Car Insurance coverage help

GoogleAjax · Post by **GoogleAjax** » Fri Mar 09, 2007 10:21 pm

I'm driving an old toyota 98 vehicle, I'm not too sure what kind of coverage I must have. I'm kind of new here don't have driving track record, AAA is giving me $1700 p.a quote which seems very high. I currently have the following coverage, Is it necessary to have all these coverage or do I need to add/delete something to bring down the premium?

Liability Coverage
Bodily Injury Limits :$50,000/$100,000
Property Protection Insurance :$1,000,000
PIP - Medical Coverage :Excess Coverage
PIP - Work Loss Waiver :I decline
PIP - Work Loss Coverage :Excess Coverage
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Bodily Injury Limits :$50,000/$100,000
Limited Property Damage :$500

Comprehensive Coverage & Deductibles :$500
Collision Coverage Type :Broadform
Collision Coverage & Deductibles :$500
Rental Car Limits :I decline
Customized Parts and Equipment Coverage Limits :I decline

Please help me to pick the right coverage.:confused:
Thanks.

IOwnHyd · Post by **IOwnHyd** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 2:01 am

Try, 20K/40K on Bodily Injury Limits & Uninsured/Underinsured.
Also, change from Broadform to Standard.

Also, compare with a few insurance companies like GMAC, StateFarm, Farmers, Unitrindirect.com, aig.com, progressive.com

AAA is generally on the higher end. Always tell that you drive under 10Miles/one way to work and drive less than 10K miles/Year

** Remember, this way your coverage limits will be way less than what you have mentioned. **

Hope it helps.

GoogleAjax;11529I'm driving an old toyota 98 vehicle, I'm not too sure what kind of coverage I must have. I'm kind of new here don't have driving track record, AAA is giving me $1700 p.a quote which seems very high. I currently have the following coverage, Is it necessary to have all these coverage or do I need to add/delete something to bring down the premium?

Liability Coverage
Bodily Injury Limits :$50,000/$100,000
Property Protection Insurance :$1,000,000
PIP - Medical Coverage :Excess Coverage
PIP - Work Loss Waiver :I decline
PIP - Work Loss Coverage :Excess Coverage
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Bodily Injury Limits :$50,000/$100,000
Limited Property Damage :$500

Comprehensive Coverage & Deductibles :$500
Collision Coverage Type :Broadform
Collision Coverage & Deductibles :$500
Rental Car Limits :I decline
Customized Parts and Equipment Coverage Limits :I decline

Please help me to pick the right coverage.:confused:
Thanks.[/quote]

schinnaraj · Post by **schinnaraj** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 3:52 am

It would be nice to have a little bit higher limit (300/500 premium will not increase that much)so that you don't get sued and probably you can "no" to collision and comprehensive if your car value is less. Try www.insurance.com and play around a little bit by changing the limits and find a quote that you feel is good. Also rental coverage (hardly $5-$10) will save you quite a bit if in case you need it.

DoctorJ · Post by **DoctorJ** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:02 am

In my humble opinion, the insurance premium on anything be it auto, home, legal, medical, dental etc. depends on a variety of things ? including your neighborhood. So, it's not a simple equation to solve or very easy to suggest.

A couple of things I'd want you to consider are:
[LIST=1]

Does one really need $1,000,000 coverage for Property Protection?

If you have good medical coverage from your employer, I?d give a thought to Excess Medical Coverage.

Is Excess Coverage on Work Loss really necessary? I?m not sure?

No matter what, with $500 each on Comprehensive and Collision, it?s ridiculous for AAA to charge $1,700 for annual insurance. So, seriously try other providers?

Rental Car coverage is not too expensive. I?ll give a second thought to it.

If you are hell bent on going with AAA, I?d like for you to check if it would help for you to be a member of local Credit Unions. I know around where I live, AAA gives discount of up to 20% if one were a member of certain Credit Union. All it takes for one is to start a free checking account by depositing $20 or $25.

Apart from the other services providers, I?d also think about a Costo Membership and the group auto-insurance they provide.[/LIST]I can probably pitch-in more later on...

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Beware, insurance in my opinion is fraud business. -DJ :cool:

DoctorJ · Post by **DoctorJ** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 7:37 am

Now that I see...you are a resident of Detroit. It pretty much sums it up - doesn't it??? Well, don't take things to heart. I'm basically indicating that car theft and vandalism is very high in the city of Detroit and hence the higher premium. But what was quoted to you by AAA is exceptionally high for Detroit Standards too...

You might want to check with State Farm Insurance. They seem to offer very competitive quotes.

If interested, you could check with this agent (see details below) who has been giving me some good quotes over the past several years. And, I've in turn sent over 60-75 customers his way...he'd probably give you a special discount if you took my name. Alas! I prefer to pen my thoughts without disclosing my identity...out here.

Carl Lee is a shrewd African-American businessman. His contact number is (248) 398-5970. Sometimes I'm forced to think he does something out of line...tell him something about meeting this guy during an Indian get together that referred you to him.

