Not sure about other insurance carriers but Ameriprise will ask you if your vehicle has been modified in any way from new. I doubt they’d be asking if it wasn’t an opportunity for them to raze your rates. Pay attention to all the fast coming questions when you talk to them.
My renewal was up for Geico having used them for the last 3 years for Auto and they would not go any lower. I ended up getting the same coverage for $80 cheaper in total. Hopefully next time around I can hop back and they will match.
how does it work when shopping insurances regarding credit pull? Do you get penalized only once similar to how it works for home mortgages? I don’t want to go shop around and get hit with a credit pull from every company
If the OBD dongle sets off your alarm, tell Metromile that and they’ll provide a different dongle that you plug into a 12V outlet. That’s what I have on the 3-series and no issues with that.
1 Like
who do you have your umbrella with and who do you have your car insurance with? or are they the same company?
thanks! i’ll do that
Same company, most providers should be able to offer umbrella coverage also.
Is it possible that you got a discount because now you have a “multi line” policy with your insurance company? Meaning In the past, i added a very cheap hospitalization policy with my auto insurance company which meant that I had multiple lines with them (not just auto) which gave me a bigger discount than the cost of the added hospitalization policy. That trick stopped working with my insurance company but I’m wondering if that’s what is happening with you rather than the umbrella coverage being the reason for the extra discount.
Wawanesa was good until about 6 years ago. Mercury is a little cheaper with multi policy discount with home owners insurance for me.
I have a clarity too (PHEV) and I was told by a number of insurance company’s that the clarity is so expensive to insure because it is new and they have no idea on how much repairs are going to set them back. Once it has been around a little bit they will have some background comparisons/claims to compare the repair costs against. I do understand their point, but it still sounds like some BS to me.
I already had the multi line discount, my premium for the auto premiums went down after adding the umbrella policy.
Insurance credit pulls are soft pulls because you are not making a loan application that would negatively impact your ability to pay back your existing obligations.
that’s interesting, I will look into this with my insurance company. Thanks for sharing
Another vote for Metromile here - if they serve your state (CA, VA, NJ… possibly others I think). It’s pay-per-mile insurance, which fits well with leases since your mileage is limited anyway. They give you a little GPS tracker you install in your car data port, then there’s a monthly base fee, plus a per-mile fee.
I switched to them for both of my cars when I leased a BMW X1, and their price for both cars is significantly lower than what a single car was with Geico. I’m saving about $50 a month compared to a single car insured on Geico. For my BMW, it’s working out at about $17/month base, and 3.4¢ per mile. That’s with decent insurance limits (same levels I had with Geico), roadside assistance etc.
I haven’t had to go through any claims process with them, so I can’t comment on that aspect, but so far their online dashboard stuff is miles ahead of what traditional insurance companies offer (in my experience). Of course, some people aren’t comfortable with a GPS tracker in which case this won’t work out for you, but I personally don’t care about that.
Um yeah, GPS tracker, not gonna work for me…
why? you don’t want big brother to know your every move? 
1 Like
geico has different underwriting companies that are approved at different rates.
They have 4 seperate tiers - they place all their shitty and problematic drivers with the underwriting company with the worst rates and their best drivers/customers (multiline, length of policy, etc) with the best company/rates.
protip: Geico’s best underwriting company with the best rates is "Geico General Insurance Company"
If your paperwork does not show that, you can try and call customer service to be moved up tiers.
protip 2: this one is not as well known… pay for higher liability limits now, to secure possible tier bumps when shopping your insurance. your prior liability limits makes a difference to the new company to determine what kind of person you are (risk management-wise) a person who sees the value of insurance and takes higher limits will be looked at more favorably by the new company youre shopping with.
besides, going from 100/300/100 to 250/500/250 is negligible in pricing to some, and i highly recommend carrying at least a minimum of 250,000 in property damage. what if you wreck a brand new s550 (or any common vehicle worth over 100k) that are so common on the roads these days?
source : insurance underwriter
4 Likes
how much is the average price for car insurance?