Commuting - Any car Insurance break for Traveling by Bike ??

I recently recieved my ALSTATE car insurance bill that went up again. I have not had any tickets, recks, claims of any sort an it went up another 100-200 over the last year.

My wife's car an mine now total about 2000.00 a year. I called my agent an asked what the heck, i moved to a lower crime rate out in the country 2 years ago an had some questions.=. She said well their are more highways so that puts you more at risk. So my rate from my first house went up about 100 to 3oo a year. So I said ok. now it went up again. i asked wow what do you have me at. She said I got you down for the lowest driving possible 7500 miles a year.

I upped my deductible to 500.00 and that got me back down to 1600 anually for all of our cars. I asked do you guys have anything for even lower milelage than 7500 miles a year an she responded no.

I said I was thinking that i was going to start to comutte to work. She did not reply but said basically i a have the lowest possible insurance rate that they offer.

Anyway long story but are there any insurance companies that have lower mileage quotes on a car that would give me a cheaper rate ? Are there any insurance companies that would recoginize biking to work an thus reducing my insurance ?

Is there anyway to reduce my insurance costs without stopping it all togther? I am going to look into state farm now but just curious if anybody else has hit this ??

I get a group discount since my house / everhthing else is by alstate as well.

thanks

jay

get a junker honda or toy with high mpg to drive.

drop the collision coverage, medical too if you already have a seperate med policy. so you pay the bare minimum req. by law.

take as high a deductible as possible.

then shop around. dont forget the dot com insurance companies. ie progressive.com

some offer a signif. discount if you pay for entire year up front as oppose to quarterly etc.

of course cheapest option is NO car. can you get by on just one car?

Shop around. They're BSing you. No way do you have the lowest rate they offer, because that woman doesn't KNOW the lowest rate they offer. No one does. There's probably a million lines of software involved in calculating it. She might have you in a fairly low bracket or something but that doesn't mean much.

Call around and get some better prices and I'll be surprised if when you call to cancel, they don't offer you a lower rate.

Also if you're bike commuting, make sure to have your car classified as "pleasure" not "commute"... I think that makes a difference.

I asked about lowering the rate for commuting. They said they would drop it by $3.00 per 6 month, but I only pay about $500/yr for my one car - no collision or comprehensive.

Do you also have homeowners/renters insurance with them? Silly as it sounds, it actually cost me $240/year less to have full coverage on a car AND renters insurance when I was younger than to only have car insurance.

My State Farm premium went from $650 to $470 now that I drive less than 7500 miles / yr.

2 years ago my wife and I had 3 cars and a $2300 car insurance bill. I did several things to lower my insurance and simplify our lives: Sold the sports car, sold the SUV with the V8, kept the 4 cyl Toyota truck and bought a 4 cyl Subaru station wagon. Insurance is now $1100 and our gas bill cut by 2/3. Some of that gas savings is directly related to my bicycle commuting.

seeker333 has good advice. My junker truck (clean and good mpg, but ugly) is only worth $1000 and I already have medical, so I have the lowest coverage by law and a big deductible which I will probably not use. If I wreck the truck I'd rather use my money to buy another $1000 junker than pay $300 more every year for collision and then have to pay a deductible. With this system, you same money after a couple of years. My insurance company also didn't care if I was bike commuting. They only let me lower my annual mileage and classify my car as "pleasure" as opposed to "commute".

Wouldn't hurt to shop around a bit and see what the other companies can do. Maybe their rates for annual mileage of 7500 miles are lower.

Farmers has me down for "pleasure use" 4,500 miles or less. They also incorporate your credit rating into the your insurance rate. Also farmers will set up a monthly payment plan that is deducted right out of your checking account........ and that saves you an additional 10 %
I have two trucks and one car. All have liability and comp, but no collision. 88 a month. Also my coverage amount is WAY above the minimum requirements.

Also put your home owners with co. Most like SF give extra discount for putting both home and auto with them.

Sell a car and save. My wife and I went from 2 cars to 1 and I commute by bike. More room in the garage and less strain on the wallet.
If you are going to commute by bike anyway it may be something to think about.

I recently recieved my ALSTATE car insurance bill that went up again. I have not had any tickets, recks, claims of any sort an it went up another 100-200 over the last year.

My wife's car an mine now total about 2000.00 a year. I called my agent an asked what the heck, i moved to a lower crime rate out in the country 2 years ago an had some questions.=. She said well their are more highways so that puts you more at risk. So my rate from my first house went up about 100 to 3oo a year. So I said ok. now it went up again. i asked wow what do you have me at. She said I got you down for the lowest driving possible 7500 miles a year.

