Driving in MD becoming unaffordable?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's unaffordable because of so many unlicensed and uninsured drivers on the road

Maybe. Someone hit a family member and gave her a fake DL and insurance card. But homeowners insurance is also insane right now, so that can’t explain it all. I think it’s just greediness.

I have been in three car crashes. None major thankfully. All with uninsured drivers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your car is more than 7 years old or has more than 100K miles, that when it's time to consider dropping the collision and comprehensive coverage. My car might be worth $7,500 now, so I have dropped this coverage because I can afford that loss. I can even afford buying a new car with cash at this point.

What I don't skip is having high liability limits in addition to an umbrella policy.

This is smart. Dumbass PP arguing for minimal liability coverage while insisting you must have enough cash on hand to buy a new car at any time is just asking to lose his assets after an at-fault collision.

We carry a good umbrella policy of $3M. WIth that, it means the insurance company will put their top lawyers on all cases, if needed, as they won't want to pay out. It protects are much higher assets from a $$$ seeker.

There's no such thing as top lawyers for insurance defense.

Well they will put the best they have to avoid paying out $250/500K+$3M. But yeah, it's "insurance company level top lawyers".

Versus if you have $100k/300K coverage, they will just pay out and let you be sued for anything above that and save the lawyer fees, if you are actually at fault/in the wrong.

We pay less than $1K for our umbrella policy. Well worth every penny to protect our assets should something happen

This isn't how insurance defense works.

Sure it is. Not nearly as likely to go to court and fight client is at fault and their cap payout is $100K. They will pay and let the other person sue you individually for more. Whereas if you have a huge umbrella policy, they don't want to pay out, so will fight to ensure they minimize payouts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your car is more than 7 years old or has more than 100K miles, that when it's time to consider dropping the collision and comprehensive coverage. My car might be worth $7,500 now, so I have dropped this coverage because I can afford that loss. I can even afford buying a new car with cash at this point.

What I don't skip is having high liability limits in addition to an umbrella policy.

This is smart. Dumbass PP arguing for minimal liability coverage while insisting you must have enough cash on hand to buy a new car at any time is just asking to lose his assets after an at-fault collision.

We carry a good umbrella policy of $3M. WIth that, it means the insurance company will put their top lawyers on all cases, if needed, as they won't want to pay out. It protects are much higher assets from a $$$ seeker.

There's no such thing as top lawyers for insurance defense.

Well they will put the best they have to avoid paying out $250/500K+$3M. But yeah, it's "insurance company level top lawyers".

Versus if you have $100k/300K coverage, they will just pay out and let you be sued for anything above that and save the lawyer fees, if you are actually at fault/in the wrong.

We pay less than $1K for our umbrella policy. Well worth every penny to protect our assets should something happen

This isn't how insurance defense works.

Sure it is. Not nearly as likely to go to court and fight client is at fault and their cap payout is $100K. They will pay and let the other person sue you individually for more. Whereas if you have a huge umbrella policy, they don't want to pay out, so will fight to ensure they minimize payouts.

That payment that you accept will usually have a sett;ement associated with it which will include a waiver of all other claims related to the accident.

[Anonymous]

Surprisingly, my insurance recently dropped $18 per month. As far as I know, nothing changed but I will take the cost savings. I'm in Rockville btw.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your car is more than 7 years old or has more than 100K miles, that when it's time to consider dropping the collision and comprehensive coverage. My car might be worth $7,500 now, so I have dropped this coverage because I can afford that loss. I can even afford buying a new car with cash at this point.

What I don't skip is having high liability limits in addition to an umbrella policy.

This is smart. Dumbass PP arguing for minimal liability coverage while insisting you must have enough cash on hand to buy a new car at any time is just asking to lose his assets after an at-fault collision.

We carry a good umbrella policy of $3M. WIth that, it means the insurance company will put their top lawyers on all cases, if needed, as they won't want to pay out. It protects are much higher assets from a $$$ seeker.

There's no such thing as top lawyers for insurance defense.

Well they will put the best they have to avoid paying out $250/500K+$3M. But yeah, it's "insurance company level top lawyers".

