I just received my 6-month auto insurance renewal from USAA, and even though the car is now a year old the premium for my G37 coupe went up by $40 since the car was new. I had no tickets and no claims made during the period, so I called them just now to ask why.

After some investigation, they said that the initial premium quoted in was on a brand new model for which they had no experience data. But now that the model has been around for a year, they now have hard statistics and the revised premiums reflect actual claims. That means, to me at least, that G37 coupe drivers are banging up their cars at a greater rate than originally forecasted.

Now I don’t know if they were blowing smoke at me or not, and I can certainly afford the $80 per year increase, but there’s a bigger question here.

Of course I understand that a performance car may have a higher accident rate than other passenger autos. But why were the initial actuarial tables specifically wrong on the G37 coupe? After all, they had five years of the G35 couple to look at. Is it driver attitude that somehow turns many G37 drivers into Evil Knievels?

 

I have USAA as well Chekov, so I'll be looking for the increase too. What some don't realize is that insurance claims cost all of us money, not just the people having accidents. However, I have been a part of the problem instead of the solution in my younger years. Several years back, I totalled a new Maxima and a new Dodge Ram within about a year of each other. They refused to renew me and I had to pay higher rates through lesser insurance companies until recently. Which parts of the premium specifically had the rate hike?

 

I was told that rates all over Texas were going up because of claims.... I dropped Progressive because every 6 months they "progressively" raised my premium even though I had zero claims..... they kept blaming it on Texas... blah blah blah.... I canceled them and have been with State Farm ever since.

 

Here are the three categories that went up for me:

Liability------$13.24 increase
Bodily Injury-- $1.76 increase
Collision-- ---$25.47 increase

Total 6-month increase: $40.47

 

thats pretty lame. Ill what AAA does to me. My policy renews next month

 

I know that USAA has an automatic discount when you buy a new car, and as the car gets older the discount gets less and less. I think the "new car discount" is there to counter act higher rates of new cars. Here is the description from USAA:


New Vehicle Discount

Private passenger vehicles that are 3 years old or newer receive a discount. The discount percent decreases as the vehicle ages.

Here are my vehicle discounts:

Annual Mileage Discount $73.16
New Vehicle Discount $40.59
Passive Restraint Discount $2.61
Vehicle Experience Discount $24.64

 

That’s interesting. I get the:

Annual Mileage Discount ($193.45)
New Vehicle Discount ($48.02)
Multi-Car Discount ($241.82)
Good Driver Discount ($157.47)
Anti-Theft Discount ($41.69) I guess for my LoJack
California Auto Policy Discount ($153.82),

but not the Passive Restraint nor the Vehicle Experience discounts. What are those?

 

I understand the annoyance towards your insurance company, but why are you blaming younger people? Are you saying older people dont crash? If you are, thats a very narrow-minded comment to make, because they are not immune to accidents. Im almost 22, ive been driving for 6 or so years, and ive never even hit a pole, let alone crashed my car. So to single out us "kids" isnt the best way to go at it.

I do agree that they should have looked at G35 data, because it is essentially the same car. Then again, theyll do anything to squeeze money out of you.

 

Well I'm 24 and I have Geico and my 6 months is like 1085 with a speeding ticket on my record but goes away in a month so after May my 6 months will be 685 =).

 

First post woot!

I'm 24 as well, currently with Progressive. Before my recently announced transfer, I was in the market for an M3. I began shopping around for insurance quotes on a 2009 E92 M3, expecting a drastic increase, just to make sure I wasn't going to outspend my budget. Here's where things got weird (at least I didn't expect it). I currently drive a 2003 Lexus IS300. That's ~215 hp at the fly, and a 4 door sedan worth like 30k new and 15k right now. Insurance on the M3 was going to DROP. Apparently a flashy coupe worth more than twice as much with almost twice the horse power is less likely to get in an accident .

Course, now I'm in the market for a G37, so I'll have to see how that affects my insurance.

 

The e92 will probably face the same thing as Chekov experienced. They were just released in 2008, but later on in 2009 after they gather hard statistics, they are going to revise the premiums.

 

I don't think you should take offense to what he said. Statistics are there for a reason, and fact of the matter is that younger drivers do tend to get into more accidents. They're more reckless, less experienced...of course they're bound to get into more accidents. Don't think he meant to single you out. I'm 25 right now but when I was 21 (and especially below that), I drove like a moron

 

Good points. There is a reason why males under 25 have the highest auto insurance rates of anybody. They have more claims than older drivers. They have bigger claims than older drivers. If you are under 25 you simply cannot have the experience of someone who has been driving longer than you have been living. I don't think the post is intended to hurt anybody's fragile feelings, it is just a fact. Almost everyone drives more recklessly and carelessly when they are very young than when they get older (myself definitely included in that category) and therefore is more likely to have a claim than someone with more wisdom and driving experience who's more than likely "mellowed out" behind the wheel.

Graham, tell 'em.

 

Farmers $800.00 per year $1000.00 deductible for my 09 37s. $2000.00 for my daughters 08 Accord. No tickets or accidents (knock knock).

 

Ummmm the way you said "ARE YOUR KIDS COSTING ME MONEY" You need to change that. funny part is im most likely a better driver then you are and im 19. also the way you OLD PEOPLE cant drive make us get into accidents....and most of the time its the idiot next to you who makes a person get into an accident.!