We have two cars. They’re older than they were a year ago and presumably less valuable. We have had no tickets, accidents, or claims. Progressive is bumping the rate by 30 percent. I talked to a friend in Austin, Texas. His rate is also going up 30 percent.
Readers: What are you seeing for car insurance rate increases? What’s the explanation for this in what we are informed is a market economy? Most of the premium is for collision, right? Have body shop rates gone up 30 percent now that Americans realize it is more pleasant to relax on the sofa than to work in a body shop?
Separately, the news is not all bad. When one goes to the Progressive web site, the first and most prominent link is to learn about the company’s “commitment to diversity and inclusion” (not their actual diversity and inclusion, but their commitment to the religion).
What if we follow the link?
For years, we’ve been saying there’s a very real and important business case for DEI. It’s been proven time and time again that a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive organization drives profit and productivity by creating brands, products, and services that are more relevant and desirable in our competitive and multicultural marketplace.
It was almost impossible for a DEI champion such as Silicon Valley Bank to fail, in other words.
How about over at State Farm? Instead of being at the very top of the homepage, Diversity & Inclusion is relegated to the footer, under Careers:
Mine did the same and my home insurance went up by 50%. We live far away from water(south east of Tampa) and it is a 2014 built house. we are thinking of moving to NC Raleigh area. Even with 4% income tax we will pay less taxes as property tax is around .8%.
The lion kingdom’s base rate with metromile has been flat for the last 3 years. Per mile rate might be going up but lions drive under 1000 miles per year. 1000 miles would cost $40.
Metromile sounded intriguing, so I looked. How do you pay $40 for a year with the $29/month charge plus the 6? cents/mile?
Why do you have collision? Presumably the insurance company knows the probability of you making a claim and then adds some amount for profit. If you can afford the loss of the vehicle, why does it make sense, unless you’re one of the few Americans who thinks he’s a worse than average driver.
Mitch: That’s a great point. One of the car is leased (back in the zero interest rate environment I thought that was a good idea, especially because I thought maybe there would be a huge advance in electric or self-driving cars that would render legacy cars almost worthless) so we need to have collision on it.. I guess for the other car we could drop it. I’m worse at almost everything than the average person so maybe it IS a good deal for me!
@Mitch, this is one of the reasons why I don’t drive a new car or change my car often. I stick with my current car till the bumpers fall off. A car, for me, is a means of getting from point-A to point-B. I don’t need any of the extras that make the car more expensive, complicated, and harder to upkeep.
Mitch: I thought of one good reason to have collision insurance… I can lend a car to a friend without worrying, though I guess most of my friends have their own policies that would might cover them in a borrowed car.
Phil> I can lend a car to a friend without worrying
I don’t see why the reasoning for this is different.
But there’s a better reason. If you get into a collision with someone else and it’s their fault, if you have collision, your insurance company will talk to their insurance company and work it out. If you don’t have collision, you’ll be talking to their insurance company and they will be much less inclined to be convinced that it was their client’s fault.
Mitch: I think this last idea falls into the general category of “life is easier if you do what everyone else does” (see also… masks and marijuana in Maskachusetts!)
I purchase high levels of liability insurance on auto. There’s no greater incentive for the insurer to work something out than a potential 500k claim.
I do agree collision could be useful for the same reason, i.e., the insurer is more likely to ascribe fault to the other driver, or no-fault if the same insurer covers both drivers.
Also, I suggest checking out Amica.
Full coverage with Progressive for a 2001 Ford Taurus and a 2008 Ford F150 is $650 for six months, up 8% as compared to six months prior. Includes roadside assistance and collision and $300K liability. Probably don’t need need collision on the ’01 Taurus (about $50/six mos.) as I’d only get book value, and the Progressive rep inadvertently revealed that they’d value the Taurus at $450 (but that seems erroneously low).
THe insurance industry as a whole is having to raise rates to cover rising life insurance and disability payouts. In some normally healthy age groups, non-covid deaths are up 40%, starting 2 years ago. Clearly it’s not from the safe and effective vax, but former wall st analyst Ed Dowd crunched the numbers and thinks otherwise:
https://rumble.com/v223uge-covid-cover-up-steve-kirsch-ed-dowd-and-josh-sterling.html
I think distracted driving and aggressive driving is way up. Half the drivers are looking at their phones and the other half are playing “frogger” on the freeway. Claims must be way up. If not, time to buy stock in insurance companies, right?
I am seeing very high inflation on the things I actually buy.
Comprehensive and collision also are useful if you rent cars.
Twenty years ago, I rented a 14-foot U-Haul truck to move a family member from MA to FL. I did the drive and the move in 24 hours. After unloading the U-Haul, I attempted to move it to an adjacent parking lot, but neglected to see a low-hanging tree branch and peeled back a portion of the top of the truck. My own auto insurance covered the damage, except for $500 “loss of use” claimed by Budget rental.
On another occasion with a rental car, while driving on I-595 in Ft. Lauderdale, I ran over a metal pipe that had bounced out of the bed of a work truck in front of me. I got a flat tire and somehow damaged the ABS system. I had rented with my CitiBank MasterCard and they worked with the car rental company and took care of everything.