Good evening Felix,
OK, now this is a good opportunity that I can not pass by.
So outside of not having accidents, speeding tickets and claims what advice or strategies could you suggest to us to help us get the best deal possible on our car insurance (besides buying it from you!)? Are there insider things that you would suggest thanks to your anonymity that our insurance dealers might not tell us or would rather not tell us??
Might as well make use of the expertise that we have now discovered within our ranks!
Cheers,
Garry
Assuming you're not willing to move to a cheaper place/province
What I can recommend (keep in mind this probably mainly applies to Albertans and Ontarians, although they may be applicable for other provinces too)
1) keep an eye on your annual mileage, try to be close, but it's okay if you undershoot your guess (insurance companies don't record your odometer readings and as long as you're not too far off there shouldn't be a problem) the reason being is the # of km you're on the road a year is correlated to the chances of an accident, a person who drives 30,000km/year vs 5,000km/year has 6 times the driving, if you live in the same area and do the same type of driving, that's potentially 6 times the chances for accidents! I've seen a couple thousand km give discounts of anywhere between $20-100 (it's a big range i know, but money saved is money saved) and if the km difference is high, i've seen prices jump around $200 or more of a few tens of thousands of kms per year
2) if you commute, don't pick a round number, for example if your commute is about 25km, tell your insurance company 24 or 23 (this is under the assumption that we are all more or less honest folk here
) the reason for this is because insurance companies are kinda sneaky sometimes and try to get more money out of you (after all it is a business), so they have tiered mileage and they usually make the cutoffs round numbers because people like to guess round numbers. That way when you guess 25km....uh oh, you're in the next rate bracket! Each company may have different cut offs so don't use my 25km example as the gold standard.
3) always shop around when your renewal is coming up. Insurance brokers are supposed to shop around for you, but they only have access to 4 or 5 companies usually that they have partnerships with. Another brokerage might have a different set of insurance companies they use so always shop around to see what other companies are offering
4) try to get on group insurance, group insurance will usually net you the lowest rates, so if you're a member of an alumni group (colleges and universities) or a professional group (ie. Teacher's unions, Engineering societies, chartered accountants, crown corporations etc.) generally the rates will be better.
Further to this, some companies may offer occupational or reitree discounts which can save you a bit of money as well different companies have different policies on this so not all insurance companies will be the same, but it doesn't hurt to ask.
5) remove glass coverage, in Alberta it's the SEF 13D (standard in a lot of policies actually) and in Ontario i believe it's the OPCF 13D, you usually save something on the comprehensive portion when you do this, in Alberta the savings can be as much as $100+, Ontarians aren't as lucky and the savings usually aren't as great, but then again we don't get as many cracked windshields
6) older non leased/financed vehicles...you may consider taking off collision as collision coverage protects your own vehicle usually for single vehicle accidents or at-fault accidents. if you can live with the consequence of possibly losing the car for nothing when it's your own mistake, you will almost certainly save $100+ by removing collision. again this is personal preference as some people like to feel safer with the collision coverage and others are more open to risk. This is something you should consider thoroughly and understand how this coverage works before removing, I have never recommended my clients take off collision or put it on, I have only ever tried to educate my clients on the way collision coverage works and let them make their own decision. You don't want this to be something you regret when you do get into an accident and need to fix up your own car.
That's all I can think of for now... obviously there is also increasing your deductibles but usually the savings is quite minimal that it is not worth it for what you're giving up so i rarely recommend this option.
Fantastic write up Felix.
One question to do a more apples to apples comparison.
I can see a ZR1 Vs F40
But:
2006 Corvette Z06: $1670/year
2013 Corvette Z06: $1673/year
Why would a nine year newer car only be $3 more per year? Both are Corvettes, both are Z06 models yet the newer one is worth probably $50,000 more. Is it because the older ones are purchased by a different group, maybe younger? More accidents per year of Corvette? I know you don't have all the answers and were just giving us examples (and they were very good).
