Is everyone's auto insurance going up in Florida? (Tampa, Orlando: credit rating, subdivision)

[BucFan]

Curious what liability coverage people carry? Florida minimums? In this day and age of litigation (how many times do you hear/see Culpepper or Morgan and Morgan legal ads/billboards), is it best to have a lot of liability insurance?

[the4inthevalley]

My husband just pointed out that the ads at the bottom of this thread is for car insurance companies LOL!!

[chi_tino]

I'm not sure why anyone would have a $200 deductible instead of $1000.

1. You are paying much higher rates and will end up giving them the extra $800 every couple years anyway.

2. If you file a claim your rates are going to increase, so why not self-insure for the first $1000?

It makes as much sense as people that pay $5.99 a month to "insure" their $50 cell phone.

[annerk]

Originally Posted by chi_tino

I renewed my two autos this week and the price was exactly the same (to the penny), but there was this adddendum to the policy:

"Your policy has increased 1.3% due to the Florida Hurricane Catastrophe Fund Assessment."

Since homeowner policies have been kept artificially low for years, when (not if) Florida gets another big hurricane, expect this assessment to be about 50%.

It pisses me off that we have to pay for Citizens. Citizens should charge their customers what they need to fund their program rather than requiring the rest of us to shoulder the burden. My homeowners and auto charge me enough, why should I also have to pay to cover the house belonging to the guy down the street? Ridiculous.

It's welfare for homeowners.

[annerk]

Originally Posted by BucFan

Curious what liability coverage people carry? Florida minimums? In this day and age of litigation (how many times do you hear/see Culpepper or Morgan and Morgan legal ads/billboards), is it best to have a lot of liability insurance?

$600K plus an additional umbrella policy that covers us to well over $1M. I'm not going to lose my house and assets because some meth head runs out of the bushes and jumps onto the hood of my car and gets paralyzed as a result. Unfortunately there are similar cases where the meth head has then collected large settlements from the person that hit him.

[crazynip]

I just renewed my policy with Geico and pay bi-annually it went up like 30$ per 6 months, about normal.

[BucFan]

Originally Posted by chi_tino

I'm not sure why anyone would have a $200 deductible instead of $1000.

1. You are paying much higher rates and will end up giving them the extra $800 every couple years anyway.

2. If you file a claim your rates are going to increase, so why not self-insure for the first $1000?

It makes as much sense as people that pay $5.99 a month to "insure" their $50 cell phone.

I looked at the savings for $1000 deductible versus $200 and it's really not much of an increase in premium. I'm talking just a couple of dollars. Nowadays, very little repair work is done that will be less than a couple of hundred - a small fender bender repair might be near the $1000. Not work saving a couple of bucks imo.

[BucFan]

Originally Posted by annerk

$600K plus an additional umbrella policy that covers us to well over $1M. I'm not going to lose my house and assets because some meth head runs out of the bushes and jumps onto the hood of my car and gets paralyzed as a result. Unfortunately there are similar cases where the meth head has then collected large settlements from the person that hit him.

that's how I look at things - here in FLA, the people seem pretty unpredictable - and with my luck some idiot driving while texting and on a cell phone will probably be found blameless in an accident.

[seain dublin]

Originally Posted by BucFan

that's how I look at things - here in FLA, the people seem pretty unpredictable - and with my luck some idiot driving while texting and on a cell phone will probably be found blameless in an accident.

Saying people here are pretty unpredictable is an understatement.

Also keep in mind when you have a car accident in FL all the medical, car rental, car repairs go against your policy, even when it is not your fault.

So for example if you have 15K for your PIP, once that is exhausted if you need additional medical treatment and physical therapy you then need to hire an attourney to go after the other driver.

And down here where you have a lot of people who don't have a pot to p##s in you could end up getting screwed. You can't get blood out of a rock.

If you get hit by an unisured driver(and this state is loaded with them) you can't sue their nonexistant insurance company to pay the overage of your medical bills after your coverage is maxed out.

[Pragmaticus]

Originally Posted by chi_tino

I'm not sure why anyone would have a $200 deductible instead of $1000.

1. You are paying much higher rates and will end up giving them the extra $800 every couple years anyway.

2. If you file a claim your rates are going to increase, so why not self-insure for the first $1000?

It makes as much sense as people that pay $5.99 a month to "insure" their $50 cell phone.

what you are saying is not necessarily true.

1) Because you don't want to pay too much if you have accident that is not of your fault.

Case in point: Somebody hit my wife in the back while she was in a median to cross a four lane road. To my surprise, a guy that has a nice 2005 car (this was last year) and carrying two kids inside and in the middle of Westchase (you would think these people afford) DID not have insurance at all. So, ours cover and my deductible was $100, the lowest you can have. The insurance company is going after him and I am not wasting my time for $100. To fix the bumper like new, how much it cost? $600.

2. Not true. My insurance did not go up with the claim I mentioned above. Also other small ones. I can't tell if that is the case for major accident and/or for things that are your fault.

Back to Bucfan question.

I think you are paying much higher at least from what I have. People need to understand that in order to compare insurance, you have to mention the coverage level, deductible, and the type of car you are driving. And then there are other factors too.

I have a 100/300/50 Liability with full collision and comprehensive with $100 deductuble (the most expensive one) for a 2005 car and premium is 343/6month.

I have the same coverage for 2007 sports car I just bought (more expensive to ensure) and this one has 515/6 month.

Both with progressive and this is the best I could get for clean records for both wife and I.

Edit: to clean typos, sorry.