Scaling it back a bit

Or something someone back in April or May during the firesale of the 2018s…

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I was kind of blind about it for years. Had been with State Farm for 25 years. Presumed they were doing the best they could. Stupid on my part. The company I work for owns the ad agency that does GEICO commercials/creative. I contacted them and got my rates slashed and my coverage raised. It was eye opening.

As long as you don’t have gaps in coverage, it doesn’t hurt your insurance rates to move around a lot, does it?

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Not at all. Actually the opposite. The longer you stay with the same company the more they screw you. Like your State Farm example…

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It doesn’t hurt your rates to move around provided you don’t have gaps in your policy start/end dates. That said, I disagree with the same company screwing you part. I’ve been with the same insurer now for 20+ years. Nobody has ever been able to beat their rates in that time. A friend of mine owns a body shop that his dad ran for the last 40 years and he took over some time ago. They are covered by the same insurer I am, and again, they swear by them and haven’t found anyone to beat them in all these years.

Anything insurance-wise is YMMV. Ask 20 different people, you’ll get 20 different answers. There is just too much that goes into rates to be able to compare apples to apples with someone else. Just a few are…Location, vehicle(s) on policy, type and limit of coverage you have, previous record (both accident and DMV), and even credit score can play a factor.

Some people swear by Allstate and State Farm…they are 2 of the most expensive for me. Someone has to pay for all those commercials you see on TV. I use a North east carrier named Erie. They primarily deal with the east coast market, and you’d be out of luck. Your best bet is to contact an insurance broker who can run you through multiple companies at once and see who shows up the best for your situation and needs.

PS: With Geico…be forewarned…the same guy that I know that owns the body shop will refuse to take any work on with Geico as the insurer. They indicated that they are the most difficult insurer out there to work with from a business perspective. They’d rather turn a job away than deal with them. Now, that’s just one person’s opinion who deals with them on the regular, and from the service side, so you may not have any issues on the customer side. That said, be careful.

While true, that’s a very subjective stance. Someone is going to want a BMW for 300/mo, whereas someone else is going to want the Accord. Is a BMW the best car possible in comparison to the Accord at the same monthly? I bet you’ll get very different answers if you poll 100 people.

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Some people don’t want the “image” associated with a BMW.

Me personally, I’m not a badge snob. I get what I like first, and work on payment 2nd…obviously with some exceptions. I’ve driven Chevys, Nissans, Buicks, Pontiacs, Cadillacs, Mitsubishis (DSM days, not the junk they sell now), Oldsmobiles, BMWs and a few others I’m probably overlooking. Someone else is going to snub their nose at most of that list. I’d never drive a car just for the cheap payment though…I have to at least enjoy it before I’d consider it. Someone else is going to jump on the first 59/mo car they see just because it’s cheap. To each their own.

Cars, like anything else with numerous brands, is highly subjective.

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Some people just don’t like BMWs too, regardless of the image.

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So back to the topic… :

I’m not looking for an analysis on how bad of a deal i must have made on the Q or whatever, just looking for people’s opinion on moving from fast and fun to something more mundane I guess. We got my wife and my mother in law Jeep Cherokees (Limited) last fall and its a really great vehicle to drive. I think that is what has spawned all of this considering they run us about $350 a month including insurance.

I’d hang on to it till lease end as with Nissan/Infiniti you remain liable for lease even if transferred if you can even transfer out of it anymore. Penny wise decision could result in Pound foolish result.

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IPG? They have quite a portfolio. Came up with a startup client earlier this year when I was looking at Kinesso.

Worth shopping every couple years. I had GEICO for all the years I lived in DC (cheapest/best by far), not in Ohio (they were a lot more), then again in CA until 2 years ago. My home owners/renters was elsewhere and it was never cheaper for me to bundle them until it was.

May not apply for all states, but with Geico I also found that the max coverage on the website is not the max coverage, I had to call in and they had to get a supervisor to approve it to bump from 300/300 to 500/500.

That’s interesting. My experience with them even 10 years ago was the adjuster could adjust and print a check on-site. I’ve had them drive to body shops and hand the body shop a check. With the last accident in 2016 I really got into it and got the labor rates for the various insurance companies from the body shop and Geico’s was quite a bit more than USAA (so they pay more and they pay fast). I’m sure YMMV like all things.

