Insurance...

[troy]

Wow you CA guys sure pay a lot for insurance.

I'd definately shop around. I'm with State Farm and when all the discounts stack up it is pretty cheap. Accident free is the biggest at about 30%.

When I used to work for State Farm in their financial services unit, there were tons of little tips to save money on policies. One I can remember, off the top of my head, was getting a really small term life policy that cost $10 a month and that would get you a "multi-line" discount on your auto policy that typically run $15 discount per month. If you had two cars that is saving $20 a month and recieving an insurance benefit.

Most agents are very good at working the system. This is not just a State Farm deal either, I'm sure all the others have similar discount programs. It is worth checking it out.

 

[BIGdaddy]

Alright Mark and Mike, and troy and others. thanks for all the info.

I just went to state farms website and went to the effort of putting all my info, including license numbers, accidents, tickets, etc, to the best of my knowledge. Some of my dates were probably off, but i made sure they were within the 3 year "magic window" that my current carrier is saying is so important.

Quite a bit different.

We are currently going to be paying (next month if no changes are made) 293.00 per month for:

van - full coverage, with everything you'd expect
jeep - liability only , with uninsured motorist added on.


State farm quotes:

van - comp, collision, liability, uninsured, rental car(very useful to us in the last few years), etc
Jeep - same, same, blah, blah..

----$164.00 per month.


Wow!! thats a HUGE difference IMO.

I sent the quote to an agent local to us here in El cajon. So we'll see how soon they can give us the skinny, and can make a deal. With such a big carrier, with lots of local agnets I have to say, it'd be nice dealing with someone where I can actually walk in and talk to someone.

 

[BIGdaddy]

well, got a flat denial from state farm. We have a quote inquiry into AAA and I was going to try Farmers as well.

Any one else have a suggestion?

We are actually not that dissappointed with a "no-go" from state farm. We talked to an agent, and found out they don't provide GAP insurance for a financed vehicle, which we do, in fact, have with California casualty for our Grand Caravan.

For those that might not know, it covers any difference in financed amount and market value if the car is totalled out in an accident.)

Example: my jeep was stolen.

We financed a bit of negative equity from my Honda Accord into the Jeep's loan, which equaled a financed amount that was more than the value of the Jeep. It was stolen and Calcas automatically paid out around 17,500 for the jeep, and since we had GAP insurance, it covered the 3000.00 left over on the note leaving us with ZERO financial responsibility for a car we no longer possessed.

VERY Advantageous. We're not willing to lose this coverage while we have a financed vehicle...I keep y'all updated on what we find...

 

[nwoods]

Logan bumper good, Hansen bumper better, IMHO.
AAA insurance is pretty good too, and if combined with house and wife's car, very affordable. And, they specifically cover off road damage as long as you are not in a competitive event.

 

[lamontagne]

To those of you who are current or fomer military, you might want to try USAA. Very low rates due to a select customer base.

About GAP insurance though, many companies do not offer it because it is often written into the auto loan itself! :Wow1: No point in carrying (and paying) for the same policy twice. Read up on your loan docs and find the small print.

My wife and I pay $168 a month for the following through AAA insurance;
04 Xterra
05 Frontier
94 Wrangler
house

Also mind you, we have "old man" coverage, ie..FULL coverage, 500,000 liability, rental, towing, comp, coll, under/non insured, theft, yada, yada, yada...(but no GAP as its written into our auto loans).

 

[BIGdaddy]

To those of you who are current or fomer military, you might want to try USAA. Very low rates due to a select customer base.

About GAP insurance though, many companies do not offer it because it is often written into the auto loan itself! :Wow1: No point in carrying (and paying) for the same policy twice. Read up on your loan docs and find the small print.

My wife and I pay $168 a month for the following through AAA insurance;
04 Xterra
05 Frontier
94 Wrangler
house

Also mind you, we have "old man" coverage, ie..FULL coverage, 500,000 liability, rental, towing, comp, coll, under/non insured, theft, yada, yada, yada...(but no GAP as its written into our auto loans).

The gap on my Jeep was in my loan, the gap on the van is through CalCas.

That was a choice we made conciously, though it may have been a better choice now that we may move away from them, to have gotten it financed through our lender.

Time will tell.

AAA is working on a quote right now, for us. I'll update you probably before the end of today.

Again, thanks for all the advice and replies. I appreciate it!

 

[BIGdaddy]

OK, so here's the skinny from AAA:

-$2,007 per year for 10 months
-$401.00 down payment(includes 1st payment)
-$49.00 per year enrollment in AAA (kinda like Costco, have to be a member)

after the first year, only 9 payments a year

$187.00 per month.

Not bad, IMO. Much better monthly payment than our current policy. I'm having her email a list of the policy particulars to see how it compares to our current coverage on the van.

-B