What insurance to go for?

[gaurav91pandey]

I have never owned a car before so this may sound a noob question. I am 24 (underage, in terms of insurance). The car is also leased. I just got my CA license. I have 5+ years of incident-free driving history in another country which will be counted only after 18 months of driving history here(according to AAA). I have 0 years of CA (USA) driving history.

Now keeping this in mind, what would be my best option and what questions should I ask the insurance company while getting the quote.

 

[CLLACAB]

Make sure when you get quotes, you are comparing similar coverages. Aside from that, I would include Wawanesa in your quotes. They are very competitive in California.

 

[Armadillos]

I would recommend shopping around. You are going to get hit due to your age, but some insurance companies are more willing to work with young drivers over others...

 

[AndreSF]

Shop around of course, but FYI there are certain requirements as far as insurance coverage for leased vehicle. I believe liability must cover $50K (property damage), $300K (bodily injuries) and $500K for any one accident. Deductible can't be higher than $2500.

 

[JenniferSmith]

There are several things that can determine how much a car costs to insure, I suggest you to go read this thread about best auto insurance people there are asking the same thing OR you can ask a broker that could be better to get into any insurance company

 

[byan1232]

Wow! Finally someone around the same age group as me. I got a quote from geico for about 2200/year and I have a clean driving history with no previous claims or violations. Just took delivery today

 

[gaurav91pandey]

Wow! Finally someone around the same age group as me. I got a quote from geico for about 2200/year and I have a clean driving history with no previous claims or violations. Just took delivery today

Cheers! I too was looking for this.

 

[ralsagoff]

Also check out Amica Mutual. Great company that I have been with for 20 years.

 

[gaurav91pandey]

So I spoke with couple of Insurance companies. (AAA, Geico, Farmers, Allstate).

AAA did not give any quote stating too much of a risk for the luxury vehicle.
Farmers said if your DL starts with Y3..... you need at least 6 months before farmers will accept you.
Allstate was too high.
Geico was also high but I got 2200 for 6 months. Considering my special case (see my original post) it seems a good deal.

100k/300k liability
100k/300k uninsured/underinsured liability
50k Property damage
$2500 deductible comprehensive
$2000 deductible collision

I did not find any gap insurance in the options. @byan1232 Does yours include this?

 

[byan1232]

@gaurav91pandey so here's my policy:
100k/300k liability
100k/300k uninsured
50k property
750 deductibles for both

I did not purchase any gap insurance
my policy is 2200 for a year

here's the extras that were factored into my quote:
-beta gamma sigma membership
-gpa >3.0
-no traffic tickets/claims in the past
-defensive drivers course
-age 23

hope this helps. let me know if you have more questions.

 

[gaurav91pandey]

@gaurav91pandey so here's my policy:
100k/300k liability
100k/300k uninsured
50k property
750 deductibles for both

I did not purchase any gap insurance
my policy is 2200 for a year

here's the extras that were factored into my quote:
-beta gamma sigma membership
-gpa >3.0
-no traffic tickets/claims in the past
-defensive drivers course
-age 23

hope this helps. let me know if you have more questions.

Where can I see all the extras that you are talking about. As far as I remember, I got engineer and good driver discount. Do you have to be a full time student to get the >3.0 gpa discount? Because I had that but I graduated in May, 15

 

[byan1232]

The extras I mentioned on the phone as he was giving me a quote. I'm not sure if you have to be a full time student or not. You could always just say you "had" a >3.0gpa

 

[Super_Popular]

I would try Nationwide, in shopping around they were the cheapest, for me anyway,

 

[TaoJones]

Quotes are going to vary based upon zip code and a raft of other policy- and driver-related dynamics too numerous to list.

The 3 lowest quotes for me came from Geico, Costco/Ameriprise, and Wawanesa. Keeping in mind that I'm over 25, but am in SoCal, for purposes of comparison after you get past a couple more birthdays, the quotes averaged $1200/year with high limits, low deductibles, and the usual discounts for a clean driving record and so forth. The rates would have been 25% less had I decided to not domicile the car in probably one of the worst counties in America for car theft and collision. Theft. Heh.

The 3 highest quotes came from Chubb, Allstate, and AAA. Although the first two were 6-figure stated value policies, each in excess of $3500/year for the privilege of them just cutting a check for the purchase price. AAA wanted $2,800/year just for collision which was amusing. I shudder to think if I called them for a P90DL quote rather than for a lowly S85.

Wawanesa at the time of the quote confirmed that they don't differentiate between S and P variants - that's a sweet deal for P owners, given the extra 300HP. I noticed that on the website and figured it was a mistake - but a human later confirmed it. Another thing about Wawanesa - they're a Canadian company, so traveling in Canada is not a problem. JD Power likes Wawanesa as well.

Be prepared to shop rates every year as well, and for bonus points, ask a couple of high-end body shops in your area which insurance companies they like or don't like and why.

 

[gaurav91pandey]

The extras I mentioned on the phone as he was giving me a quote. I'm not sure if you have to be a full time student or not. You could always just say you "had" a >3.0gpa

Awesome @byan1232 . I just finished speaking with Geico! and they reduced my premium from $2207 to $1969 by adding the good student discount!

Thanks everyone for chipping in. This is the best forum. So many of my noob questions have been answered. I look forward to contributing in this as soon as I get my car this month!

 

[ChadFeldheimer]

gaurav: the lease will likely require you to carry a lower deductible. My lease stipulates $1000 maximum deductibles. FYI.

 

[ChadFeldheimer]

Oh, also, I have gap coverage. Via Progressive.

 

[gaurav91pandey]

gaurav: the lease will likely require you to carry a lower deductible. My lease stipulates $1000 maximum deductibles. FYI.

Geico doesn't have GAP insurance in California.

I just checked out the sample lease contract in My Tesla page. It says:

You must insure the vehicle through policies and insurers acceptable to us from the delivery of the vehicle to you until you return it to us, and show us proof if we ask. The liability insurance must cover at least $50,000, $300,000 and $500,000 for property damage, for bodily injuries to any one person, and for any one accident, respectively. The physical damage insurance must cover the vehicle’s full value and no deductible under it may exceed $2,500. The policies must cover the driving of the vehicle by you or anyone likely to do so and must show as additional insureds us and anyone else we designate. We will be entitled to any insurance proceeds for damage, theft or destruction of the vehicle.

@byan1232 Did you lease or finance?

I do have the $50,000 for the property damage.
I don't have $300,000/$500,000 for bodily injuries to any one person. I have $100,00/$300,000. The max Geico offers is $300,000/$300,000.
I do have my deductibles within limit of $2,500.

The change to from $50,000 to $100,000 on PD and $100,000/$300,000 to $300,000/$300,000 is only $20, so I might consider that if required. However $500,000 for any one accident is impossible through Geico.

Tesla has not said anything regarding the policy yet (I had uploaded all the docs). What should I do?

 

[BriansBucketList]

New owner here, and Mercury quoted over 2000/6 mo but came down a little with vehicle tracking. I'm stuck with Mercury for about 6 months, but very concerned about the high cost of repair, and the private repair network model. It may be one of the best cars ever built but within a very restricted ecosystem that confines many frequently needed repair parts to authorized repair centers. If the Model 3 is the same, repair costs may still drive high insurance rates, which could be quite a surprise for the potential buyer to the "economy" Tesla. Does anyone else see a trend up in insurance rates for Teslas ?

 

[dlv1984]

AAA quoted me $1220/yr, Geico was a bit cheaper at $990/yr, but I'll probably stick with AAA as I've had very good experiences with making claims with them.