| Auto Insurance 101 |
Subject: Auto Insurance 101 by bogus on 2012/3/30 18:11:52 This is just me doing 30 seconds of preaching... We here in SoCal use State Farm. I have been with State Farm for over 30 years! Funny... SF had a display set up at the LA Auto Show and were trying to get folks to sign up. They asked who I was with, I said, SF... 30 years as of next month (this was in November). Their eyes grew like saucers. Quite the Kodak moment! However, I have had great service with them over the years, and this isn't a plug for them, but a plug for being sane. I suspect any of the big insurers would tend to their long term customers in much the same way - N-wide, Allstate, Farmers... The smaller and newer firms, I don't know. Same with Geico, they have had some suspect policies over the years. However, I was reviewing my policy data online. We have 4 cars insured: My 92 Vette, our 93 Jeep, bastet's 87 Vette (NO-OP) and her mom's 01 Camry. Plus home owners and a personal property insurance that protects our laptops, my Nikon and Rolex. All in all, about $2k a year for all that coverage, and it's good coverage, none of this 10,15,10 crap. We are self employed and it's more like 100,300,100! For all but he 87 Vette, which is parked. When we swapped the Camry and the 87 Vette over from Mercury, that full bill was $700 every 6 months. Because we dropped the Vette from driver status, that went to about $30 every 6 months and put bastet on the Jeep full time. The Camry? Yea, it went from $400 to under $300 every 6, and the coverage went up from 10, 15, 10, to 100, 300, 100, with better comp and collision. I don't mess around with this crap. The punch line? Because we are all good drivers and don't get tickets, don't get into wrecks, we get discounts... those discounts add up to about $2k every 6 months - $4k a year. I don't believe that one accident would really change that much, maybe a little, but after all the time, I think SF has some kind of automatic forgiveness if the last accident has been more than 9 years ago, which for me, it's been nearly 19 years. Then came the math reality... one real screwup... one DUI... and it's all gone. Plus fines, plus surcharges... I could see our collective insurance go from the nominal $2k a year to $5k REAL FAST. And I would be stuck with these rates for 3 years, at least. And it would take me another three to get back to some of the discounts I have... The moral? Pay attention behind the wheel. Don't drink and drive; have a designated driver or hire a cab. If you feel tired, rest. If you are pissed, take a breather... Don't street race... if the roads are weather compromised, reconsider. Don't speed above the rate of the prevailing traffic. Use a detector to make sure some funky trap doesn't screw you! Monitor lights; read intersections... PAY ATTENTION. It's all of those above reasons why our insurance rates are as low as they are. I know I am, for the most part, preaching to the choir, but at the same time, I finally have quantifiable value to apply to this expense. I am aiming this at some of our younger members who may not see the pay off for being focused now. But yes, in time, it will pay off and it will pay off BIG. And yes, I do recommend State Farm. If you are starting out, have a good record and are with one of the lessor companies, talk to an agent. Maybe even interview two or three in your area. I did when I moved out here. I knew I was staying SF, it just depended on the agent... One didn't call back, one was a prick, the third one has been perfect. |
