Car Insurance: What are your experiences?

Frank Garcia85 said:So we're in the USA now and car insurance prices haven't budged an inch...

Under these new rules, the government isn't going to dictate mandatory liability rates based on risk zones or engine size anymore. Instead, insurance companies get to submit their own pricing to the FBI based on their own risk assessments and whatever they feel like.

I bet the insurance giants already sent their price lists over to the FBI......

What's the hold-up?

I'd say it just feels that way to you because they sent new rates. I was actually reading a bit about this a few weeks ago, and everyone was basically saying they have zero intention of dropping prices right now. They're worried that cutting rates too much could trigger a total market collapse, kind of like what happened in Greece. Honestly, the current setup works fine for the insurers. They don't really need to give up those profits unless a new player jumps in and starts undercutting them. Only then would the rest of them probably react.

We aren't going to see many newcomers flooding in... Not anytime soon. Just one for now, perhaps, but don't expect prices to drop. It’s simply not in anyone's interest to lower them... and besides, any new players entering the market have to cough up a $250,000 membership fee just to get their hands on those insurance policies. Maybe, if we're lucky, premiums might dip byสัก 15% over the next five years... if we're lucky...

Hey, don't want to start a whole new thread, so I'll just drop this here.
Just picked up a new ride and need collision coverage. Torn between State Farm, GEICO, and Allstate. Anyone got advice? Should I steer clear of any of them or does it not really matter? Thanks 🙂

Gregory Ortiz2 said:Hey, don't want to start a whole new thread, so I'll just drop this here.
Just picked up a new ride and need collision coverage. Torn between State Farm, GEICO, and Allstate. Anyone got advice? Should I steer clear of any of them or does it not really matter? Thanks 🙂

It probably makes the most sense to bundle your comprehensive coverage with wherever you have your basic policy.
Besides those three, I’d say maybe take a look at what State Farm has to offer too...
Back in 2012, they seemed to be the best when it came to actually paying out claims here in the States.

urbanharbor95 said:It probably makes the most sense to bundle your comprehensive coverage with wherever you have your basic policy.
Besides those three, I’d say maybe take a look at what State Farm has to offer too...
Back in 2012, they seemed to be the best when it came to actually paying out claims here in the States.

don't even have basic yet... thought about bundling both with the same company, just wanted to see what you guys think...🙂

Gregory Ortiz2 said:don't even have basic yet... thought about bundling both with the same company, just wanted to see what you guys think...🙂

But hey, if you've got someone you actually know in that area...😉

Quick little question here!😁

Do young drivers end up paying more for insurance than someone over 24 if the policy is in their name?

urbanharbor95 said:It probably makes the most sense to bundle your comprehensive coverage with wherever you have your basic policy.
Besides those three, I’d say maybe take a look at what State Farm has to offer too...
Back in 2012, they seemed to be the best when it came to actually paying out claims here in the States.

I'm not sure why it would be logical to bundle comprehensive with your basic liability. I've actually kept my policies with totally different companies for years now.

Andrew Wells2 said:Quick little question here!😁

Do young drivers end up paying more for insurance than someone over 24 if the policy is in their name?

With comprehensive coverage, I don't think there's much difference in price between young and older drivers. I think Allstate used to offer specific policies like that once, but I'm not sure if they still do. For most other places, it seems like your age doesn't really matter, at least that's how it's worked for me so far.

Now, with basic liability, that's a whole different story. The price mostly depends on whatever discount or bonus the driver has from previous years. If a driver—whether they're young or over 24—is buying their very first policy under their own name, the price should be pretty much the same regardless of age.

Andrew Wells2 said:Quick little question here!😁

Do young drivers end up paying more for insurance than someone over 24 if the policy is in their name?

Not really, they don't. As far as I know, current rate tables don't actually look at age—it’s more about your credit score and driving history.