You need to decide for yourself how much a month it’s worth to drive something that you enjoy. You don’t have to enjoy it as much as some of your prior more expensive, overly-tuned vehicles, but you’re going to be miserable commuting in an Altima or Corolla.

Speaking only for myself, as a single guy who makes a good income, driving is just utility when I’m home and it’s not worth more than about $500 a month plus insurance and gas. I’ve had leases that were more, and rides that tickled me differently, but I shoot for something that I enjoy driving that comes in around that. This time is was a XC60 and I’m happy every time I get behind the wheel and especially when I switch to Polestar.

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It’s worth shopping every 6 months. I switch almost every 6 months the exception is I was with Geico twice for a year with 6 month of progressive in between. I am with Allstate now. Every time I switched my current company couldn’t match what I was offered. I am in Florida and insurance is very odd here so your mileage may vary but it always push to shop before renewal. I once moved to a new zip code maybe 15 miles west and my insurance went up $50 a month.

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I used to check every 6-12 months and always had the best rate among the competitors. I’ve only switched maybe 4 times. No at-faults or tickets in over 10 years.

Changing cars is also a good time to check. My renewal is this month so I’ll be checking again soon.

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Yep. I work for the corporate IT side.

I appreciate this

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I went from a 2015 Grand Cherokee (Summit) with the Hemi. Great car. Even got some lowering links to trick the air suspension in going lower. Looked Great. Would love to have that as a 2nd car maybe in the future but I traded that in and got into a 2018 Q50 Red Sport lease. It was a great decision. Monthly payment was higher and insurance went significantly higher but I was happy with the decision. One thing that I wanted a change in was the steering. Driving the jeep in a parking lot felt like driving a bus. The steering ratio was terrible. The Q50 had such a nice steering ratio I can turn very quickly with little effort. The Jeep was fast for not being an SRT and also had paddle shifters. It was like an american range rover (even had acousting glass - No outside noise + active noise cancellation) I look at it this way. I can pay $350 for a car and be completely bored with it. For an extra $200 I would be very happy every time I get into the car and driving anywhere would be exciting. I’ve been in that scenario where I’ve bought a car because the price was lower and it was good enough, only for a few weeks later I realize I should have just ponied up the extra money and gotten the top of the line. Sure, some people can go with the CR-V and be happy and not understand why someone would pay so much money on a nice car. I get it. But I’ve always loved nice cars and enjoy it.

To answer your question, I wouldn’t get into something more mundane. You should look into the 2020 Q50 Red Sport which is what I am going to get hopefully this month.

Now that they FINALLY have Car Play (seriously… luxury brand?) I will probably consider them… but not this go around. For a car that was fun to drive and then an absolute blast after it was tuned, the infotainment system still made me want to kick a kitten. I don’t put a ton of miles on my vehicles but I spend a lot of time in meetings or on the phone while I’m in the car. And the real kick in the nuts is that the Bose system sounds fantastic.

To each his own. Everyone has their thing. I think people that spend a ton of money on designer cloths are nuts. But if it makes you happy more power to you. I like cars they make me happy.You said it was just utility but then went on to say the the XC60 puts a smile on your face. That doesn’t sound like utility to me. I never smiled because I flipped a light switch and the light went on.

In addition to the carplay, the lower screen has higher resolution and is incredibly fast, almost instantaneous. If you look at youtube videos it’s very quick. The upper screen however should still be fast but I don’t think he resolution has changed. The 2006 M45 I had years before I believe used the same screen.

If you do get a red sport, Instead of getting an expensive tune, I would suggest a JB4 for maximum power. I had the JB1 as it was fast enough and wanted quick disconnects/connects for when I took it into get oil changes.

mllcb42"Some people just don’t like BMWs too, regardless of the image".

And some people (like me) want nothing to do with ANYTHING German.

I smile at how fast my home Internet connection is. Living in California has made me grateful for water and electricity in a way I wasn’t in the other states I lived in.

For some people, cell service is worth $100/mo. For some the $30 is a perfect substitute (or good enough) - it would never work for me. I set a budget for what each utility should cost and meets my acceptance criteria. After much experimentation, $500/mo with tax is enough payment to check all my boxes, including fun to drive.

I whole heartedly agree with you on most luxury goods. The only thing LVMH is for me is an indicator of consumer confidence.