My premium has fluxuated +/- $10 since Aug of 2007. My agent was upfront about the fact that it may change since they had little (no) claims info about the R56 when I bought Lewis.

 

1. Anytime you hit a stationary object in the road, it's going to be considered an at-fault accident. Yes, even at night, even in the rain. You can't drive faster than the conditions safely call for... so fast that you can't avoid a stationary object.

2. No insurance company can arbitrarily raise your rates. Insurance is one of the most heavily regulated industries in America. Insurers have to substantiate their rate increase methodologies with their respective State insurance department. Any time you get a rate increase, know that the State has reviewed it and approved it, whether it's a blanket rate increase for all insureds in your state, because you changed vehicles, for your driving record... whatever.

 

I like Geico. I got hit by a chunk of road salt flying off a truck and it was no-fault, they paid for everything and I got to use my repair shop of choice. Thankfully what hit me was airborne. I actually tried to safely avoid the rocks by pulling behind another vehicle, but the slipstream aimed it right at me.

I'm very glad that the headlight damage caused by potholes was actually covered under warranty, as I assume that would be driver fault, since potholes are stationary, no matter how hard they are to see.

 

Do you have Full Comp ($0 Deductible) ?

And yes, hitting a pothole is a Collision Claim (read: at fault).

 

I guess you're right, but it still stinks. I was just very suprised at the amount that they raised my premium. I had another claim in the past (8 yrs ago)with Gieco, which was an at fault accident where I rear-ended a car that cut in front of me then slammed on her brakes, and my rate never went up. There was minimal damage and the claim wasn't that large. This claim for my Mini was pretty big for a relatively small accident. Could they be raising the rate more than normal because of the type of car and the cost of repairs, etc? We have 2 Minis and '07 MCS and '08 MCCS and now my rate for the '08 is more than double that of my wifes '07. They were almost the same.

Again, for the last 18 years I have been very happy with Geico and, except for this, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. They have been easy to deal with, prompt service, etc. but a 30% jump in my premium over one incident seems a bit excessive.

 

I typed this once and my computer ate it.

There could be a couple reasons why your first accident didn't cause your rates to increase.

1. The payouts they made on the claim did not exceed the surcharge threshold. Not sure what yours is, but for my company (State Farm) and in my jurisdictions (MD/DC), that threshold is $750.

2. You had built up Accident Forgiveness due to a long-time safe driving record. Of course, if that is the case, you lost that forgiveness with your first accident and then your second one was eligible for the surcharge.

On your point about the cost of repairs... that does impact your rates, yes. But not as part of any rate increase due to an accident. It impacts your rates from the day you take out the policy on your car. Every vehicle is assigned an IRG (Insurance Rating Group) based on the average repair costs for that particular make/model/year. That factor is applied to your premium from day 1 and is not affected by your driving record.

Let me know if you have other questions. PM me if you like so as not to hijack the thread.

 

I am a mini cooper S owner, sportscar and motorcycle nut and an agent for one of the companies listed above.

Said company doesn't like us "marketing" in a forum....but let me say that if you are looking for a "Good Neighbor" and you live in Virginia, "I'm There"...

Just shoot me a PM.

Ric

 

LOL.........as if the insurance companies dont speak "mistruth's" You are drinking the "juice"

 

If you're going to talk smack, then why don't you give specifics about these "mistruths" of which you speak ?

Whatchya got ? More specifics about that problem you were talking about upthread, please. Thanks.

 

What do I have? LOL.....Please.....I have pictures, documentation and plenty of wasted time to prove what happened. Although SF didnt commit the fraud their SF preferred shop did and when they do nothing to punish the shop that's like condoning it. For you to say that insurance companies dont speak "mistruth's" you really are drinking the "kool aid".

I really dont want to get into this with you I was just answering OP's question. However, I will post a pix of which I have many. The following pix is of the front aluminum brace which was supposed to be replaced and was paid for, but as you can see the shop tried to re-drill the hole in the damaged one in order to make it fit. This caused mis alignment of the new bumper causing further damage to the new bumper. FYI, I also worked for State Farm in Claims and then SIU 10 years ago.......So I am not just talking "smack".

