State Farm renewed my policy this month and raised my premium 30%. I quote from the renewal:

"The claim experience on your make and model of vehicle has resulted in an increase to your vehicle rating group for comprehensive and/or collision coverages."

How do you like them apples?

JYH

Well did you think that a turbo 227hp car would have the same insurance rates as the NA 165hp RS? Common sense. Same reason that people in the 80s (I know I know a lot of you were born in the mid-80s) would take a mustang GT engine, Supercharge it and then slap it into a 4cylinder Mustang LX frame!

-mike

Allstate and StateFarm is raising rates from what I have been told. Try Geico and One Beacon as they seem to be holding rates for now.

Good Luck,
Con

Shop around.

If I were you, I would call about a dozen insurance companies. I called my company (Met-Life Auto) for a WRX Wagon quote and it was almost the same price as my wife's 99 OB. Also, call direct and don't use an Agent. My next-door neighbor is an insurance agent and wanted me to switch. I showed him my policy and he said never mind. :D

Good luck,
-Dennis

Met Life Auto is not writing any new buiness. You can expect rate increases from them in the near future.

You're not immune with Geico either. I got hit with a $85/6 months "performance surcharge" when my insurance was renewed in January. The insurance card initially listed the car as an Impreza - now it's listed as an Impreza WRX. I figured they'd catch on eventually...

Phil

Yeah, I had the same attitude as philwang66. They haven't printed WRX on my insurance card, but it seems that they're catching on.

It sort of reminds me of my last turbo'd car. I had a 1986 Buick Grand National. I insured it as a 6-cylinder Buick Regal, which is exactly what it was. My rates were ridiculously low and they never caught on.

Just as an FYI, the general trend in the insurance industry is that rates are being increased upon renewal for every type of policy. Insurance companies for the most part took losses or had way lower than expected profits during the past year due to severe losses and bad returns on their investments. So regardless of what company you're insured with; expect an increase.

The best advise is to shop around and make sure that you're comparing apples to apples when getting quotes. Not all policies are created equal! ;)

Originally posted by GRWRX
Met Life Auto is not writing any new buiness. You can expect rate increases from them in the near future.

Near future...try now....

my insurance just got renewed...and i found out that my rates increased by 12%

i called them up and told me...they were raising rates for all of NYC....sux

Just hit the yellow pages and start calling around. Hopefully, you have some time left before your coverage renews and can find something reasonable.

To give you an idea as to why rates are going up in general; the insurance industry as a whole expects to pay out between $4.5 to $6.0 Billion as a result of the 9/11 attacks, and that was just the icing on the cake! :eek

They have to get relief from somewhere, and in their minds there's no one better place than the policyholders. :monkey:

i despise insurance companies. First off, they are in the risk business, just because they had a bad year doesn't mean they should be allowed to jack up prices that much. I had a bad year last year, why can't i just pay them 20% less???
And another thing, if i have never had an accident or a ticket and drive a wrx, what right do they have raising my rates? They should double the rates of those people ACTUALLY getting into accidents...but no, that would make too much sense.

9/11 didn't impact too many insurance companies, especially auto-insurance ones. There is a pool that paid for the damages, the hardest hit was Lloyds of London. In fact Prudential, the company I work for, didn't get touched at all.

-mike

Mike, the reinsurers (Munich, Zurich, London) got hit hard, and this in turn will eventually trickle down to the entire industry. There are other major factors that are causing a general increase in rates across the board for most companies, and like I stated, 9/11 was just the icing on the cake.

I can tell you first hand, that there are a lot insurance companies that are dumping entire programs because they can't get reinsured. 9/11 may not have as much of an impact on companies such as Prudential, State Farm or Allstate because they are very limited in the scope of what they do, but companies like Hartford, Liberty Mutual, AIG, etc., that are big players in the industry and more particularly in commercial risks are all increasing rates and discontinuing certain lines of business.
Originally posted by paisan
9/11 didn't impact too many insurance companies, especially auto-insurance ones. There is a pool that paid for the damages, the hardest hit was Lloyds of London. In fact Prudential, the company I work for, didn't get touched at all.

-mike

I'm sure that they'll use it as an excuse to raise rates though, they like any business won't let an opportunity pass them by to get more $. I have an interesting take on insurance in general. Basically it is legalized gambling. You as the person buying insurance is betting you WILL get into an accident. The Insurance company is the house and bets against you getting in an accident. If everyone thought they were perfect drivers they would only carry the least insurance required by law. :)

-mike

I good portion of the increases is due to how much the companies are losing on no fault (PIP) coverage. A lot of that has nothing to due with driving ability. If you are sitting on a parked car and hit by another car, your injuries are covered on your auto policy. If a kid rides his bicycle into your legally parked car, your auto policy pays his medical bills. The companies cannot surcharge for this and cannot try to recover that money.

