kfeusse Posted October 29, 2019 Share Posted October 29, 2019 We just got our latest auto insurance bill and before I pay it I wanted to see if the amount we were paying is high...or within the range of normal. So, I call 7 other companies ( 4 big name and 2 more local). I have so far received 3 quotes. This is for auto (for a car and a suburban and a travel trailer), plus our renters insurance. (we don't own a house, my husband is a pastor so we live in a house owned by the church.) I gave each company the exact same information...the same coverage as our current....same number and age of drivers etc.....I wanted to compare apples to apples.... for all of that, these are the 6 amounts total that I have so far (for a year's coverage)...including our current: 1) $2,272 2) $2,389 3) 1,167 4) 1,117 5)$1,620 6) $1,788 Why is there such a difference? I know certain companies have their own discounts and such, but to be over $1000 difference in some cases seems insane. What could possibly make such a difference? What I am missing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted October 29, 2019 Share Posted October 29, 2019 You must not have any teen drivers. We pay $4700/yr just for auto insurance. Adding a teen son jumped our policy $500/mo. From my perspective, those are cheap, cheap rates! That kind of price variation is normal, IME. They have different risk algorithms and company payouts differ. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfeusse Posted October 29, 2019 Author Share Posted October 29, 2019 I actually have 2 young drivers...one is in college (19) and the other is a senior (17). I wasn't really complaining about the amount....but I was just trying to figure out why the quotes are so different. I figured there would be some difference (a couple hundred dollars), but in some cases but the difference between the highest and the lowest amount is $1,272. That is a huge difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WendyLady Posted October 29, 2019 Share Posted October 29, 2019 2 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said: You must not have any teen drivers. We pay $4700/yr just for auto insurance. Adding a teen son jumped our policy $500/mo. From my perspective, those are cheap, cheap rates! That kind of price variation is normal, IME. They have different risk algorithms and company payouts differ. That is a huge difference between carriers. I wonder why? For us, our insurance went sky high this fall. Our 16 year old son started driving in August. And we moved from a very small town to a very big city. The insurance we have covers 3 truck-like cars, one new with full coverage, two old with the least coverage they allow, along with renters insurance, and went from around $120 a month to $500/month. Ouch!! For us the difference was moving from rural america to a location with more crime, adding a new car this summer, adding a teen boy driver (college dd was put on a reduced student status but that didn't really reduce anything). We have moved from small town to big city in the past and have not experienced such a huge jump, but apparently our current location is a high insurance area. Boo! We did price out two other companies and though one was a little less, one was more! Nothing as dramatic as your list, though. We decided to stick with what we have as we have heard not so great stories about working with the lower cost ins when it was needed... And that might be where you want to look - how does the insurance company compare when you do need help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfeusse Posted October 29, 2019 Author Share Posted October 29, 2019 2 minutes ago, WendyLady said: We decided to stick with what we have as we have heard not so great stories about working with the lower cost ins when it was needed... And that might be where you want to look - how does the insurance company compare when you do need help? the 2 lowest are big name companies....so I would think they would be good?? yes? no? (State Farm and American Family) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth S Posted October 30, 2019 Share Posted October 30, 2019 I would guess that each quote has slightly different coverage. Also, there is a varying degree of in-person contact -- some companies are mostly online, some have a local brick-and-mortar office, with real people inside. 🙂 There are such a wide range of coverage options. It pays to consider asking about them. Last month, I realized State Farm has a "Low Mileage" discount. We were only getting it on one vehicle. Now 3 of our 4 have it. Good Student, and Safe Driver discounts. Raising the deductible as high as you are comfortable. The more risk you are willing to assume, the cheaper the coverage. If you get both renters & auto from the same company, they may give you a discount. Best wishes, with all the research--but I do believe it's worthwhile to read the fine print! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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