What's everyone paying for their Insurance?

Independent insurance broker here. My son-in-law is a State Farm agent. Between the two of us we rep pretty much every company you see on TV except Geico. Over twenty years experience. Here is what I have learned: OP, that's an awesome rate. Regarding insurance in Houston: Except for NY, TX is the most expensive state in which to buy auto insurance. Harris County (Houston) is the most expensive county in Texas. The single best thing you can do to lower your auto insurance, other than have no claims or tickets, is to have continuous coverage without a single day's lapse. Savings start at 12 months continuous, and increase until 36 months. My best companies won't give you a quote if you don't have 12 months continuous coverage. Next, raise your credit score. Yep, it matters. Big time. Next, get married. Next CARRY HIGHER THAN STATE MINIMUM LIABILITY LIMITS. My best companies won't even give you a quote if you only carry state minimums. Bump your liability limits up a notch or two, wait a couple of months for the new limits to show up in your insurance history, then start soliciting quotes. You will be surprised! NOTE: YOU JUST MAY NEED THOSE HIGHER LIABILITY LIMITS ONE DAY: My daughter's boyfriend had a mild at-fault accident in her car that I owned. In Texas liability follows ownership first, BEFORE it looks to the driver as secondary liable party. So as owner I was PRIMARY AT FAULT, even though I was sixty miles away, and he was only secondary at fault. They settled for $197,000 medical and $35,000 to replace the truck. Had I not carried higher liability limits I'd be paying that right now. There is a reason for insurance. This is it. When that lawyer on TV comes knocking at your door you cannot have too much insurance. Ask me how I know. And I wasn't even there.

Next, turn 26. Try to keep your home insurance with the same company as your auto for the associated policy discounts on both. Auto will go down some, home will go down a bunch! Tenure with your previous company helps. People who don't jump ship every year earns you a "loyalty" discount with the quoting company. (And it you haven't shopped your insurance in 7 or more years, I guarantee you that you are paying too much!) Staying with the same company too long costs you money.

Finally, call me. I rep for 17 auto insurance companies and can write insurance in 43 states. One call shops all 17 companies. Oh, and by the way, I kick my son-in-law's ass every time when quoting apples to apples. Replaced his $7100/year auto/home deal for my son with my $4400 equivalent, then gave him better coverage for $200 more.

There. What your agent won't tell you. Remember who did, and let's talk.

 

I pay $517. per 6 months. Full 100/300 and no deductible. State Farm

 

Tell me if I'm wrong, liability covers the other guys, property and medical in at fault accident, collision covers your car, medical covers your medical, comp is perils. And most state minimums might cover getting into an accident with a yogo with whiplash. I believe our state minimum would not cover hitting a10 yr old car. Thanks for clearing up a lot of beliefs.

 

Clean record both ways pay $400 every 6 months with Progressive live in the Midwest in a state that loves its taxes.

 

LOT OF TRUTH HERE...folks gripe about paying insurance and I get it. However as someone who has benefited from insurance - I am a proponent for having nice coverage on most things. We lost a home, cars and all belongings in 1992 (Hurricane Andrew) - South Florida, - 1993 we had another hit on a home in Al during the Big Snow Storm (approx. 60-100K to outside buildings and farm supplies) and another home in Tuscaloosa in 1994 that was hit by a tornado...we would have been ruined if we did not have great coverage.

We were with Allstate during those years and they were fantastic - I remember debris removal coverage was a big deal during the Hurricane in 1992 (we had sufficient coverage). We switched to USAA (cars and home) about 14-15 years ago ,when we bought our current home (a small horse farm). We have another carrier for horses and farm stuff. Allstate was looking to get out of rural properties and the coverage was just too high. A friend of ours owns an independant insurance agency. They had us take out an additional 'Umbrella policy" for 3 or 5M (can't remember right now)...as you are right about an attorney knocking on your door after a wreck, or any unforeseen accident (especially with our horse farm, LOL).

As for car insureance...My wife and I have 3 teen drivers - (all will be away at college soon - one is now) and 5 vehicles on our policy...I pay approx 3100 every 6 months - no accidents, tickets...though my wife hit a deer last year and did about 10K worth of damage to her vehicle (our premium did not go up).

