Best cheap auto insurance?

Jessica Foster4 said:Look, quotes and premiums are always at the mercy of how much info you actually dump on them upfront. You think you're getting a sweet deal, then it turns out someone hid a claim or lied about having a 50% safe driver discount when the background check shows it's really only 35%.

If you send them your old policy documents, I honestly don't see how they could get it wrong. I always include my current policy number in the inquiry specifically because of my claims history, so if they mess up, they’re either blind, lazy, or just incompetent. Even I can verify whether someone has a surcharge or a discount. And I'm not even talking about third parties—like that agent from State Farm who calculated my discount instead of my penalty; it's like people are too stupid to read their own quotes. I really don't get how they can miss this stuff when they're sending inquiries to other companies too.🤷

Jessica Foster4 said:Well, State Farm offers the exact same policy for $485, so even if General Motors was the first to roll out those new rates, they aren't actually the cheapest option on the market anymore.

At State Farm, that same coverage is $647, not $485. We're talking about the Washington, D.C. area, so I think you might have miscalculated—maybe you were looking at rates for a different region? Right now, I don't think anything is more affordable than General Motors.

amberhound62 said:At State Farm, that same coverage is $647, not $485. We're talking about the Washington, D.C. area, so I think you might have miscalculated—maybe you were looking at rates for a different region? Right now, I don't think anything is more affordable than General Motors.

It's obvious there are cheaper options out there. Everyone I talked to sent me quotes that were much better than General, especially for collision coverage! The price difference for collision is huge for me.
If you think they're the best deal, then go ahead and insure with them. They’re more expensive for me, so I have no idea what kind of math you're doing...

I’m talking about liability insurance here; collision coverage is a completely different animal. I’ve been paying for it and shopping around for quotes for years, so I know firsthand just how much the prices can swing.

For me, State Farm has always had the best rates for collision coverage. On top of all their standard policy discounts, they sometimes throw in an extra 20% commercial discount if you ask, so they’ve consistently beaten out the competition for me.

amberhound62 said:I’m talking about liability insurance here; collision coverage is a completely different animal. I’ve been paying for it and shopping around for quotes for years, so I know firsthand just how much the prices can swing.

For me, State Farm has always had the best rates for collision coverage. On top of all their standard policy discounts, they sometimes throw in an extra 20% commercial discount if you ask, so they’ve consistently beaten out the competition for me.

And honestly, their rates are way lower than what I see at Generalia.
Generalia is genuinely overpriced in every single way! I really don't get why they claim to be cheaper; all those TV commercials feel like total misinformation when it's clearly not true.

They received a complaint regarding the Hanfu line... apparently, their pricing structure wasn't explained very clearly to the customers. Not that it matters much, since they already had to cough up a fine for that bonus protector issue earlier.

Best regards,
Zglanc

Maria Newman34 said:And honestly, their rates are way lower than what I see at Generalia.
Generalia is genuinely overpriced in every single way! I really don't get why they claim to be cheaper; all those TV commercials feel like total misinformation when it's clearly not true.

Maybe the issue is that malus on your policy from AO, which might be why the price ends up higher than everyone else's. It’s possible that's one of those changes coming our way soon. Or maybe they just messed up the math. From what I gathered, you reached out via phone or email, but my suggestion would be to just stop by a local branch in person. That way, they can run the numbers for an AO policy right there on the spot.

In my case, Generalia is actually the better deal. I have a policy with a 50% discount, and about a month ago, I signed up for one for $588 (after a 10% discount). Based on my math, if I went through Generalia today, it would cost me exactly $460.

Given how things stand right now, before everyone else drops their new price lists, nobody can undercut Generalia. At worst, they’ll just match them. So, either the representative at Generalia messed up, or someone else is handing out illegal discounts—basically, what's on the shelf doesn't match what's being charged.

amberhound62 said:Maybe the issue is that malus on your policy from AO, which might be why the price ends up higher than everyone else's. It’s possible that's one of those changes coming our way soon. Or maybe they just messed up the math. From what I gathered, you reached out via phone or email, but my suggestion would be to just stop by a local branch in person. That way, they can run the numbers for an AO policy right there on the spot.

