Hey everyone, I've done a search on insurance costs and there's a few questions I wanted to clear up.

I'm 20.
I live in California.
I have a clean record (meaning my one accident was over 3 years ago and my ticket has been "traffic schooled" away).
I have been driving almost 4 years.
I have a 2000 2.5RS coupe.
The only driving I really do is 35 miles to work 3 days a week.

The lowest 6 month quote I can find is around $1,400. I have seen people in similar situations say they pay half that! What's the difference? Coverages?

Can anyone make a suggestion on what companies to check out, or why my rates are so high (other than the obvious reasons)?

Thanks!
Scott French

Usually the only way you pay half of that is if you are 25 years of age or older with a clean record. I'm 29 and own a MY98 2.5RS. With a clean record, Oregon resident, I pay under $400 for full coverage every six months for me and my wife through state farm insurance. Before I turned 25, I was paying double that on just about any vehicle.. Try Progressive auto insurance. Heard they can save some money and are fairly good dealing with claims.. Hope this helps..

Hey there... I think maybe it's just the way it is. When I was 20 I called my insurance co. to get a quote for a '98 Impreza L sedan and a '98 Civic EX coupe. The Impreza was around $1200/6 and the Civic would have been $1400/6. I don't live in California, and I didn't notice where in Cali you live, but I'd guess that it's just Cali doing it to you. At the time my driving record was spotless. I've got USAA which is pretty darned good. I've had solicitors say 'nevermind' when I tell them who I've got. >shrug<
If you or your parents were armed services, give USAA a call.
BTW I'm 24 now, I've got an '01 RS sedan and (haven't called yet to add the Ram, that's on my to-do for tomorrow) a couple of dings on my record (1 comp claim and 1 single vehicle meets solid object type claim) and I pay $950ish for 6 months.

try atlanta casualty.. pretty big company.. i was with progressive, till i bought my m3, then i found atlanta was a lot cheaper.. i pay what you got quoted, on an m3, i am 25 and the only one on my policy, 1 ticket in 3 years, 3 in 5. so no great driver discounts here.

Quit your whinin' youngn'. ;) And yes I, got about 12 years on ya, so I am OLD. Your rates will go down when you hit 25. I pay $475 a month for 2 cars. This is what happens when you have a wifey that is accident prone.....whats that? Coming dear!!!

Lovejoy

Im paying half that in houston with a not clean driving record at 22 years of age in a WRX. Thats with Allstate


call some more companies.

Try allstate, progressive....

State farm
I'm 22, male, 0 accidents, 0 tickets, driving since 1 month after I turned 16.

I have good student (even though I finished college), safe driver, multi-car, and one other discount that I forget what it is.

I pay $700 for 6 months, which isn't too bad. You get raped because you live in California. California rapes you on housing, energy, food, etc. California is a sh-t hole unless you make 6 digets in income. I suggest you move. Hope that helps :)

I was just quoted on insurance for my MY02 2.5 RS... Michigan... 20 years old... clean record... $1200 every 6 When I turn 21 in a month, the rate drops to around $850 every 6

Try the auto insurance service offered by American Express Card.

I got a quote for MY00 Legacy GT for $650 for 6 month.

Depending on your policy and record, quote will be different, but i think it won't be over $1K.

This should cheer you up some. A certian gecko wants to rape me for auto insurance. I'm paying about $550 every 6 months now.

http://www.i-club.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=64605

~Loki

if i were you i wouldnt go anywhere near progressive. when i got in an accident in my MY99L i was $300 short of the repair bill for them to total out the car. thats less than two months of payments for me and instead of totaling it for me and losing a little money up front they lost $3000 a year. they did the same thing to my father as well(he was $1200 off of the totaling price).

yea, rate drops at 21 for USAA, that's why I'm impatiently waiting for april 9th 2002 before I buy my car =)

Oooh. April 15th 2002 I turn 25 and my USAA rates drop too! We should throw a party.
For my 21st USAA dropped from 2200ish down to 1600ish. It's a NICE drop. Then I bought a Bronco, pushed a concrete barrier aroudn with it, bought a grand cherokee, and my rates jumped again. Now that I've sold the Jeep and Honda and only have the Subaru it's back around 1900/yr. Dunno what it'll do when I add the Ram.

Thanks everyone. I'm going to contact as many of the above mentioned companies as possible today to see if I can get a better rate.

Thanks again,
Scott French

check out AIS-- auto insurance specialists http://www.aisinsurance.com/ : call them up. They hooked us up with insurance..i pay about $300 every 6 mos. I'm 21,drivin for about 4 yrs, 2001 RS. The company they hooked me up with was Mercury Insurance. Thing here is, we put insurance along with my dad's plan..hey, you a thousand dollars or so, right? So, until i turn 24 or 25? one of those ages... I'm probably gonna be sticking with my dad's insurance.

so how does that big insurance bill of yours break down anyway?

if your comprehensive is high, changing brands or moving is the only hope.

what are your coverages? paying less and being underinsured is great until you have an at-fault claim that bankrupts you. (or your family-- you're 20 with a new Impreza and you work 3 days a week.)

