Buying a car?

Insurance agent here:

If you have 1 car, and add a second, it will almost always raise your overall bill UNLESS the multi-car discount offsets the price of the 2nd vehicle. This is generally only the case if you first car is REALLY expensive to insure, and the 2nd car is really really cheap. That multi-car discount is usually a % off. My company gives about 20% off. So if your first vehicle is running you $100 a month for full coverage, it's now $80, but unless your 2nd vehicle is an old ass beater with liability only, you probably aren't getting it as cheap as $20 a month, that would be the extreme low-end of insurance pricing around this area of the country.

So, 95% of the time, adding a second vehicle is never actually cheaper. It can be in rare cases, but it almost never is. You're insuring two cars instead of one, of course its going to be more. Just like insuring 4 cars will almost always cost more than insuring 2 or 3. Each car is individually priced, the only thing that might offset some of the cost are additional discounts you may qualify for with more than 1 vehicle.

Also, we get the argument all the time that "well, I can only drive one vehicle at a time, why does the fact that I have 4 cars cost more than 1". A lot can happen to a vehicle while you aren't driving it. It can get stolen, it can get hailed on, someone can sideswipe it, your wife/kid/relative can use it. Chances are if you are a single person with 3 or 4 cars, there's going to be an occasional time that a relative or friend is going to borrow one. There's definitely risk there, even if there is only 1 owner and multiple vehicles.

If you carry full coverage on a vehicle, the price isn't completely dependent on the vehicle itself, a lot of the price is based upon the liability side of the policy, which is based on your age & driving record.

So say for instance, a brand new BMW may cost 3X as much as a random new Ford Taurus or whatever, the insurance isn't 3X as much because a lot of the cost of the policy is the liability, which would be pretty much the same on both. So in this scenario, say the liability side of the policy runs $50 a month for both, then the full coverage on the Focus is maybe another $30, while the super expensive Mercedes full coverage is 3X as much at $90, but that makes the overall prices of the policies $80 vs $140. The Mercedes ends up being more, but it's not a straight ratio of the value of the vehicles by any means.

Your liability portion of your policy is priced based on your age and driving record, the full coverage(comp & collision) is based off of the type of car, and BOTH are affected by the zip code/state/county where you live.

Lmfao I pay $180 for my 2 99 Civics, and I don't have anywhere NEAR full coverage. Welcome to Jersey, "no-fault" state.

I pay about $1350 a year for a 2010 Ford Fusion and a 2013 Ford Explorer (was just under $1000 before I swapped the Explorer from a 2003 Corolla).

I'm married. Own a house. 29 year old white male in Illinois.

So just a little less than Cad but for 2 cars.

I'm single and live with my mom. Everyone point and laugh, it's okay, I do it in the mirror every morning.

Soygen_sl said:

Bro, get on her insurance!

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She doesn't have insurance. I guess I could tack it onto her home owner's insurance, I never really thought of that lol.

140 per mo, was 125 but got a general increase.. 100/300k comp collision 500 deductable pip uninsured etc etc, two cars 12 quest 05 civic 2 drivers...one listed as female and Asian... 21st cent.

did a quote from allstate just to see... 250 for 50/150 1000deductable 290 for close to what I have now... They called to follow up my online quote and I was lulzing at their wtf? Noooooo noway! At my current coverage and price.

stupid florida

I've been thinking: Acura TL is my top pick for next car...But the Charger R/T's go for around the same price (around 15k+-)

Just about the same mpg, but the Charger is 300+ hp and, it's a Hemi...Creaming my pants just thinking about it...

ZyyzYzzy_sl said:

Recently added my wife to my policy after getting a new volvo xc60. Screw my wife for being Asian and a woman, such a huge increase in my rates.

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Your wife must have a poor driving record(accidents, tickets, whatever). Females are cheaper than males(as youthful drivers, it doesn't matter with most companies once you are old enough to have an adult rate)

And no one looks at ethnicity, that is illegal.

Also, you guys have to consider credit. Almost all major insurance companies (State Farm, Farmers, Allstate, etc) now use your credit rating to tie into your rates. With my company we give anywhere from a 40% discount at the top end, to a 200% surcharge at the bottom. Credit rating isn't just for homes anymore, most companies use it for autos as well. In fact, credit has a larger effect on our prices than any other single factor. Think about those numbers, a car that would be a baseline of $100 a month could be as low as $60 if you have great credit, or as much as $300 if your credit is total shit. That's a crazy range, just from credit rating alone. 40% discount to 200% surcharge. God forbid if you are young, have some tickets, AND have bad credit. Your insurance will be outrageous if you need full coverage. We honestly have teenagers that are paying upwards of $400 a month for insurance on 1 lone vehicle. Its ridiculous. It's probably more than their car payment. Once it gets to that point, we tell our customers to go find a company that doesn't use credit.

I pay $41 a month for full liability and coverage for my truck. It's a 2001, so yeah it's old, but it runs fine and I would be kinda screwed without it.