Reinsurer and Primaries got hit hard this year, in more than just the 9/11 attacks. The P/C industry got nailed, though 2002 is looking better.

First, 9/11. Obviously a mass amount of damage, mainly to the reinsurer's. Primaries did get hit hard as well, and many of the smaller one's will have trouble.

Paisan: I assume you work for Prudential on the Life/Health side? I have a hard time believing the PruPac (Property/Casualty) wasn't affected by 9/11. I could be wrong, but PruPac is a decently large PC company. It's unlikely that they didn't take a hit. Maybe not severe, but I would venture to guess that they did.

Mold claims are picking up as every nut who has mold thinks that it is toxic.

Asbestos claims increased dramatically recently.

Insurance are raising rates for lots of reasons. It's not just because some of you think they are just money-hungry corporations. For a long time, insurance rates have been horribly unprofitable to companies. Finally, the market for insurers is turning around.

It's much harder than you might think to price insurance.

As for the rates on the WRX, what did you expect? This car is being bought primarily by 16-30 year old males. It's a turbocharged sports car. You want rates with the my POS Mirage? Think about how many people on this board have got in accidents. Or speeding tickets, or worse. It all contributes to the insurance price.

All of this is excluding the whole concept of moral hazard, which people seem to be engaging in.

I'm fairly certain that Prupac has no commercial lines, so there isn't much of an exposure there. It's been many moons since I've dealt with that God awful bunch from Holmdel though. :eek:

Interesting. I almost took a job with them a few weeks ago. Wasn't really interested in living in Holmdel though. What do you do, out of curiousity?

For reference, I'm an actuarial student.

I own a commercial lines agency. In reality, we only market to a very specific segment of specialty risks, thus my knowledge of the reinsurance market and the dynamics of arriving at the bottom line from an insurance company's perspective.

BTW, Holmdel is a great place to live once you get into "family mode".

Interesting. What kind of specialty risks, if you don't mind me asking?

I work for a large reinsurer now.. (well I did for the summer and winter, and I will continue in a few months when I graduate).

The primary providers have to give some notice to the state in order to change their policies in most cases. The Reinsurers do not. In many cases, the Reinsurers raised their rates, or included an exclusion for terrorism based claims too late in the year for the primary providers to change their policies and get them approved by the states. Thus, the primary providers are left holding the bag for a whole year with out any reinsurance for terrorism. They are scared and are dropping many policies or raising rates really dramaticly (200-300% on commercial p&c in some cases) We all need to pray for a good year, or the whole insurance system may bite the big one.

Personal auto rates have to be filed and approved before they can be implemented. In states like NJ, they have to be approved by the Dept. of Ins. and the company has to show that they must increase their premiums to stay profitable. The NJ DOI actually has a cap on how much profit a personal auto company can make.

In the case of the WRX, I think a lot of people are seeing increases because the companies are reclassifying it into a higher symbol.

As for policies being dropped and ridiculous rate increases; I see it on a daily basis.
Originally posted by AWMIII
The primary providers have to give some notice to the state in order to change their policies in most cases. The Reinsurers do not. In many cases, the Reinsurers raised their rates, or included an exclusion for terrorism based claims too late in the year for the primary providers to change their policies and get them approved by the states. Thus, the primary providers are left holding the bag for a whole year with out any reinsurance for terrorism. They are scared and are dropping many policies or raising rates really dramaticly (200-300% on commercial p&c in some cases) We all need to pray for a good year, or the whole insurance system may bite the big one.

Marine, transportation and habitational. The market in general is currently nuts.
Originally posted by bg23516
Interesting. What kind of specialty risks, if you don't mind me asking?

Mostly I was refering to commercial P&C, but companies have to make up their shortfalls in other lines.

The thing is that companies file their standard rates, but during the last few years were writing risks with all kinds of discounts. Renewal rates for some risks now being charged the standard, non-discounted rates is 60-80% higher than the expiring rate. :eek:

Originally posted by NotoriousWRX
Just as an FYI, the general trend in the insurance industry is that rates are being increased upon renewal for every type of policy. Insurance companies for the most part took losses or had way lower than expected profits during the past year due to severe losses and bad returns on their investments. So regardless of what company you're insured with; expect an increase.

The best advise is to shop around and make sure that you're comparing apples to apples when getting quotes. Not all policies are created equal! ;)

Cool - when they start making money, they'll lower the rates, then :lol:

i just wanted to mention that i received a notice from state farm last month stating that they were lowering my rates. this month i received my bill and saw that my rate was lowered ~ 20%. i forget exactly what their explainations were but i know two of them were safety rating on the wrx and my driving record. after reading this i hope that they don't rethink this and decide to raise them.:(