 

I'm Paying $868 per year with Erie for full coverage on my truck. That is with $250/$500 comp/collision deductibles and 100/300,000 Liability coverages. That's like $75 a month with my camper included too. I'm a single 47 year old. I don't think that's horrible but it tends to vary a lot depending on where you live. Even a Friend that lives in the southern part of my county says his insurance is a lot more than mine and we both have good driving records with no accidents and tickets they can surcharge you for in Pennsylvania with in the last 3 years.

I will say that insurance has saved my but too. we had a bad ice storm in February 2014. The ice brought a large Walnut tree in my yard down on the Jeep I had then and the neighbors Garage. My Jeep had $6000 damage to it they covered it all minus the deductible. I even got a rental car for 3 weeks while it was in the shop.
My home owners and neighbors insurance only covered 500 each for the tree removal and clean up but the bill was over 2200, we put our clean up coverage together and I paid the rest to get that done and our insurance company paid out for her garage, my porch and damaged gutters. I sure didn't have that much cash to cover all that on my own then and wouldn't want to shell that much out for an event like that now either. So yeah it sucks paying insurance but it's good to have when you need it and you never know when that might be.

 

Really depends what amount of coverage you have in your policy for the truck that geico goes by. I pay a little less than that. Most other insurance companies i spoke with wanted at least $90 a month for the same coverage.

 

Medical (Medpay) and Personal Injury Protection are similar. MP is med only, PIP includes MP, but additional things like lost wages, and esoteric stuff like walking your dog when you are too banged up to do it yourself. Both of these are for you and for everyone in your car and the other car. Both are like an extra little policy that you can collect on in addition to collecting on uninsured/underinsured motorist.

Here is the kicker though: If you make a claim on your health insurance THEY have claim to that money. Have you read your health insurance policy? Might want to. It's true. Most have subrogation clauses in them that if you are injured in an auto accident and health insurance pays, the health insurance company will be contacting you to get your auto insurance policy information. They are going to start a claim on your policy and bill your auto insurance to the maximum they can recover under the coverage you choose. Including your PIP or MP. So you are going to end up with an auto claim that you thought you wouldn't report to your auto insurance company, right? Wrong! They'll collect off your auto insurance, then also double dip and collect your MP or PIP, and there ain't a damn thing you can do about it. Read your health policy!

 

My 2021 Tacoma TRD Pro $254.32 for 6 months for full cover with State Farm in the western suburbs of Chicago.

 

Depends on the state you live in. Illegal in MA, Kalifornia and some other states.

 

Must be Illinois

 

26 male in minneapolis

Taco is 351/6mo

Fiances Tucson is 296/6mo

Progressive. Full coverage. I just completed the snapshot thing.

 

Just switched over from my 2009 volvo to a 2021 tacoma .... Went from ~550/6 months to ~850/6 months. Live in Denver area, so I think that may be on par? My friends paying more for his older 4runner.

 

Funny but hell no would I ever live in or even travel through Illinois that’s one screwed up state.

 

I use an independent insurer they work for me and don’t push any insurance group. Has helped me save a ton of $ by running my insurance every 6 months always gets me the lowest price with whoever. Everyone should be doing this every 6 months insurance is a huge racket have several cousins in the game and they are loaded.

 

$230 /6 months full coverage w/ progressive, clean record, $500 deductible.

Also have home and another vehicle (69' dj5) for discounts.

 

Thanks for clearing things up. It's not always how little one pays but the scope of the coverage. At some point carrying to little for less now could cost more in an eventual loss.

 

Lot's of cool information, thanks. Out of curiosity, do you find some companies handle claims better than others? How are their quotes typically distributed amongst those who push back on paying out?

We had a tornado come through a few years ago now which is a once in a decade occurrence around here. My dad is a structural engineer so he was called upon by insurance companies to assess a lot of buildings and found that some companies were very quick to help out their clients, while others explored every loophole they could to keep their money locked up in a vault. From a vehicle perspective, I've been in at fault and not at fault accidents and have found Geico, State Farm and Nationwide have all been exceptionally easy to work with.

 

That's about what I pay as a 50 year-old male with full coverage and full no-fault (it's a Michigan thing).

 

2020 Tacoma OR DCSB 4x4 $848 for 6 months geico. 31 yo in NY. 1 accident 2 years go when I was backing up my boat/trailer and I hit someone's quarter panel otherwise a clean record.
25/50 liability, 1000 deductible for comp/collision

I lived in NJ next to the lincoln tunnel to nyc and I paid $528 for 6 month premium on a leased hyundai azera, 100/300 liability and 500 deductible comp/collision. I moved 20 miles into NY and my premium increased 70%