Anyone finding a marked increase in car insurance for a countryman s all4 over what you were paying for a cooper S. I am trading my 2008 cooper s for a 2012 countryman s all4, and it appears that my insurance company wants to increase my premium by $300 per year. I have no accidents or tickets in the past 7 years, and I'm over 40 Male single.. I'm wondering what the reason for the large increase would be over the cooper S. Has anyone else had a similar experience. I'm using Progressive.

 

No, we're going from a 2002 Cooper to a 2012 CM with basically no change in our rates. Married, late 30s, no recent accidents or tickets.

 

No, looks like they are trying to screw you over. State Farm did that to me so I checked Allstate and got it for alot less than I was already paying. Told my agent to......well you know!

 

My insurance went up over my 2006 Justacooper, to the 2012 S ALL4. My AAA agent explained that it is because of the "S" (sport vehicle classification) and the ALL4 (drive train difference)

I'm willing to pay the difference of about $200 annually. AAA has done right by me for the last 17 years

 

My insurance went down from my Honda Pilot to my CM4

 

The weird thing is that I switched to progressive from geico because the premium on the 08 cooper s that i have was about 250 lower at progressive. With the 2012 countryman s all4, progressive is now quoting a rate that is almost 300 higher then geico, so i obviously will switch back to geico now. What a pain in the neck...

 

I also have progressive and I pay 155 dollers a month

That's for

2012 countryman s all 4
2006 BMW Z4
2009 smart Passion coupe
2002 mini cooper S

So I'm 32 and married and found this to be way cheaper than our 2006 audi a6 that we traded
For the countryman .... Maybe its where you live ? I'm in naperville il.

 

You're saying you pay $155/month to insure 4 cars? I'm assuming you have collision coverage on them all? If that's the case that's an awfully good deal. I'd imagine the area I live in has something to do with it, but not $600 more a year for a Countryman instead of a Cooper s. I am paying $106/month ($1272/yr) to insure the 2008 Cooper S with Progressive with full coverage.

 

I have used Geico, Progressive, and others and American Family Insurance smoked them all. I have been with them for about 5 years now. I have my homeowners, car and an umbrella policy through them so I know there are some discounts in there. But they may be worth checking out if they can sell in your state.

 

Thanks, unfortunately I checked and they do not insure over here. I'll switch back to Geico if Progressive is going to raise my rate $300/yr to insure the CM, which is highway robbery.

 

Yes full coverage on them all .... 0 deductable for glass but 1000 for collision, I've already saved 1000 bucks with the higher collision so if an accedent does happen I'm fine ... But let's hope that does not happen ..... If I had a 16 year old driving is have 500 or less deductable ... Check your rates if you change your deductable what you plan does ... Mine went down a bunch.

Also some insurance places still have the countryman as two new for good figures and now that it is a top pick for crash safty standards it Kay come down soon.

 

I left Progressive because they progressively raised my rates. Same thing, no tickets or wrecks in the past 10 years, old but but not too old if you know what I mean etc. They called me a few times wanted me to come back. Ha not a chance. Losers in my book.

Good luck in your search.

 

I gave my wife my '10 outback and traded her 98 carolla in for the cm all4, insurance only went up $14 a month, despite a $35k difference in value.


lets not forget there are TONS of factors at play.

your:
credit score
driving record
coverage
zip code
previous claims
avg daily travel for work
marital states
age
sex
etc

 

The only factor that has changed here is the car that's being insured. I do not even drive the car daily since I take the train to work. Anyway, it appears I'll have to switch back to Geico now to save myself $300/year for the same exact coverage to insure the CM instead of the cooper S. The only thing that should matter to them is that I haven't had an accident or a ticket in over 7 yrs and that I haven't been late on a bill in about 15 years. I've also had the same job for almost 20 yrs. Very maddening the way they do these things....

 

weird. maybe the categorize it differently. sedans are cheaper than coupes. wagons are cheaper than suv . . .

it the cm was nominated for truck of the year, maybe the insurance companies are categorizing it differently. Being an IIHS top pick should help though

 

I am on Geico and I pay $130 (6mths) more for insurance on the CM ... coming from a Toyota Highlander Hybrid (2008).

I am shopping around now. Looks like Progressive and Geico both hate the CM!

Centurylink, AMFAM, LibMut are on my lists to check rates on.

 

I just upated my policy to be ready for the pick up of my ALL4 this Saturday. Switching from my 2010 Tacoma TRD Off-Road, to the CM ALL4, it went up $78 over all.

 

Full disclaimer: I worked briefly in car insurance, and my dad owns an insurance agency in NJ.

The main reason Progressive jacks your rates in a move from an '08 cooper to a '12 Countryman is that the replacement cost on the Countryman is vastly higher ($16K-$20K vs. $25K-$35K). It has little to do with the safety rating on the car, and not much to do with the ALL4 (though cost to repair might be a factor). Fun fact: a lot of factors in the insurance pricing on the Countryman (as with any new model) had to be calcuated without seeing much in terms of hard numbers on safety or repair costs.

