Auto Insurance Limits

[SuzySunshine]

Does anyone know what is REALLY necessary? This is what we've always had but we just got our renewal and the rates keep going up, no idea why we haven't had a ticket in over 2 years. But I'm wondering if we have to much coverage, our cars are owned so we're not required to have anything more then the state minimums.

Liability To Others
Bodily Injury Liability/ Property Damage Liability Limits
$100,000 each person/$300,000 each accident $100,000 each accident

Personal Injury Protection $15,000
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Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist $100,000 each person/$300,000 each accident
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Uninsured Motorist Property Damage $25,000 each accident (D)$200/$300 hit & run
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Comprehensive Actual Cash Value (D)$500
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Collision Actual Cash Value (D)$500

[GrayMatterWife]

I don't know what your state minimums are, but I would advise not get an absolutely minimal plan or go with cheap-o cut-rate insurance. You are married to a doctor. You get into an accident with the wrong person, and you will be dealing with it for FOREVER with people who think they can hit it big. And cut-rate insurance companies make their money by NOT covering claims. And you need to make sure that you have an umbrella policy.

[SuzySunshine]

Oh we won't go all the way to the minimum I just wonder if we need as much as we have. And no, we don't have an umbrella though I know we need one as soon as we're worth anything.

[MissCrabette]

Yep, exactly what GMW said.

Does it matter what state you live in? My premium went down significantly from last year. I changed from Allstate to Costco two years ago because Allstate was charging so much. A friend of mine works in insurance and said that there's no difference between Allstate and Costco, so Costco it is!

[SuzySunshine]

Ooh Costco, I didn't think to look there.

Please check it out! I'm paying only a fraction of what Allstate charged!

[Pollyanna]

We pretty much take the maximum coverage so we are over insured. We pay $200/month for three cars/drivers and one of the drivers is only 17. Our rates doubled when we added dd. We save in the deductable. Ours is $2000 because I'm only going to make a claim for major damage anyway.

[JDAZ11]

And no, we don't have an umbrella though I know we need one as soon as we're worth anything.

We just started to deal with this car insurance thing (a decade in NYC - and before that we were just driving cars insured by our parents). DF's mom was so insistent that we get an umbrella insurance policy. The insurance Co's wouldn't even talk to me about it until we owned a house. I was dealing with a lot in June and so didn't push, I guess I should probably look into it again.

We pay like $90/month for geico max coverage (or the max they would give us - as I said they wouldn't even talk to me about umbrella). We both drive hondas - so no super pricey cars, plus our driving records are really clean (as expected - we didn't really drive for a decade!).

We almost went with USAA (I'm not sure how we qualified - but we did.). I thought their plan was a little better (it covered any permissible of the cars, and geico is only DF and me - I have to call and add other drivers if anyone else will be driving one of the cars), but it was double the price of geico... so we didn't go with it. If geico ever goes up, I'm switching to USAA (they apparently are very good about not increasing your rates even if something happens).

[houseelf]

I want to say that our million dollar umbrella policy is approximately $250/year. It's the disability policy that costs us about $400/month that makes me cringe. Seriously, the umbrella policy is a nobrainer.

It is a total PITA to research insurance options but it really does pay off. We switched and bundled all our insurances except life and disability and we save about $800/year.

[Vishenka69]

State and even county within the state matters a lot. Also, once you add a house, you'll get a discount on the cars. I believe our umbrella is even less than Kelly's but yeah, disability bites. We saved a few hundred by increasing our deductible by the same amount. If you're going to move states in the next few months, you might want to hold off switching. Some states have smaller companies that are cheaper than big national ones.

[poky]

State and even county within the state matters a lot. Also, once you add a house, you'll get a discount on the cars. I believe our umbrella is even less than Kelly's but yeah, disability bites. We saved a few hundred by increasing our deductible by the same amount. If you're going to move states in the next few months, you might want to hold off switching. Some states have smaller companies that are cheaper than big national ones.

ZIP code can matter, even, not just county; we moved within the same county once, and our insurance went up, even though our driving distance to work went down; when asked why, the lady said it was because of the ZIP code we'd moved to.

[GrayMatterWife]

JDAZ11--you couldn't get an umbrella policy without owning a home? Is that normal? We have an umbrella, which we started when we owned a home...but when we sold the home last month and switched to renter's insurance, we had no issues keeping the umbrella. We have Amica, which we love.

Houseelf: yep, I cringe and cry a little deep down inside every month when we pay the NSG-specific disability insurance.

[JDAZ11]

JDAZ11--you couldn't get an umbrella policy without owning a home? Is that normal? We have an umbrella, which we started when we owned a home...but when we sold the home last month and switched to renter's insurance, we had no issues keeping the umbrella. We have Amica, which we love.

Honestly not sure if it is typical. As I said I really didn't press the issue and put on my "to look into later list." With USAA there was the added issue of the two of not being married yet. I qualified for benefits, but he didn't - they were willing to give him auto coverage on my policy, but he couldn't do renters etc. through them until we are married. With Geico, they had no issue with the fact that we weren't married yet (which actually surprised me) so long as we had the same address. The two people I spoke with told me that we wouldn't be eligible until we had a homeowner's policy with them. I really just wanted auto ASAP so that I could pick my car up from the dealership (I had to get barbri class ASAP! lol), and I just figured I would deal with it later. But it's good to know that your ins. co. didn't have an issue with you selling your house - certainly something I should look into.