I hate car insurance!

[NLxAROSA]

We have three levels:
Third Party Only - Covers damage to anything your car contacts.
Third Party, Fire and Theft (TPFT) - As above, but with your car covered for theft of/from it and fire damage.
Fully Comprehensive - Covers everything (except damage caused by conventional, biological, chemical or radiological warfare - and I'm not kidding).

Same here in The Netherlands, I have Fully Comprehensive for my 350Z, including 'new-value' replacement, which means if it gets totalled, I get the insured value, rather than the day-value. Ofcourse it helps that my wife works at an insurance company (Allianz), so I got a 75% discount on the fee. And I have now registered 14 years damage-free driving, while I only have my drivers license for 6.

 

[CAMAROBOY69]

I am very very thankful I finally found Hagerty for our 2 muscle cars. You send pics and the information on your cars then you have to determine an agreed amount. The lower you set your amount the lower the payment will be. So I set my 69 Camaro at $15,000 and Heathers 67 Mustang at $5,000.
Thats an agreed amount of $20,000 for only $365 a year. We can also change the agreed amount at any time. This also covers both of us to drive either car. You dont even want to know how much I was paying for my Camaro through Progressive. It was brutal.
Our daily driver Saturns are through Progressive and we have full coverage on her car but not mine. The total for those 2 is $1,080 a year and covers both of us.
So thats around $1,445 a year for 4 vehicles. 3 of those vehicles are full coverage.

 

[stumpydino]

Do people file insurance claims for glass replacement? Someone would have to break every single one of my windows before I filed a claim.

i would consider claiming for replacement, though i probably wouldnt do it just to keep a clean sheet although i did discover a harmless way to get them to pay for repairs, not that they would tell me i had to find out from the guy who did the job.
i took windscreen cover additional to third party, £730 is enough ta..i had a chip/crack repaired and i jus sent the invoice and few days later i got a cheque from admiral

 

[Joey D]

Damn, must be because its a niche vehicle in the states!

In europe it would be much cheaper.

Not really, and I got the full price today, with labour it's $853.72 and that's at a discounted rate they gave to my insurance...which they promptly denied. So now I have to get involved with a bunch of other crap since the insurance will only pay about $300 of the windscreen. I got into a screaming match with the insurance agent over it too because they told me that I needed to be more flexible with were I got my vehicle fixed at...sorry for wanting OEM parts on my new car. Anyways I'm hoping this won't come down to legal action because my policy clearly states I can go to whatever shop I choose and my deductible is $100 despite the cash value. As far as I'm concerned the insurance company violated the policy.

 

[Duke]

Do people file insurance claims for glass replacement? Someone would have to break every single one of my windows before I filed a claim.

I've always filed glass claims - 2 on the Neons, 2 on the old van, and one on the Pontiac. Zero deductible comprehensive. The cheapest window was billed at $450.

You have comprehensive insurance - why wouldn't you use it? If you're not going to file a claim, why pay for the insurance? It costs me about $2000 a year to insure 4 cars for 2 drivers, all with $0 comprehensive, $500 collision, and half a million dollars in liability. I've filed 5 glass claims in ~15 years and never had a rate increase other than inflation.

 

[NLxAROSA]

Anyways I'm hoping this won't come down to legal action because my policy clearly states I can go to whatever shop I choose and my deductible is $100 despite the cash value.

Same over here, you can have the damage estimated and fixed anywhere. The insurance companies do have 'recommended' shops for having things fixed though, if you take it there you get things like a free replacement car among things.

 

[Smallhorses]

Famine, I know you may have insured your car with Admiral for many years, but have you ever actually had to claim anything from them?

They're cheap up until that point.
Try to claim something back from them and they're tighter than a gnat's jockstrap. 👎
I speak from experience, 3 years of giving them insurance money, and I made 1 claim after my car was broken into in South Manchester, while I was in Japan for 2 weeks, through the passenger side window, had the living crap kicked out of the interior, and the stereo stolen.
Because I couldn't prove the passenger seat, passenger door and passenger headrest weren't trashed before the break-in, Admiral agreed to pay for the missing stereo, passenger window and the screwdriver mark in the dashboard and not a penny more for anything else, all-in-all costing me more in the long-run than not claiming in the first place.
On a 600-Quid+ per year, fully-comp policy I was very, very, very disappointed with the lengths they're prepared to go to to avoid giving you any money back.
It's a win-win situation for them though.
You're legally required to have insurance to drive your car on the road, and they'll employ any 2-bit loophole on the finest disclaimer to the finest part of their fine-fine print to get away with paying anything back, in the event of you actually needing to use the so-called "insurance" that you're paying for!
Oh, and then they'll take the liberty of bumping your premium up for the next year to make back from you what they've had to pay out anyway, even if the claim wasn't actually your fault!
Sock Cookers.

