Car Insurance
 

Received a letter from Travelers (car insurance) stating they will no longer continue coverage based on "your agent (AAA) no longer represents us for personal lines property and casualty business".

So I've started car insurance shopping. Sticker shock! The least expensive policy is $800 more than last year. The agent I'm working with included these articles:

Auto insurance rates this year have seen the largest increase in 47 years per CNN Business.

Car insurance rates just had their biggest annual jump in 47 years. This is why | CNN Business

Per the Washington Post article, auto rates on average went up 17% across the country but the state to state increases are drastically different. In Florida, they show an increase of 88%, by far the largest in the country.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/busin...ims-disasters/

I'm still continuing to shop and some may say that an increase of $800 is good but my, my.

I have Travelers for my car insurance, but no agent. I buy it directly from Travelers. I switched states last year (from my former home state to Florida), & my insurance did go up a bit (more than $100, less than $200). I thought it wasn't too awful.

You say the least expensive increase is $800, but not what your base is.

Insurance prices change depending on different factors. Your car matters (ie: I've heard Kias are very expensive to insure), your credit rating matters, your driving record matters & so on.

My auto insurance is with State Farm, which costs $424 for a 6-month policy. About half of the premium is for liability coverage of $1 million. Most auto insurance companies don't offer that much liability coverage.

That sounds awfully cheap. Do you have collision, comprehensive, and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage?

I have collision, comprehensive, liability, and whatever is mandatory. I do not have any uninsured motorist coverage. I have a 2017 Ford Escape.

Mine's the same - TV Travelers - under 800

Like Dusty Star said. Drop the agent and keep Travelers.

Agree, even though their rate, like all others have gone up dramatically. I have 2 cars insured with comp ,collision, and 500K liability as well as uninsured motorist coverage.
2022-----$1109
2023-----$1699
2024-----$2089, equaling an 88% increase without any tickets or claims.

Still better and cheaper than competing quotes

Car insurance rates will continue to climb as long as these lawyers, such as Morgan & Morgan and Dan Newland keep getting million of their clients. The government needs to cap these outrageous payouts!

Car Insurance
 

Thank you all for your replies and suggestions.

Update: received a letter from AAA (not the agent but the company) yesterday stating that THEY would continue the coverage in place of Travelers but for only a 6 month term. The other quotes I received were for a 6 month term also. Guess that's the way it is now - 6 months at a time. Anyway, the price given was "ballpark" to last years Traveler's policy and we will go with them.

I blame myself for being so reactionary. They mailed the renewal cancellation on 02-29 and our policy expires on 04-23. I immediately reacted by contacting other agents for quotes knowing that these things take time. AAA sent the letter I received yesterday, 3 weeks after the cancellation notice. I just should have waited. My situation resolved itself and now I have another "lesson learned" to add to my lessons of life.

Thank you all again.

It will continue to climb. Car accidents more and more cost more to repair than the vehicle is worth so more and more cars are junked. Electonics and safety stuff is very expensive to replace. The new tail lights on some F-150s are $5,500 each! That assisted safety stuff being cameras and the like that were not in cars just a few years ago and now standard stuff is not cheap to replace and they are in places that get destroyed in accidents. Vehicles are turning into throw away appliances. This all costs a great deal of money,

Not jus car insurance.....................Trucking insurance is out of control if you drive in Florida or California.
Some trucking companies refuse to drive in FL &/or CA.

"Everything" you buy comes by truck & you are paying for their insurance.

Six month auto policies have been the industry standard for a long time. Companies that offer 12 month policies are in the minority.

I recently changed insurance because of the new car I purchased, previously I was paying about $900 a year and with a lot of shopping I was able to get full coverage for around $1200 a year.

We have Travelers through The Villages Insurance. Travelers does seem to have the best rates.

That's not only in CA. or FL.

EVERY state is contributing to high insurance shipping cost including the states you drive through to get between said states.

What about wild fires/floods in the western states excluding CA.?

MINE in AZ went up over $300 we have worse drivers here

KIA and HYUNDAI thats why I didnt buy those cars easy to steal from my ins lady said your lucky if you can find one that will cover you too !

