Insurance For 1st Time Drivers
 

Hello All,

I wasn't sure where to post this question, but I wanted to post on this site as I've been looking for my first car to have fantastic fuel economy.

I've been browsing several used cars based on your hints in my previous post, and I wanted to ask about insurance.
I'm considering to buy the following: 1991 Honda Civic DX, 120K Miles, 1 Owner, No Accident History (It needs to have it's auto transmission fixed as it slips in second gear).
I've been quoted by Progressive at $850.00.
I know insurance is usually high for first time drivers. I'm twenty-four, college graduate, live in NYC, and am considering moving out of the state, use the car recreationally, etc.
I wanted to ask if anyone can recommend any particular insurance company, one the've had success with and perhaps one whose rate is lower. Is looking for something around $600 out of the question? If I take the NYC Defensive Driving Course, etc.
Is there anything I can do to lower my quote?

Sincerely,
Boris Riabov

The defensive driving course should lower it. Unfortunately, you are in one of the worst locations, and the wrong sex and age for insurance rates.

You could get married. :)

No marriage, not yet. I have to fall in love with my first car first. What if I were to move to another state? I'm considering road-tripping across the country, but perhaps it might be smarter to settle somewhere first, get an address and go? I know Maine has the lower insurance policies (for example). Do I just need an address for my insurance company?

NYC is one of the worst areas in the country for insurance rates. Add first time driver, and a small Honda. I don't know if the insurance companies are penalizing owners of small Hondas because some punk kids think they're racecars, but that's a distinct possibility. Your insurance will go down A LOT if you get married. Most companies will also give you a discount if you hold multiple policies with them (Homeowner's, renter's, life, etc.). You can shop around, but for right now you may not find a significantly lower rate until you move out of the city, get married, turn 25, display a good driving record, etc.

Was that $850 per month, per 6 months, per year? Does it include collision and comprehensive coverages or just liability and uninsured motorist? How much coverage (e.g. 100,000/300,000 or 250,000/500,000 etc)? If you were quoted with collision and/or comprehensive, what's the deductible?

Since you're new to this, definitions:

- Liability protects other people's medical and repair bills if you are at fault in a crash. Required by law.

- Uninsured/underinsured motorist covers you when someone else is at fault and they don't have insurance or your costs are higher than their maximum coverage amount. May be required by law, or you may be able to opt-out by signing a waiver.

- Comprehensive covers theft, vandalism, glass, damage caused by others when the car is parked, etc but does NOT cover everything, despite its name. Optional. It's probably expensive in NYC. I get it on old, low-value vehicles to cover glass and expensive things I leave in my vehicle (such as tools or gadgets); it's cheap where I live/drive/work.

- Collision covers your car when you are at fault in a crash. It's expensive for cars that are expensive to repair or replace. Optional. On a low-value car it's pointless unless you get it with no deductible. Even if you get it with no deductible it's likely to be more expensive than it's worth, since the maximum they'll pay is whatever they declare as the book value of the car. I don't bother with it because it's much more expensive than comp and I don't get in at-fault collisions (or really, any collisions) (because I'm awesome).

Collision and comprehensive are usually packaged together and most people think they are part of the same coverage, but they can be had a la carte and that's how I operate.

Ask how much it would cost if you live in {wherever you plan to call home next}. There's no need to wait to buy the car; you'll pay the higher insurance rate until you change your place of residence, then your rate will drop (or you can shop it again). If you've paid ahead they will prorate the difference.

I've never had any of the recommended discounts (like a defensive driving course) actually make a meaningful difference. I have done well by shopping for the best price and tweaking my coverage to exactly what I want. I have never done well with an old-fashioned local insurance agent; the best prices and service I've had were direct with huge conglomerates like Geico, Travelers, AIG, etc. I also find it more convenient that way because I can use their web interface to tweak my coverages, quote cars, etc.

If you or one of your parents served in the military, check with USAA.

Check your credit report. Credit is used as part of actuarial data based on a correlation between insurance payouts and credit rating, so if you have bad credit they'll think you might cost them more. If there's a mistake on your credit report, get it fixed and then try again with insurance quotes.

If you have any other insurance, like renters insurance, see if you can get a good rate through the same company.

As a side note, I hope a 1991 Civic with a failing transmission is a lot less expensive than the budget you mentioned in your other thread. That's not a car whose price should have four digits. Speaking of which, it's probably insane to get collision and comprehensive coverage on that car in NYC. Where I am it might be worth getting comp but still not collision.

It's not because of what they think, but rather because of the statistical data (aka "actuary data") they have. If that car is high it might be because of punk kid racer wannabe stereotypes or it might be from something else. Anyway we can't say whether that's in play or not because we haven't seen rates for other cars.

I'm getting that Civic, for an even grand, and from my research I've seen many of them with many more miles listed for much more.
I've been told that fixing the transmission might cost me $200-330? Would that be an accurate estimate?

I was quoted at $850 for six months, and it did not specify what coverage. It did say minimum, however.

1. Is liability insurance the only one required by law? I've been recommended to purchase uninsured motorist coverage as well. I do not have to get collission, correct?

So...
Liability (Necessary)
Uninsured Motorist (Optional, Yes)
Comprehensive (Optional, No): I won't have expensive things in my car anyways.
Collision (Optional, No): If my car is worth only one grand, etc.

2. If I purchase insurance for six months, could I still alter/lower it if I move within those six months to another state and declare my new address?

3. I don't have any credit-cards, never had any. I only have college loans I am paying off. Would auto companies look at that?

Thank You,
Boris

My Quote
 

That's certainly possible depending on what the problem is, how accurate the diagnosis is, and what else is going to be found wrong once it's apart.

Correct on all counts.

Yes. They will prorate the difference, which means they'll divide it up by how much time you spent at the old address vs. the new one.

I did a search and it sounds like student loans do get reported, so probably yes. You can see your own credit report for free thanks to a federal law requiring the credit bureaus to give you the info once a year without cost or obligation. You access that info through annualcreditreport.com (not to be confused with heavily advertised "free" credit report sites that sign you up for stuff or aren't really free).

Attachment failed. I recommend putting it on Photobucket, imgur, picturehoster.info, etc and embedding here, that works better on most automotive forums I've seen.

I tried to fix it, but it doesn't appear to be a complete image address in there. I then looked under the admin section of the site, and did not see any attachments uploaded by him.