I upped my deductible to 500.00 and that got me back down to 1600 anually for all of our cars. I asked do you guys have anything for even lower milelage than 7500 miles a year an she responded no.

I said I was thinking that i was going to start to comutte to work. She did not reply but said basically i a have the lowest possible insurance rate that they offer.

Anyway long story but are there any insurance companies that have lower mileage quotes on a car that would give me a cheaper rate ? Are there any insurance companies that would recoginize biking to work an thus reducing my insurance ?

Is there anyway to reduce my insurance costs without stopping it all togther? I am going to look into state farm now but just curious if anybody else has hit this ??

I get a group discount since my house / everhthing else is by alstate as well.

thanks

jay
That's all Alstate does. They were raping my parents too. Dad who has driven for 40 years of his live with not a single violation, citation, ticket, accident. They were dumping out mad money for 2 vehicles and Allstate was doing nothing but raising and raising.

My advice is switch to something like AG or Progressive. My parents have AG and I have progressive. For the most part both of us are happy with the policies and the price. My premium wnt down 40 bucks which is good considering that it was after my first 6 months of ever having car insurance

Thanks for the replies. I might post what I save on my insurance. I am pretty sure I can save something.

As for all of us I think we all would love to get rid of 1 car or at least the costs. As gas prices climb this summer, I want to use my 2K bike as much as possible. It will be a long long pay off for my investmennt but I hope to at least save some money in the long run. As somebody mentioned getting a junker is not a bad idea. I have a 2 year old car now but not sure what it is worth to what i owe. Anyway, thanks for the information.

As far as comutting to work.

I already got some people at working thinking the same thing. Alot of them are asking about bikes and types to buy. Scootters an such.



Anyway, thanks again

talk with you soon

jay

Wow, some of you guys are paying A LOT for car insurance. You must live in some high risk areas. I am a 25 year old male with a 2000 BMW sedan and I only pay about $800 a year with comprehensive AND collision. My insurance company has my car down as my commuter car but I only have it listed for under 10k miles a year. I don't know if there is another lower level of mileage per year but maybe I will call them and see.

Try out Progressive. I am switching to them when my Allstate policy expires. They're just as comprehensive and much more inexpensive.

I'd avoid Geico for two reasons:
1. They got my chonies in a bunch when they listed my job (massage therapist) as "masseuse" under "general services"...I'm a frikkin' health care worker!
2. More importantly: my friend had Geico and was in an accident. There were very few places, almost no reputable ones, where she could get her car fixed up.

That's all Alstate does. They were raping my parents too. Dad who has driven for 40 years of his live with not a single violation, citation, ticket, accident. They were dumping out mad money for 2 vehicles and Allstate was doing nothing but raising and raising.

My advice is switch to something like AG or Progressive. My parents have AG and I have progressive. For the most part both of us are happy with the policies and the price. My premium wnt down 40 bucks which is good considering that it was after my first 6 months of ever having car insurance

I had Progressive and they raised my rate from $45 a month to $70 for just liability. No wrecks, tickets or anything, they just raised it cause they could. The only change was I went form being 24 years old to 25 over that time period which I was always told would make the rate go down. I called Allstate and they gave me the same level of insurance for $37. If they raise it for no reason, i'll call someone else, but so far they haven't.

Just check around until you find the cheapest decent company. Most places have online quote generators. But don't believe the rate comparisons on Progressive. They usually aren't even CLOSE to what the other companies will offer you.

My wife changed to only working 4 days a week and I commute once or twice a week so I lowered my mileage and saved a bit. Unfortunately, we have 3 cars on the policy currently (just bought a new one last weekend) until we sell one.

Most "discounts" are a joke. Insurance companies rely on the mass of responsible drivers to pay for the irresponsible drivers. They really don't care if you're a saint, they just want the money.

My insurance for a year, to/from work, with 2 hours a day of driving in the highest accident period of rush hour traffic mon-friday is $1500/ yr

Now that I commute, my car is used for pleasure only (reduction) and another reduction since i now do less than 6000 km a year came to a grand total of ............(drum roll) ......$1350.

A grand total reduction of 150 bucks. I stared at the person with that stunned wtf look and couldnt believe they kept a straight face. Going from lots of drivving, in rush hour, to 'a few hours on the weekends' and the reduction isnt even worth the hassle of no longer being insured to drive to/from work if i want to.

And being in canada i cant switch base insurance companies, just the add ons like collision, comprehensive, etc.