The other reason rates are so variable is that a company will raise or lower rates on different areas and different driver demographics in order to draw more of a particular kind of customer or even drive away a particular kind of customer so they can balance their risk profile. Progressive may be in the process of reducing its exposure in your area, or it may be raising your rates because it doesn't think it's raising them enough to cause you to leave.

That's why all those companies run "save this much by switching" commercials. All of them use the practice of offering lower rates when they're trying to expand business in a particular area or demographic. And all of them offer higher rates in certain demographics and areas at certain times, either to drive profit (because they believe you won't switch until the difference between them and a competitor hits a certain amount) or to reduce exposure.

Shop around or, even better, get an insurance agent. A good local business agent can shop for you and help you find the company that's offering the lowest rates for your zip code and demo. They can also help you find bundles for your car/boat/home/renters/umbrella/life/LTD/etc. coverage that can save you lots of money in the long haul.

For example, I had Allstate in 2002, but in 05 or so, my agent called and said that Progressive would be lower. So she switched me and I saved a couple hundred dollars a year. Progressive kept creeping up after that. Then, when I bought the CM, I also wanted to pick up a personal liability and umbrella policy, and she found me something with The Hartford that would cover the CM, bundled together with the other policies I wanted. The total cost was something like $18/year less than just insuring the CM with Progressive.

 

Tippykayak has it right. I use a broker to shop the rates it save me a long time and they really don't have vested interest in any of the companies.

That Geico policy sounds kind of spendy to me. I spend $105.60 per month for 2 MCS cars with full coverage and $500.00 deductible. It may be because of the age or my age for that matter.

It sure pays to shop and better yet let someone else do the shopping for you.

 

Just FYI - when people share their rates in this thread, you're going to see enormous variation. Risk (and therefore rates) is highly variable between different areas, age groups, and demos. People also aren't posting their coverage details beyond deductibles when they post their rates. A policy that has $50K/$150K property and $100K/$300K personal injury coverage is going to cost a lot more than basic liability coverage.

As long as we're on the subject, I want to make a personal plea that I've made to all my close friends: make sure you're not underinsured. It's very, very easy to hit $10K or even $25K in damage in a simple rear end accident if you rear end the wrong car. Also, the more assets you have, the higher you coverage you'll need because you're a juicier target for a lawsuit.

Being underinsured can mean thousands of dollars in exposure in even a minor accident. You can end up losing your savings and even having your wages garnished for years. We actually got checks for something like three years from a young woman who rear-ended my fiancé. She wasn't insured, but the same principle applies if you're underinsured and the accident causes expensive damage or personal injury beyond your coverage. We got Cumberland Farms money orders of $50 here and $100 there for quite a while until she had paid him back his $1000 deductible.

For a person with a salary north of $40K or $50K and a nice car (like a Countryman or any MINI), $50K/$150K and $100K/$300K is probably a bare minimum. If you have an agent, you can talk to them more specifically about your assets, your peace of mind, and your particular needs.

 

I passed this very useful advice on to my kids - my daughter has a hardtop on order and will be reviewing their insurance. Thanks, tippykayak

 

My insurance went way down when I switched to the Countryman S. Of course, I was switching from an SRT8. Apparently, they don't like those too much... I wonder why...

Side note - good info on coverage in this thread. Here's another piece of information to think about. If you are a small business owner such as myself, be sure to carry at least $250k/$500k, and preferably an additional umbrella policy. When an insurance company finds out that they can go after your business property, it gets pretty nasty.

 

That's exactly why I buy the highest coverage I can and also carry a blanket 1 million dollar liability policy. You never know who your going to run into. Assets can be wiped out quickly.

 

Yeah - I'm going to start carrying $1 mil in umbrella liability. (For those of you watching at home, that means that after my other liability insurance runs out in my home or auto, I have another million that people can sue me for before it touches my personal money).

If you're broke and don't own a home, there's less reason to have that kind of coverage because it's so hard to sue you for anything. They might garnish your wages (like the girl that had to send Andy $50 at a time), but they can't put you on the hook for a million bucks. So if you have reasonable coverage, they'll take that and have little incentive to come after you for another thousand or two. However, if you own a house and have been paying your mortgage for years (so you might have tens of thousands in equity), and you have $10,000 in your savings account as an emergency fund, and you have $20,000 in your kid's college fund, etc., then your assets are right there for a lawyer to come after. That's when higher liability is helpful.

Umbrella's great because it lets you have reasonable home insurance and reasonable car insurance and then a large pad of extra liability coverage for a worst case scenario. If you have significant assets (like the aforementioned small business), it's a must, and like I said, it's relatively inexpensive.

 

I guess it's probably a time for an insurance article on MINIunbound, eh? I can probably convince my dad to write one, since he knows a lot more than I do, and we can link back to his business so any MINI folks in NJ who are interested can call his agency for a consult and quote.