I traded in a 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee (loaded). My yearly insurance bill went from $1122 up to $1275 an increase of only $153/year (13%). The Jeep was worth about $8000 and I paid $30,000 for the Mini. That was very good news to me. Liability went down 13% and of course collision went up 42%. A lot less than I expected trading in a 6 year old car for a new one.

 

I am a 19 year old male and my 07 MCS is only $10 more a month than the Magnum I am currently driving...I was very shocked that this didn't kill the deal.

 

Well I guess I need to change insurance companies. My Insurance company wanted $500 more. I'm paying around $1100 now. I've never had an accident or a ticket.

 

my 07 MC convertible added less than $100 to the yearly cost for my insurance. Previous car was an 06 Mazda3. The smile i get driving my mini every morning is well worth that pidly amount :-)

 

my insurance with great coverage is $57 a month or $684 a year on my MCS. no lie. im 32 year old male. i have geico.

 

Wow that is a GREAT rate!!! I just bought a policy for mine and Geico quoted me close to $900/6 months so I went w/ Progressive for less than $600. I think Geico is good, but their rates really depend on where you live.

Oh, 25 yo female, no tickets or accidents.

 

I think it also depends on whether your MC is the daily driver or the weekend toy. After I made it the daily driver, Allstate made me pay close to $600/6mo for full coverage. I have no ticket or accident for more than 3 yrs.

 

You're lucky I have allstate and they want a little over $800 for 6 months with a $1000 deductible, $900 with a $500 deductible.

 

Once again, MINIs far exceed their hype. They look simply small, cute and benign, but are (in fact) quick, nible, economical, practical, a great value, stable, smooth, competitive........and also safe!!! Is there anything this one little car can't do (especially considering it's price)???

 

I'm picking up my new LB/W MCS next Thursday and called my State Farm agent to arrange for insurance. We have multiple vehicles and our home insurance with State Farm. The bill for 6 months was $230 - we have $100 deductable for comprehensive and $1000 deductable for collision. Our children are grown and out of the house, so only me and my husband are on the policy. I was pleasantly surprised at the cost.

 

Aaah if only my age group were so lucky. The cheapest quote for decent comp coverage I got was over $1500 per year, with the average rate at about $2500

 

Heh heh, you guys are super duper lucky! Guess who's paying those agents enough money to last a lifetime?
P.S.: Only $200-odd per month for an '07 MCS. Male/23/1 (ahem..MAJOR) speeding ticket

 

As an insurance professional, I always find it interesting to read or listen to people compare their insurance rates with other people. It's an exercise in futility to try and figure out why one person's rates are different than another's.

Why ? There are wayyyyyyyy too many variables involved and some of those variables are unknown to you. Insurance companies have "trade secrets" regarding their formulas. They can't have other companies knowing how they select and rate clients or they may lose their competitive advantage. Only the State's Insurance Department is required to know because they have to approve of their methods.

Just to give you a very short list of some of the factors nearly every major insurance company uses to compute your premium:

-Age
-Gender
-Marital Status
-Do You Have Children
-Territory (ie how many accidents happen where you live)
-Weekly and Annual Miles Expected To Drive
-Violations In The Past 3 Years
-Accidents In The Past 3 Years
-How Many Bank Accounts You Have Open
-How Much You Debt You Have
-Your Credit Rating
-The IRG Of Your Vehicle (Safeness Factor, if you will... hard to explain)
-Driver Safety Courses
-How Long You've Been With That Company

etc, etc, etc. And even I don't know all the factors my own employer uses and I was an Underwriting Manager for three years !

Instead of comparing rates to each other, you're better off comparing rates from many companies to get the best insurance provider for you. Just don't forget to also consider the service (agent and claim) that company is going to provide you as well.

 

Good choice of deductibles. That's what I carry, as well.

Hope you aren't saving money by choosing lower liability limits though.

Always glad to hear from a happy State Farm customer !!

 

I pay 660 a year on the MINI, 785 on the explorer and 800 on the Santa Fe....not sure what its going to do when we move to Texas later this year but we shall see when the time comes

 

Depends TOTALLY upon where you live in Texas. Living in the western plains or panhandle? Cheap.... Harris or Ft. Bend county? Not so cheap.

 

Yeah I grew up northwest of Houston and lived in Dallas and Corpus and South Texas too....moving to San Antonio this time

 

I don't think San Antonio is too bad. About two weeks after we moved here to Houston we realized we should have lived five miles farther north... Montgomery county. lol

 

Yeah I hear you on that. I lived in Grimes county for about 25 years and insurance premiums were very low. Thats just beyond Waller and Montgomery Counties.

 

I have the "joy" of being in Harris county.....

 

Plus, the amount of coverage is bound to make a great difference - $25K per occurrance or $500K is bound to make a lot of difference. Agreed, sharing the bottom dollar doesn't even approach a valid comparison.

That said, for one person the rate change after moving to an MCS is representative of the impact the vehicle itself makes on a quote, though that is variable between people as due to different prior cars, etc.

 

How does the number of bank accounts affect insurance rates, and why?

 

I don't work in the Actuary Department, so this reply is based on what I know, what I've heard, and some assumptions.

First, ANY statistic that an insurance company uses to determine premiums must bear the burden of proof that it is a valid indication of a person's risk to be involved in an accident. This statistic has obviously been proven to be a valid indicator.

I believe the connection our actuary department has been able to make is that having more than "x" number of bank accounts is a factor in determining the degree of a person's financial responsibility. And it's been proven definitevely that those persons less fiscally responsible are worse risks on the road.

Then again, because the formula is a secret know only to those who actually work in the Actuary Dept, perhaps the number of bank accounts is used in combination with the amount of debt and other financial factors.

Here's a question back to you: Have you ever read your credit report ? Did you see where it lists the number of bank accounts you have open ? Okay... basically, anything used in your credit report score is fair game to be used by insurance companies because it's been proven that your credit score is a very accurate predictor of risk.

 

So, is more accounts better or worse?

 

Got rid of a 2000 Mitsu Galant; replaced with 07 MC - insurance bill went up $20 per year for identical coverage.