Car Insurance: What are your experiences?

Tyler Price7 said:Insurance folks told me my deductible is 50%, but I guess I don't really know the actual dollar amount for damage that bad on someone else's car.

if that 50% thing wasn't there and insurance covered 100%, it would be like $3,800, but since it is, I'll probably end up paying more than $1667

Tyler Price7 said:Insurance folks told me my deductible is 50%, but I guess I don't really know the actual dollar amount for damage that bad on someone else's car.

Basically, you started with zero discount, then caused an accident. If that's the case, you're looking at a 115% rate—meaning you're paying a 15% premium over the base price.

The surcharge scale works like this:

0%
115%
130%
150%
170%
190%
210%
230%
250%

The discount scale looks like this:

0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%

So, if you cause damage before even building up a discount, you hit 115%. A second accident bumps you to 130%. It takes until the third one to hit that 150% mark...

fadedlynx6 said:Basically, you started with zero discount, then caused an accident. If that's the case, you're looking at a 115% rate—meaning you're paying a 15% premium over the base price.

The surcharge scale works like this:

0%
115%
130%
150%
170%
190%
210%
230%
250%

The discount scale looks like this:

0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%

So, if you cause damage before even building up a discount, you hit 115%. A second accident bumps you to 130%. It takes until the third one to hit that 150% mark...

aha so they actually have my records... I guess that's why my rate is so high since I had two accidents a few years back and another one last year. so that's that 50% hike
is it smart to just transfer the car title to someone else via a gift deed so I don't get hit with this surcharge?
and does this stuff stay on my record forever, like even if I wait 10 years to put a car in my name and insure it again?

Tyler Price7 said:aha so they actually have my records... I guess that's why my rate is so high since I had two accidents a few years back and another one last year. so that's that 50% hike
is it smart to just transfer the car title to someone else via a gift deed so I don't get hit with this surcharge?
and does this stuff stay on my record forever, like even if I wait 10 years to put a car in my name and insure it again?

Not sure if you're stuck in their system forever or not, but I know that if you earn a safe driver discount and don't own a car for three years, that discount vanishes. In your case, it’s likely what you think—you're flagged as high-risk in the database, and apparently, those records don't just disappear.

A gift deed without paying taxes only works for direct family, like a father to a son or daughter... moving down the line. You can't just give a car to your dad tax-free. And if you can't avoid the tax anyway, you might as well just fake a sale; there's less paperwork involved than a gift deed.

fadedlynx6 said:Not sure if you're stuck in their system forever or not, but I know that if you earn a safe driver discount and don't own a car for three years, that discount vanishes. In your case, it’s likely what you think—you're flagged as high-risk in the database, and apparently, those records don't just disappear.

A gift deed without paying taxes only works for direct family, like a father to a son or daughter... moving down the line. You can't just give a car to your dad tax-free. And if you can't avoid the tax anyway, you might as well just fake a sale; there's less paperwork involved than a gift deed.

ok so i'll probably gotta pay some tax, maybe around $600 if anything, idk. say like maybe $67, plus getting the new title and registration done is maybe $67, total like 2200. with the surcharge i'd be looking at 5400. but if i just used someone else's insurance with a 0% bonus, maybe even 25%? since it would be a second car under the same person, maybe they automatically give 25% for a second vehicle? that seems like the best move, i guess. though if i get another car later, maybe the surcharge won't hit me and i'll start at 0% again. but this way it takes 3 years to hit 0% bonus, right? is that how it works?

Tyler Price7 said:ok so i'll probably gotta pay some tax, maybe around $600 if anything, idk. say like maybe $67, plus getting the new title and registration done is maybe $67, total like 2200. with the surcharge i'd be looking at 5400. but if i just used someone else's insurance with a 0% bonus, maybe even 25%? since it would be a second car under the same person, maybe they automatically give 25% for a second vehicle? that seems like the best move, i guess. though if i get another car later, maybe the surcharge won't hit me and i'll start at 0% again. but this way it takes 3 years to hit 0% bonus, right? is that how it works?

Basically, if their current policy has a 50% discount, the second car gets half that—25%. If they have 30%, the second one gets 15%...

Now, I'm not sure if the accident database ever expires because insurance companies have too much skin in the game. I know you lose your good driver discount if you don't renew for three years, but I'm not certain about the surcharges since those live in a separate claims database.

If that surcharge doesn't expire, it just follows you forever until you're rid of it...

What on earth did you do to rack up three accidents in such a short window?

fadedlynx6 said:Basically, if their current policy has a 50% discount, the second car gets half that—25%. If they have 30%, the second one gets 15%...

Now, I'm not sure if the accident database ever expires because insurance companies have too much skin in the game. I know you lose your good driver discount if you don't renew for three years, but I'm not certain about the surcharges since those live in a separate claims database.

If that surcharge doesn't expire, it just follows you forever until you're rid of it...

What on earth did you do to rack up three accidents in such a short window?

it wasn't really in a short time, more like over the last 10 years. And it wasn't three, just two. But the main thing with the malus is this

If you haven't had your own car or your own policy before, things might look bad. I think you'd start with a 50% malus, so the premium could be pretty pricey.

meaning you automatically drop three levels. So instead of 115 or 130, it jumps straight to 150. Then it would probably take me 4 years to get back to a zero discount. But the malus shouldn't follow me when I buy a second new car, so I guess I'd start from 0% bonus again.

