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Friday, January 23, 2015

The wonderful world of car insurance



We left my wife's car with my niece back in New Hampshire. She only had it a couple of days before it basically fell apart. She was able to get it back to my driveway so there it sits. We felt kinda bad for her, but we are glad she didn't get hurt when the car died.

I called the insurance company and asked about taking the insurance off it. Here's the weird part. They told me that if I took the insurance off the car my bill would go up. Say what? I'd lose my multi-car discount and it's actually cheaper to insure two cars than one. I was able to reduce the bill from full coverage to just comprehensive. Then I bumped the deductible up from $50 to $500. I am curious to see how that will shake out.

My van only has liability insurance. I didn't even want them to try and figure out how to cover damage on a former ambulance converted to a camper van. Last year I rear ended a car with my van and the insurance company paid the claim. My insurance bill never went up, so that was good.

The van insurance is pretty cheap as it's classified as a motor home. Most folks don't use their motor home as a their daily driver, so rates are low. They figure on someone like me who runs their vehicle on waste veggie oil. The “motor home” is actually slightly shorter than my old Ford F250 extended cab was.

Eventually I'm going to have my wife's car hauled away for scrap. Unless we buy a second car, my insurance will go up. I wonder what would happen if I got rid of all my vehicles? No doubt my house insurance would go up as I currently get a good discount from having both vehicle and house insurance with the same company.

Apparently my insurance company polices are designed for normal people: folks with a house and two cars.

-Sixbears

13 comments:

  1. so keep the virtual car on your policy. Never make a claim. no issues. unless the registration expiring results in a message to the insurance company.

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    1. I'm guessing I keep the shadow car on the ins. until the reg expires at the end of June. That should work.

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  2. Bureaucracy and red tape seem to make the world go round and also ties things together. . . but I really, really hate bureaucracy!!!

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  3. "Insurance" is the biggest fraud ever. It's a protection racket the likes of which would make the mafia hang their heads in shame for not thinking of it first. and it's "legal"...

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    1. NH doesn't require auto insurance, but as soon as I leave the state I've got to have it. NH is small enough to leave it by accident. :)

      Hey Mayberry, good to see you are still lurking on the 'net.

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  4. "15 minutes could save you 15% or more on your car insurance."

    I was with GEICO for 21 years. Last year I got tired of their too often rate increase, so I called them asking for a reduction. Three cars, no moving violations, excellent credit score. The pricks spent the entire call trying to find a way to increase my premium which was $1,880 for 6 months. I called around and now pay $811 for better coverage.

    You right Mayberry it's a racket, but one I am forced to be a part of; kinda like YoBamaCare, right?

    -Moe

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    1. I pay $180 quarterly. About as minimal as I can go.

      Have not heard great things from Geico.

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  5. We had to drop home-owners, as it simply got too high for us to afford. We also dropped collision on the vehicle for the same reason. This week, I finally got around to comparing the cost of another insurance, through an independent agent. I'll soon be going with a different company, where I'll get three times the coverage for $45 a month less than I'm paying now. Once in a while, things DO work for the best.

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    1. Glad it worked out for you. Insurance is one of those things that should be examined from time to time.

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  6. Here in the UK my insurance actually drops by adding my wife, or her me, on any vehicle policy. It's quite substantial too. My average policy is about £400 and just by putting my wife on it drops by about 15 per cent. All the policies are fully comprehensive with a no claims discount. I insured the tractor and our Uni Mog the same happened there!
    Over here you are better off either changing insurance companies annually or at least threatening to do so or the price just continually increases!

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    1. You rate goes down because they figure your wife will nag you to slow down? :)

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    2. Yes but what happens when you let them drive :-)

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