Car Insurance, are the ads just spam?

[WhitewaterWoman]

I have become totally mystified by car insurance. I have been trying to reduce the cost of my basic living expenses and it turns out that car insurance is one of the biggest routine expenses, exceeded ony by the cost of my medications, which is considerable.

I have been flooded for more than a year with advertisements that blare out car insurance for as little as $39/month. Special rates for Seniors. Special rates for people in Florida. Etc. I have responded to some of these ads, from time to time. And none have been less than my current rate of about $210/month. And these include the most well known ones that promise to save you $800/year by switching to them, etc., etc.

Are these rates just made up? A whole lot of spam promising things that don't even exist?

It's driving me nuts because I want to reduce my cost, but making these phone calls or responding to web ads seems to just be giving away my private information. Because getting car insurance, they need to know where you live, how old you are, etc.

 

[Mary Terry]

I think a lot of insurance is questionable. One way to save on car insurance is to raise your deductible as high as possible. We have high deductibles on all our cars ($1000) and house ($5000) because we do have funds to cover the amount of the deductible in the event of a claim. State Farm a/k/a Snake Farm has among the lowest insurance rates in Mississippi.

 

[WhitewaterWoman]

I think a lot of insurance is questionable. One way to save on car insurance is to raise your deductible as high as possible. We have high deductibles on all our cars ($1000) and house ($5000) because we do have funds to cover the amount of the deductible in the event of a claim. State Farm a/k/a Snake Farm has among the lowest insurance rates in Mississippi.

I have had State Farm my whole life (although they no longer do home insurance in Florida). I am going to call them today and try to work out what is lowest for car insurance. I don't drive as much as I did when I was working. As far as homeowners insurance goes, I think I am going to drop it. It is way too expensive.

 

[Mary Terry]

I don't know if you qualify but Florida has some kind of state-issued barebones homeowners' insurance. It's worth investigating.

 

[Xinyta]

I have become totally mystified by car insurance. I have been trying to reduce the cost of my basic living expenses and it turns out that car insurance is one of the biggest routine expenses, exceeded ony by the cost of my medications, which is considerable.

I have been flooded for more than a year with advertisements that blare out car insurance for as little as $39/month. Special rates for Seniors. Special rates for people in Florida. Etc. I have responded to some of these ads, from time to time. And none have been less than my current rate of about $210/month. And these include the most well known ones that promise to save you $800/year by switching to them, etc., etc.

Are these rates just made up? A whole lot of spam promising things that don't even exist?

It's driving me nuts because I want to reduce my cost, but making these phone calls or responding to web ads seems to just be giving away my private information. Because getting car insurance, they need to know where you live, how old you are, etc.

From what I've seen and understand. Car insurance is advertised alot, to the same degree as the Medicare ads. Most are just looking to make a quick buck, at the expense of the people they lure in. So yeah. Scams.

I'd do some research, if I were you, on what is reputable and is reasonable.

 

[Judge]

When such advertisements talk about savings in specific figures, forget the notion that their rate disparity reflects generic drivers. It likely doesn't. Which is how they can legally advertise such nebulous claims.

With the rest of the formula weighted heavily against complacent policyholders who keep the same insurance carrier for years, rather than to carefully shop around. And that's a lot of people in the market who could move their insurance, but don't. Even when they should. So the only way to really determine a better deal with auto insurance is to utilize a carrier's online website that allows you to get a quote from them, contingent with the accuracy of the data you input to arrive at such a premium quoted.

Keeping in mind that direct-writer insurers are more likely to be competitive given they cut out the expense of using third-party agents to market insurance and manage policyholders. Which can potentially be good in terms of lower premiums, but potentially bad in terms of whatever person you contact will truly only represent the company's interest and not your own.

"Good capitalists exploit demand. Great capitalists invent it where it doesn't actually exist".

Unless perhaps you are a policyholder paying way too high a premium and have been for several years with the same carrier. Which in the case of the Florida insurance market might well come down to the concept of "bait n switch" and little else. An insurance market that has become far too strained to offer any real bargains.

 

[TBRS1]

Insurance, all insurance, is based on a simple idea:

Get enough people with a low probability of requiring a big payout (small payouts don't matter much) to MUCH MORE than make up for a low number of big payouts.

It's a very simple formula that make a lot of money for people pretty much constantly.

If it seems that a company is violating that formula, look for the cost cutting tricks:

1. Selecting safe people to insure (the best people to insure are people between the ages of 25- 50, without any preexisting conditions - in auto insurance, preexisting conditions are things like history of speeding, dui, accidents).

2. Writing "terms and conditions" that will prevent most payouts (A person is driving behind a truck. Wheel comes off truck, crushes passenger side of following car. Insurance company claimed this was "an act of God," and acts of God are specifically exempted in the signed agreement. This is a true story. I know people involved).

3. Providing cut-rate "options" that won't provide the benefits the buyer thinks they will (house flooded? A "budget" policy most likely is cheap because it excludes flood damage from coverage), or are insurance policies that work in name only (in the U.S., auto owners are required to have insurance. That insurance can be pretty useless, though. Also, an employer who wants to offer insurance as a "perk" doesn't need to offer very much).

Insurance is a business, not a charity. People will never get a good deal. The house always wins.

But some deals are better than others. You have to look under the hood very carefully to find them, though. Much of life involves seeing through deception.