Did your car insurance premium drop recently?

[softmax]

I’m about to renew my auto insurance for the coming 6 months.

I paid $507 last cycle but this time the bill is almost the same: $492.

I bundled my renter’s insurance a month ago so I think the “discount” is mainly a consequence of that. I thought since people drive much less these days, car insurance should have gone down. I might be wrong so I’m interested to see people’s recent data points.

[7eight9]

Geico rebated us 15% of our premium earlier this year.

COVID-19: GEICO is Here to Help --- https://www.geico.com/about/coronavirus/

[jebmke]

I have gotten a couple of credits from my auto insurer. I think this is pretty widespread.

[Grasshopper]

Progressive didn't offer any help, Geico offered 15% for this 6 months. We did get $23 from Progressive this summer. So Geico it is. I shop every 6 months.

[runner3081]

We received something like a $12 check. Without a doubt, they will raise rates next year and get that, and a lot more back, haha.

[sycamore]

Another data point: we got a small-ish premium (10%?) refund from Amica.

[softmax]

Thanks for the data points.
Progressive did offer $34 refund early this year.
I thought they’ll decrease the rate by $50 or something this time because they have far less claims these days.
I guess I’ll shop around just to be sure.

[anoop]

I have gotten 3 rebate checks so far due to COVID-19. My policy renewed at more or less the same rate as before.

[RudyS]

My renewal came due just when the 15% discount went into effect. Got a 15% reduction on my next 12 months from Geico. BTW, when getting my policy, I asked for the 12 month term instead of the usual 6 months. It's a required option in Massachusetts.

[Mudpuppy]

I've been receiving 15% back every month as a rebate, but I'm in California so your mileage may vary in other states. The California Department of Insurance requires the rebates for personal automotive insurance since the shelter-at-home order was first issued: http://www.insurance.ca.gov/01-consumer ... avirus.cfm

[adestefan]

I ended up get one month for free from State Farm this summer.

[kelvan80]

If you are driving less you can call and tell them to adjust your mileage driven annually it may affect your premium.

[carolinaman]

State Farm informed us that our next auto premium (in Dec.) will have an 11% reduction due to lower claims during Covid.

[VictoriaF]

I am getting about $5/month from Amica.

Victoria

[mnsportsgeek]

I wish. My state just passed car insurance “reform” that lets people drop PIP coverage, so if you keep PIP then your premium went up.

[willthrill81]

We got a small refund from Farmers a few months ago, but the premium is still the same.

I am getting about $5/month from Amica.

Victoria

After hearing Clark Howard rave about Amica, I think I'm going to get a quote from them for auto and home coverage. Have your experiences with them been good? We've been with Farmers for a year, and I'm not very pleased with my interactions with them. I can only imagine what filing a claim would be like.

[talzara]

I wish. My state just passed car insurance “reform” that lets people drop PIP coverage, so if you keep PIP then your premium went up.

PIP pays much higher reimbursements than health insurance for the same care. Making PIP optional will have the effect of cutting reimbursements, but it does not require the lawmakers to pass a law cutting reimbursements.

When people see that PIP costs much more than using health insurance, they will opt out of PIP. This will drive PIP into an insurance death spiral, and the premium will go up.

Michigan was the only state with mandatory unlimited PIP. It's just catching up with the other no-fault states, which reformed their insurance laws long ago. Massachusetts limits PIP to $2k if you have health insurance, and serious injuries are covered by health insurance. New Jersey has $250k of PIP, but there is a health insurance opt-out.

[Tdubs]

Had a reduction in the summer due to Covid, but then with my renewal in September they jacked my rates 20 percent, even after our policy dropped off our only point. Really surprised they thought they could do that. I switched, of course.

[wander]

No, my insurance premium is exactly the same as six months ago, although I have been driving less than 10% my pre-COVID norm.

[CardinalRule]

Our State Farm premium for one of our two vehicles the period August 29, 2020 to February 28, 2021 was $369.12, but that was reduced by $47.51 for a COVID-19 "dividend."

• GOOD NEIGHBOR RELIEF PROGRAM FOR STATE FARM CUSTOMERS IMPACTED BY COVID-19: On this bill you'll see a dividend in the form of a policy credit. This credit of $ 47.51 is reflected in your total amount due and is for the time period of March 20 through May 31. State Farm is providing this credit to auto insurance customers, since most of us were at home and driving less, resulting in fewer accidents.

Supposedly we are getting discounts aggregating to $358 for multiple line, multicar, vehicle safety, and accident free, but I've never been sure how to really validate those amounts.

[bob60014]

Just renewed w/Geico and received the 15% discount.

[wander]

COVID-19: GEICO is Here to Help
If you are GEICO customers, here is the link about 15% credit.

