Outrageous auto insurance premiums

The Frumguy,

“What can be done?”

Forbid your kids from getting drivers licenses.

I deal with insurance but not on the casualty side. (I can share my experience with you but from a consumers’ point of view and not the insurers’.)

There are things that insurers check in your personal life / background that may not appear to have anything to do with your driving but show if you’re a responsible person or not. (For example they may give better rates to a teen that’s a good student and raise the rates if he/she doesn’t keep up the good grades.)

With that being said it may be worth giving them a call to see if they can shed some light. They may also be able to give you a more competitive rate or offer you a discount if you take a defensive driving course.

Our premiums started creeping up as well- I attributed it to the price of used vehicles shooting upwards. (They also look heavily at your ZIP code, is there an area in your ZIP code with a high rate of accidents?)

When we added a teen driver the premiums more than doubled. We called an agent and got a quote that (with our new teen driver) was less than we were paying with GEICO before we added the teen driver so we switched.

Hope this helps.

Frumguy,

I’m going to parrot ujm

I had geico and I switched 6 months ago and I’m paying less and I have better service

Average auto insurance rates in the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic states increased roughly 25% from 2022/2023 according to state regulators. In general, the underwriting process works on the basis of overall loss/payout experience in each jurisdiction (rates are approved on a state by state basis) with certain formula driven adders/reductions for individual risk factors. Cars that are “garaged” or not driven to work (typically 15 miles each way) will have much lower rates than average just as adding a teen-age driver or multiple claims will ratchet up rates considerably. As noted above, drivers w/o any claims will still find premiums spiking. Changing insurance companies might save several hundred dollars but if you’ve had really good experience with your current company, it might be worth paying up for the quality of service and predictability.

Wondering if I have teen drivers who are mostly in oot Yeshiva dorm but legaly live in my house do I have to put them on policy?
I am asking this in a legal/halachic sense and also what happens if I didn’t (which is the case so far) what will happen if ch”v an accident?

@amiricanyeshivish

When you purchase an insurance policy you’re paying the insurance company to expose themselves to the risk being insured instead of being exposed yourself.

If your policy requires you to add children regardless of whether they’re home most of the time or not and you decide not to then it’s stealing since you’re exposing them to a risk that you’re not paying for.

(If the kid NEVER drives then it still may be violating your agreement with them but a Rov might say that it’s not stealing. Similarly- if you’re willing to take the risk and cover all damages on your own, without filing a claim, then a Rov might say that it’s not stealing.)

You’re best off call them and being upfront with the living arrangements.

The company we use allows us to have children specifically excluded from the policy while they are away from home.

If the company expects them to be added and you don’t then they won’t cover an accident. If you somehow hide who the driver was and file a claim then you’re stealing.

We use Travelers. They offer a good discount if you have multiple policies with them.

I forgot to mention that it be illegal for anyone without a tlc license to drive your car. You have to be 19 to get one

GEICO sent us a letter a short while back that they applied to the state insurance commissioner for permission to raise rates 23%. Looks like they got it. I will also be switching away from them.

Switch to a motorcycle or move out of NYC its cheaper

True, $300 is alright a lot. But some people can’t get any quotes under $600

> If the government requires drivers to have insurance, then they need to reign in the predatory policies providers use.

all they need is to provide a market. If there are competing companies, they’ll provide a competitive rate. If you think, all companies are over-charging, open your own insurance company, charge less and become rich quick. It is that simple.

It is possible that your state puts a lot of requirements on the insurance and also forbids “discrimination”, so the company is not able to provide appropriate rate.

Also, with inflation, all prices went up, and maybe people went meshugane from inflation, so insurance rates will go up accordingly. When you read that inflation “decreased” – it means further increases will be smaller, nobody gives you previous increases back.

Insurance fees are ultimately determined by your state agency that regulates said fees. Complain to those people, your tax dollars pay their salaries!

there is also a “right to repair” issue in some states: whether independent shops can read onboard diagnostics. If not, all repairs are done by the monopolists at higher price.