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Jahooodie t1_j1inf25 wrote

Reply to comment by AugustWest7120 in Should we sell our car? by hourlongflyer

If you do sell the car you may want to keep a driver only policy. I went car less for a few years, and my rates coming back to owning a car were about 2.5x (even with worse coverage & deductible) what they were before. The insurance person gave me the reason was lapse in coverage made them rate me back down with new driver/insurance scofflaw policies, and that keeping a low basic driver only policy would have helped with that. Maybe blowing smoke at me, but fuck no one told me about the possible downsides

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objectimpermanence t1_j1kg0eq wrote

I don’t think this is always the case.

I went 3 years without a car and without auto insurance. When I got a car again, I ended up with a pretty reasonable insurance premium.

But I did have to shop around. My previous insurer was State Farm and their quote was significantly higher than what Geico quoted me for the same level of coverage.

Also important to note that rates vary by address/zip code. JC has higher than average insurance rates, so if you live in a different area than you did when you last had a car then that might explain some of the sticker shock.

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Jahooodie t1_j1kzsu8 wrote

Nope, for me this was JC zip code to the same JC zip code.

Also insurance rates have games, so to your point anything like this isn't universal advice. But it's good to know it's part of the game in case

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pixel_of_moral_decay t1_j1m13ir wrote

Geico is cheaper because it’s a big step down in insurance. It’s what you get to meet the legal requirements. State Farm is a big step up. There’s more than a chance in hell State Farm may pay out if necessary.

Nothing wrong with Geico. For some people that’s exactly what they want/need. But even if the amounts on the policy are the same, it’s not the same product.

Same with State Farm vs one of the mutual companies like NJM, MET Life, Amica. You get what you pay for. Those are policies for people who expect to get paid out when they have an insurable event.

Comparing policies purely by coverage amounts is like ordering food by total calories. You’re ignoring a lot of the details.

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objectimpermanence t1_j1ngyfg wrote

That’s what I thought too. But my wheels got stolen a month or two after I bought the car and it ended up being close to a $10k claim because of the damage the thieves caused in the process.

I sent the car to the body shop of my choosing and got all OEM replacement parts. I didn’t have any trouble getting Geico to pay out the claim and they didn’t hike my rates after that. So my experience with them has been OK so far.

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AugustWest7120 t1_j1irfv7 wrote

Lol insurance companies are such fucks. But ya / that sounds right. Which sucks.

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pixel_of_moral_decay t1_j1j29kd wrote

That’s a pretty reasonable policy tbh.

People who drive less get into more accidents. So making them pay more is exactly how insurance is supposed to work.

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salajander t1_j1k2pt2 wrote

Per hour driven? Perhaps. But on an annual basis? No way, if you drive every day you're absolutely going to get into more accidents than someone who just drives on the occasional weekend or on vacation.

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pixel_of_moral_decay t1_j1k4785 wrote

Either way is irrelevant. You always pay partially based on usage. That’s always factored in.

But someone who had a period of inactivity is going to be a higher risk. Lapsed insurance or license = higher odds of crashing

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JeromePowellAdmirer t1_j1siikx wrote

One could just as easily argue that someone constantly driving is at a higher risk of crashing due to fatigue and complacency

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pixel_of_moral_decay t1_j1sk969 wrote

There’s data behind all of this. Commercial drivers have by far the fewest accidents per mile. It’s not even close.

Likewise, rental cars are about as risky as drunk drivers since so many of them rarely drive. The most likely class of vehicle to kill you in a collision is a rental. Least likely is a truck.

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JeromePowellAdmirer t1_j1socko wrote

But how many do they have total? End of the day, the total is what determines how often the insurance company is paying.

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pixel_of_moral_decay t1_j1spvqe wrote

Are you really that dumb? You pay based on avg usage and types of driving. You also get rates increased if you get in an accident.

You clearly have never paid for insurance before or you’d know how stupid your argument is, given the first questions you answer are exactly that.

But from mile 0, and per mile, someone who rarely drives will be the biggest burden. That’s just math.

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itsfleric t1_j1j74y0 wrote

Yup, when I sold my car Progressive walked me through the scenario and offered non-owners insurance for pretty cheap. It's something you usually have to call them to access the policy because they're not generally available online. It also covers you if you borrow someone else's car and if you get injured in a car-related accident and rental cars.

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Jahooodie t1_j1jplsw wrote

No one offered this to me or let me know it was a thing, so happy to bring it up. It was a nice few years with no car or driving, but holy hell does it suck to have a very high deductible & monthly rates higher than 22 year olds

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Mia07304 t1_j1mwmaz wrote

I switched to Metromile from State Farm in March 2018. I drive under 5,000 miles/yr. I'm fully insured and pay less than 40-50% of what I was paying with SF, & I had a discount with SF for low mileage. I even upped my liability insurance with MM. As for living DT without a car, I did it for 20+ years but eventually the car rentals became a headache. Living uptown it's not as convenient so I like having a car.

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