[Mudpuppy]

Had a reduction in the summer due to Covid, but then with my renewal in September they jacked my rates 20 percent, even after our policy dropped off our only point. Really surprised they thought they could do that. I switched, of course.

Sounds like it's time to comparison shop and find a new insurer.

[JimmyC]

Progressive didn't offer any help, Geico offered 15% for this 6 months. We did get $23 from Progressive this summer. So Geico it is. I shop every 6 months.

Progressive actually gave %15 premium back as well. I think Geico initially offered it for the whole year sooner but both companies have returned the same percentage to customers year to date.

Most OIC offices worth a damn have contacted insurance companies to tell them this is expected. Once a company has to do it in a bunch of states (or even just one if it is California), they are likely to decide to do it in all of them.

[Tdubs]

Had a reduction in the summer due to Covid, but then with my renewal in September they jacked my rates 20 percent, even after our policy dropped off our only point. Really surprised they thought they could do that. I switched, of course.

Sounds like it's time to comparison shop and find a new insurer.

Yeah, I saved a ton

[Bcdkgf]

We have gotten three refunds from Amica this year. About $60. Since we are now retired and both of us will be on Medicare with a Medigap G policy in October, should we drop our Medical Payments Coverage of $100,000?

[Drovor]

If you are driving less you can call and tell them to adjust your mileage driven annually it may affect your premium.

We did this with Geico and saving about $10 a month.

[squirm]

people are working from home now. our driving went from 40k/yr to 20k/yr. insurance is slowly adjusting to things like that.

[DiamondplateDave]

I got a check for $15 in the mail from my insurance company. Now, anybody that knows me would tell you I can find something to complain about in any situation-"I won $100 million in the lottery, and they took half for taxes!"- but really, finding an unexpected letter from my car/homeowner's insurance was not a relaxing experience. To open it up and find out they spent money to print a letter and a check, plus postage, for $15, and that now I had to go to the bank during the pandemic and stand in line to deposit it? Feh! Why couldn't they give me a $15 credit on my next bill and send me an email, which they have and use?
And when I complained to the bank teller, she told me I could deposit it using the app. Now, the last I knew, you had to sign up for something called "billpay" and pay 4 or more bills with it every month for this privilege. I have my account debited for most of my bills and it works fine. She said that was no longer the case.
So, I actually received another check, from a relative. I downloaded the app, set it up, and tried to deposit the check. It was over the maximum amount allowed .

[softmax]

I just quoted with Geico and after the 15% discount the difference is negligible I used to be with Geico until they significantly increased my premium.

I noticed that I have $500/$500 deductibles for my 2013 VW CC which costs $50 more per 6 months compared to $1000/$1000.

Is it worth raising the deductibles? I've seen bogleheads saying that $1000 is the sweet spot. I'm in a rainy area where I saw several accidents on my way to or from work every week (before WFH), so I wouldn't say the risk is super low. Simple math tells me that I need to be accident-free for at least 5 years (5 * 2 * 50 = $500) to justify the deductible increase.

[GerryL]

I pay my USAA auto insurance twice a year. They are providing COVID-19 discounts, so I keep getting emails notifying me that my account has been credited for rather tiny amounts.

I don't drive that much even in non-pandemic years, usually logging ~7k miles on my car annually. And in retirement, miles added from road trips are usually balanced out by non-use due to weeks-long trips involving long-distance flights. In June 2019, just after returning from a trip to Britain, I hopped in my car to go out for groceries, and as I pulled into my driveway I saw my odometer (on my then 9-year-old car) hit 50,000. The other day, more than a year later, while out on a grocery trip, I noticed that I am just a little over 52,500. Yeah, I deserve a rebate.

[softmax]

I got a check for $15 in the mail from my insurance company. Now, anybody that knows me would tell you I can find something to complain about in any situation-"I won $100 million in the lottery, and they took half for taxes!"- but really, finding an unexpected letter from my car/homeowner's insurance was not a relaxing experience. To open it up and find out they spent money to print a letter and a check, plus postage, for $15, and that now I had to go to the bank during the pandemic and stand in line to deposit it? Feh! Why couldn't they give me a $15 credit on my next bill and send me an email, which they have and use?
And when I complained to the bank teller, she told me I could deposit it using the app. Now, the last I knew, you had to sign up for something called "billpay" and pay 4 or more bills with it every month for this privilege. I have my account debited for most of my bills and it works fine. She said that was no longer the case.
So, I actually received another check, from a relative. I downloaded the app, set it up, and tried to deposit the check. It was over the maximum amount allowed .

Sorry to hear that. I always use the app to deposit the checks (I thought it's a basic function that every bank offers, but apparently it's not). I honestly don't know how to deposit a check physically And yeah, app deposit is not meant to deposit large checks. I find it convenient to deposit small refunds.

