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Post by hdoublej on Mar 4, 2019 15:33:23 GMT
We have been looking at our car insurance rates recently. When we were younger we set everything up for a $500 deductible (may have even been $250 at one time) but have recently thought it would be better to change it to $1,000 for our rates. I think we set it up that way because the thought of coming up with $1,000 at one time was daunting. We have since become better with our money management and have $1,000 set back for emergencies so it would be easy to come up with that much. We are thinking with what we would save in our monthly insurance premiums, it would pay for itself in no time. I have an appointment today at lunch to see if we are correct. It just made me wonder how other people are set up.
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scorpeao
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,524
Location: NorCal USA
Jun 25, 2014 21:04:54 GMT
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Post by scorpeao on Mar 4, 2019 15:40:59 GMT
My insurance is considerably cheaper with a $1K deductible. If I didn't have enough in the bank, which I do, I'd put it on a credit card
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Post by busy on Mar 4, 2019 15:40:59 GMT
$1000. It wouldn’t be a hardship to pay that at any point and it keeps our rates lower, so I’d rather save on premiums. We’ve had one claim in 20 years, so we definitely come out ahead with a larger deductible.
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Post by mom on Mar 4, 2019 15:48:09 GMT
$1000 - we have that amount ear marked to use only for car deductibles.
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Post by Really Red on Mar 4, 2019 15:59:20 GMT
$250. I have 3 kids, but the difference between $250 and $500 was very small, less than $250. It's been worth it several times over for us. But I'm in VA and car insurance here is SO cheap. I have 3 cars, 3 young drivers (all in school), one old driver (hah - me) and I pay $1100 annually for everything. One speeding ticket on one kid and that is it. I have used this insurance at least 4 times in the past 5 years, too.
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Post by **GypsyGirl** on Mar 4, 2019 16:04:04 GMT
We go for the highest deductible on both the cars and the house. It keeps the monthly premiums down.
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Post by littlemama on Mar 4, 2019 16:06:55 GMT
Insurance rates in my state are insanely high, so we pretty much have to have the maximum deductible.
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Post by hdoublej on Mar 4, 2019 16:11:24 GMT
$250. I have 3 kids, but the difference between $250 and $500 was very small, less than $250. It's been worth it several times over for us. But I'm in VA and car insurance here is SO cheap. I have 3 cars, 3 young drivers (all in school), one old driver (hah - me) and I pay $1100 annually for everything. One speeding ticket on one kid and that is it. I have used this insurance at least 4 times in the past 5 years, too. We are ranked in the top 15 for highest insurance rates in the U.S.  It's crazy! |
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johnnysmom
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,687
Jun 25, 2014 21:16:33 GMT
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Post by johnnysmom on Mar 4, 2019 16:29:48 GMT
$250. I have 3 kids, but the difference between $250 and $500 was very small, less than $250. It's been worth it several times over for us. But I'm in VA and car insurance here is SO cheap. I have 3 cars, 3 young drivers (all in school), one old driver (hah - me) and I pay $1100 annually for everything. One speeding ticket on one kid and that is it. I have used this insurance at least 4 times in the past 5 years, too. We are ranked in the top 15 for highest insurance rates in the U.S. It's crazy! 15? That's nothing.....we're number one  I'm actually spending part of my day today trying to find a cheaper option, we currently pay over $3k/year for 3 drivers/2 cars (ones 10yrs old) We keep our deductible at $500 because there are times when more than that might be uncomfortable. Our home owners has a $1k deductible though. |
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Post by Really Red on Mar 4, 2019 16:42:49 GMT
Where are you guys? NJ? That's super expensive, I know. When I was in MD, it was also very expensive. Where else it is outrageous? CA? Boston? And now that I have to pay my $1K deductible for my homeowners insurance, I wish I had paid a little more into it to have a lower deductible  |
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Post by hdoublej on Mar 4, 2019 17:19:04 GMT
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Aug 18, 2025 20:06:34 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2019 17:34:17 GMT
I think ours is now at 1k too. Like you it was less when younger as we just couldn't come up with much cash.
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Post by SnoopyFan on Mar 4, 2019 17:58:41 GMT
When my husband and I separated and I went on my own policy I set the deductible at $500 because I knew a higher amount would be a hardship.
Then I set up a savings account and an automatic transfer of $15/week. I just recently hit $1000 in that account, so I need to call my insurance company and have them change my policy. I'm continuing the $15 transfers to let the account build up even more to help with future expenses.
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Post by JustCallMeMommy on Mar 4, 2019 18:24:11 GMT
I have a super low deductible, but I go into my insurance's website about once a year and play the "what if" game. What if I increased the deductible and spent that money on more collision? What if I take off the towing insurance? What if I increase everything to the max? I love that I can use sliders to try out various scenarios and get instant feedback.
I'm not looking forward to seeing what is going to happen when I add a teen though.
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Post by Really Red on Mar 4, 2019 19:47:59 GMT
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Post by hdoublej on Mar 4, 2019 19:59:01 GMT
Really Red  I fixed it. What you found was the link I was trying to post. 
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Aug 18, 2025 20:06:34 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2019 20:22:00 GMT
$250. No way do I want to have to dip into savings or use a credit card to cover a deductible. I would rather take $250 from the monthly budget. And many times the repair costs way less than $1000. I hit my side mirror and it cost $218. Instead of paying the $250, I just paid oop with no insurance.
We pay $160 to $198 for 9 months with AAA for full coverage on 2 vehicles (1 is a year and 6 months old) so it is already a good rate.
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johnnysmom
Drama Llama
Posts: 5,687
Jun 25, 2014 21:16:33 GMT
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Post by johnnysmom on Mar 4, 2019 20:26:40 GMT
Where are you guys? NJ? That's super expensive, I know. When I was in MD, it was also very expensive. Where else it is outrageous? CA? Boston? Oh, no, none of those crowded, expensive places.....Michigan....middle of freakin' now where Michigan  And looking at that list confirms that our insurance went insane when we moved from Ohio (#50 out of 51) to Michigan (#1). |
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Post by busy on Mar 4, 2019 20:27:56 GMT
$250. No way do I want to have to dip into savings or use a credit card to cover a deductible. I would rather take $250 from the monthly budget. And many times the repair costs way less than $1000. I hit my side mirror and it cost $218. Instead of paying the $250, I just paid oop with no insurance. We pay $160 to $198 for 9 months with AAA for full coverage on 2 vehicles (1 is a year and 6 months old) so it is already a good rate. Isn't that the whole point of savings? To have money available for you when unexpected expenses arise? I'm talking general savings, obviously, not retirement or an emergency fund. Are you saying you pay $198 TOTAL for 9 months or $198/month? |
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Post by littlemama on Mar 4, 2019 21:17:59 GMT
$250. I have 3 kids, but the difference between $250 and $500 was very small, less than $250. It's been worth it several times over for us. But I'm in VA and car insurance here is SO cheap. I have 3 cars, 3 young drivers (all in school), one old driver (hah - me) and I pay $1100 annually for everything. One speeding ticket on one kid and that is it. I have used this insurance at least 4 times in the past 5 years, too. Holy cow, we have 3 cars, 3 drivers, one of whom just turned 21 and we pay $4600/year - all of us have clean records and have never filed a claim. |
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maryannscraps
Pearl Clutcher
Posts: 4,948
Aug 28, 2017 12:51:28 GMT
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Post by maryannscraps on Mar 4, 2019 21:37:22 GMT
Where are you guys? NJ? That's super expensive, I know. When I was in MD, it was also very expensive. Where else it is outrageous? CA? Boston? And now that I have to pay my $1K deductible for my homeowners insurance, I wish I had paid a little more into it to have a lower deductible Boston area here. Our insurance is reasonable -- and according to the linked website we're #38/50. We're up there for awful traffic and high housing prices, but insurance isn't bad here. |
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Post by AussieMeg on Mar 4, 2019 22:10:35 GMT
I think mine is $400. The last time I had to make a claim was when DD crashed my car, and my excess (deductible) was $1000 because she was a Learner driver.
