lol tricky play on words, but agreed:biggrin: I'm not even a TSLA shareholder haha, though i have considered
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
lol tricky play on words, but agreed:biggrin: I'm not even a TSLA shareholder haha, though i have considered
This is where a good agent would be beneficial, and where the commoditization of auto insurance is hurting the general public. Without getting on my soapbox, unequivocally yes. Buy the highest limits you can afford, and then an umbrella is a good idea over and above that. The only people who should be driving around with minimum limits of liability are those that have absolutely no assets to pursue. Raising liability limits is one of the least expensive things to do on your auto policy, and it should be a no brainer (especially those with a Tesla). I've personally been involved in (from a professional standpoint) claims where medical bills exceed $300,000 in an instant, and then attorney's get involved and start going after my customer's personal assets, business, etc. because small children were severely injured and all the associated future medical expenses, pain & suffering, etc. When you have $1.5 to $3 million plus in liability limits, that allows your ins company to negotiate a good settlement before your personal assets have to be involved. Otherwise, if you have 100/300/50 limits or so, your insurance company will happily write that $100,000 check and then you are on your own.
It would just depend. I personally was backed into (model s was 6 days old..) and even though it was just a low-speed accident, it was $10k in damages plus I recovered another $10k in diminished value. I'm sure that other driver is going to be surprised when he finds out that his insurance company paid $21k (including a month's worth of rental) for a 5mph bump into my car in the parking lot.
Scratches and dents would most likely be under $1,000. But here is the issue, say I did have a $250 or $500 deductible and I had an accident where I bumped into a post or scratched my door. Probably anything less than $2,000 in damages, I'm going to be paying out of pocket (especially if its collision or considered at-fault). Comprehensive, that number would be lower because you are penalized less severely (running into a animal, hail damage, fire, vandalism, etc.). So if you are still a little averse to higher deductibles, I would see what the premium would be for $250 or $500 on comp and $1,000 on collision. You do not want collision or at-fault claims on your record if you can help it.
Here is a real world case that I dealt with this week. Customer calls me for a quote. Retired married couple. One 2014 Ford F350. Premium was $1056 a year with the highest limits available ($1 million / $1 million / $1 million split limits), UM, rental, towing, and $500 deductibles on comp/coll. When first quoting, I asked if he or his wife had any tickets or accidents. No they don't. So I go ahead and quote and present, with the caveat that if anything shows up on the MVR or accident repots, then this could change. They assure me that nothing would show up. I get the apps signed and collect premium. I go back to my office to order the reports and upload the policies. Of course, a speeding ticket for him and a small at-fault accident for her comes back (she backed into a post, $1099 was paid out by her carrier). My new premium? $2100. It doubled. The amount it went up was the entire amount paid by her previous insurance company. If I would've been her agent I would've told them to strongly consider paying that $1500 out of pocket than to file it. They wound up going with lower limits, but the premium is still $900 more per year than if they had a clean record. This will stick with them for at least 3 years.
That's why when you look at my claim history, there isn't a single thing on it. Insurance was originally meant to be for catastrophes only (both auto and home), but more and more it has become more of a maintenance program. All of this is applicable to house insurance as well.
Okay, I wound up climbing on my soapbox anyway. Sorry about that!
Let me know if you have any more questions.
I'd say its worth shopping. I hit up alot of carriers for quotes and they just came in grossly lower for whatever reason. Maybe another carrier will be lower, a lot of insurance companies are ignorant to this car.
I'd think seriously about more property damage coverage than $25K. That won't cover you if you hit a Chevy these days, much less another Tesla.
-- Doug
Agreed. To make it official, I'll post the limits I am now using after receiving so much insight from this thread
Bodily Injury - $250k/$500k
Property Damage - 100k
Uninsured Motorist - $100k/$300k (still debating on this one)
Medical Payments - $1k per person
P90D Coverage
Collision - $1k deductible
Comprehensive - $1k deductible
Rental - $30 per day
Regal Coverage
none
It's funny to me. The purpose of this thread was me asking why my insurance was being quoted so highly and how I could lower it, but in the end the answers I've received have taught me the value of insurance and practicality of choosing limits I would've otherwise written off as 'simply too expensive':biggrin:
I have Geico in GA, one other car and clean record. I chose the 2015 Tesla Model S Perform because they didn't have the p85d mentioned specifically. My 6 month premium is:
Comprehensive (2500 ded): $45
Collision (2500 ded): $276
The liability portion is $360 for both drivers, $300k/$300k/$100k, including uninsured coverage.
Comprehensive (2500 ded): $45
Collision (2500 ded): $276
The liability portion is $360 for both drivers, $300k/$300k/$100k, including uninsured coverage.
Good job xJPN. We are constantly blasted with "Save 15%" or "Progressive customers save on average a MILLION dollars by switching", when it's not all about how much you save. Auto insurance isn't a loaf of bread. I can tell you what insurance companies are a pain in the NECK to deal with on claims, and which ones are awesome.
