hyperion667

hello MB heads:

okay........

so I'm buying my car......not leasing or making payments....
was wondering about the ways some of you smarter than me chaps are insuring your MB? I was planning on liability ( a must in NC ) and comp and collision....and probably uninsured motorists which covers all your vehicles....but really not much else.......I'd insure wheels and whatever else for the cost I guess, with a depreciating slide each year in value of course.......
I looked into getting some umbrella coverage with my homeowners insurance ( just for a little something extra )but that wouldn't have worked anyway because I don't have auto with them......

am I forgetting something I need?

any comments are welcome on or off topic......whatever's cool with me

220S

If you have money in the bank, then insure only with liability in mind. Liability/medical payments is the thing potentially worth putting money into. If something does happen and if the capped amount is reached, then the party you damaged will come after your personal wealth. Liability coverage (in this day and age) is important.

To save money on premiums make sure you buy the highest deductible that your pocket can afford. You'll save a lot over the years on that. e.g., if you can afford $2000 deductible, then over the years you'll make that up and more in premium savings.

If you have a lot of money then simply don't buy any collision or any comp coverage. A friend of mine is quite well off and has never bought collision or comp (in some states you do have to post bond or prove you have the funds.) He's never had an accident where he's at fault and so it's been a big savings over the years.

imho, the rest of it (wheels and junk like that) just forget about. You can insure everything in your life but only if it really helps you sleep at night. But that "insurance" costs money. And that's what the insurance companies love. And why they are wealthy corporations. An actuary makes a good salary figuring out risk assessment in the favor of the insurance companies.

K-A

Yeah, I'd forget about the wheels and all that crap. In that regard, it's best to take the gamble. If something happens to them, then oh well, spend the few hundred bucks it takes to fix 'em, or worst case, shell out a couple grand to replace them.... Still it's worth not paying every month for them, to the point where you'll eventually have paid more than the rim is worth, to insure it.

I guess what 220S said makes sense if you have a ton of liquid cash in the Bank. But I don't have the cojones to not insure my car. I'd get a strong liability, and standard collision stuff, with uninsured motorists since it's a cheap upgrade, and call it a day.

Insurance is gambling, that's how I see it. Someone could pay for a $15K car cash, and end up keeping it for 10 years, and spend more on its insurance than the car cost (which means that if they didn't get collision, they would have saved that whole amount of cash over that period of time). However, question is, is it worth that gamble? Or is it best to see it as spending an amount of money every month, that goes to thin air, unless something you hope won't ever happen, does happen. Either way, I think it's best none of us ever calculate how much unused insurance money we've spent in our entire lives.

hyperion667

wow, two awesome replies, thank you gentlemen..........very sound advice...
I did consider just liability, and with my superb driving record it would have been about 151 every six months! I thought that was pretty good......at allstate I got it for 462 every six months, but that's with lia, comp and coll...
you're right, those guys wanna make the sale.......after we were done with car talk the guy asked "so, you okay on life insurance" and I'm sitting there thinking.....uh huh......yeah buddy.........

petee1997

In Ontario we have no fault ins. No need for uninsured drivers ins. Both E's are 3,000.00 deductible and the Porsche is 6,000.00. Over the years this has saved me a ton. I have maximum liability coverage on the auto policy plus a personal liability policy. The deductible is waived if the accident is not my fault. The downside is the high deductible applies to glass and vandalism.

MagicJack

I'd get good insurance for a replacement rental car >=$50/day coverage. I did so the week before my 10 E550 was hit in the rear. I ended up driving a premium rental for 5 months while my car was in the shop.

220S

fwiw, if you were hit by somebody else then their insurance should be paying for the rental, not yours. I was hit years ago and I did everything through the offending party's insurance including free rental of a premium car w/o ever even calling my insurance company. The irony was that the rental cost his insurance company more than the repair

btw, there are other ways to get free rentals w/o using insurance. Auto Club membership usually includes accident benefits like rentals and such.

I guess I'm just from the school that says give as little money as possible to insurance companies. I counted up my premiums for the last decade and it's crazy what we pay out for peace of mind. Like Petee says, take the highest deductible that you possibly can.

fromthebeginnin

I have had $2000 deductible from Nationwide, but does anyone know who has anything higher in the states, say $10000?

