Q: Car Insurance

Apr 11, 2006 2 Replies

Hello, everyone.



When I was in college (i.e. little driving experience, young, clueless, single, no steady job, etc), the auto insurance was, well, quite expensive. But it got better every year, possibly because 1) I'm getting older, and 2) the car I was driving was also getting older.



Now I'm married, have a kid, ample driving experience with clean record, a reasonably good job, a house, and an engineering degree. The problem is that the auto insurance hasn't changed a single bit for the last 2 years. Is that normal? Is it time for me to shop around for a better deal?



My Miata is '99, and I live in San Diego, CA. Any suggestions welcome. __ sol


No. Everyone else's premium has gone up significantly.

solamour wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

Yes. Unless you have an exceptional agent you should never renew your car insurance more than once w/o shopping. There is quite a variation among companies, regularly one company will come into a state and try to "buy" the market with very low premiums, this happens regularly and to get the lowest rate and still be with a quality company you'll need to switch every year or two years.

A good independent agent can help you get the best deals, your state insurance commission may have a chart of premiums as may your local newspaper.

Here's the link for the Arizona Department of Insurance rate comparison table, your state probably has something similar:

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Notice that for:

Hypothetical 2 the rates vary from $1,303 to $7,759, that's almost a

600% increase from one company to another....... so what do you think? Does it pay to shop?

Also notice that the company that's low for one person/age/sex/vehicle may not be low at all for a different person/age/sex/vehicle.

Now go SHOP!

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