I know it wouldn't work but I wish the insurance companies could just insure the individual person so no matter what car I drove, it's insured to my deductible. Reason I say this is that I have $200 deductible on my cars yet borrowed a friends car for the highway as it gets way better fuel economy then my truck and wanted to save some money. I ended up hitting a rabbit at night and paid a $700 deductible on their car. (Actually kind of funny, there was a perfect rabbit imprint on the A/C condenser). It made it seem like a waste paying a premium on my insurance and it would have been nice to use my insurance on their car. It made me wish I just drove my truck as it would not have noticed the rabbit or the rabbit would have just gone underneath and carried on it's way.
.... long story short, both me and the rabbit would have preferred that I not hit it.
My best guess at this point is that it's government insurance in Saskatchewan, not sure what the difference is in other provinces with private insurance, but again it's probably similar first and foremost because they are both c6's so that may constitute the "same car" just different years since they are the same generation. Another reason may be that the new 2013's have only had about a year to drive around and get into accidents, whereas the 2006's have had about 6 years now, so again being on the road more you can probably safely assume more chances for accidents
what you suggested is possible as well since the 2006's are coming down in price to a point where the younger guys like myself start being able to afford them, lord knows there's no way I'm buying a brand new vette at 25 in this economy lol. Maybe in a few years when I've climbed the corporate ladder a bit haha
a tip about running into wildlife that seems as strange to me as it probably will to you, if you run into an animal and the animal lives it goes under collision and will in all likelihood count as an at fault claim. HOWEVER, killing the animal will go under comprehensive and count as not at fault. So if you're going to hit an animal and don't want your insurance rates to be affected, aim to kill :boxing_smiley:
I have a 98 C5 convertible and the cost is only $275 for the year but covers full 6 month and storage the other 6 months , $500 deductible and i'm 49 years old here in Quebec... I guess we must drive better here ... lol.
Quebec, BC, Saskatchewan and Manitoba (in no particular order) are all government insurance. While insurance is government regulated in every province, these 4 provinces have the (possible) benefit of less hassle since you deal with the government for your insurance. the upside is these provinces are usually cheaper for insurance and the insurance is probably subsized by the government or taxes etc. The disadvantages would be that there's no competition, so you have no options if push comes to shove but to comply to big brother.
Quebec is a bit peculiar as is has both public and private insurance, if i'm not mistaken, mandatory coverages go through SAAQ while the optional physical damage coverages can be bought through private insurers
at any rate, government insurance is usually cheaper which could also explain the minimal variation between prices of certain vehicles as riley points out
Good afternoon ve2yzb,
Now that is not much at all. I wonder, does Quebec (like I think BC does) have a no-fault insurance system? So people can't go all litegation crazy everytime they feel the breeze of an oncoming vehicle?
Maybe what I am learning from this thread is that insurance for these cars is not as crazy as I had first thought. Unless the Vibe/Corvette costs that were posted and there being basically the same price, $1000, is taken into account.
I have another question for Pyro. With the upcoming modifications to my cars engine, should I increase the value of the car's worth on my insurance policy? Will modifying the engine substantially result in my having to pay a higher premium in Alberta. Or should I just leave everything as is? Any advice on what to do here?
Cheers,
Garry
No fault insurance applies to Quebec, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Ontario (again Quebec is a bit peculiar since it isn't no fault of everything)
now with your upcoming modifications, i'm not sure about your insurance company but some insurance companies frown on modifications and will not insure performance modifications of any kind. some will charge you for the modifications as the value of the vehicle goes up and usually the HP as well
but my recommendation would be to call your insurance company anonymously, and ask what their policy is on modified vehicles first. and by anonymously i mean don't give any of your personal info (name, address, policy #) and call from a different phone as insurance companies will almost certainly have caller id and be able to look you up by phone number while keeping you on the line. once you've confirmed your insurance company is okay with modifications you can definitely disclose it and they will update your vehicle by the price of the modification minus depreciation and charge additional premium. if you want your vehicle insured to it's current market value, you'll have to get an appraisal and request that it's insured to the appraised value.
if your company has a firm stance against modifications, you have 2 options, keep quiet and pray you never have a a serious accident or a totaled vehicle for them to send an adjuster out and realize it's modified, or find a new insurance company that has a friendlier attitude towards modifications. most minor damages like a fender bender, companies do not send out adjusters and just tell you to get estimates for repair and just pay you, but if there's chance of chasis damage or compromised safety they will definitely send an adjuster.
I type way too much, I need to work on condensing my replies lol :leaving: