Author Topic: Car Insurance - I just made a $382.00 call  (Read 7537 times)

MacGyverIt

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Car Insurance - I just made a $382.00 call
« on: February 25, 2012, 12:38:40 PM »
Just wanted to share with the group and invite everyone's input on car insurance costs and quotes.

About a week ago I rec'd a letter from my credit union advertising a joint venture with Liberty Mutual for discounted car insurance. I didn't think much about it as I'd been with GEICO for over 15 years and thought it unlikely anyone could beat their rates (I did some comparison shopping last year and confirmed this). However, MMM's recent post which cited incredibly low home/car insurance amount and wondered "how can they get such an awesome deal???" so instead of trashing the the "junk" mail immediately instead I figured what the heck, it's worth a phone call right? 

Well e-gad was I wrong! My 6-month cost went from $615 to $424 due to the discount offered through my credit union and my willingness to pay for 6 months at a time rather than monthly. My new insurance rep is working on a home insurance quote as I type this --- I may save even more money on coverage before the day is over. WOO HOO!!!

Moral of the story ---- call your bank(s) and any service organizations with whom you belong and ask if they have relationships with insurance providers that can possibly save you money. I wish I had done this $382 dollars ago!

Freedom2016

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Re: Car Insurance - I just made a $382.00 call
« Reply #1 on: February 25, 2012, 01:37:39 PM »
Great story! I have a similar one, but in the opposite direction. Last year, my husband and I carried separate insurance on our cars - me with Progressive, him with Safety (legacy policies from our pre-marriage lives). 1.5 years ago I had researched costs and couldn't find any better deals by combining coverages, so we kept our pre-existing policies.

When my 6-month policy with Progressive was up about two months ago, they informed me they would be raising my premium by 50%. (!!!) I had no accidents, claims, or changes that would justify the change, so in my rage at this ridiculous increase, I started researching alternatives.

Lo and behold, Liberty Mutual, Plymouth Rock, Allstate, and Safety couldn't do better than our total costs had been under our separate Progressive/Safety policies. But Geico could: their quote for both of our vehicles was $1100/year less than we had been paying! The only change to our coverages was that I increased our collision & comprehensive deductibles from $500 to $1000.

Geico has only recently started operating in our state so they weren't an option two years ago. But they are today, and by paying for 12-month policies up-front and raising our deductibles, I saved us $1100. It's kind of shocking, really.

kolorado

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Re: Car Insurance - I just made a $382.00 call
« Reply #2 on: February 25, 2012, 03:33:25 PM »
WTG!
I check for better rates every 6 months when it comes time to renew. Our last renewal was only the 3rd or 4th time in 11 years that I  couldn't get a lower rate by switching.
Also check with your workplace for discounts. We get a $50 discount for working for a participating company.

onehappypanda

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Re: Car Insurance - I just made a $382.00 call
« Reply #3 on: February 25, 2012, 04:06:40 PM »
Great story! I have a similar one, but in the opposite direction. Last year, my husband and I carried separate insurance on our cars - me with Progressive, him with Safety (legacy policies from our pre-marriage lives). 1.5 years ago I had researched costs and couldn't find any better deals by combining coverages, so we kept our pre-existing policies.

When my 6-month policy with Progressive was up about two months ago, they informed me they would be raising my premium by 50%. (!!!) I had no accidents, claims, or changes that would justify the change, so in my rage at this ridiculous increase, I started researching alternatives.

Lo and behold, Liberty Mutual, Plymouth Rock, Allstate, and Safety couldn't do better than our total costs had been under our separate Progressive/Safety policies. But Geico could: their quote for both of our vehicles was $1100/year less than we had been paying! The only change to our coverages was that I increased our collision & comprehensive deductibles from $500 to $1000.

Geico has only recently started operating in our state so they weren't an option two years ago. But they are today, and by paying for 12-month policies up-front and raising our deductibles, I saved us $1100. It's kind of shocking, really.

Crap, I should check out Geico then. I have Progressive and they just raised my rate 15%- kind of minor but I didn't do anything, they raised it because they "reevaluated" my area and decided rates should go up (wtf?). Kind of minor, but it's enough of a difference for me to be annoyed.

Freedom2016

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Re: Car Insurance - I just made a $382.00 call
« Reply #4 on: February 25, 2012, 04:21:17 PM »
Crap, I should check out Geico then. I have Progressive and they just raised my rate 15%- kind of minor but I didn't do anything, they raised it because they "reevaluated" my area and decided rates should go up (wtf?). Kind of minor, but it's enough of a difference for me to be annoyed.

Geico was so much less than everyone else that the three brokers I spoke to admitted defeat - they couldn't come anywhere close to those rates. I was actually suspicious at first, so I interrogated Geico by phone a couple of times to be sure there wasn't some fine print somewhere that I was missing. So far it's all been on the up-and-up. I decided to lock in a 12 month policy instead of their standard 6 month one to take advantage of the great rates. Who knows, in a year perhaps Geico will jack up their rates as well. But in the meantime, I quite enjoyed stashing that $1100 in our emergency fund. :)

MacGyverIt

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Re: Car Insurance - I just made a $382.00 call
« Reply #5 on: February 25, 2012, 04:51:58 PM »
Geico was so much less than everyone else that the three brokers I spoke to admitted defeat - they couldn't come anywhere close to those rates. I was actually suspicious at first, so I interrogated Geico by phone a couple of times to be sure there wasn't some fine print somewhere that I was missing. So far it's all been on the up-and-up. I decided to lock in a 12 month policy instead of their standard 6 month one to take advantage of the great rates. Who knows, in a year perhaps Geico will jack up their rates as well. But in the meantime, I quite enjoyed stashing that $1100 in our emergency fund. :)

GEICO was def the lowest I could find for years. I think the only reason Liberty Mutual offered such a dramatic reduction for the same coverage (GEICO guy on phone literally said, "that much less??") is due to the mass discount for the promise of mass credit union enrollees by my bank. GEICO is a great company and if my insurance is every increased by LM comparable to GEICO's rates, I'll likely go back to them.

I'm just left wondering what other potential discounts are out there for products of services that I hadn't previously considered....

TheDude

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Re: Car Insurance - I just made a $382.00 call
« Reply #6 on: February 25, 2012, 08:54:27 PM »
This thread got me thinking I should look into my insurance. I thought I was getting a pretty good deal from progressive but I just quoted Gieco and they killed it. So here's my question do you my fellow MMM readers. Do you have uninsured motorist coverage? I am thinking of dropping it. I have decent health insurance and LTD insurance so whats the point?

Freedom2016

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Re: Car Insurance - I just made a $382.00 call
« Reply #7 on: February 25, 2012, 10:41:48 PM »
This thread got me thinking I should look into my insurance. I thought I was getting a pretty good deal from progressive but I just quoted Gieco and they killed it. So here's my question do you my fellow MMM readers. Do you have uninsured motorist coverage? I am thinking of dropping it. I have decent health insurance and LTD insurance so whats the point?

We have 250/500 uninsured coverage and it is $40 of our annual premium; we also have 250/500 underinsured which is $162. These coverages will cover medical costs of anyone injured in your vehicle if you are hit by someone without (enough) insurance. Health insurance and LTD won't cover passengers.

MacGyverIt

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Re: Car Insurance - I just made a $382.00 call
« Reply #8 on: February 26, 2012, 04:00:24 AM »
Do you have uninsured motorist coverage? I am thinking of dropping it. I have decent health insurance and LTD insurance so whats the point?

I have uninsured motorist, it doesn't run me that much. I don't trust that everyone is compliant with the law and given the tough financial times people may opt to go without insurance to cut costs and hope for the best.