I'm also annoyed by the fact that insurance companies refund through checks. It seems to me that they expect only a portion of people to deposit the checks so that they can save a few bucks.

[softmax]

I pay my USAA auto insurance twice a year. They are providing COVID-19 discounts, so I keep getting emails notifying me that my account has been credited for rather tiny amounts.

I don't drive that much even in non-pandemic years, usually logging ~7k miles on my car annually. And in retirement, miles added from road trips are usually balanced out by non-use due to weeks-long trips involving long-distance flights. In June 2019, just after returning from a trip to Britain, I hopped in my car to go out for groceries, and as I pulled into my driveway I saw my odometer (on my then 9-year-old car) hit 50,000. The other day, more than a year later, while out on a grocery trip, I noticed that I am just a little over 52,500. Yeah, I deserve a rebate.

When you quote with these companies they usually ask you how many miles you drive manually. I never understood how the number impacts the premium and how they track the number. I also don't drive a lot and I'm more than happy to show my odometry to them if that helps decrease my premium.

[Mudpuppy]

I'm also annoyed by the fact that insurance companies refund through checks. It seems to me that they expect only a portion of people to deposit the checks so that they can save a few bucks.

I don't know if this was mandated by the California Department of Insurance or not, but my refund goes by the same method I use to pay the bill. Since I have the bill on monthly auto-debit from my everyday checking account, this means the credit is auto-deposited into that checking account every month.

[talzara]

In June 2019, just after returning from a trip to Britain, I hopped in my car to go out for groceries, and as I pulled into my driveway I saw my odometer (on my then 9-year-old car) hit 50,000. The other day, more than a year later, while out on a grocery trip, I noticed that I am just a little over 52,500. Yeah, I deserve a rebate.

When you quote with these companies they usually ask you how many miles you drive manually. I never understood how the number impacts the premium and how they track the number. I also don't drive a lot and I'm more than happy to show my odometry to them if that helps decrease my premium.

Traditional insurance policies give very small discounts for low-mileage cars. Typically, someone who drives 1 mile a year will pay 80% of the premium at 12,000 miles a year.

Much larger discounts are available with Pay Per Mile (PPM) insurance. Someone who drives 1 mile a year will pay 10-50% of the premium at 12,000 miles a year. However, the discounts are only available if you allow the insurer to track your driving. Odometer readings are not good enough because of the risk of odometer fraud.

The largest PPM insurers are Metromile and Allstate Milewise. Metromile is only available in a few states, and Allstate Milewise is only available in about half the states.

[VictoriaF]

We got a small refund from Farmers a few months ago, but the premium is still the same.

I am getting about $5/month from Amica.

Victoria

After hearing Clark Howard rave about Amica, I think I'm going to get a quote from them for auto and home coverage. Have your experiences with them been good? We've been with Farmers for a year, and I'm not very pleased with my interactions with them. I can only imagine what filing a claim would be like.

I did not have any problems with them. But I also did not have any accidents or fender-benders to test their responsiveness. About 15 years ago, when I first moved to this area and started using Amica, I had small dents in my windshield from little rocks bouncing from other vehicles. Amica sent me to their approved shop, which has sealed the dents. This was free of charge for me.

Victoria

[mnsportsgeek]

I wish. My state just passed car insurance “reform” that lets people drop PIP coverage, so if you keep PIP then your premium went up.

PIP pays much higher reimbursements than health insurance for the same care. Making PIP optional will have the effect of cutting reimbursements, but it does not require the lawmakers to pass a law cutting reimbursements.

When people see that PIP costs much more than using health insurance, they will opt out of PIP. This will drive PIP into an insurance death spiral, and the premium will go up.

Michigan was the only state with mandatory unlimited PIP. It's just catching up with the other no-fault states, which reformed their insurance laws long ago. Massachusetts limits PIP to $2k if you have health insurance, and serious injuries are covered by health insurance. New Jersey has $250k of PIP, but there is a health insurance opt-out.

This list of things that PIP covers that my health insurance will not cover is pretty substantial, so as long as unlimited PIP remains a viable option I’ll be opting for it. If I get a traumatic brain injury (or worse), I don’t want my family to suffer as a result. There are already enough people starting a GoFundMe because they didn’t have unlimited PIP.

So I guess having said that, I’d much rather see the lawmakers cut reimbursements to be more in line with health insurance rather than giving auto insurance provides an easy out when traumatic injuries occur. Either that or require health insurance providers to offer the same level of coverage that PIP provides.

[abuss368]

I just received our renewal and the premium is essentially the same. We received a check back for a small amount a couple of months ago.