I am reviving this old thread because I know there have been some new developments in the Progressives line up of insurance offerings, I was on the phone with an agent just this morning, after reading that my monthly rate has risen another dollar and some change for driving even less ie not at all for the last month. While the agent was looking up the reason for the rate increase I inquired about where they stood on the plan to develop a "Pay as you go" plan, to which he responded that they already had a program in place in about 8 states, unfortunately not in Colorado. So he gave me a name and email address to contact about getting this in the works for my state, I imagine if we got enough people to contact them from non plan states we could get them to start offering it, and increase usage in the states it is offered. One other thing I found out is that Progressive will drop your rate if you are in their system as possessing a College degree, be it associates, bachelor or graduate degree. Long story short call your insurance provider, complain, and things will change, I am now paying even less a month than my introductory rate.

We're paying much less than $2000 a year, and we have three cars, one of them less than a year old. Two of the cars are > 8 years old and have nothing but the legally required PL/PD insurance.

We get significant discounts because our homeowner's insurance is also through Allstate. Last time we shopped around was 2 years ago, and for the package of cars + house, nobody could beat them.

Of course, we live in an area where we don't even lock our doors unless we're leaving for more than a day, and I don't even carry a bike lock, so that could have something to do with it.

Michigan is actually one of the states that they are offering the "My Rate" program, which entails a box attached to your ODBII port of the vehicle, and tracks how many miles driven, at what time of the day, and how many fast stops and starts you make.

Unfortunately, credit rating factors in more than driving records. We have SF for house and auto currently. I have shopped around in the past, and every single company asked for my Social Security #. They wanted it not for ID verification, but to pull my credit history. I walked. Call me old-fashion, but I don't feel that one's (in)ability to handle personal finances should be a factor, period.

And I know that State Farm (don't know about any other companies) invests heavily into the stock market. When their portfolios are doing really good, they issue dividend checks and even reduce premiums for policy holders. Given the current enviroment on Wall Street, I will probably see a premium increase shortly, even though I haven't filed a claim in a decade (or tickets that held up in court, for that matter).

She said I got you down for the lowest driving possible 7500 miles a year.


I drove about 1500 miles last year. So I don't think 7500 is the lowest possible driving.

I drove about 1500 miles last year. So I don't think 7500 is the lowest possible driving.

I've got "recreational/show vehicle" coverage on my Jeep because I drive under 2500miles/year and it's not a daily driver. 1, maybe 2 days a week typically.

I've got "recreational/show vehicle" coverage on my Jeep because I drive under 2500miles/year and it's not a daily driver. 1, maybe 2 days a week typically.

I don't think I could do that with my 2000 green Honda Accord.

I don't think I could do that with my 2000 green Honda Accord.

Mines a 2000 Jeep XJ with very minor modifications. Certainly not one of those monster lifted bogger rigs you see at the car shows. Liberty Mutual has an ultra-low mileage class that the agent referred to as being for recreational cars that you drive on the weekends or only drive to shows.

I've rolled mine a couple times out on the trails. I think it ceases to be a "show car" once its been on its side sliding across rocks.

I am reviving this old thread because I know there have been some new developments in the Progressives line up of insurance offerings, I was on the phone with an agent just this morning, after reading that my monthly rate has risen another dollar and some change for driving even less ie not at all for the last month. While the agent was looking up the reason for the rate increase I inquired about where they stood on the plan to develop a "Pay as you go" plan, to which he responded that they already had a program in place in about 8 states, unfortunately not in Colorado. So he gave me a name and email address to contact about getting this in the works for my state, I imagine if we got enough people to contact them from non plan states we could get them to start offering it, and increase usage in the states it is offered. One other thing I found out is that Progressive will drop your rate if you are in their system as possessing a College degree, be it associates, bachelor or graduate degree. Long story short call your insurance provider, complain, and things will change, I am now paying even less a month than my introductory rate.

+1. If you aren't happy with your insurance, call your company to complain. I have Allstate too, and I asked about paying less since I drive my Ford Ranger very little. I may not even put 500 miles on it this year, the way things are going. (I'm all but ready to get rid of it, but my wife is against the idea... it is paid for though.) The most my agent could do was put me in the sub-7000 mile category, which dropped my rate by about 10%. Is this better than nothing? Sure, but it still isn't fair to be paying the same rate I would be if I were driving every day. This "Pay As You Drive" idea sounds great to me. I suggested my agent discuss it with his superiors.

If you're car-lite, call your agent and ask them why you should have to pay as much as someone who drives much more. Tell them if you find a provider that does offer pay as you drive at a fair rate you won't hesitate to switch. Do it for all of us so we can all benefit. All we need is one provider in the area doing it to start changing the tide.

I have a 2008 trailblazer SS 400 hp sport suv, and a 2006 Mustang GT.
We pay about 100 bucks a month for both cars full coverage no medical or roadside, 2000 deductable. We have been running the 2000 deduct for 6 years with no issues, so if there is an accident we have already saved what we would put out in the form of a higher deduct.

state farm, have life and home with them too.