Yeah… Madagascar Day Gecko is the animal Geico uses in it’s commercials. And it saved me $156/six months ($312/year) on the 2005 Corolla’s insurance.
Earlier, I sort of went into complacency with my Allstate insurance and never cared to look into options, because when I first got it (just the liability part for the now-dead Nissan), Allstate was the cheapest. Getting this newer car swung me into action and I finally took a shot at Geico (and two other companies that gave me worse quotes than Allstate).
I approached it through Geico.com and I have to say that it was a much smoother experience than Allstate - everything happened online and I had a quote within 5 minutes of starting the application - no additional paperwork, no sending signed stuffed through snail-mail, etc.
The $303.90-for-six-months insurance quote (as shown in the image) includes liability, comprehensive, and collision coverages - plus roadside emergency services (I am not sure this last one is required at present, but my wife won’t allow me to remove it after our last experience with the Nissan). Covers me and my wife. Does that sound reasonable?
Right now, the liability coverages (including uninsured/underinsured motorists damage/injury) are minimum allowable by law, and collision and comprehensive coverages account for a $1000 deductible.
Is it a norm to always go for the lowest allowable coverage - or do you folks take your net worth into account and raise your coverage accordingly (in case you get sued or something)? Are there any situations in which it is advisable to have a coverage much more than your net worth? Is there any other line of thoughts that influence your insurance coverages?
By the way, I don’t know why a Madagascar Day Gecko is shown to have a British accent in Geico commercials.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
I have much more than the bare minimum coverage. If I get sued, I am determined NOT to have to liquidate investments and sell assets to cover an accident. I don’t think it’s the norm, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
I have loosely based my coverages on my net worth and my intermediate term income potential. I really don’t want to get wiped out by some litigation crazy wingnut that doesn’t want to take responsibility for his actions. I have 250/500 liability limits and a $1M umbrella policy. It’s probably more than I need, but the peace of mind is worth the incremental cost difference to me.
One thing to be aware of when shopping insurance is that many insurers now factor credit scores into their pricing. If you have lower scores, it may be worth your while to seek out insurers that don’t use credit scoring.
I also have a 1m umbrella policy in addition to car (250/250 but I am thinking of increasing this) and home. I also have more than a minimum coverage and am thinking of getting apprasals on some of my valuables to make sure they are covered. And yes, net worth does matter. The more you have, the more they can take from you. People can sue you for everything - one past case in this area involved a woman falling from the stairs of her friend’s house. She borrowed some wood for her fireplace, refused her friend’s offer to carry it for her, insisted on doing it herself, in high heals, fell, and broke some ribs. Sued her friend for 1M. Lost eventually, but the thing dragged for 7 years and cost her friend some money for the lawyers; also lost opportunity to refinance her house (bank refused because of pending lawsuit)
As to the car insurance, I’ve used State Farm for over 20 years and resisted change. Mainly because because of multiple type of insurance I have with them and the time I’ve been with them, I am getting a pretty good deal.
There are number of other things I value: some good experience of how they pay, guaranteed renewability that I have, fact that they consider accidents that cost below certain amount non-chargeable i.e. they don’t count. In addition, they have a rule that if you have no chargeable and at-fault accidents in 9 years, the next accident is “free” i.e. your insurance doesn’t go up nor do you lose accident-free discount. So when I totalled my car last summer (tire blowout, still considered my fault as it was one car collision), not only did I get a nice chunk of money for the car, my insurance didn’t go up and I still have my “accident-free” discount.
Do what these people said and increase to at least 100/300. I have a friend in the claims ‘industry’ and she said this is what she recommends to all her friends.
I don’t remember what I have my insurance set at, but I definitely have well more than the limit. I live in a city and commute to work every day. If I were in an accident and the other person sued me, I’d be screwed in so many ways without the higher coverage. I don’t have much to lose, which I think makes it even harder because anything I lose would be a very hard blow to me.
I agree with the above posters: if you have significant assets you should have an umbrella policy (and the required coverage limits on your homeowners and auto insurance to qualify for an umbrella policy). The insurance company will be more likely to defend you in court if they are on the hook for more money. Otherwise they may just pay out their insurance coverage limit and walk away from the case. Additionally, roadside insurance isn’t a good idea. Insurers will count any calls for roadside assistance as claims against your insurance policy and therefore you may see higher rates. This cnn article goes into more detail. http://money.cnn.com/2006/06/23/news/companies/towing_insurance/index.htm
I read a post that BRK shareholders get an additional Geico discount. Time to collect together $3650 to buy a B share.
I used to work for an auto appraisal company and the most irrated customers were those of Geico. I’m sure they save you lots of money but please try your best not to get into an accident. Their customers would call to ask what’s going on with their claim and we had no idea. They usually sent us the claim weeks after the accident. Geico has lots of loyal customers until the day they have to file a claim. It’s sad.
I struggle with what limits I should have on my insurance too. If you talk to people who work in the insurance “industry” they tell you to have a lot of coverage because of this one case they saw where so and so lost everything and the accident wasn’t even their fault! That logic doesn’t work for me. I want stats. But the kinds of things I want to see don’t exist. For example, what coverages do most people have? What coverages to rich people have and what do middle class have and what do poor people have? To me, the rich have everything to lose but at the same time, they could afford just to “settle” and not have to worry about it so they could take their chances and just have the minimum coverages. Seems to me the only people with high coverages are people that get scared at the thought of loosing everything.
Also, how often do people get sued for more than the minimum and lose? How old are the people driving that get in the accidents that get sued?
Personally, I have a few steps above the minimum (yes though Gieco), like 50k/100k and I really can’t justify it. I’m supposed to feel better except that I don’t. I feel like I’m getting robbed.
Earlier this year I switched to GEICO, but I opted for just above the minimum coverage requirements. I’m frugal, but I just couldn’t rationalize doing the bare minimum when for between $2 and $9 more a month I could go up one or two notches in coverage. I hope to never get into an wreck that’s my fault, but if I ever do I’ll be thankful to have paid the extra few dollars a month.
I guess the extra peace of mind was worth it to me.
The Madagascar Day Gecko has a British accent because British accents lend humor and credibility at the same time. Don’t believe me? Go watch any Monty Python movie. Or, if you want something more obscure, but just as funny, go watch anything from the Black Adder series. Ask Plonkee, he’ll tell you.
Yeah, about my last post…. I don’t have any insurance advice, but I lived in England for a few years, so I’m familiar with the British accent.
High deductibles are the key to getting good coverage at low rates. Raising the deductible will drop premiums far more than dropping coverage.
why would you have high liability limits for uninsured and underinsured anyways? take the min on those. if insurers, claims adjusters etc are trying to convince you otherwise, they are trying to get you to pay for something they know is utterly useless.
cover your general assets and liability with umbrella insurance as well as asset protection vehicles.
“Also, how often do people get sued for more than the minimum and lose? ”
You don’t have to lose. Even if you win, you are still likely to lose money in legal fees.
I do agree that I need to raise the deductibles on mine.
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