US insurance is much more reasonable, the "not-at-fault" clause in many insurance policies is extremely sensible. We claimed on our Miata/MX-5 last year when some dopey tool in an SUV/Pickup (based on the height of the marks and damage incurred it was an SUV/Pickup, not a car) reversed into it, and drove off without leaving details. The damage ($1500-worth) is covered, but since it's not our fault that an irresponsible-ass did it, we're not penalised for using the "insurance" we're paying for, as they're not allowed to raise out premium for a "not-at-fault" incident! 💡

 

[stumpydino]

i get penalised just for telling my insurance company. i have never claimed, someone made a claim against me which failed because i never hit him and he was lying, then the other time the hire car i hit kept the deposit from the driver and never claimed either but because i told them, i lost my no claim and i have 2 stains on my record

 

[Famine]

Famine, I know you may have insured your car with Admiral for many years, but have you ever actually had to claim anything from them?

They're cheap up until that point.

Yep. I destroyed an entire Mk3 Fiesta.

But their customer services department are awful. Even trying to change a detail on your policy is horrific.

 

[Jim Prower]

I pay the paltry sum of $79 a month on the '88 Chevy Nova. Basic coverage, and I've previously been involved in two major accidents.

 

[Joey D]

Same over here, you can have the damage estimated and fixed anywhere. The insurance companies do have 'recommended' shops for having things fixed though, if you take it there you get things like a free replacement car among things.

The insurance company tried to tell me that I had to go to the shop they recommend which was a white-van man that would come to my house and do it with aftermarket parts and no experience on the MINI. Not only is that a breech of policy but I'm told illegal in Michigan (I don't know about elsewhere).

I'll get a loaner car from the dealer so I'm not overly worried on that either.

 

[Vasco]

1800 pounds! Oh my god I am so glad I don't live up there...is your car even worth that much? I know mine wouldn't be.

 

[Sniffs]

that's what I don't understand. paying half the cost of the vehicle in a one shot insurance premium. they sound like bloody debt collectors, asking for cash on the barrelhead and tacking on Interest.

 

[Famine]

Car insurance doesn't just cover repairs to/replacement of your vehicle though.

 

[forza2.0]

Its the governments fault why we in england, and london particular pay so much for bloody car insurance.

 

[JCE]

I guess you would hate me if I told you that my car insurance is $30 per month. *shrugs* Yes car insurance sucks, but you do need it. But, the insurance rates (and everything else to do with cars) in the UK is astronomically high.

 

[Jim Prower]

Wow. I am a little jealous. I mean, that's less than half what I pay, and I only pay roughly $80!

I wonder if standard insurance in the U.K. is the full coverage type, and if there's a few problems with regulation over there...either over-regulation, or under-regulation.

 

[MagpieRacer]

Its the governments fault why we in england, and london particular pay so much for bloody car insurance.

Yeah, I cant stand our goverment, and ok, there is proof young driver (17-25 is it?) are more likely to crash, but it is penalising those who dont crash and are good drivers, bearing in mind 75% or British youth are hooded, smoking, fake burberry wearing, Fast n Furious wannabes. That group of youths are solely responsible for sky high insurance in the UK.

athankyou.

 

[forza2.0]

Yeah, I cant stand our goverment, and ok, there is proof young driver (17-25 is it?) are more likely to crash, but it is penalising those who dont crash and are good drivers, bearing in mind 75% or British youth are hooded, smoking, fake burberry wearing, Fast n Furious wannabes. That group of youths are solely responsible for sky high insurance in the UK.

athankyou.

The thing is its cheaper to drive without insurance and get caught multiple of times than it is to get car insurance. The way the government penalises criminals is a joke.

We pay all that money and in 2006 the british car insurance industry at a whole didnt even make money due to uninsured drivers, and the current claim nation situation.

 

[1X83Z]

You have comprehensive insurance - why wouldn't you use it?

Because I have a deductible.

 

[Perfect Balance]

I paid like $400 for the entire year. Of course the car is on my dad, but I'm still listed as a driver, so I'm covered.