Diesel350

Just curious to see what everyone's coverage's are and why you chose it and what some of your tips you may have.

I've learned that no matter how good you think your car insurance company is, if you haven't made a claim in the last 3 yrs you should shop your car insurance every 3 yrs to have the best rates. Car Insurance companies are like cable companies where they punish loyalty instead of rewarding your loyalty. I was with USAA for the longest time thinking they were the best company when I decided to shop around and saved over $800/yr by switching to another company with the same exact coverages.

Another thing I've learned is to not use the towing coverage that is sometimes free on a policy, on some policies you pay a small premium for towing. The reason is that if you call for towing the insurance company will mark this as a claim. The worst part is the insurance company doesn't tell you this.

Here are my coverages:
Bodily Injury $300k/500k- Reason to have it this high is if you have significant assets
Uninsured Motorist (Stacked) $100k/$300k
Property Damage- $100k
Medical- $5,000 person Not sure why I need this if I have medical insurance but I guess it covers out of pocket medical expenses and it's cheap anyways.
PIP - $10,000 Maximum Limit - This is a requirement in my state
Collision Deductible-$1000
Comprehensive Deductible- $250 - Not sure if I should increase this or not? What your thoughts on where the comprehensive deductible should be set at?

wasjr

My coverage is similar to yours. It is not necessarily the insurance companies, but the agents. My insurance has always been with independent agents. Insurance companies are always modifying classifications and discounts in filings with state insurance departments. Oftentimes the agent just renews coverage as is, and never reviews to see if you qualify for other classifications and discounts. So yes you need to shop coverage periodically, or ask your agent if they shopped other companies they represent.

mmarshall

In general, the fewer people you carry in your car (besides yourself), or the fewer number in a car you hit, the lower any potential jury or liability-awards would be in an accident. But, of course, at today's awards, even a lawsuit from one person or their insurance company could run into some huge figures. Some insurance companies offer liability policies with $1 million limits...but that sometimes has to be OK'ed by a vice-president or high-ranking manager rom the company. More common is the 300/300 or 300/500K you mentioned.

Although anyone, anytime, can make an error, in general, the more careful and better driver you are, the less likely you will be to have chargeable accident, and the less likely you will have to make a collision claim. Keep in mind, though, that some insurance companies consider someone hitting your car with a bicycle to be a collision claim...others don't. In other words, if a careless child hits your car with a bike, does some sheet-metal or other damage, and just pedals off, you could be stuck with a collision claim, not comprehensive (depending on the insurance company)



Set the comprehensive according to the likelihood of your individual circumstances to auto damage from those sources. Do you regularly park inside, where your car is protected, or outside where storms, hail, tree branches, fireworks, kids on bikes, vandals or teen-age pranksters, etc....can damage your car? Do you regularly drive through construction or other areas where rocks, road debris, etc......can be kicked up and damage your windshield or car body? Do you live or park in a high auto-theft or other shady, unscrupulous area? If so, the more your car is regularly exposed to these things, the more likely you will be to actually need and use the comprehensive policy someday.

zeyger

Perhaps I can be of some assistance.

Keep in mind that I'm a broker and my loyalty is with my clients, not with the insurers so any statements I make are coming directly from my brokerage, not the insurers.

Not all insurance companies "punish" you for your loyalty, some of them just don't care as much as others...primarily the big box guys. Their marketing is so strong that they are more focused on generating new business than keeping the business they already have. If they lose your business, the company doesn't suffer, the captive agent that wrote it does. Also, it's more common for insurance rates to go up as every year there's an increase in drivers, in turn resulting in more risk. More risk = higher premiums. Although there are insurers that will reduce your premium (non of which are the big box guys, even if they advertise "safe driving BS"...), the likely scenario is that your premium will remain the same, unless something triggered an increase.

Switching once in a while is not a bad tactic, especially because insurance companies base their rates on losses (among a million other things). If their losses are high - meaning that they had to pay out on a lot of claims/accidents - the insurer will be less competitive on pricing in will likely raise premiums every renewal. Switching from a higher cost insurer to a lower cost may not always be a good tactic, however. Don't get me wrong, 99.99% of the time we switch our clients because we're trying to save them money, but not all insurers are created equal.

Many of the lower cost insurers have HORRIBLE customer service. Adjusters are slow to estimate, claim checks are slow to arrive, payments to the insurer can be mumbled, etc, etc. We have many carriers that are dubbed "the cheapest" but we always advise to pay just a tad bit more and go with a higher quality insurer. Believe it or not, "you get what you pay for" applies to insurance as well.

Additionally, keep in mind that whenever you "use" your insurance, the insurer sees that as a loss and can increase your premium. Again, however, this is based on the insurer. We have tons of insurers that will allow the towing benefit without "dinging" you in some monetary way. Our low cost carriers are generally NOT the ones that will look the other way.

Additionally, we don't write in FL, so I can't give you any advice as to your coverage, but strictly from a logical standpoint, you're well covered. Unless you have assets that may be in danger if your limits are exceeded - just like you said - you should be fine. If your worried about your current coverage than I strongly recommend that you speak with your agent/broker. For your COMP deductible, the choice is yours, but keep in mind that the higher the deductible, the lower your monthly payment, and vice-versa. If you life in an area where there's potential for loss in terms of damage to the vehicle when the car is parked, etc, then keep your deductible low.

And finally, also keep in mind that the deductible is there to "deter" you from making too many claims. The more claims you make, the higher your premium since the insurer is losing money by paying out the claim. Deductibles are circumstantial but since we're talking broad terms here, the majority of our clients either go 500/500 comp/collision.


Sadly you're absolutely right about the process. What's even sadder is that it's really not that much more work to renew after checking the policy discounts, if any are available. This is exactly the reason why we have an in-house staff that deals only in renewals and assists the agent/broker.

Good brokers do the work for you...that's kind of what they're [I]supposed[U] to do anyway but an agent benefits from you paying a higher premium since they make a percentage of what you pay. I can't speak for others but we'd rather save you some money and do the work up front and continuously because much of our business is referral. Every business has a model that works for them though so I can't blame them for their actions... /rant

tex2670

Just remember that "best" doesn't have anything to do with "cheapest". I'm with USAA, and I did shop around for homeowners years ago, and it turned out USAA was still cheapest. But when people say how great USAA is, remember that it has more to do with the premiums. If you save money, and your insurance company is a pain to deal with when you have a claim, that's something to factor into the choice.