 

How do you know if the SSI (Select Service Inspector) took action against the shop in some way, or not ? You, the customer, aren't made aware of what the SSI says or does to the shop. Those shops in the program get report cards and if they don't cut the grade, they'll eventually get removed from the program.

So... go on spreading your mistruths because you had a bad experience with the SHOP which is not employed or owned by State Farm. Your beef is and should be with the shop, not the insurance company. Is it possible that you have some grudge against SF that might have something to do with the fact you're not longer employed there ? (Rhetorical question, you wouldn't say so even if it were true, of course)

And ten years ago was a decade. Things change a lot in this industry in ten years. But you should at least know some of these things you don't seem to know.

 

This will be my last post to this thread......Fair enough they might have been reported I dont know but last I checked they still were. As for your comment the shop is not employed by SF that is true but SF is my insurance company and they are recommending this shop because it lives up to certain standards set forth by SF "MY" insurance company which I pay premiums to every month. Indirectly they are representing SF. 10 years is a long time but ethics dont change.

 

Ethics ? I think even you understand SF did nothing ethically wrong in your claim. The shop, yeah, I'd say they did.

And the shop does not represent SF, nor vice versa. The relationship is a business agreement between two separate companies.

So, your beef is justified with the shop, but you're way off base in complaining about State Farm's handling of it. You even said they took care of the problem by paying another shop to make it right for you.

 

I have had good experiences with Nationwide. One recently where they had to value my total loss vehicle from pictures. And they valued it at more than I had even estimated it to be. Did me right.

 

I've had Geico for the past two years after being an Allstate customer for 38 years. Allstate was busy giving every new policyholder beaucoups discounts and freebies but even though I hadn't had a claim in years, they did nothing to save me money. I switched to Geico and cut my bill in half AND have lower deductibles as well as Full Tort.

I've never filed a claim with Geico but when I was rear-ended recently by a Progressive customer, Progressive bent over backwards to take care of me. Maybe my Full Tort policy scared them, but they not only had my 2008 MINI Cooper perfectly repaired (including replacing the spare tire that may or may not have fallen off in the crash), but they had someone deliver a replacement vehicle to my house for the entire week my MINI was in the shop. Then Progressive offered my wife and I $750 each for our "inconvenience". Just for the heck of it I said that we'd feel a lot better if we got $1000 each and they promptly agreed and gave us checks. If Progressive weren't a little over a hundred bucks more to insure our three family cars, I'd consider switching. Very very courteous and helpful people.

 

Glad you had a good claim experience, but I have to ask... just what coverage did they pay each of you this $1,000 out of ? Was it an injury claim ? Based on the fact you negotiated the settlement with them, that would be my educated guess.

No company in the world, insurance, or otherwise, just hands out $1,000 for no reason. And there's no provision under the Property Damage Liability coverage to pay you money for your "inconvenience".

 

Of course we had to sign a waiver stating that we would drop all future actions against Progressive, but other than that, I really have no idea why they gave us the money. Maybe to "buy us off"? All I know is that we now have a Dyson 25 vacuum and a brand new PC as a result. And a bottle of Mellow Yellow touch-up paint.

 

Yeah, sounds like a injury claim settlement. Perhaps you mentioned you were sore after the accident or you missed some time from work and they paid you off to preclude you from seeking medical treatment and perhaps having a larger injury claim down the road. Interesting tactic on their part. Pretty cool for you though, assuming you were not really injured or not enough to have medical treatment, anyway.

 

Thanks for the input. Sorry about the threadjack, but I thought that some of the info might be useful to the OP, but I guess I got a little carried away. (It also didn't help that about the same time I got a notice that my malpractice insurance is going up 26% and I have never even had a claim!)

