Hi everyone. I am shopping for car insurance and want to know the best but most affordable out there. My mother thought to put me on her policy with and I would pay her for the insurance, but they were going to charge her over 0.00 to do so. My friend has gotten into two accidents and hasn’t had to pay nearly that much , and neither did her dad when he put her on his policy.

 

  • brandon j 9:28 am on February 16, 2010

    well, for starters you cannot compare how much you pay for your auto insurance to that of your friend. just because you may be similar in age does not necessarlity mean you will pay the same. you probably have different coverages than your friend, a different vehicle, and a different insurance company. some companies will assign a driver, particularly the youngest or most high risk driver, to the vehicle on the policy that is considered the highest risk. for example, lets say you are on the policy with mom and dad (3 drivers). and on that policy you have (let’s say) a 1998 Honda Accord, a 2001 Ford F150, and 2008 Chevy Corvette. the corvette is going to be considered the highest risk vehicle. and even though your dad techinically drives that car 100% of the time they may assign you, the youngest, highest risk driver, to that vehicle. being a young driver ( i assume) you are not going to find or get the type of rate your parents or an adult will get. for you to get the cheapest rate it will be on a car/truck that is liability only. you can also qualify for some discounts if the are applicable to you. discounts like the good student discount, the car pool discount, the driver training discount, and some may offer a defensive driver discount or some sort of a young driver video or dvd that you can watch and take a test on and submit to the company. personally, i think allstate, state farm, and progressive are probably the best insurance companies to have in general for auto insurance. i say this based on service, the ability to speak with the same agent/adjuster, claims payments and settlements, etc.

    progressive may charge 500 to add you on but i am guessing that 500 does not have to be paid all at once. it should be over the course of the policy period. if they add you to their policy in the middle of the policy period it will be prorated out. e.g., if their policy starts in january and ends in june and they add you in march then it should only add 250 since you will only be covered for part of march and all of april-june. maybe she misuderstood them when they told her it would cost 500 to add you. was that 500 for the entire 6 months. $500/6 months=$88.33 a month. your portion would be about that ($88.33).

    also, any multi-policy discounts mom and dad can get for carrying their homeowners or renters insurance with the same auto carrier will lesson the premium. ask mom and dad about that! hope this helps.

  • stace 9:28 am on February 16, 2010

    State Farm!!

  • Richard D 9:28 am on February 16, 2010

    I like State Farm. I’ve had Allstate and others. State Farm has great service and good prices.

  • car253 9:28 am on February 16, 2010

    State Farm is very good. Call for a quote and if you have no points you can get the drivers safety discount and if your a full time student with a B average or better you can get a good student discount.

    Get a quote for you and your parents that will give you multi-care discount. And, if you add homeowners or renters insurance you get another discount. So, when you call ask for the drivers safety discount, good student discount, multi-car discount and multi-line discount.

    That is how people get lower rates. The more insurance you have with one company the more discounts you get. It’s like Costco, the more you buy the more you save.

  • lovinglife 9:28 am on February 16, 2010

    Hey Stephanie,

    As an insurance agent it’s my experience that most of the time when young people still live at home that their insurance will usually be less if they remain on their parents policy. But with this said there are some that are able to save money by buying insurance on their own.

    Really the only way that you will ever know for sure is to get as many quotes as possible. I would suggest starting with your mom’s agent since he or she knows you the best. In addition I would requests as many quotes as possible through other local agents. One of the easiest ways to get quotes from several of the other local agents is to use a free online quoting service. These services are pretty simple to use. You fill out a quote request online and then they forward it to local agents and companies that they have contracted in your area. It’s important to use as many of these services as possible since each of them have their own agents and companies that purchase leads off of them.

    There’s a great insurance consumer site at http://www.InsuranceEasy.org that I like. One of the main reasons is because they list most of the better free services and companies. By using several or all of the links that they provide to request a quote you will literally expect to receive quotes from 30 or 40 insurance agents and/or companies.

    I know this works because I have referred this site to family members and friends who I wasn’t able to save them money through my companies. Almost all of them were able to save money. At least the ones who took advantage of all the links. Really the key is to request quotes through all of them to increase your chances of getting the best rate.

  • Olga * 9:28 am on February 16, 2010

    It sounds like you maybe under 25, if so, than you will be paying a lot till you turn 26. Price-wise you may try Geico or Safeco. When you ask for best, it may be a different story – if you never have to use your insurance other than to show evidence of insurance to a police officer than any company will do. On the other hand, if you do not belong to a category of people who are absolutely sure that nothing will ever happen to them than you may want to check about customer service and claims handling history for the company you considering. Generally, you will be better of going with a company that has personal Agents vs. internet/800# company, although, even within the same company not all Agents "created equal." So, get referrals from people who had claims. Even if your Agent is great, he or she will not be paying your claim, their company will. This article addresses claims handling among US carriers: http://www.justice.org/docs/TenWorstInsuranceCompanies.pdf

    I hope it helps!

    Olga

  • KeithJ 9:28 am on February 16, 2010

    Well Stephanie, there are lots of companies online that you could get a free car insurance quote. You just fill-up the form and then compare it among the others. There are certain factors in getting your cheap car insurance. It will depend on the car, state, age, gender, driving record, etc.

    I suggest that you shouldn’t go with sports cars and new model cars. They have expensive auto insurance.

    Good luck on your search… Drive safe.