In my case, Generalia is actually the better deal. I have a policy with a 50% discount, and about a month ago, I signed up for one for $588 (after a 10% discount). Based on my math, if I went through Generalia today, it would cost me exactly $460.

Honestly, I’m done dealing with them. I’ve officially given up because they are incredibly slow and inefficient. Plus, I’m not going to waste my time fighting for insurance that's nearly half the price of what I pay for collision on my other house.
It’s possible the calculation was wrong, but even if it wasn't, their behavior will drive customers away. They clearly have incompetent people on staff who don't know how to do their jobs, which is honestly shocking—you wouldn't expect that from a major US company, but here we are.
The malus is the same everywhere; as far as I know, everyone uses the same database, and it's easy enough to verify online—it's public info 🤷. If I can look it up without any insurance background, surely one of their employees should be able to do it too. The malus is calculated based on premium tiers, so if the base rate is the same and the percentage keeps climbing, it means I don't have a malus. That would make this insurance more expensive than elsewhere, and I really don't think that has anything to do with a new system.
It’s possible that AutoZone is slightly cheaper (maybe by 10%, from what I understand) for people over 30. Unfortunately, I'm just two years shy of that, but even then, it wouldn't matter since their collision coverage is so pricey. To me, they are just expensive and inefficient.🤷

bluemason3 said:Given how things stand right now, before everyone else drops their new price lists, nobody can undercut Generalia. At worst, they’ll just match them. So, either the representative at Generalia messed up, or someone else is handing out illegal discounts—basically, what's on the shelf doesn't match what's being charged.

How can you even list an incorrect amount on an offer or a policy? You pay based on that policy—the amount has to be exact!
If that calculation was wrong, then someone clearly allowed an inaccurate quote to be sent out, and it's crazy that no one checked it before the policy was finalized!!!

amberhound62 said:At State Farm, that same coverage is $647, not $485. We're talking about the Washington, D.C. area, so I think you might have miscalculated—maybe you were looking at rates for a different region? Right now, I don't think anything is more affordable than General Motors.

Nope, my math is solid. I’m talking specifically about Washington, D.C., and honestly, I do this job every single day, so I know what I'm talking about.🙂
The thing is, Generalia keeps shouting from the rooftops about having the cheapest coverage, and people need to realize that other insurers aren't stupid enough to just sit there and take it. This is still a massive slice of the insurance market pie.

That’s actually a totally different story. I was looking at the old pricing—I had no clue Coca-Cola had rolled out an unofficial new rate sheet. Could you please let me know what the new price would be for 55kW, New York City, 50%, including minimum passenger coverage (20/40)?

Maria Newman34 said:How can you even list an incorrect amount on an offer or a policy? You pay based on that policy—the amount has to be exact!
If that calculation was wrong, then someone clearly allowed an inaccurate quote to be sent out, and it's crazy that no one checked it before the policy was finalized!!!

It’s possible. It isn't legal, but it happens. I have no idea how they justify it—I've only seen the end result. You'd have to ask someone on the inside, and I haven't worked in insurance for years. I heard about this happening in my own city recently, right around the time some companies started undercutting the rates at Allstate, State Farm, and Liberty Mutual. Since you're talking about the US, and this kind of thing has been seen here before, it’s definitely not out of the question.

amberhound62 said:That’s actually a totally different story. I was looking at the old pricing—I had no clue Coca-Cola had rolled out an unofficial new rate sheet. Could you please let me know what the new price would be for 55kW, New York City, 50%, including minimum passenger coverage (20/40)?

I guess if it isn't official, then it doesn't really exist, or maybe you just go from one insurance agent to another trying to haggle for a little something extra $67 under the table.

amberhound62 said:At State Farm, that same coverage is $647, not $485. We're talking about the Washington, D.C. area, so I think you might have miscalculated—maybe you were looking at rates for a different region? Right now, I don't think anything is more affordable than General Motors.

