

EDIT:  And Progressive and Geico aren't necessarily the cheapest options.  I'd call lots of companies:  USAA (if you're eligible) State Farm, Allstate, Farmers, Erie, and I'm sure you have some local insurance companies as well.  You might catch one of them at a good rate level and get a deal.  I would STRONGLY recommend that you stay away from the budget insurance companies like Elephant, The General, Safeco, Etc.  There is a reason they are cheap. 
« Last Edit: September 24, 2015, 09:25:18 AM by MissStache »

skunkfunk

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Re: Negotiate new premium??? Help!
« Reply #11 on: September 24, 2015, 08:06:57 AM »
I thought I was doing great with geico, and then I got a quote for half that from Esurance. Now at $500 per year total for 3 vehicles, one of which still has full coverage. Definitely get more quotes, I checked with at least half a dozen places before I found one that was any lower than Geico.

Kaikou

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Re: Negotiate new premium??? Help!
« Reply #12 on: September 24, 2015, 09:15:23 AM »
Okay thanks everyone.