Versus if you have $100k/300K coverage, they will just pay out and let you be sued for anything above that and save the lawyer fees, if you are actually at fault/in the wrong.

We pay less than $1K for our umbrella policy. Well worth every penny to protect our assets should something happen

This isn't how insurance defense works.

Sure it is. Not nearly as likely to go to court and fight client is at fault and their cap payout is $100K. They will pay and let the other person sue you individually for more. Whereas if you have a huge umbrella policy, they don't want to pay out, so will fight to ensure they minimize payouts.

No, this isn't how insurance defense works. The duty to defend is separate from the duty to indemnify. The duty to defend is based on the claim, not the policy limits. You don't get an 'extra' duty to defend just because you have higher policy limits.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We pay $1500 a year for two cars, one of which is two years old. Doesn't seem crazy to me.

We paid $950 for two cars/two drivers until very recently when we added a teen and a third car. We are now over $3k. Kids are expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's unaffordable because of so many unlicensed and uninsured drivers on the road

Maybe. Someone hit a family member and gave her a fake DL and insurance card. But homeowners insurance is also insane right now, so that can’t explain it all. I think it’s just greediness.

It's all of the claims the companies have had in last 5+ years. Hurricanes, fires and floods are expensive. That is why it's damn near impossible to get home insurance in Florida and rates have skyrocketed in fire prone areas. Insurance companies are in business to make money, if they are loosing money due to claims they have not choice but to raise rates.

Yes some is greed (execs get paid a lot), but majority is the vast increase in catastrophic claims due to natural disasters.

No, your auto insurance rate isn't impacted by rising home insurance claims. They're separate risk pools. Insurance companies don't make money from just excess premium payments versus payout. They make money by investing the majority of the premiums.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We just moved from DC to VA. Car insurance for two cars just over $900 per year. Price went down in VA. This is with Progressive.

However, prior to switching to Progressive, we were paying $1800 for the same two cars a year ago with Geico.

You should shop around for car insurance at least every year as the companies gouge their existing customers.

Man, we have Progressive also, 2 cars with high deductibles ($2000), but have to pay $2500 a year. I don't get it. Only 1 accident in past 3 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's unaffordable because of so many unlicensed and uninsured drivers on the road

Maybe. Someone hit a family member and gave her a fake DL and insurance card. But homeowners insurance is also insane right now, so that can’t explain it all. I think it’s just greediness.

It's all of the claims the companies have had in last 5+ years. Hurricanes, fires and floods are expensive. That is why it's damn near impossible to get home insurance in Florida and rates have skyrocketed in fire prone areas. Insurance companies are in business to make money, if they are loosing money due to claims they have not choice but to raise rates.

Yes some is greed (execs get paid a lot), but majority is the vast increase in catastrophic claims due to natural disasters.

No, your auto insurance rate isn't impacted by rising home insurance claims. They're separate risk pools. Insurance companies don't make money from just excess premium payments versus payout. They make money by investing the majority of the premiums.

Correct. Off-topic but this is just interesting to me. Insurance companies generally have a very high "loss ratio," i.e. the amount they pay out in claims divided by the amount of total premiums they take in. In the case of life insurance companies, this figure sometimes approaches 100%.

Where they make their money is on their "float," the premiums that they have collected but that will have to be used to pay out claims at some later point. In the meantime, they get to invest that money and keep those returns. That's why the greatest investor of all-time (Buffett) is heavily into insurance and owns Geico and lots of other insurance operations. He gets to "borrow" lots of money at a 0% interest rate and use his skills to invest the money better than anyone else. It's kind of like why banks give you free checking and savings accounts - you store your money with them and then they can loan it out to small businesses (banks can actually loan your money several times over, but that's another topic).

Isn't that cool to know??

[Anonymous]

MD gas the highest insurance rates in the country

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:MD gas the highest insurance rates in the country

Way to just create things out of thin air.

The reality? Maryland doesn't hit the top ten. Sorry.

https://www.insurancebusinessmag.com/us/guides/the-top-10-most-expensive-states-for-car-insurance-486233.aspx

[Anonymous]

This is what you voted for, sorry.