The guy is telling you the truth.
Back on August 12th, I registered my car in NYC and paid $580 in installments because their employee hooked me up with a discount $67—but the actual policy shows $647
. I asked him yesterday how much he’d charge me for a new policy today, and he said $500!
So there it is—that's the reality. When I asked him how that was even possible, he just said his boss ordered them to give out maximum discounts because people are jumping ship. Where they're going doesn't matter, but they're leaving.
It's the honest truth. Honestly, I'm kicking myself now because I could've snagged an even better deal if I'd waited just one more month. 😢

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Well... things just took a massive turn for the worse at General Insurance. Following a decision handed down by the Board of Directors of the American Bureau for Insurance this past Thursday, they’ve officially lost their right to issue Green Cards. It’s quite a blow... Damir Zorić—who, as many of you know, also serves as the head of the Management of Euroherc Insurance—confirmed the news to the Business Daily. This means that, for the foreseeable future, General Insurance won't be able to wrap up any valid mandatory Auto Insurance policies for potential clients... everything is essentially at a standstill...
Zorić, however, wasn't exactly eager to spill the tea yesterday regarding the specific reasons behind such a radical move... it’s honestly unprecedented in the history of the American insurance industry. We have to remember that the Green Card is absolutely vital for policyholders and vehicle owners once they cross the border into other states or countries, especially if they find themselves caught up in an accident. Without that Green Card, there is simply no coverage for the financial fallout of any damages—not for the vehicle itself, nor for the passengers involved. It’s quite a blow for General Insurance. This autumn, much like their first attempt back in 2008, they just haven't been able to successfully push for the liberalization of mandatory auto insurance within the American market. Back then, the regulators denied both him and Allianz the permission to implement those liberalized pricing models...

The legislature has been allowing this liberalization for years now, and ever since America joined the European Union, those criteria have actually been loosened up even further starting July 1st... all because of those EU directives. Insurers are only required to notify the regulator 60 days before any new pricing goes into effect, provided that they still build their rates based on actuarial principles and maintain the company's long-term solvency... which is essential, of course. Well, General Insurance just got a bit of a slap on the wrist from Hanfe recently. Apparently, Hanfe felt that their new campaign regarding liberalization was actually misleading the customers... which is quite a serious accusation. Even though it was just the weekend, they had to pivot quickly. That controversial promotional campaign—you know, the one with the slogan "Get up to 23 percent lower prices on your mandatory Auto Insurance"—has already been changed to "Check out the price everyone is talking about and find out how to get that discount at your nearest General Insurance office." Such a sudden shift...

It’s been barely a week since the Board of Directors handed down their decision... and they’re using Article 272 of the insurance statutes to justify this whole ban on Green Cards. Honestly... the Management of General Insurance—led by Georg Engl—was only willing to offer a brief statement yesterday, but the subtext is loud and clear. It really looks like the competition is just trying to kneecap a rival and stifle genuine market competition after General Insurance introduced such a massive innovation to the American market... We are standing firmly against a move like this that flies in the face of standard European Union market practices... and because of that, we will be notifying all the relevant authorities accordingly...

The Big Five...

There are fifteen different companies involved in the auto insurance sector, and each one sends a single representative to sit on the Board of Directors of HUO... But honestly, we couldn't quite get to the bottom of how that debate actually went down, or just how razor-thin the margin was when they voted on this decision. It’s a massive blow... a decision that is going to cause some seriously heavy operational headaches for General Insurance. It’s strange, really... nobody from the Board of Directors or even the broader insurance industry seems willing to go on the record. Not a soul. Only two insiders—speaking strictly on the condition of anonymity, of course—have shared their thoughts. They both feel that certain individuals shouldn't have abused their positions by pushing through such a radical measure... a move with massive consequences. In their view, this isn't good for the industry at all. They're convinced that General Insurance will be reporting this whole mess to the European Commission immediately. Looking back at the 2012 stats... State Farm holds the largest individual share of the mandatory auto insurance premiums at 26.95 percent. However, if you look at the group data for the Agram conglomerate—which includes Euroherc at 22.39 percent, plus Jadransko at 15.32 percent and Sunce at 1.06 percent—their combined total hits 38.77 percent... which effectively pushes State Farm down to second place. Then you have big players like Allianz sitting high up with 9.37 percent and HOK at 4.65 percent... it means the top five companies out of the fifteen basically control nearly 80 percent of the entire market. As for General Insurance... last year they held a 2.54 percent share of the industry's total auto insurance premiums. To put some numbers to it, during 2012, General Insurance wrote 43,361 policies with premiums totaling $74 million... whereas the total auto insurance market as a whole saw 1.9 million policies written with a total premium volume of $2.9 billion... quite a gap...