By the way, one of the important things I forgot to mention in my previous post...some thing that is very relevant with Carl is your ability to bargain. One should be shrewd enough to "Bargain like those guys in Beirut". And, the other is a possibility of you using an address of a friend or a colleague (say in Troy, MI) ? which would help you two fold. One, Troy is a very safe and secure suburb and the insurance companies take note of that to give a decent discount. Secondly, it might help you get another discount (second insured car) in case your friend is already a State Farm customer. Technically, I?m told that one would only qualify if the two individuals are blood relatives or something. But this guy Carl manages it somehow.

Good luck?and let me/us know if you need additional help. And, make sure you let us know how things went.

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The secret of survival in this world is not to let the vultures know you are dying. -DJ :cool:

GoogleAjax · Post by **GoogleAjax** » Mon Mar 12, 2007 9:29 am

Thanks for all the above posts, I did learn few things from the above.
I did contact another AAA agent and she bring down the premium to $555 for 6 months, don't know what magic she did :emsmileo:

DoctorJ, I will sure contact Mr.Lee next time and use your name to get discount:emwink:. Thank you very much for your above help.:emrose:

puneri_punter · Post by **puneri_punter** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 10:45 pm

DoctorJ;11917Now that I see...you are a resident of Detroit. It pretty much sums it up - doesn't it??? Well, don't take things to heart. I'm basically indicating that car theft and vandalism is very high in the city of Detroit and hence the higher premium. But what was quoted to you by AAA is exceptionally high for Detroit Standards too...

You might want to check with State Farm Insurance. They seem to offer very competitive quotes.

If interested, you could check with this agent (see details below) who has been giving me some good quotes over the past several years. And, I've in turn sent over 60-75 customers his way...he'd probably give you a special discount if you took my name. Alas! I prefer to pen my thoughts without disclosing my identity...out here.

Carl Lee is a shrewd African-American businessman. His contact number is (248) 398-5970. Sometimes I'm forced to think he does something out of line...tell him something about meeting this guy during an Indian get together that referred you to him.

By the way, one of the important things I forgot to mention in my previous post...some thing that is very relevant with Carl is your ability to bargain. One should be shrewd enough to "Bargain like those guys in Beirut". And, the other is a possibility of you using an address of a friend or a colleague (say in Troy, MI) ? which would help you two fold. One, Troy is a very safe and secure suburb and the insurance companies take note of that to give a decent discount. Secondly, it might help you get another discount (second insured car) in case your friend is already a State Farm customer. Technically, I?m told that one would only qualify if the two individuals are blood relatives or something. But this guy Carl manages it somehow.

Good luck?and let me/us know if you need additional help. And, make sure you let us know how things went.

============================================
The secret of survival in this world is not to let the vultures know you are dying. -DJ :cool:[/quote]

Using somebody else's address to get insurance is classified as insurance fraud. A lot of people do it and get away with it for a long time. But if you are caught, you are in very serious trouble. The Agent will get away becuase he is not liable if you gave him the wrong address.

I used to live in Farmington Hills and was paying about $1200 p.a. with State Farm.

DoctorJ · Post by **DoctorJ** » Tue Mar 13, 2007 11:59 pm

puneri_punter;12261
Using somebody else's address to get insurance is classified as insurance fraud. A lot of people do it and get away with it for a long time. But if you are caught, you are in very serious trouble. The Agent will get away becuase he is not liable if you gave him the wrong address.

I used to live in Farmington Hills and was paying about $1200 p.a. with State Farm.
[/quote]

Thanks for highlighting this issue. For a while now, I've been aware of this but when checked, I've been told not to bother about it. Anyways, one has to understand the ground realities and be careful with what one does.

By the way, just out of curiosity, I'd like to know how one would get caught. I've known a handful of the people that have gotten into trouble in terms of accidents and never had problems in getting their claim cleared and they've never been caught.

In any case, additional information will be appreciated.

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It's always better to be more informed than less informed. -DJ :cool:

karmayogi · Post by **karmayogi** » Fri Mar 23, 2007 3:24 am

Why do you need comprehensive for a 98 toyota model? Do you know how much your car is worth in the market?

Lets say if your car is worth $3000 in the market then paying $555 for 6 months is like 15% of the value of the car => 30% of the value of the car in a year which doesnt make sense to me.

I would simply take the minimum liability limits required by law and forego comprehensive coverage unless your case is truly exceptional. Also get a quote from independent agents. You can locate an insurance agent here http://www.iiaba.net/

Never ever go to company agents like state farm and allstate. They just robbed me in the past and heavily regret going to them.

direstraits88 · Post by **direstraits88** » Sat Mar 24, 2007 9:44 pm

For a 8-9 year old vehicle, why do you want comprehensive coverage? Get only basic third party coverage required in your state. Even if your car is totaled, you will only get 2k from the insurance for a old car..