Tyler Price7 said:it wasn't really in a short time, more like over the last 10 years. And it wasn't three, just two. But the main thing with the malus is this

If you haven't had your own car or your own policy before, things might look bad. I think you'd start with a 50% malus, so the premium could be pretty pricey.

meaning you automatically drop three levels. So instead of 115 or 130, it jumps straight to 150. Then it would probably take me 4 years to get back to a zero discount. But the malus shouldn't follow me when I buy a second new car, so I guess I'd start from 0% bonus again.

I don't follow you. Someone who has never owned a vehicle starts at a 5% discount, then moves to 10% the next year, climbing by 5% increments until they hit 50%...

[QUOTE=fadedlynx6;38972328]I don't really get you, if someone's never had a car before they start at 5%, then next year it's 10%, and it goes up by 5% every year until you hit 50%.[/QUOTE

true, takes like 9 years to actually hit that 50% discount, so it's 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, I guess

never actually had a car in my own name, but apparently if you have an accident, you just jump straight into a malus of 50% immediately. doesn't make much sense, but eh, so yeah, it's not even about how many accidents you have, you just go straight to malus[/QUOTE]

It’s easy to play the expert now, but honestly, how on earth did you manage to get into another wreck so quickly? Of course, it feels more profitable in the short term to just flip the car to some unsuspecting person and register it with zero or maybe even a 25% discount if someone already holds a 50% rating. You should have just bought it outright and practically begged the guy to take cash—offering him your ID as some kind of collateral, handing over every cent you had in your pocket. This situation is messy, and the worst part is that nobody can fix this for you anymore because you’ve officially been flagged in the system as a high-risk driver.
Long-term — 🤷 Personally, if I were sitting at a 50 malus, I wouldn't even put the policy in my own name. It simply wouldn't make sense; my premium would probably skyrocket to $5,000 or $6,000, which is basically science fiction to me. For that kind of money, my relatives could register luxury cars worth $100,000 with 300+ horsepower, so this just isn't worth it..

There’s quite a bit of misinformation in here, honestly... but I just don't have the energy to dive into it right now

fadedlynx6 said:Basically, you started with zero discount, then caused an accident. If that's the case, you're looking at a 115% rate—meaning you're paying a 15% premium over the base price.

The surcharge scale works like this:

0%
115%
130%
150%
170%
190%
210%
230%
250%

The discount scale looks like this:

0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25%
30%
35%
40%
45%
50%

So, if you cause damage before even building up a discount, you hit 115%. A second accident bumps you to 130%. It takes until the third one to hit that 150% mark...

I actually called State Farm the other day to get some clarity on how their surcharges work, and honestly, this super rude, unpleasant lady on the phone told me that just one single claim bumps you up three levels on the penalty scale. So according to their math, I'm jumping straight to 150%. Man, I felt physically sick just doing the math on what my registration and insurance costs are going to look like now.

darkranger232 said:I actually called State Farm the other day to get some clarity on how their surcharges work, and honestly, this super rude, unpleasant lady on the phone told me that just one single claim bumps you up three levels on the penalty scale. So according to their math, I'm jumping straight to 150%. Man, I felt physically sick just doing the math on what my registration and insurance costs are going to look like now.

Yeah, it's a straight drop of 3 levels, which sucks. But hey, I guess the good news is that the malus expires after 3 years. So if you pick up a new car after 3 years, you start back at 100% instead of being stuck at 150%.

If I end up filing a claim under my policy, does that mean my entire no-claims bonus disappears, or does it actually depend on how much the damage costs?

mistyfalcon4 said:If I end up filing a claim under my policy, does that mean my entire no-claims bonus disappears, or does it actually depend on how much the damage costs?

When you file a claim against your policy, the standard procedure is to drop your discount by three rating steps.
For instance, if you currently enjoy a 50% safe driver discount, it would drop down to 35%.

I have listed the various premium tiers above, so you can calculate the exact impact yourself...

mellowgull80 said:When you file a claim against your policy, the standard procedure is to drop your discount by three rating steps.
For instance, if you currently enjoy a 50% safe driver discount, it would drop down to 35%.

I have listed the various premium tiers above, so you can calculate the exact impact yourself...

Got it, thanks.
So just to be clear—that applies regardless of whether it's just a minor door scratch or a total wreck?

Look, you could always just hire someone to handle the door painting... you can step back from the grind and still protect that bonus if that's what makes more sense for your bottom line...

James Nelson8 said:Look, you could always just hire someone to handle the door painting... you can step back from the grind and still protect that bonus if that's what makes more sense for your bottom line...

I hear you,
but my real concern is whether the actual cost of the damage determines how much they dock from the bonus.

mistyfalcon4 said:I hear you,
but my real concern is whether the actual cost of the damage determines how much they dock from the bonus.

No. The bonus always drops by three premium steps, regardless of whether the damage was $33 or $33333.

mellowgull80 said:No. The bonus always drops by three premium steps, regardless of whether the damage was $33 or $33333.

Got it, thanks!