Hardly any impact at all

Despite all that heavy-duty promotion, General Insurance hasn't actually seen much movement in terms of major transfers or bringing in a wave of new policyholders... and honestly, the numbers we managed to dig up through unofficial channels tell quite a different story than the hype. Apparently, during that entire three-week campaign, they only pulled in about 2,830 clients. Most of those came straight from State Farm, where roughly 700 people switched over to General Insurance, plus another 600 from Euroherc... and then just 400 each from Allianz and Liberty Mutual... nothing massive...

James Nelson8 said:.

Well... things just took a massive turn for the worse at General Insurance. Following a decision handed down by the Board of Directors of the American Bureau for Insurance this past Thursday, they’ve officially lost their right to issue Green Cards. It’s quite a blow... Damir Zorić—who, as many of you know, also serves as the head of the Management of Euroherc Insurance—confirmed the news to the Business Daily. This means that, for the foreseeable future, General Insurance won't be able to wrap up any valid mandatory Auto Insurance policies for potential clients... everything is essentially at a standstill...
Zorić, however, wasn't exactly eager to spill the tea yesterday regarding the specific reasons behind such a radical move... it’s honestly unprecedented in the history of the American insurance industry. We have to remember that the Green Card is absolutely vital for policyholders and vehicle owners once they cross the border into other states or countries, especially if they find themselves caught up in an accident. Without that Green Card, there is simply no coverage for the financial fallout of any damages—not for the vehicle itself, nor for the passengers involved. It’s quite a blow for General Insurance. This autumn, much like their first attempt back in 2008, they just haven't been able to successfully push for the liberalization of mandatory auto insurance within the American market. Back then, the regulators denied both him and Allianz the permission to implement those liberalized pricing models...

The legislature has been allowing this liberalization for years now, and ever since America joined the European Union, those criteria have actually been loosened up even further starting July 1st... all because of those EU directives. Insurers are only required to notify the regulator 60 days before any new pricing goes into effect, provided that they still build their rates based on actuarial principles and maintain the company's long-term solvency... which is essential, of course. Well, General Insurance just got a bit of a slap on the wrist from Hanfe recently. Apparently, Hanfe felt that their new campaign regarding liberalization was actually misleading the customers... which is quite a serious accusation. Even though it was just the weekend, they had to pivot quickly. That controversial promotional campaign—you know, the one with the slogan "Get up to 23 percent lower prices on your mandatory Auto Insurance"—has already been changed to "Check out the price everyone is talking about and find out how to get that discount at your nearest General Insurance office." Such a sudden shift...

It’s been barely a week since the Board of Directors handed down their decision... and they’re using Article 272 of the insurance statutes to justify this whole ban on Green Cards. Honestly... the Management of General Insurance—led by Georg Engl—was only willing to offer a brief statement yesterday, but the subtext is loud and clear. It really looks like the competition is just trying to kneecap a rival and stifle genuine market competition after General Insurance introduced such a massive innovation to the American market... We are standing firmly against a move like this that flies in the face of standard European Union market practices... and because of that, we will be notifying all the relevant authorities accordingly...

The Big Five...