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Aug 18, 2025 20:06:34 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2019 23:25:44 GMT
$250. No way do I want to have to dip into savings or use a credit card to cover a deductible. I would rather take $250 from the monthly budget. And many times the repair costs way less than $1000. I hit my side mirror and it cost $218. Instead of paying the $250, I just paid oop with no insurance. We pay $160 to $198 for 9 months with AAA for full coverage on 2 vehicles (1 is a year and 6 months old) so it is already a good rate. Isn't that the whole point of savings? To have money available for you when unexpected expenses arise? I'm talking general savings, obviously, not retirement or an emergency fund. Are you saying you pay $198 TOTAL for 9 months or $198/month? I would rather have the savings for medical emergencies (btdt), new appliances when old ones die because they are $$$, or car repairs. To me spending $20 more a month to have a $250 deductible is worth it, especially when I can easily pull $250 from our budget under "other expenses" in which we have $300-400 a month and what is not used is rolled over to savings. And yes the savings would only be $20. |
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Aug 18, 2025 20:06:34 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 4, 2019 23:28:53 GMT
$250. No way do I want to have to dip into savings or use a credit card to cover a deductible. I would rather take $250 from the monthly budget. And many times the repair costs way less than $1000. I hit my side mirror and it cost $218. Instead of paying the $250, I just paid oop with no insurance. We pay $160 to $198 for 9 months with AAA for full coverage on 2 vehicles (1 is a year and 6 months old) so it is already a good rate. Isn't that the whole point of savings? To have money available for you when unexpected expenses arise? I'm talking general savings, obviously, not retirement or an emergency fund. Are you saying you pay $198 TOTAL for 9 months or $198/month? With AAA it starts at a high of $198 in Oct and my last payment is June usually around $160. We have no insurance payment for July, Aug, Sept but coverage. Before the new vehicle we paid $170 as a high and about $134 as a low. And that is with $500,000 for accident, $250 deductible, loads of savings |
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Post by anniefb on Mar 5, 2019 1:08:17 GMT
Just to be different mine is $750.
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Post by just PEAchy on Mar 5, 2019 2:39:40 GMT
Ours is $50 for comprehensive and $250 for collision.
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Post by busy on Mar 5, 2019 6:15:44 GMT
Isn't that the whole point of savings? To have money available for you when unexpected expenses arise? I'm talking general savings, obviously, not retirement or an emergency fund. Are you saying you pay $198 TOTAL for 9 months or $198/month? I would rather have the savings for medical emergencies (btdt), new appliances when old ones die because they are $$$, or car repairs. To me spending $20 more a month to have a $250 deductible is worth it, especially when I can easily pull $250 from our budget under "other expenses" in which we have $300-400 a month and what is not used is rolled over to savings. And yes the savings would only be $20. I guess I just don’t see the point of paying more for a lower deductible when paying a higher deductible won’t hurt us financially, whether that’s coming from savings or regular income. You pay $240 extra a year for a smaller deductible. In the 20 years DH and I have had auto insurance together, we have had one claim where we’ve had to pay the deductible. If we’d been paying $20 extra every month, that would be $4800. Having a $250 deductible would have “saved” us $750 one time. By paying less for the higher deductible, we’ve actually saved $4050 over the years. |
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Post by Spongemom Scrappants on Mar 5, 2019 11:41:46 GMT
To me spending $20 more a month to have a $250 deductible is worth it, especially when I can easily pull $250 from our budget under "other expenses" in which we have $300-400 a month and what is not used is rolled over to savings. And yes the savings would only be $20. You pay $240 extra a year for a smaller deductible. Yep. This would be an easy decision for me. If you multiply the $20 extra per month you pay times the twelve months in a year @calimom2, that's $240 as busy said. Virtually the same amount you're trying to avoid spending on a higher deductible. If you save the $20 a month by raising your deductible, then any year you don't make a claim, you have won. You have come out ahead. Over the course of years of car insurance coverage, you definitely come out ahead. |
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peppermintpatty
Pearl Clutcher
Refupea #1345
Posts: 4,209 
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Post by peppermintpatty on Mar 5, 2019 12:52:28 GMT
$250. I have 3 kids, but the difference between $250 and $500 was very small, less than $250. It's been worth it several times over for us. But I'm in VA and car insurance here is SO cheap. I have 3 cars, 3 young drivers (all in school), one old driver (hah - me) and I pay $1100 annually for everything. One speeding ticket on one kid and that is it. I have used this insurance at least 4 times in the past 5 years, too. You don't live in Northern VA, do you:)? Insurance around there is NOT cheap. |
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Deleted
Posts: 0
Aug 18, 2025 20:06:34 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2019 14:55:55 GMT
We had our deductible set at $1000 until January of this year. Three cars with three no-fault accidents in September, November and December and a husband not working for almost two years put a nice dent in our budget right before Christmas. I shuffled some coverage items (rental car) and switched to $500 deductible for the same monthly premium. Thank goodness our rates have stayed the same.
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I'm actually spending part of my day today trying to find a cheaper option, we currently pay over $3k/year for 3 drivers/2 cars (ones 10yrs old) We keep our deductible at $500 because there are times when more than that might be uncomfortable. Our home owners has a $1k deductible though.
