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Why the h*ll did my insurance go up?

Agent Smith

Agent Smith

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Mar 21, 2004
261
0
Toronto, ON
When I got home tonight, I got my insurance renewal letter, telling me that my annual car insurance went up by $360!!! I have never EVER been pulled over, nor have I ever gotten into an accident. It's my first car (2005 Accord coupe), and I've been driving for almost a year (end of May). It's not exactly going to break the bank, but still...:mad:
 
Agent Smith said:
When I got home tonight, I got my insurance renewal letter, telling me that my annual car insurance went up by $360!!! I have never EVER been pulled over, nor have I ever gotten into an accident. It's my first car (2005 Accord coupe), and I've been driving for almost a year (end of May). It's not exactly going to break the bank, but still...:mad:
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I love being old. I pay that for a whole year. :p
 
Call them up and ask them why it went up...they can tell you why. Mine went up 20% all of a sudden, and when I called they said that part of it was due to a general 10% increase in my area and the rest was a "good student" discount that disappeared because I was too old to qualify for it anymore (even though I'm still a student).
 
How old are you? 17? Your insurance probabl went up becuase your young and insurance companies hate and love young drivers. Hate because they are more likely to get in an accident and love becuase they can charge outrageous rates.
 
I would definitely call them up and find out why. If the answer isn't satisfactory, shop and drop'em.
 
iGary said:
Nope. Just over 35 clean record, insured with same company 9 years.
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Ahem...yep...though 14 years with the company and I live in the boonies. I'm still borrowing my car from the bank though, so I pay $350ish every 6 months for a low comp' deductable and good coverage.


​
 
Total and class utilization.

I would expect that the insurance paid out more last year than they had planned, which would cause rates to rise for all theri customers. Additionally (or in the alternative), those in the same risk groups as you utilized the services fo the agency more than planned. As the utilizations get plugged into the actuarial tables, premiums are redistributed in order to maximize the low risk pool and minimize the high risk. Additionally, you do not hav ea history with the company, thus your personal usage patterns have not been significant enough to compare to the general populace (which is why you don't get the loyalty discount).

In other words, a whole lot of 17yo kids did stupid stuff in cars and because they had to pay for all that, the insurance company is going to screw the entire group.
 
Bloody hell...

I am 28 (29 in October). I wasn't able to call them yesterday, I'm going to try later on today. If anyone is looking for a conspiracy, forget Oswald being the lone assassin; forget Roswell; it's the sodding insurance companies that run everything.

They're probably in league with the oil companies which is why gas is $1.03/litre. I picked a heckuva time to get a car. :mad:
 
I'm sure whatever your insurance is at 28, mine is worse. I'm a 16 year old boy and it's almost 2500 a YEAR. With the good student discount AND driver's ed discount. Never had a ticket.
 
Agent, I apologize for presuming that you were 17. But, unfortunately the same rules of insurance apply whether you are 17, 117 or somewhere in between. Remember that the insurance company has to make a profit off of its investments (that's how they leverage premiums into enough to pay for all those claims) to cover claims, fraud (and fraud investigations), and still keep shareholders from revolting. Between use above actuarial predictions and higher than expected cost of services, things can quickly go wrong.

Anyway, maybe you'll do better with another company whose actuaries find 28yos to be lower risks or have lower utilization. But, who knows - most companies have enough data that their rates will be roughly the same since most of their data is similar.
 
StarbucksSam said:
I'm sure whatever your insurance is at 28, mine is worse. I'm a 16 year old boy and it's almost 2500 a YEAR. With the good student discount AND driver's ed discount. Never had a ticket.
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I'm 16 too, and I know, it's terrible.
 