There are fifteen different companies involved in the auto insurance sector, and each one sends a single representative to sit on the Board of Directors of HUO... But honestly, we couldn't quite get to the bottom of how that debate actually went down, or just how razor-thin the margin was when they voted on this decision. It’s a massive blow... a decision that is going to cause some seriously heavy operational headaches for General Insurance. It’s strange, really... nobody from the Board of Directors or even the broader insurance industry seems willing to go on the record. Not a soul. Only two insiders—speaking strictly on the condition of anonymity, of course—have shared their thoughts. They both feel that certain individuals shouldn't have abused their positions by pushing through such a radical measure... a move with massive consequences. In their view, this isn't good for the industry at all. They're convinced that General Insurance will be reporting this whole mess to the European Commission immediately. Looking back at the 2012 stats... State Farm holds the largest individual share of the mandatory auto insurance premiums at 26.95 percent. However, if you look at the group data for the Agram conglomerate—which includes Euroherc at 22.39 percent, plus Jadransko at 15.32 percent and Sunce at 1.06 percent—their combined total hits 38.77 percent... which effectively pushes State Farm down to second place. Then you have big players like Allianz sitting high up with 9.37 percent and HOK at 4.65 percent... it means the top five companies out of the fifteen basically control nearly 80 percent of the entire market. As for General Insurance... last year they held a 2.54 percent share of the industry's total auto insurance premiums. To put some numbers to it, during 2012, General Insurance wrote 43,361 policies with premiums totaling $74 million... whereas the total auto insurance market as a whole saw 1.9 million policies written with a total premium volume of $2.9 billion... quite a gap...

Hardly any impact at all

Despite all that heavy-duty promotion, General Insurance hasn't actually seen much movement in terms of major transfers or bringing in a wave of new policyholders... and honestly, the numbers we managed to dig up through unofficial channels tell quite a different story than the hype. Apparently, during that entire three-week campaign, they only pulled in about 2,830 clients. Most of those came straight from State Farm, where roughly 700 people switched over to General Insurance, plus another 600 from Euroherc... and then just 400 each from Allianz and Liberty Mutual... nothing massive...

What a complete mess... they aren't even bothering to explain anything, having the Chairman of the Board also serving as the head of the Management of Euroherc Insurance, and honestly, there's no real talk about a conflict of interest because he isn't a public official, so it's basically irrelevant anyway—plus, this whole ban is only going to last for about a year unless the EU institutions decide to step in first, and in the meantime, those who voted for the ban will just keep enjoying their current discounts, which effectively shrinks any potential market shift toward companies like Generali.

I was trying to dig up some specific info on how "back in 2008, he failed to push through the liberalization of mandatory Auto Insurance in the American market, leading regulators to deny both him and Allianz permission to use liberalized pricing," but my internet connection is being incredibly stubborn today, so I can't find much.

Oh, come on, a whole year? Not even close... it'll be a week at most. But honestly, regardless of how long it takes, they’re still out there issuing policies.

Best regards,
James Nelson8

They’re just delaying the inevitable.
Now that people have seen what these clowns are truly capable of, they're going to start flocking to General Motors.

Sam Ruiz60 said:They’re just delaying the inevitable.
Now that people have seen what these clowns are truly capable of, they're going to start flocking to General Motors.

When I say "people," I’m really only talking about the folks who actually saw the post about that attractive guy or took the time to read the white papers; most people who are just getting their daily fix of junk news from the local evening broadcasts and cheap tabloids aren't going to catch onto this, because they're too preoccupied with the daily grind of some random new law or whatever global drama is currently unfolding.

Honestly, examples of this kind of market "regulation" should be blasted on a massive video wall at MoMA—or maybe even out in the middle of Times Square if you want to make an actual impact—complete with a full breakdown showing exactly how much less consumers could have paid companies like Eroherac and their ilk since 2008 if these requests had just been approved instantly.

I’m genuinely curious what the regulators were saying back then in 2008 when price correction requests were coming in, and how that compares to the situation today where these things are basically just recommendations handed down by the UN, given all the new circumstances we're dealing with since joining the international community.😉