car insurance

[Bmi48219]

There was a time (the 70s & 80s) when AAA Michigan let you switch your full coverage auto insurance to storage coverage, thus saving a big chunk of the premium. I would store my fun vehicle for the winter and it was covered only for fire and theft. Just had to call them and tell them to change it to storage coverage. If I wanted to drive it, I just had to notify them first and they’d change the vehicle back to full coverage whenever and as often as I wanted. that auto was plated year-round but only driven from May through October. When we bought our first Florida part-time residence I wanted to have a vehicle available in the garage for our visits. Florida insurance companies said I had to maintain full coverage.
They have you beat coming or going.

[Idaho45guy]

There was a time (the 70s & 80s) when AAA Michigan let you switch your full coverage auto insurance to storage coverage, thus saving a big chunk of the premium. I would store my fun vehicle for the winter and it was covered only for fire and theft. Just had to call them and tell them to change it to storage coverage. If I wanted to drive it, I just had to notify them first and they’d change the vehicle back to full coverage whenever and as often as I wanted. that auto was plated year-round but only driven from May through October. When we bought our first Florida part-time residence I wanted to have a vehicle available in the garage for our visits. Florida insurance companies said I had to maintain full coverage.
They have you beat coming or going.

That doesn't sound right. I worked for USAA for 6 years and when someone deployed overseas, it was very common to just have the bare minimum of insurance on a vehicle while it was in storage.

https://www.progressive.com/answers/...car-insurance/

Check with your insurer to see what coverages you can remove. Both comprehensive and collision insurance are optional in every state. You can cut out these coverages while still keeping the basic liability requirement as part of your policy, as long as you don't have a car loan or lease. In addition to liability, some states also require personal injury protection (PIP) or protection against uninsured motorists (UM/UIM). You may also need to keep those on your policy to avoid a lapse in coverage.

[Der Gebirgsjager]

Over about 60 years of driving I've had Allstate three different times. It was never a good experience.

DG

[colt45sa]

I'm 80 years old, a widower, and am in great physical shape, mentally sharp, retired and only drive about 50 miles a week. I'm a responsible person with no accidents in the last 51 years and only one traffic violation 26 years ago. My auto insurance costs me $1.06 per driving mile and that's just a little bit excessive.
I also own two cars, but like the rest of you can only drive one at a time, yet the insurance company charges me for liability on each car. Is that fair since they only experience exposure when I'm driving the car I choose to drive on any particular day.

[braddock]

This is a really interesting thread, don't have your problems here in the UK, insurance premiums been dropping for years. In the 70s I ran two Lotus elans, one for me one for wife they cost about £600 each to insure, now I have two mercedes, one slk, one wagon and a mini cooper s and pay less than £600 for all three.
Thing was back in the 70s £600 went a helluva lot further than £600 today what has gone up is the car tax nearly £1000 for the three where it was barely £30 in the 70s. Gas has been taxed through the roof too.
Sold off the mini and the wagon so back down to one car, £170 insurance, £400 tax. The car tax is calculated on the emissions the manufacturer homologates the car at manufacture, so the mini produces a low level, the V engine on the SLK produces a lot. We also have to get the car safety and emissions checked annually.
From what I've seen on Youtube car repairs are far more reasonable over here but a helluva lot of cars get written off for relatively light damage over here, especially cars over 4 years of age or so.
Like I said, very interesting thread, hope you don't object to me sliding my 0.02 cents in.

[35isit]

Local Farm Bureau has the best rates and best service.

Just my experience! I wouldn't let Farm Bureau insure a tricycle. I'll drive without before buying from them.

[Bmi48219]

That doesn't sound right…..

Me either. To have a vehicle in storage, comprehensive fire and theft should be good enough. Liability, collision, uninsured motorists etc. shouldn’t matter as it isn’t on the road. Yet I’ve had two different companies tell me the same thing.

[Winger Ed.]

Insurance companies are regulated to one degree or another in different states.
Certain insurance coverage could be a state requirement for you to keep, or renew your license plates on the car.

[Kestrel4k]

My 6 month premiums are holding steady at $159. Has been $160-$165 for more than 5 years now.
In the distant past their bill was around $190 - that was about 10 years ago. GEICO, certainly no complaints here.

But I've always been 'amused' :-/ that we have to buy "Car Insurance" as if each of our cars is running around on its own - the Ins. Co's certainly wouldn't want to have to limit themselves to only the 233M drivers in the US, lol.

[bobthenailer]

I just switched from allstate to AAA home & car insurance ,with 2 cars saved almost $800 with AAA

[snowwolfe]

One of the biggest rip off in the insurance world is paying for under and uninsured coverage.
If you have collision on your vehicle and have good medical coverage and are retired the coverage pays for nothing you don’t already have covered.

[brassrat]

Great thread. I remembered 'Farmers' which might have been 'Farm Bureau' and stopped. The guy hooked me up with another guy, with Flo. My old Co.just dropped, $100 more, than I just paid, back to me and I am covered for 6 mos.

[Idaho45guy]

This thread caused me to get a quote from USAA. I was paying over $300 a month for one nice vehicle with full coverage and one junker with liability only. USAA quoted me $160 for the same coverage. Switched over. Nice bit of savings.

[MT Gianni]

Costco's auto insurance program saves us $500 a year. Executive membership is $120. We use our card and pay it off every month. Last years rebates were over $1000.

[Gray Fox]

My wife and I were both Army officers and I've had USAA for going on 50 years now. They've been real straight with us, but their AI-driven homeowners insurance coverage requirement forces me to insure this place for about $100,000 more than I know I can replace if for. They won't budge on it.

[Idaho45guy]

My wife and I were both Army officers and I've had USAA for going on 50 years now. They've been real straight with us, but their AI-driven homeowners insurance coverage requirement forces me to insure this place for about $100,000 more than I know I can replace if for. They won't budge on it.

My late father had USAA auto insurance. I worked for USAA for about 6 year as an Auto Claims Adjuster from 2006-2012. When his SUV wouldn't start in his driveway, he was going to pay out of pocket for a tow to a shop in town.

I told him he might have Roadside Assistance coverage and I would call them and get it taken care of since I started my career with USAA in the IRU (Initial Response Unit). We took all of the calls involving auto claims and roadside assistance, as well as property claims. We prided ourselves on providing the highest quality of customer service in the industry. I thought it would be fun to call in a claim to my former team.

Apparently, USAA got rid of the IRU. Roadside assistance was now farmed out to a third party company called Agero. It took me 3 hours of battling their system and "representatives" before I finally gave up and just had a local tow company come get the vehicle.

I messaged USAA and said that they had seriously dropped the ball by getting rid of the IRU and going with Agero, who were obviously incompetent and useless. I had a mid-level executive contact me and my father and apologize and reimburse our expenses.

No idea if they still use them. But I had to use Progressive for Roadside Assistance last week and it steered me to an automated system that was useless as well.