Some insurance companies base their car premium on the credit rating of the consumers. For some reasons, my former car insurance firm First Trenton decided not to give me the promised 10% discount for the 2nd year because of "not long enough credit history." I know I have the long AND good credit history (no debts and all payments are paid in full within terms at all times). That type of excuse from the insurance company irked me so much (this is a matter of my principles) and I fired them and replaced them with another insurance company. There are so many insurance companies out there who are looking for your business and I will give my business to the company who appreciates my business.

Anyhow, why is it that the credit history got to do with the car insurance premium?
 
StarbucksSam said:
I'm sure whatever your insurance is at 28, mine is worse. I'm a 16 year old boy and it's almost 2500 a YEAR. With the good student discount AND driver's ed discount. Never had a ticket.
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Yikes. Can't you get insurance under your mom or dad's name?

When I started driving I was under my dad's policy as an "occasional" driver (it got less and less "occasional" as the years went by though). I think he paid $1700 for me, at first, but that went down from there. Last time I was still on his policy, he was paying $900 a year for both he, my mom, and myself, on two cars.

My policy costs $1500 a year. Granted, I'm 28, male, and driving an SUV, and I have a previous accident record from 2000.

To the OP (and any other Canadian insurance shoppers), try Bel-Air Direct and President's Choice Financial, those two were pretty competitive when I shopped around for mine. Both offer a discount for applying online.
 
YS2003 said:
Anyhow, why is it that the credit history got to do with the car insurance premium?
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Mainly - are you going to make your premium and are you going to be an insurance fraud threat. If you owe a lot of money, you are more likely to commit the traditional insurance fraud of claiming the car stolen to recover the value. Plus, you are more likely to hide defects to the car when making the application - most insurance companies do not require bringing in the car for inspection to verify current condition.
 
notjustjay said:
Yikes. Can't you get insurance under your mom or dad's name?

When I started driving I was under my dad's policy as an "occasional" driver (it got less and less "occasional" as the years went by though). I think he paid $1700 for me, at first, but that went down from there. Last time I was still on his policy, he was paying $900 a year for both he, my mom, and myself, on two cars.

My policy costs $1500 a year. Granted, I'm 28, male, and driving an SUV, and I have a previous accident record from 2000.

To the OP (and any other Canadian insurance shoppers), try Bel-Air Direct and President's Choice Financial, those two were pretty competitive when I shopped around for mine. Both offer a discount for applying online.
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I mean, I'm not an "occasional" driver. I drive 30 miles to school roundtrip a day, go out to Starbucks or do errands almost every evening, and probably drive 50 to 200 miles on the average weekend... and I'm on his policy, but you have to use my name.
 
Different states have different rules about how auto insurance rates can be set, but in general, these factors apply:

  • Your driving record
  • Your claims history
  • Where you live
  • What kind of car you drive
  • Your age and sex
  • How many miles you drive

Some of these factors are obviously more controllable than others, but you might be surprised by how much your rates go down if you choose to drive a small car not many miles a year. You can also increase your collision deductible to the maximum.
 
StarbucksSam said:
I'm sure whatever your insurance is at 28, mine is worse. I'm a 16 year old boy and it's almost 2500 a YEAR. With the good student discount AND driver's ed discount. Never had a ticket.
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It sucks, doesn't it? Same here- I'm 18, almost have a two year college degree, student (with above-A average) and driver's ed discount. Never had a ticket or moving violation of any sort.

Yet we're expected to pay several times more because OTHER people in same age group have a stereotype (stupid teenagers who think Macs suck and run around getting drunk and drag racing).

Isn't there a discrimination lawsuit in there somewhere?
 
My insurance went up like 60 bucks for the term and they pretty much told me that they had increased costs and they were sticking the customer with them. But when I pay in full rather than monthly, they usually knock anywhere from 25% to 30% off my bill so I usually come out ahead.
 
In November, mine went up. After contacting the ins company, we were told that we were essentally paying for their Katrina claims. But when my insurance is already 4 grand a year (20, male, 1 accident, 2 door car :mad: ) you don't even notice a small increase in premiums :rolleyes:
 
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