YIKES! Car insurance is 3x's more! (Tamiami, Port Charlotte: farm, farm, color)

[Trbl39]

Never thought I would buy insurance online, but after shopping around and getting non answers to my questions, I went with Farmers online. They only do car insurance in Florida though so I couldn't bundle.

[MikMal]

Originally Posted by Harbor Hopper

It was a shock for us (from MI) too, but not double or triple. Maybe 30% higher and as ArmyChief said, someone (we) have to subsidize the a$$hats that drive without insurance. Not to mention the higher accident rate caused by elderly folks that can barely see and should've had their licenses revoked 20 years ago!

That was my initial thought too. Until, that is, I spent my first "season" here. This past winter there was a streak of days where everyday that I was out I witnessed someone running a red light. I was surprised to see that it was mostly younger people running the lights, not the elders. Now I'm not too sure it's just the older folks to blame.

[Harbor Hopper]

Originally Posted by MikMal

That was my initial thought too. Until, that is, I spent my first "season" here. This past winter there was a streak of days where everyday that I was out I witnessed someone running a red light. I was surprised to see that it was mostly younger people running the lights, not the elders. Now I'm not too sure it's just the older folks to blame.

Nope, definitely not just the elders to blame, and I wasn't. We also have an abundant population of irresponsible younger folks that simply don't care about anyone but themselves, and this includes those on the road. I am constantly scanning the road for morons while I'm driving, especially when I have my family with me in the truck.

[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by sea.lass

Since we have our house insurance with UPC, I thought we could bundle our 2 vehicles and get a better quote. (we have NC State Farm right now). Our NC State Farm is $579 for the total premium...UPC quoted me $1700!!!! Neither DH or I have had any accidents, or tickets. Today we will call Florida State Farm and get a quote. Is Florida car insurance that much more than other states?

I'd be surprised if you didn't get a much better rate for car insurance with State Farm. We've had State Farm for years, have three cars and the annual insurance premium for each one is somewhere between $600-700 depending on the car. The insurance rates here in Florida may be a little higher than where you came from in NC, depending on where you were there, but unless that $1700 is an annual total for two cars, IMO it's high.

You'll clarify all this, of course, when you speak to State Farm, but in our experience with them, they give a "bundling" (multiple line) discount for vehicles to policyholders who have homeowner's insurance with them, but not for multiple cars. We had a homeowner's policy with State Farm when we lived in Miami, and got a bundling discount for our three cars (one driven by our daughter) because of the homeowner's policy ( which, BTW, did NOT have windstorm coverage, we had to purchase that separately from Citizens. When we moved to Punta Gorda, the rates decreased, but we also lost our "multiple line" discount so they added approximately $45 to the insurance on each car.


As you may know, State Farm no longer writes homeowner's policies in the state of Florida, but they do carry/administer Citizens' Insurance policies. They told us that should we insure our house here with Citizens ( fat chance, but that's another long sordid story, and I wouldn't recommend them), we could get that multiple line discount for our cars.

You probably already know this, but State Farm gives discounts for drivers over 50, and we got our rates reduced further when we informed them that we retired and now only use the cars for recreational use, not for work, and drive less than 7000/yr.

Good luck!

[sea.lass]

Originally Posted by Travelassie

I'd be surprised if you didn't get a much better rate for car insurance with State Farm. We've had State Farm for years, have three cars and the annual insurance premium for each one is somewhere between $600-700 depending on the car. The insurance rates here in Florida may be a little higher than where you came from in NC, depending on where you were there, but unless that $1700 is an annual total for two cars, IMO it's high.

You'll clarify all this, of course, when you speak to State Farm, but in our experience with them, they give a "bundling" (multiple line) discount for vehicles to policyholders who have homeowner's insurance with them, but not for multiple cars. We had a homeowner's policy with State Farm when we lived in Miami, and got a bundling discount for our three cars (one driven by our daughter) because of the homeowner's policy ( which, BTW, did NOT have windstorm coverage, we had to purchase that separately from Citizens. When we moved to Punta Gorda, the rates decreased, but we also lost our "multiple line" discount so they added approximately $45 to the insurance on each car.


As you may know, State Farm no longer writes homeowner's policies in the state of Florida, but they do carry/administer Citizens' Insurance policies. They told us that should we insure our house here with Citizens ( fat chance, but that's another long sordid story, and I wouldn't recommend them), we could get that multiple line discount for our cars.

You probably already know this, but State Farm gives discounts for drivers over 50, and we got our rates reduced further when we informed them that we retired and now only use the cars for recreational use, not for work, and drive less than 7000/yr.

Good luck!

Thanks for sharing the info...the $1700 quote from UPC was for 2 cars (we are over 50 and will not be driving more than 6000 miles a year). I will call State Farm here tomorrow and see what rate they can give us.

[Travelassie]

Originally Posted by ArmyChief

Ask your agent..bet MOST of your insurance premium is for uninsured motorist. Yup, your paying for the people who are driving without insurance.

It's a chunk of change on that policy for uninsured motorist. It isn't mandatory coverage, so we opted many years ago to forego the uninsured motorist coverage, when we saw what it actually covers. It wasn't easy at first as it's a cash cow to insurance companies and they are reluctant to let it go, and they gave us a hard time.


We learned that what uninsured coverage allows a policyholder to do-period- is to sue his/her own insurance company for pain and suffering, and possibly lost wages, in the event of an accident caused by an uninsured driver. IMO one could do better with a disability insurance policy.

[HarborRat]

Originally Posted by oldfart1947

I have two vehicles insured through State Farm. Full coverage cost $1200+ per year total. Not cheap, but still cheaper than New Jersey.

Our two cars down here are half as much to insure as we were paying in NJ.

I don't have full coverage as the cars are paid for, but I do have high liability coverage so it's about $1000/yr. If I dropped the coverage to the state minimum the total would be only $130 for both cars, per year! Since the cars are insured in her name and we are not married, and the houses and assets are all in my name...I've been thinking about it. If they sue her they won't get diddly. I won't go minimum but may cut the coverage in half.

And in FL no insurance is needed for motorcycles, that's another few hundred a year saved.

I can't complain.

[wpc691]

Our car insurance is a little more than it was in CA, but not too much; we have Mercury. Our house insurance is about 500 more, but our RE taxes are less. Seems like it all came out about a wash.

[HarborRat]

Originally Posted by wpc691

Our car insurance is a little more than it was in CA, but not too much; we have Mercury. Our house insurance is about 500 more, but our RE taxes are less. Seems like it all came out about a wash.

My RE taxes are $7k less than NJ per year. Same size house but I'm now on the water instead of in a battlefield.

Again, can't complain.....except I still own that Jersey house .

[wpc691]

Originally Posted by HarborRat

My RE taxes are $7k less than NJ per year. Same size house but I'm now on the water instead of in a battlefield.

Again, can't complain.....except I still own that Jersey house .

Yep, New Jersey is a bear. I think the only places worse are Hawaii and Alaska.