FYI best to find a year coverage they can raise you every 6 months again insurance lady suggested and said this

Car Insurance is extreme
 

For those who feel they still have a reasonable annual rate, it will change.. We are carrying homeowners insurance on a house we no longer own because it is bundled under AAA until July. It is cheaper than moving to an auto only policy and paying the same rate for 6 months that we did annually.

Lawyers rates are governed. Biggest problem is that juries have rewarded their clients immensely and no control over them. Just like the old McDonalds hot coffee case. Medical malpractice damages have been capped and now it it hard to get a good lawyer to handle a legitimate medical malpractice case. Lawyers will always find ways around the rules

Many auto insurance companies limit their liability coverage to $250K maximum. I had to shop around to find a company that would sell me $1 million. So, I think auto insurance rates are more likely determined by smaller property damage claims.

There are lots of things to like about Florida, but property and casualty (homeowners and auto insurance) is without a doubt NOT one of those things. The best I could do for our 2005 BMW convertible in Florida was $610 for 6 month’s coverage. I registered the Beamer in Massachusetts and added it to our existing policy up there and we now pay an ANNUAL premium of $1,245 for three vehicles, the Beamer, my truck, and my wife’s Honda SUV. The only bummer is that I now have to get an annual inspection on the Beamer, but it’s exempt from the emissions portion of the inspection because of its age so I don’t have to replace the expensive catalytic converter which actually makes the car run worse.

That is very cheap. I have no citations, no accidents, my car is garaged. I’m paying more than that and I have full coverage and a high deductible, That quote is very odd. I paid that years ago before rates increased.

Wouldn't an umbrella policy be a better option?

An umbrella policy is an option, but you need to max out your liability coverage on your auto and homeowners policies, and then pay the umbrella premium. Umbrella policies are not as cheap as some people claim. With State Farm, I can get $1 million liability coverage as part of the auto policy alone, which, to me, is more important than liability coverage on my homeowners policy. I have $500K liability on my Progressive homeowners policy. Many companies do not sell high liability limits for auto insurance. Two companies that do are State Farm and Allstate.

A few years ago, I switched from Allstate to State Farm, and my 6-month policy went from $650 to $325. It is now $424. I have full coverage for collision and comprehensive, a $500 deductible, and $1 million in personal liability. Note that I do save money by rejecting the optional uninsured motorist (UM) coverage, which I consider a waste of money. Some people disagree with that. See other threads about UM.

Auto insurance
 

You can thank Morgan & Morgan

All pretty basic stuff: Insurance costs for cars are based on risk. If models are in demand for thieves, if models have issues which make them more prone to accidents, if lawyers can entice people with high payouts for injuries, etc, etc, etc. They need to take all of that and much more into consideration while insuring they can also meet operating expenses and earn a profit when they determine rates. You could be a terrific accident and claim free driver and still need to pay a share of their costs

I use traveller's as well and it went up 500 bucks a year just by moving to florida, you know, where all the really old people drive around drunk and high?
Hahaha its well worth it!

Don't think applies to newer models

There are other agents who represent Travelers. Mine is with The Villages Insurance or there are Independent agents in Lady Lake, Leesburg, etc. You should be able to retain your current policy.

If you continue your online search, you'll find there are companies out there that are competitive. I had the same problem with both auto and homeowners as they both come due within 30 days of each other. I found quotes online that were below my previous policies. I had Villages Insurance handling both. Travelers for auto and Progressive for homeowners. Tried calling Villages Insurance twice and both times got a seven minute recorded commercial about how they were making things convenient for me, then when someone live finally picked up, was asked if I would like someone to call me about my policy next Monday between 1 and 2, or Wednesday between 3 and 4!! I couldn't believe it ! So just hung up and started searching online and found policies for both auto and homeowners a good deal cheaper. Then I found out that Villages Ins could've combined my policies and saved me a lot. I finally wound up with State Farm, but in my search there were 3 or 4 companies with better offers. Keep looking. They're out there.
Good luck!

Call 352-245-2423, Ask for Tammy. She will try to get you an affordable premium.

All true, but cost is also dictated by insurance companies ability to have a diversified book of risk. When their appetite for specific types of risk gets full, premiums increase. Florida offers unique risks including the sheer amount of seniors and tourists, flood risk from hurricanes in the costal regions, vehicles that aren’t required to get annual safety inspections, ambulance chasing attorneys, etc….. Most other geographic regions don’t offer certain risks abundant in Florida.