I’ve got a quick question about how this works elsewhere—how is this handled in the States? Here, insurance premiums are based on the vehicle itself, though the owner gets a nice little discount for being a good driver. But if you let your wife or a friend take the car out and they end up totaling it, you lose your entire bonus. Doesn't seem particularly fair, does it? 🙂

urbanharbor95:

I was thinking about Penava earlier—it’s funny how certain names just stick in your head, I guess. It's one of those things that stays on your mind even when you aren't actively looking for it. Just a random thought, really. urbanharbor95 says: I have a quick question about how things work over here—like, what’s the standard setup? In my experience, insurance is usually tied to the vehicle itself, and the owner gets a nice little discount for being a safe driver. But it feels a bit unfair if you lend your car to your wife or a friend and they end up wrecking it—you'd lose your entire no-claims bonus because of someone else's mistake, right? It just doesn't seem very fair. 🙂

It’s handled pretty much the same way over there as it is here—the only real difference is how the bonus ranges work and the specific rules for earning or losing them, which tends to vary from state to state.
You lose out on the bonus because of the owner's vehicle liability. I know, it doesn't feel exactly fair—and maybe it isn't—but honestly, there just isn't any other way to set it up. If they didn't do this, someone could basically rent out cars to reckless drivers who'd cause constant damage through careless driving, and then nobody would actually face any consequences since those drivers don't even own a vehicle themselves.

amberhound62 said:I'm not sure why it would be logical to bundle comprehensive with your basic liability. I've actually kept my policies with totally different companies for years now.

With comprehensive coverage, I don't think there's much difference in price between young and older drivers. I think Allstate used to offer specific policies like that once, but I'm not sure if they still do. For most other places, it seems like your age doesn't really matter, at least that's how it's worked for me so far.

Now, with basic liability, that's a whole different story. The price mostly depends on whatever discount or bonus the driver has from previous years. If a driver—whether they're young or over 24—is buying their very first policy under their own name, the price should be pretty much the same regardless of age.

Look, nobody is telling you that you can't hold separate policies if you want to. I was just pointing out what seems logical to most people—since, I guess, about 97% of drivers just bundle their liability and collision together.
If you have both through the same provider, you usually end up getting some extra discounts, too.
So, yeah, having both under one roof just makes sense, especially if they share the same renewal date...

urbanharbor95 said:urbanharbor95:

I was thinking about Penava earlier—it’s funny how certain names just stick in your head, I guess. It's one of those things that stays on your mind even when you aren't actively looking for it. Just a random thought, really. urbanharbor95 says: I have a quick question about how things work over here—like, what’s the standard setup? In my experience, insurance is usually tied to the vehicle itself, and the owner gets a nice little discount for being a safe driver. But it feels a bit unfair if you lend your car to your wife or a friend and they end up wrecking it—you'd lose your entire no-claims bonus because of someone else's mistake, right? It just doesn't seem very fair. 🙂

It’s handled pretty much the same way over there as it is here—the only real difference is how the bonus ranges work and the specific rules for earning or losing them, which tends to vary from state to state.
You lose out on the bonus because of the owner's vehicle liability. I know, it doesn't feel exactly fair—and maybe it isn't—but honestly, there just isn't any other way to set it up. If they didn't do this, someone could basically rent out cars to reckless drivers who'd cause constant damage through careless driving, and then nobody would actually face any consequences since those drivers don't even own a vehicle themselves.

just like in neighboring Mexico, they don't even have these bonus or penalty systems at all; everyone just pays the full premium regardless of whether they get into an accident or not, and honestly, the policies over there are almost half the price of what we pay here. (I heard this firsthand from someone who handles car insurance there)

Also, I thought this was kind of interesting, but in Germany for example, if you insure your car for a year and then decide to freeze your coverage for maybe three or four months during the winter when you aren't driving, they just extend your policy by that same amount of time later on. In America, I doubt we'll ever see something like that happen.

urbanharbor95 said:Not really, they don't. As far as I know, current rate tables don't actually look at age—it’s more about your credit score and driving history.

What does that actually look like in practice? And what kind of annual premiums are we talking about here?

