I just got my insurance bill for my new truck, $2500 a year !!!
Last year on my old truck it was $1500 a year! $1000 more for a little better coverage (an extra $300) and $700 because I'm on my own insurance now instead of my parents. I'm a step 14, not 15 driver I just went down a point when I turned 18. How rediculous is that! I don't have any surcharges either. No speeding tickets, no accidents (that were my fault I've been in 2 in a year).

We need a face with flames coming out the ears!

The worst thing is that I pay $700 more because I'm on my own plan. Yet, if I was in an accident were someone was seriously hurt and it was my fault, they can still take everything my parents own, even though I'm 18! They can take my parents house and everything until I'm 21.

That really bugs me .

Anyone else have insurance troubles?

Primary rig is Green Thunder:
95' F-150 XLT 4x4, 302, 5 spd, MSD 6A, Flowmaster American Thunder Exhaust, Sunroof, Clear corners w/ Diamond headlights, CD player with 2 10" subs and some 32" BFG Muds .

Check out my Gallery for a look-see.

Then theres:
99' Mustang GT 4.6L
88' F-250 Heavyduty 4x4 351/c6
95' Mercury Cougar 4.6L V-8
80' E-350 300/6 with a
3 spd column shifter. Weighs around 7,000lbs w. 65mph top speed, who wants to race me!

 

Statistically an 18 year old's odds of having an accident are much higher than any other group. That's what you're paying for.

 

Welcome to the club. Insurance, taxes and over active lawyers are all part of growing up unfortunately. The fact that you’re complaining about it and are concerned about the welfare of your parents proves that your far more mature then the average 18 year old. Insurance companies can get away with charging higher rates for your age group because of the higher accident and claim rates for that age group. In California it is against the law to drive a car without insurance, yet I have to pay extra on my insurance for uninsured motorist, go figure that one out.

What really bugs me is the State and federal governments take 40% of my paycheck and then say it's still not enough. They take so much out I don't have much left to pay my property taxes, sales taxes, gas taxes, utility taxes.....the list goes on and on.

 

[updated:LAST EDITED ON 02-Aug-02 AT 03:30 PM (EST)]Sometimes I can't help but wonder if the insurance companies are manipulating the statistics a bit - I was forced to take a few statistics courses in college, and one of the first things we learned was that you could manipulate numbers to say anything you wanted them to.

For example, when I bought my current house I was rather surprised to find out that my insurance was going to nearly double - even though I was moving out into what was essentially the middle of nowhere. To make it worse, I found out that if I lived in my neighbor's house - 500 feet south, which has another zip code - my insurance costs would be cut in half. So, apparently their portion of the middle of nowhere is far safer than mine. I asked my agent if I could just park at my neighbor's house and save the $700 a year, but he didn't think the insurance company would agree with that...since I also have my homeowner's policy through them, they pretty much know where I live.

So far, nobody has been able to tell me why my insurance is so much higher except to say that that's what the statistics show. I asked my neighbor (who is on the fire department and works with the EMTs) about accident rates between the areas, and he said that in the last year he was not aware of any serious accidents, any accidents with injuries, or any stolen cars in either zip code. Yet, my insurance is even higher than the worst crime-ridden areas in the largest cities on this side of the state! This makes no sense to me...at least I get all the available discounts (lifetime accident free, violation free, multiline, multicar, and so on), or else it'd be even worse.

Perhaps there's a really bad driver or car thief hidden someplace in my zip code, and if so I wish they would move!

LK

 

There is no doubt that kids my age get in accidents and are more accident prone, but still, $2500 dollars is high insureance for someone whos not at fault for any accidents or speeding tickets.


Primary rig is Green Thunder:
95' F-150 XLT 4x4, 302, 5 spd, MSD 6A, Flowmaster American Thunder Exhaust, Sunroof, Clear corners w/ Diamond headlights, CD player with 2 10" subs and some 32" BFG Muds .

Check out my Gallery for a look-see.

Then theres:
99' Mustang GT 4.6L
88' F-250 Heavyduty 4x4 351/c6
95' Mercury Cougar 4.6L V-8
80' E-350 300/6 with a
3 spd column shifter. Weighs around 7,000lbs w. 65mph top speed, who wants to race me!

 

OOch! That is high!
In Texas they are toying with the idea of charging for auto insurance by the mile. You could buy 10,000 miles for a lower rate or pay more for 20,000 and so on. The insurance companies hate the idea and will probably lobby it to death. Another suggestion is including insurance in the price of gas, this would be a pay as you go plan which would ememinate uninsured drivers. I'm not sure how fair this is to Excursion drivers or big block gas guzzlers and it doesn't have a chance.
Speaking of statistics, when I took a stat class way back, required reading was a book called HOW TO LIE WITH STATISTICS.
Dono

 

I'm sure thats an informative book.