Another note about property damage, don't always just think in terms of "totaling out that new Lexus". I've seen claims where someone caused an 18-wheeler to run off the road and overturn, carrying $2 million worth of electronics. Or gasoline, which leaks into the nearby creek...now you have pollution clean up expenses.
It can get ugly really quick.
The difference in 30/60/25 (our state minimum limits here in TX) and 250/500/250 can be as little as $10-$15 a month sometimes, depending on the company. You don't want to find that out after the fact when your insurance company wrote a check for $25,000 and then you get deposition summons in the mail.
Always buy as much liability as you can stand.
Glad this was of some help. Now just move to Texas so I can write your policy.... :wink:
Another note about property damage, don't always just think in terms of "totaling out that new Lexus". I've seen claims where someone caused an 18-wheeler to run off the road and overturn, carrying $2 million worth of electronics. Or gasoline, which leaks into the nearby creek...now you have pollution clean up expenses.
It can get ugly really quick.
The difference in 30/60/25 (our state minimum limits here in TX) and 250/500/250 can be as little as $10-$15 a month sometimes, depending on the company. You don't want to find that out after the fact when your insurance company wrote a check for $25,000 and then you get deposition summons in the mail.
Always buy as much liability as you can stand.
Glad this was of some help. Now just move to Texas so I can write your policy.... :wink:
Bradleybang
Member
+1000 JMG. Good advice all around. I am in the insurance industry too. Raise deductibles and buy higher limits of liability protection.
I'm 33, single, and I have a 09 E350 and P90D full coverage, and a 95 BMW liability only. 100/300/100, $500 deductibles, loan/lease payoff, and uninsured coverage of 100/300/100. Tesla alone is 841 for 6 months, in total it is 1600 for 6 months. This is through Progressive. No tickets and two not at fault accidents.
I was going to go with another company, I forget which now because of the Umbrella policy and renters insurance, but they wanted another 800/yr after multi-car/multi-policy discount.
I was going to go with another company, I forget which now because of the Umbrella policy and renters insurance, but they wanted another 800/yr after multi-car/multi-policy discount.
Zybane
Member
Not sure why Geico is so expensive with the Tesla. Look's like I will switch back to my old insurance, USAA.
Ulmo
Active Member
According to California DMV liability requirements at https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/brochures/fast_facts/ffvr18, I can:
Is it possible to use a Surety bond to cover California minimums, and get an umbrella over that, and then save money? I'm getting an off-the-cuff quote from Geico of $726/mo ($8,716/y) for a Model S 85; I'll nail that down coming up, but I'm trying to see difference between 90D and P90D. I'm wondering if the P makes any difference. If my quote is $9K/yr, I'd rather just bypass that.
Edit: Shopping around, Progressive quoted me more coverage for less money ($433/month for 100/300/100 which is $5,190 a year --- a bit over half of Geico), for a 2015 Tesla S 85 / S 85 Performance (they group them together).
In both cases, I set deductables around $2,500, and that made a huge difference for the Progressive quote. This makes me wonder about umbrella policies. But more than that, it makes me think this whole thing is more reasonable than the original $1,051.77/month quote Geico gave me that I optimized to very low coverage at $726/month.
Ahh but wait, for Geico I used a different zip code ... let's see if that makes a difference: yes, now the Progressive yearly is $5,605/year if I use the same zip code with them as I did for Geico, a $415/year increase for a different zip. Seeing as how I want to move to the cheaper zip, that might help.
Edit 2: Ok, if I get minimum coverage at Progressive, it's $1K/yr cheaper, but then the umbrella would have to be less than or equal to $1K to make that worth it.
Last edited:
BertL
Active Member
FWIW with State Farm, a P90D would have been ~$200 more than my 90D every 6 months for me here in San Diego when I was checking rates before placing an order this past September, and I'm over 50 with zero tickets in nearly 40 years. As my agents told me when I was in my early 20's moving from Riverside to L.A., the only way to reduce my rates was to get married or move to another zip code until I got older and rates came down -- or buy a different car (e.g. Hondas that I was looking at back in the day were stolen and chopped more than some other brands) where rates would still be comparatively higher because of my demographic. Being a single young male, especially in certain cities with higher claim rates is a problem rate-wise, and honestly, a Tesla does not help that as rates are not the best for many of the reasons cited throughout threads like this while Tesla is in it's early stages and hasn't caught on to the need to focus on improving repair costs of their vehicles (IMHO, that will happen as M3 increases in volume, if Tesla is to be successful longer-term -- but that does not help you today.). Hang in there. Good luck.
Razdds2
Member
My rates changed when I moved 10 minutes east in the same town....car insurance rates don't make sense to me. Liberty Mutual quoted me $3,000 per year and Geico was $3,600 a year, both these quotes for my 2014 S85 (age 22). Now I traded that in for a 2015 P85D (age 23), and I am paying $1,400 a year from Progressive.... All similar coverage levels.
Umbrella policies have minimum requirements for other coverage. My policy specifies specific liability coverage that I need for specific items. For example, my boat policy needs certain requirements to be covered under the umbrella.
Similar threads