Sorry, I am a total newbie when it comes to this stuff, so I figured I’d just ask...😁

Ryan Carter52 said:just like in neighboring Mexico, they don't even have these bonus or penalty systems at all; everyone just pays the full premium regardless of whether they get into an accident or not, and honestly, the policies over there are almost half the price of what we pay here. (I heard this firsthand from someone who handles car insurance there)

Also, I thought this was kind of interesting, but in Germany for example, if you insure your car for a year and then decide to freeze your coverage for maybe three or four months during the winter when you aren't driving, they just extend your policy by that same amount of time later on. In America, I doubt we'll ever see something like that happen.

No offense intended, but I feel like Mexico is probably the last place you'd look if you wanted a truly reliable system, even when it comes to something like insurance.

As for that German model, I'm sure eventually something like that will make its way to the States, but before that happens, the entire vehicle inspection system would need a complete overhaul.
I mean, our insurers could technically issue a policy for any number of days they wanted, but it wouldn't really matter, because you still need a full year's worth of coverage just to pass a state inspection.
In Germany, you can extend a policy quarterly, but it isn't tied to the inspection schedule in the same way, since some vehicles there only need inspections every two years.
It’s also common abroad for an owner to always insure their most expensive vehicle, and then they can drive their other cars using those same papers and plates, as long as they're only driving one at a time.

All of this might eventually happen here, too, but I guess those kinds of changes just take a long time to roll out.

Andrew Wells2 said:What does that actually look like in practice? And what kind of annual premiums are we talking about here?

Sorry, I am a total newbie when it comes to this stuff, so I figured I’d just ask...😁

Basically, it means your car insurance premium depends entirely on whatever discount level you've built up.
If you're a brand new driver, you'll pretty much be paying the full sticker price.
The longer you drive without filing any claims—assuming you stay accident-free—the higher your discount becomes, which makes the policy cheaper, of course.
You can hit a maximum discount of about 50% once you've been driving for 10 years without any claims hitting your record.

You might want to check Progressive or Geico online to get a better idea of the ballpark prices.

Andrew Wells2 said:Quick little question here!😁

Do young drivers end up paying more for insurance than someone over 24 if the policy is in their name?

It usually depends on whether you're looking at comprehensive coverage or just the basic liability, but for standard liability, it shouldn't make a difference.

amberhound62 said:I'd say it just feels that way to you because they sent new rates. I was actually reading a bit about this a few weeks ago, and everyone was basically saying they have zero intention of dropping prices right now. They're worried that cutting rates too much could trigger a total market collapse, kind of like what happened in Greece. Honestly, the current setup works fine for the insurers. They don't really need to give up those profits unless a new player jumps in and starts undercutting them. Only then would the rest of them probably react.

In reality, they've been working toward this since the market was deregulated. But beyond that, there were issues with how to regulate competition. The biggest question mark was whether price lists could be changed whenever they felt like it, or if once they're published, they had to stay fixed for at least a year.

I'm not sure if that's been sorted out yet, but we can finally see State Farm coming out with some cheaper options.

What’s interesting, though, is that they didn't fix it by changing the base rate structure. Instead, they're just allowing for more additional discounts. My guess is that the regulatory issue might still be hanging around; adjusting individual line items seems much easier than messing with the fundamental premium calculation. But hey, maybe I'm wrong. Who knows.

It's all just noise until companies like Euroherc, and a few others, actually start playing by the rules.

Looks like we’re heading toward a "no rules" rule soon🙄

General Motors kicked this whole thing off, and now everyone else is being forced to follow suit...
Honestly, great news for the customers, but a total nightmare for the insurance companies... what a mess ☕

Andrew Wells2 said:Quick little question here!😁

Do young drivers end up paying more for insurance than someone over 24 if the policy is in their name?

Rates haven't shifted based on age yet, but we'll probably see age-based tiers soon. Some companies are already starting to undercut standard pricing (like Progressive being about 23% cheaper or State Farm at 25%).
Now that we're operating under broader federal standards, insurers have more freedom to set their own rates, provided the SEC signs off on them. Expect some major shifts once the market settles.
The big thing is that liability coverage requirements have spiked—we're looking at $1.5 million for property damage and $3 million for bodily injury on $2850000 for property, plus $42,750 $0.00 for people. You have to wonder which insurance giants will actually be able to stomach those kinds of massive payouts.