Back on topic....does anyone have any experience with Mini Motoring Insurance through Liberty Mutual? I got a flyer the other day and did an online quote. They came in kind of expensive, though.

 

I also have 21st Century. My parents had it before me. So, in a sense, I've had it since I was 16. Had few claims over the years. However, have had two since getting a 2007 MCS.

One was a parking lot fender bender. Backing out between to huge SUVs, couldn't see anything. Creeping out as slow as possible. A BMW, backing out of a slot opposite me, must have come out fast and close. It was behind me and I hit it before the PDC could beep. 21st Century was fine. No problems.

Second claim was a bit more serious. Tipped the car over on its side after spinning out on a curve. $11,000 damage. Unfortunately, this came at the exact time when AIG bought 21st Century, and everyone was going to meetings to figure out how things would work under AIG. There was a lot red tape screw-ups. They sent my car to an auction lot where totaled cars go to be sold for scrap. Took two weeks for the body shop to get the car. After that, it all went fairly well. No problem with them paying for the repairs. I used a shop that does all the work for MINI of Mountain View. They did an excellent job. It was all cosmetic, except for a couple suspension part that had to be replaced. 3/4 of the car was repainted. Driver's door replaced. New set of wheels.

I asked the guy at the body shop about their experience with the different insurance companies. He said that State Farm was the best to deal with. He also said that they hadn't had any problems with 21st Century, other than the mixups on my car.

When was your claim? It seems that 21st Century has just been sold to State Farm. I'm hoping this will be a good thing for 21st.

 

I run a BMW and MINI only collision center in the Bay Area. There are only 2 Insurance companies I would recomend (Mercury Insurance and Allied). Every other insurance company will try to force the use of aftermarket, used/salvage, or reconditioned parts. Most insurance companies dont even offer you the choice for OEM parts when you purchase a policy.

 

Oh, the old Body Shop vs Big Insurance thing rearing its ugly head again. And given your post count, one might assume you came here with an agenda. No ?? Or maybe if I asked an Administrator to check your IP address, you go by a different user name here on NAM. Just a guess. Feel free to dispute that.

Now... I'm pretty sure you know that the State regulators have studied this issue long and hard and have determined that it is fiscally responsible to allow insurance companies and repair shops to use reconditioned and/or aftermarket parts that meet their strict guidelines. One of those guidelines is that the reconditioned part has to be in as good or better condition than the part it is replacing. After all, isn't that the principle of indemnity ? Do you even understand that principle ?

And hey... if the State insurance departments wouldn't allow this and required insurers to replace every part (say a door on a 1992 Ford Tempo) with a brand new part, then A) there would be a lot of vehicles that would have to be totaled due to lack of new parts, and B) yours, mine, and everybody else's insurance premiums would go sky high.

But hey, I'm sure Mercury and Allied are fine insurance companies. That's why they're so big.

 

Had insurance with a company called IFA. Was with them for about 10 years perfect record. Just totaled my Mini though. Crashed into back of SUV with tow hitch when they braked suddenly. After the crap they are pulling I will not go back to them. First they took over a month to get the pay off check to my credit union. This despite the fact that they said they had everything they needed less then 2 weeks after the crash. I called the first day of 3rd week and they said payment was approved and they would mail the check out in about 2 weeks. No reason for delay at all. Not apologetic at all. Very inconvient for me as I couldn't buy new car until credit union loan was closed out. Here is the kicker though. Before the crash I had paid $1549.00 for full coverage ($500.00 deductables) Yeah, I know, NJ sucks.
My policy is due to re-new next month. They said that due to the crash I have lost all my discounts so rate would be higher. Ready for this??? New policy cost=$3590.00. How is this legal?????

 

anybody else ever get hit with increase like that?

 

Are you a young male driver ?

And btw, don't blame your insurance company so much as New Jersey. The State has made it so difficult to write policies in that State and come out with even the smallest profit, most insurance companies have decided to not even write business in Jersey.

And the companies that stayed in that State, have to charge high rates to stay profitable there.