Primary rig is Green Thunder:
95' F-150 XLT 4x4, 302, 5 spd, MSD 6A, Flowmaster American Thunder Exhaust, Sunroof, Clear corners w/ Diamond headlights, CD player with 2 10" subs and some 32" BFG Muds .

Check out my Gallery for a look-see.

Then theres:
99' Mustang GT 4.6L
88' F-250 Heavyduty 4x4 351/c6
95' Mercury Cougar 4.6L V-8
80' E-350 300/6 with a
3 spd column shifter. Weighs around 7,000lbs w. 65mph top speed, who wants to race me!

 

I was in the same boat you're in... I was 18 when I got my Bronco and the insurance was $2700 a year. That was with (A) me still on my parents account (B) no tickets (C) good student discount(approx 10%) and (D) None of my accidents have been reported....

I can just imagine what it would have cost if it was in my own name....

The moral of this fleecing--don't use State Farm...

However when I turned 21, the insurance dropped by about half--now it's $1400 a year...


Jon
1989 F-150 XL- 4x4, 302, M50D
1995 Bronco Eddie Bauer- 351W, E40D
Finally got around to creating a gallery...check it out

 

OldBlue18, my parents have State Farm and my rates were never that high (can't remember the figure though). Like you, I had no tickets, no accidents, good student discount and it was under my parents name. Maybe it's the area you live in.

 

Ah feel yo pain.
My two older sons are 20 and 18, we speak insurance blues.

Two words you need to be familiar with are indemnity, (Security against damage, loss, or injury) and risk, (The danger or probability of loss to an insurer). You are a risk, (statistically at least), because you have little in the way of money, goods, belongings, whatever and little in the way of driving history, safe or otherwise. :-(

The insurers reduce their exposure by asking young drivers to share risk with the parents or pay outrageous premiums because statistically, they will have to pay outrageous claims.

Try the following: Increased deductible, ($1K or more), insure full time on a cheap vehicle (van?) and part time on your truck, cheapo companies, (Mercury, 20th Century, etc.) Other options are less palatable, (smaller engines, zip codes with fewer claims, etc.)

If your folks have an honest agent they have used for a long time, he/she ought to be able to help as well.

Good luck podnah.

 

Insurance, as it now seems to function, is a scam. It has degenerated to nothing but fraud. A group of robber barons with the backing of the state governments. Yes, young drivers are statistically more likely to get into an accident. But the differance in premiums is usually much higher than needed to compensate for this. The Detroit Free Press did a series a few years ago on the insurance industry. It would seem that most of them make a habit of charging as much as possible and then doing everything possible do deny a claim if you should ever have one. I think you might be best to carry only what the state says you have to buy and no more. You can also shop around and see if anyone else will give you a better rate. And next, learn to play their game. My 18 yr old son is listed as the driver of one of my 71 trucks. His grand father is listed as the primary driver on 18 yr old's new truck. If you have some family living in the same town you should be able to come up with somethin. When I used to drive a then brand new '88 mustang, my agent told me to keep my old truck insured, even if I never drove it....made my insurance cheaper on the mustang by more than 1000$....Where so you live ? Df

 

I get mine for a little bit less than my older brother. Cause I don't use the truck as much as he uses his exploder I mean explorer. I drive it less than 7500 a year. But I wouldn't be able to do that if the company I work for didn't let me take their vehicle home.

I think I should get a discount for my plates saying how its not on the road that much.

 

It's a fact that those betweens the ages of 18 and 23 get in more accidents then any other age group, but did you know that...

#1 A person between the ages of 18 and 23 are 3 times more likely to be killed or to kill someone in an accident then any other age group? Auto accidents are the number one killer of teenagers in America today.

#2 A person between the ages of 18 and 23 have higher cost accidents then any other age group? The reason for this is two fold. First, most people in this age group that get into accidents do so because of speeding/lack of skills. Second, they tend to do a major part of their driving at night. As such the accident tends to be more serious then in the day time.

#3 Teenagers are 5 times more likely to be involved in "road rage" then any other age group. Last year in Califorina 7 out of 10 reports of road rage involved someone 21 years of age or younger.

#4 In the year 2000 (the last year that stats were published) the average teenager drove over 17,000 "recreational" miles a year. The national average for adults between 26-32 was 8,000. Recreational miles are those driven for something other then for work and home uses. A person driving for recreation is 3 times more likely to be involved in an accident then one driving for work or home.

 

The Insurance racket is the biggest legal rip-off there is, that's why a lot of your polititians are in it. It's an affront to everything this country is supposed to stand for, but what to do about it?