Do you live in Georgia and/or are you familiar with automobile insurance? If so, maybe you can help me with this question/dilemma.
Our car has to have comprehensive coverage until it’s paid for (another 3k dollars). The car is a 1999 Infiniti.
Heretofore, our premiums have been 142.00 a month.
We have not had an accident within the last 3 year years.
The insurance company now wants to charge us $800.30 per 6 months. In other words, we can no longer pay just the $142.00
Being that we’re on a fixed income and live from paycheck to paycheck already, there’s no way we can do that.
I plan to call the State Insurance Commissioner’s office in the morning and ask him what’s going on. It’s almost 8 at night now, so since I cannot contact them, I wanted to ask here in case some of y’all are are from Georgia and are going through this.
The company is called First Acceptance and the agent tells me they’re “pulling out” of GA and will only be based in Nashville. According to the agent, THIS is why they want the up-front payment.
The agent also told us that he is forming his own company (called Acceptance) and can put us on a monthly premium plan for $262.00 which is $120.00 a month MORE.
Sorry this is so long, but I wanted to be sure y’all had all the info you might need to help me out.
Thanks
Q
ETA: Car payment is $280 a month and the guy we always buy from really has nothing below that price, so trading is not a possibility. Poor credit also is an obstacle.
I do not live in Georgia but this should be a fairly simply problem to solve anywhere. Why do you need comprehensive insurance on an 18 year old car first of all?
You also don’t need to stick to insurance agents that you know. There are online insurance agencies these days including Geico (of lizard fame) that should be able to get you much better rates than anything you are talking about.
For comparison, I bought a new RAV4, I drive 25,000 miles a year and my rates have never been above $85 a month even with collision and comprehensive insurance. I live in the Boston/Rhode Island area too which is one of the worst places in the U.S. to drive statistically speaking.
The rates that you are being given sound insane to me unless you have a really bad driving record. There is no way you should be spending more than $100 a month for insurance on a car that old unless there are other factors in play.
We have to have comprehensive because we still ow on the car. Doesn’t matter what the age is, Shaggy. Also, we don’t plan on staying with this agent (the $262 a month guy-previously the $142.00 a month guy).
One reason for me calling the State Insurance Commish is to check out the huge increase in prices (new state law, or fraud?) and the alternatives we have and steps one can take in leaving the car parked and using a taxi service. I’ve read up a little on how to do that and my wife and I are 67 and 68 and not in the best of health, so this seems a viable alternative (the taxi).
TSBG we don’t belong to Cosco, but I’ll check it out.
The 262/mo. is a huge increase (though not double). However, the 800/6 mo. is a decrease in price. It’s the payment schedule that’s messing you up, not the price.
Yeah, that’s true, Gary (about the subject line being double) and I stand corrected.
You are also correct about the schedule. The insurance company that is leaving Georgia is steadfast in their demand (“Pay the whole amount for the 6 months or we’ll drop you”) and the $262.00 agent? I don’t know what to make of him.
Surreal, even though I have been on the State Commissioner’s page, I didn’t see what you sent me, but I saved it, so I’ll be little more prepared.
You’ve got something mixed up- “Acceptance” is not the name of a company your insurance agent is forming. “First Acceptance” is a company that sells insurance under the brand name “Acceptance”. They may also have sold insurance under the brand name " First Acceptance" and it may be that they are no longer using that name or no longer selling that type of policy. Insurance companies often use different subsidiaries for different risk levels so that the high risk drivers have a different company name on the policy that the lower risk drivers, although all would use the same website , phone numbers etc. Use Surreal’s link and you’ll see two or three different GEICOs or Esurance’s listed with different prices. And looking at a different part of the website, I find Acceptance insurance company listed and two listings for First Acceptance - First Acceptance Insurance Company and First Acceptance Insurance Co of Georgia both headquartered in Nashville. I suspect that what’s happening is that one or more of those companies are leaving the Georgia market, and the one that is staying will result in a higher premium for you.
As far as keeping the car parked and taking taxis- that would probably work fine if it wasn’t for the car loan. Most states only require registered cars to be insured and if you park an unregistered car in your garage or on your property it need not be insured for liability. The loan company however, is going to require you to have collision and comprehensive, because the fact that it’s parked in your property and not driven doesn’t mean it can be damaged - for example if your garage collapses.
Please don’t take offense- but I noticed the dementia blog in your signature. Are you the person with dementia? Because this is exactly the sort of thing my relatives had difficulty with in the early stages of dementia and so I’m thinking you should have someone else in on the conversation with the insurance agent.
No offense taken and yeah - I’m afraid that’s me, though I haven’t posted on my blog in a very long time. I have a letter from the insurance company in question. I guess it would help me to review it.
Your current insurance company wants the 6 month payment up front. It is a little cheaper because most companies charge for monthly payment. Your agent is probably offering some form of premium financing. The difference between the totals is the finance charge.
If your insurance payments ever get too high for you and you’ve got a decent record, just shop around. There’s a lot of web sites for comparing insurance from national brands. Be sure to have your current policy next to you to select the same options so you can accurately compare coverage. Insurance companies love new customers. The fact that you want to switch is, of course, not a negative to them.
We do this every few years. Get a low premium. The rates go up bit by bit, then they start to really climb. Time to change again.
Do you belong to a credit union or have some relatives that would loan you the $800 and allow you to make six payments of ~$150.00? It seems like that would solve the problem, and avoid the dodgy agent who basically is proposing to charge you a loan interest rate that would make a payday loan operator blush. Even with poor credit, you should be able to do better than him.
You are paying way too much insurance. Your car is worth around 2 grand and they want to charge you 1,500 dollars to insure it. You should also reconsider where you are buying your cars.
Shop around for insurance and maybe ask a younger relative or friend to help.