Auto Insurance rate

Hey all,
I’ve been comparing quotes for personal auto insurance and the price differences are wild. Same car, same coverage, clean driving record — but one company quoted me $80/month and another wanted nearly $200.
Is this just normal now? Are there hidden factors they don’t tell you about, or is it all based on algorithms and zip codes?
https://beinsure.com/personal-auto-insurance-rates-insights/
Also, how much are you all paying for your personal auto insurance? I feel like I’m either getting ripped off or missing something important. Any tips on how to actually lower rates without cutting essential coverage?
Would appreciate any insights or personal experiences.

 

Age has alot to do with it..

 

A/S/L?

 

How many vehicles are on your policy? If it's just 1, it'll be higher.

 

Age/Sex/Location, i believe.

 

Yep.

 

Girls should be alot higher since they do their make up while they drive...

 

It may vary from company to company.

It will definitely vary based on the garaged location.

It will definitely vary on your age.

It will definitely vary depending on your driving record.

I am certain it will vary if you have Livery plates on the vehicle.

It may even vary on your credit score and how much you drive.

You may be required to carry higher levels of insurance if you have a loan / lien on the truck.

I pay $1800 / yr, full coverage. I live in New York.

 

I have Auto Club for my car insurance and I'm 64 yrs old and paying $246 per month for full coverage for my 2002 Toyota Tacoma and my 1972 Camaro SS . Both vehicles are garaged and the Camaro is only driven 1k miles a year

 

There are a hundred different variables that determine auto insurance cost and it can vary from company to company. Best you can do is shop around to multiple companies for best rates and/or go through a broker. But remember what you are really paying for is the claims service when there’s an accident. Sometimes the cheapest insurance is also the poorest claims service.
For example I have AAA insurance, by far not the cheapest but my experience outstanding claims service. I’ve been with them 30+ years, had a few claims with them, all great service. An example, last claim was 2 years ago.I was driving home from Utah in a wind storm. Doing 50+ when the wind blew a barrel of some kind in front of me. I hit it and did $8000+ in damages. I limped home to California barely. Called AAA on the way home and they told me to take it directly to a shop about a mile from where I live. When I got there they made an appraisal and had a rental car waiting. Further told me they were going the handle the claim under my comprehensive not collision and by doing so would not raise or affect my rates. A week later the car was repaired good as new (the car was less than a year old) no problems since. My out of pocket was a very small deductible, I think $100 or so. I’ve had other claims over the years all of them handled to my overwhelming satisfaction.
I’ve heard horror stories about claims service with other companies. I’m not promoting AAA or suggesting it’s for everyone, just using it an example

 

Vehicle value makes a huge difference as well. All those other factors could be the same but you're gonna pay a hell of a lot more to insure a brand new $50-$100k vehicle than you will insuring a 20yo used Corolla. I suspect it's probably more complicated than vehicle value too, they probably have info about cost to repair which may be a bigger factor than actual value.

Do yourself a HUGE favor and ditch AAA for your Camaro. If you get in an accident with that car you're almost certainly gonna get screwed. I would highly recommend looking into an agreed value, collector car insurance policy thru someone like Hagerty or Grundy. And, honestly, your Tacoma could probably do better with a similar policy as well but unless you have a different car as a daily they won't let you use a collector car policy on it.

Also, definitely in agreement with @Sprig regarding customer service, and to an extent, willingness to cover things or cover them fully. I used to opt for cheaper insurance and after some of the things I've seen/experienced I now think it's worth it to go with a top notch company and make sure you have HIGH levels of coverage.

 

It is definitely all based on a proprietary algorithm that determines your quote. The reason the quotes vary so wildly are the importance a given company's algorithm puts on a given criteria, i.e. company A will place more weight on a customer's age, while Company B's algorithm puts more weight on a customer's credit score.

Now spread that same theory around based on a huge number of factors that the algorithm is considering and you can imagine why the quotes vary so much. The only way to get the best value on insurance is to get yourself a dozen quotes and then decide based on price and expected customer service.

 

Most of the Classic car insurance companies I talked with getting quotes for the Camaro , they wouldn't insure it because it has a 8 point roll cage. It also has racing 5 point harnesses and racing seats

 

How long ago was that? I got collector car insurance this year thru Hagerty for my car which also has racing seats and a roll bar.

Thru the online tool I was getting extremely high rates compared to friends with the same car and didn’t know why. It was because I chose something to do with racing/track days. I changed that and price went back down to something reasonable.

So I probably don’t have coverage if an accident happened on track but that’s no different from regular insurance. And I’ve LONG been ok with that fact that I’m on the hook for whatever happens on track. I don’t need insurance for that. I just need insurance for something like a fire or someone hitting me on the road.

I actually had someone hit me in this car about a decade ago and didn’t have collector insurance. They almost totaled the car since they only valued the car at about $3500 when true market value was at least 3-4x that amount. It took some work and cost me financially but I’m glad I was able to retain a clean title.