"Your premium may have experienced an increase ... "

The BBQ Pit
1

So, this morning I was catching up with the week’s mail and bills, and came to my semi-annual car insurance premium notice from American Express.

TOTAL DUE: $856.00

This is for a 15-year-old Corolla with no collision coverage and a $500 deductible for non-collision damage, and WITH discounts for an accident prevention course, active anti-theft device, and 6 years accident-free (roughly the length of time this car has been registered in my name). I have a clean driving record, and I’m over 25 years old.

The semi-annual premium I paid back in January of this year was $715.00. What could have happened within the past 6 months that led to the boost in my insurance is beyond me.

I know I get “special treatment” for daring to live within the bounds of NYC. My sister and brother-in-law pay less for 2 cars (a 2003 Mazda mini-van and a 1997 Subaru Outback) than I do for my little Corolla, largely because they live in Nassau County. Still, with the grand theft auto rates continuing to decline in my neighborhood (link to PDF for 47th precinct), I’m at a loss to understand what exactly is driving my insurance so high.

What sucks royally is that I shopped around extensively last year for a new insurance provider, because my previous one (State Farm) wanted to charge me $2250 a year (!), and this was far and away the best deal I could find.

Damn. This bill was going to be a bit hard to swallow as it was, given some other large expenses I’ve had lately. I really didn’t need this just now.

2

Of course, i have no idea of your circumstances or of how often you might really need your car, but i always suspected that in a city like NYC it might be cheaper and more convenient not to have one, and just to rent one on the occasions where you need to get out of the city.

Is this an option for you? After all, you’d save on insurance and maintenance and, possibly, parking fees (i don’t know where you park).

I do agree, however, that the rise in car insurance rates often seems pretty inexplicable, even though i’m sure that there will be an actuarial type in here soon to explain that it’s all very logical and has nothing to do with the insurance companies trying to screw us for every penny they can get.

3

I do feel your pain, sunfish, we pay about the same for 2 cars here in the Pacific Northwest. But since your car is 15 years old, if it were me, I’d drop the collision entirely.

[Standard IANA Insurace Agent disclaimer]

4

As a younger man, my Dad explained insurance in those friendly terms about sharing risk, and everybody putting in a little for the good of their fellow man, etc.
Maybe it was that way at one time, but like belief in Santa Claus, that stuff is outta here.

I own a business, have one vehicle and an open trailer. My only claims have been for hitting a deer, and a break-in. Otherwise clean-no points. Premium is > $1100 per year, and I’m out in the middle of bohunk!

The general liability policy has an ever-growing list of excluded activities, along with an ever-increasing premium, and again I have no claims, to date.

One of these days, I expect a letter stating that they won’t cover me for shit-stay home, but send us the money anyway.

Robbery with a fountain pen is what it is, sunfish.

5

A 20% jump is significant, and more than just the few percent they sneak in every policy renewal or so. If the company will not give you the precise reason it has increased so much, ask them if it was an across the board increase, affecting all their customers. Then call your state’s Insurance Commissioner’s office, and see if there have been any recent regulatory rate increases.

The other possibility, one that many people are not aware of, is that the insurance company has pulled a copy of your credit report and is using that as an excuse to jack up your rates. Some companies have taken it upon themselves to base their premiums in part upon the driver’s credit rating. If you have had any late payments, to any of your creditors, perhaps the insurance company has seized upon that as an excuse to justify eating a greedier portion of your (non)disposable income?

No wonder so many people use friends & family’s addresses outside of the city for car insurance purposes. :dubious:

A 15 year old Corolla? They are gouging you for probably more than the entire car is worth.

Bastards. Time to shop around. :mad:

6

I feel for you, sunfish. I pay about $1,300 to Geico every year to insure my 1996 Pontiac Sunfire, and that was the cheapest rate I could get. I’m 29 years old, I’ve had my license for 12 years and I haven’t even had a parking ticket, let alone a moving violation, but my rates keep going up. I read an article not too long ago that attributed the rate hikes to increasing insurance fraud in South Florida.

Have you gotten rate quotes from any other companies? If you have some time before your policy expires, you should consider shopping around. Your payments may not go down a lot, but you might see a little bit of a decrease.

7

Well, I’ve re-arranged my budget for the next couple of months, so I’ll make it, but I ain’t happy. sigh

mhendo, it’s true if you live and work in NYC almost exclusively, you can get away without having a car much of the time. For me, it’s not an option, because my job requires commuting 2-3 days a week out to a company office way out in the 'burbs as well as trips to project locations. Even if I didn’t have that to worry about… car rental rates in the city are astronomical as well. (I just looked - $76/day from Hertz for an economy-sized car, not including taxes, mileage, etc. :eek: ) For the number of times I’d want to rent to go visit friends and family, I may as well pay the insurance premium.

koeeoaddi, that premium already reflects a lack of collision coverage. :frowning: I suppose I could increase my deuctible to $1000, but that won’t make a huge difference, as the bulk of the premium is for liability and personal injury protection.

danceswithcats, it is amazing, isn’t it? My boss is facing similar problems with the coverage on the company truck. I think even if we all stayed home they’d find a way to bump up the cost ever more.

Scopata Fuori, there was a form letter included in this premium notice about increases owing to increased insurance fraud and regulatory costs. Maybe it’s some standard line of b.s.; I will give them a call tomorrow, see what they say.

And don’t think a “change of address” hasn’t crossed my mind from time to time…

ladybug, the real bummer is that American Express has been giving me the best rate for the past year, even better than the quote I got from Geico (about $250/year less at the time). I do have some time to shop around again, and maybe I will, but I’m not holding out much hope.