ColinL, The bulk of my current coverage comes from comprehensive.

I have pretty high coverages (way higher than the minimum) becuase I have had one of the crashes you mentioned. Luckily I was on my parents insurance back then and they had good coverage. I am now on my own policiy.

Just for the record, I work more like 6.5 days a week (I've been with the company over 2 years and I am allowed to work from home 2 days a week).

Anyway, after calling around it looks like I am pretty stuck for now. No parents or wife to keep my prices down. Living in California doesn't seem to be helping me much either.

Get married.

I have a feeling that would end up costing a lot more money in the long run.

Indeed...but it would solve your insurance problem.

I can't fix everything for you...sheesh!

:lol:

maybe... as Lovejoy pointed out a ways back in this thread, getting married doesn't always solve the insurance problem.

get some quotes on other zipcodes near you. sometimes you could move a short ways and have the rate drop even to be worth it. or if you don't have a garage, ask what having one will do the rate.

just a few ideas, hope it helps.

The insurance for a 4 door is a bit cheaper than 2 door. The ISO symbol (what they base the premiums off it) is an 18 for a coupe and 15 for a sedan.

Four doors all the way, BABY!! :D

Geoff
www.flat-four.com

Perfect driving record, 19 male, 2 block commute, STATION WAGON, 3rd car on plan....... $960 every 6 months with state farm.

What a freakin rip-off.

I would've killed to pay $1,400 every six months here's what I had:


24 years old
No Accidents (EVER!)
One speeding ticket (over 3 years before)
2000 Silver 2.5RS
State Farm Insurance

$2,009 every six months.



That's right you read that right.

Just turned 25 and it dropped to $1,450 every six months.

Why? Location. Jersey City NJ, the WORST city for insurance in the country.

Thankfully I'm moving to NY (not city) and it should drop below $1,000 every six months. But I don't want to hear your whining :) Even the insurance guy reacted to that quote. He punched in the vehicle description, got the quote and said "Whoa, what the hell is in that thing? Isn't it just a little Subaru?" I just smiled and wrote out the check.

About 6 months ago my insurance dropped a little over 15%. I looked over my policy to find out why... They had listed me as married instead of single. I don't know why, I don't even have a girlfriend, but I'm not gonna complain.

Vestas, Its funny that you mention that. I had State Farm when I bought my Impreza. They wanted around 2400 every six months. This was on my parent's policy that had two other cars, our house, and I'm pretty sure it also had my step father's life insurance. With all of that my rate was still insane. Anyway, I left State Farm the next day.

When shopping for insurance, does anybody know of a company that only asks for your record 3 years back instead of 5? I know they can only use 3 years worth of records for your rates, but I guess they can ask for 5 years worth to determine if they want to cover you at all.

My record looks far better at 3 years than 5 years. :rolleyes:

Amica only looks 3 years back. However, they are pretty selective, so if you have anything 3 years back they might not take you. My wife had had a suspended license (problem with a ticket and trying to get the fine reduced by taking driver's ed, in a different state....long story), and when we tried to get Amica a few years ago, they told us no. But we just got the Rex this spring and Amica ended up being the cheapest (we do also have our renter's with them). Geiko will insure you, but they check back 5 years...seems like they'll insure anyone, they'll just make you pay. It would have cost us 3 - 4 times what Amica is costing us. My wife was on the phone with them and they gave her the rate and she said thanks but no thanks, and they wouldn't leave her alone...they were like: "we're the second biggest in MD and Amica is really selective, so how would you like to pay for that?" I never knew that being selective was a negative trait for an insurance company. :lol:

Anyway, check out Amica. My parents had them, and they are really cool to you once you have them...it's just not so easy to get with them. But they only check back 3 years.

Cool. Thanks, man. I'll check them out in another year when my record is totally clean. :)

Hey, I had the same problems when I lived out in the Bay Area a few months ago. I was paying 2400 for six months for a MY00 RS and I was 21 at that point. Anyways, when I moved to Colorado I looked for a new insurance company that was cheaper. After trying all of the typical companies on a whim I tried www.insurance.com I don't recall who it's run by but they really do give you quotes from a bunch of different insurance companies. I found a rate at 1200 for six months. The really interesting thing is I went from Progressive to Progressive. I guess my new Progressive is a 'super-savers' or something like that. They are different companies, i.e. the first was Progressive of Maryland and the second is something like Progressive of Florida or something like that. Anyways, check those guys out, I'm saving a lot of money and I don't think it's just because I moved.

-Brian

I am 38 Married with clean record and only pay $750 Can ($470 US) a year....and I thought that was too much.