I’ve been a bad boy. I managed to get my car and driver’s license registered in Estacado a while back, but only yesterday did I finally move my auto insurance. I’ve been paying lower Deseret rates and was running the risk of not being adequately covered if I’d gotten into an accident. My new agent, however, assured me that they would have covered me regardless. That’s really good to know.
We’d been intending to get married-couple auto insurance, but procrastination has gotten the better of us (just as it has with our separate bank accounts). Anyhow, no more. Estacado law apparently requires us to register together. It’s apparently a community property issue! Without a legal separation we are apparently forbidden from denying access to our cars from one another. Because we have to be able to drive one another’s cars, we have to be insured to. So we have to be registered together.
The good news is that I have been with my carrier for a very long time and I am subject to all sorts of discounts. Clancy is covered by that money saving Gecko. She has been inclined to shop around, but I’ve always gotten very good service from State Farm and am inclined to pay 10-15% more to go with the known quantity. With my discount, I may not even be paying more. At the very least my renter’s insurance history makes me ligable for a 20% discount for homeowners when we buy a home. I don’t often get the impression of being a “valuable customer”, but I do get that impression from each of the agents I’ve dealt with. The fact that my family has been covered by them since 1972 actually seems to count for something.
There was one oddity, however. Apparently according to the driving record they have I was in an automobile accident in 2004. I am almost certain that was not in an automobile accident in 2004. I don’t believe I ever got into one in Deseret, either reported or otherwise. Unfortunately the record didn’t have any details. My new agent struck it from my record, though, along with a 2003 ticket (didn’t matter, I was already eligible for safe driver’s discount). I just don’t know why my record would report me in an accident I am 90% sure I was not involved in.
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Speaking of cars, I am considering getting the lock changed on my car. Right now I am keeping valuables out of the car and keeping it unlocked because of the hassle of the current configuration. Essentially I do not have a key to the lock of my driver’s side door, meaning I either have to reach across the car to unlock it or I have to spin in from the passenger’s side door. That’s more of a hassle to do than you might realize. So I don’t leave anything in the car that I’m worried about being taken. But after the last break-in I still find myself worried that someone is going to break in and take my car stereo sans the faceplate. Since faceplate replacement is so expensive that it would negate the pawn value of the radio itself, I don’t know why they would, but I still find myself concerned.
I talked to The Worthless Dealership about replacing the locks on the car. They quoted me at about $300, which was pretty excessive. So I’m thinking about replacing only the driver’s side door and keeping two keys on me. I think next time a lock on my car breaks, I’m just going to get it replaced on the spot rather than spend years making it a hassle to lock my car.
I wonder who else I could get to do it other than The Worthless Dealership, though.
On the other hand, a locked car in Colosse usually just meant a broken window. So what’s the point, again?
-{Note, due to a mishap on my part, this post temporarily disappeared. So if you saw that, you’re not crazy}-
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6 Responses to Insuring The Automobile
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Sticking with an auto insurance company that you’ve used for years can be more sensible than switching to The Reptile or The Pink-Haired Superhero or another company offering slightly lower rates. If you make a claim or get a moving violation, your longterm company may give you a break and refrain from boosting your rates or declining to renew coverage. You’re unlikely to get similar consideration from a new company.
Do the lower rates in Deseret vs. Estacado reflect the fact that given religious reasons, there’s less alcohol consumption in the former state?
Do the lower rates in Deseret vs. Estacado reflect the fact that given religious reasons, there’s less alcohol consumption in the former state?
I’m sure it’s due to some formula they have worked out. Due to less alcohol consumption and drunk drivers I’d imagine that there are less accidents. Other factors include Estacado’s greater number of undocumented and uninsured drivers and the fact that I lived in a rural county in Deseret and live in a more urban county here. Colossian rates were even higher.
Geographic redlining is a common practice in the car insurance industry. Sometimes I wonder why it hasn’t been made illegal.
Location can affect car insurance rates to an amazing degree. I live in suburban Suffolk County, New York, and pay what seem to be fairly reasonable amounts. Were I to move 40 miles west across the city line into Queens, with everything else staying the same, my rates would double. Another ten miles into Brooklyn, and I’d be lucky if my rates merely tripled. And note that these massive increases are not caused by greater urban car theft rates; they would exist even if I had an older car without theft/comprehensive coverage and just insured for liability.
The other controversial issue is the use of credit scores in setting car insurance rates. Some states have outlawed the practice. For their part, the insurance companies claim they have conclusive actuarial evidence proving a link between bad credit and bad driving.
Geographic redlining is a common practice in the car insurance industry. Sometimes I wonder why it hasn’t been made illegal.
I think that as long as it’s easier to avoid accidents in some parts of the country as others, it makes some sense to have a certain degree of variance when it comes to insurance rates. An aggressive-but-not-reckless driver is much more likely to get into an accident in an urban area than out in the middle of nowhere. A good driver that only makes mistakes every now and again is more likely to get away with it on the countryside than in the city streets. There are also at-fault policies in some states wherein even if it’s not your fault you’re hit with liability. In Delosa and Estacado it’s your fault if you hit from behind even if the driver in front of you slammed on his breaks for no reason. If you swerve to miss a reckless driver and hit another driver, you’re not always going to get out of it without getting hit with liability. Some states have famously poorly maintained roads, some cities have short yellow lights, and some are very plaintiff-friendly requiring larger payouts. Those contribute, too. I don’t know that the differences should be as distinct as they are, but areas where they have more payouts they’re going to have to get that money from somewhere.
The other controversial issue is the use of credit scores in setting car insurance rates. Some states have outlawed the practice. For their part, the insurance companies claim they have conclusive actuarial evidence proving a link between bad credit and bad driving.
This is much more iffy, in my mind. I’ve no doubt that people that are irresponsible in one aspect of life are also irresponsible in others, but the effect needs to be more cause than corrolation. After all, they could make a case that certain racial and ethnic groups are more likely to be in accidents, but discrimination in that regard shouldn’t be okay. On the other hand, young drivers pay steeper rates for the sins of their younger drivers, and I got a discount for making good grades in school and I ain’t complaining. So it’s tough to say where the line should be drawn.
Insurance companies claim that people in certain urban areas are more likely to file lawsuits after accidents than is the case elsewhere. I recall seeing a while back – unfortunately I cannot find the cite – that if X percent of multicar crashes lead to personal injury lawsuits nationwide, in Brooklyn (home of the monstrous premiums) it’s more like 3X percent.
I can’t speak for the auto insurance industry, but such things are well known amongst doctors. Different states have different malpractice rates due in part to whatever tort reform laws they have in place (if any), but some parts within certain states have obscenely high premiums because they are a lawyer’s paradise.