FTB

amdeutsch

In regards to rims ... learn how to judge distance to avoid curb rash and pot holes.

In regards to insurance ..... Don't make monthly installment payments. Its cheaper to pay for 6 or 12 month at a time.

K-A

Yeah, that's what I do. I pay the whole year in advance for both of my cars.

I get only a 30/50 or whatever liability coverage through my provider, then go to a 3rd party type of Liability Coverage service, and get like 300K coverage through them for WAY cheaper than my provider would give it for.

220S

Yeah, that's another good tip.

It took me several attempts to get my insurance company to quit the monthly installment and go annually. I asked for annual premiums from the very beginning but they had "defaulted it" to monthly. That monthly service charge adds up and is good profit for the insurance companies. After 5 months they finally switched it and were 'good' enough to reimburse me the $15 of $3/month of fees

jbean114

Wait, wait, wait... Am I understanding correctly that some of you are insured on an E550 for around $1K per year!? I am paying about 3 x that amount! I was told that the reason it is so high is due to (a) no track record with the new model E, and (b) because it is considered "high performance" with 382HP under the hood.

I have a $500 deductible for comp and collision, but even if I go to $1K deductible it's still way above $1K per year (~$2.7K). I'm 31, insured through USAA, and I have a great driving record... I really hope I am misinterpreting what I'm reading.

If I'm getting hosed, can anyone recommend some oher insurance companies they are using...

Much appreciated!

K-A

Well, I have 1 speeding ticket on my record (that actually just expired, thank goodness), and just because of that, and being 27 at the time, I paid over $3K for my '06 E350 last year (and another $1K for my Chevy).

I couldn't believe it. And that's with an Agent searching vigorously for the lowest price.

So $4K total for one fu**king year. This year, I'm paying about $2500, with my Chevy and '10 E. The brand new W212 was WAY cheaper to insure than an '07 S550 or '06 CLS55 for me, surprisingly. So the E350 at least is a bargain to insure.

Hopefully next year, with my record clean, I could get under $2K for both of my cars.

hyperion667

jesus that's high.......The quote I got was UNDER 900 per year.....liability, comp and collision.......
I guess that's pretty good........

thanx for posting

K-A

You guys all suck.

I can't believe I had to pay over $4K in one year (for two cars), that's like almost $400 a F*#*#@* month. I could have Leased a 3-Series for that.

Obviously, age, and location play huge roles in this. I'm assuming if I was over 30 or 40 or whatever, even 1 speeding ticket wouldn't have hurt me that bad.

amdeutsch

Always love these statements where all necessary pertinent info is omitted.

hyperion667

why don't you just elaborate a little amdeutsch,
we can't read your sardonic thoughts, lol...

what info are you saying I should have given??

please accept my most humble and staggering apology for mis-speaking.....

jinx420hat

When I wasnt deployed I was paying just a lil over $2k a year thru USAA as well but I'm 25 and when I was 18-20 I had a DUI, 2 speeding tickets, 2 at fault accidents and that includes my wife on the policy (she has a perfect record but shes only 24) My deductiable is $500 for comp/coll and I have pretty high coverage somewhere in $250k/$500K range with uninsured motorist... I thought I was paying way too much. Oh yea I'm in southern california.

amdeutsch

OK, let me spell it out for you.
1) Location - even in NC price will vary by zip
2) Deductible
3) Limits
4) Company
5) Special terms/inclusions/exclusions, etc

HBerman

Here are my policy limits on my 2011 E550 with STATE FARM:

NC, 27513

Class 1A 00

Liability Coverage: Bodily Injury Limits $250,000 each person, $500,000 each accident
Medical Payments Coverage Limit - each person $5,000
Other Than Collision Coverage - $50 Deductible
Collision Coverage - $500 Deductible
Towing and Labor Costs Coverage
Increased Limits Transportation Expense Coverage
Combined Uninsured/Underinsured Motorists Coverage
Bodily Injury Limits $250,000 Each person, $500,000 each accident
Property Damage Limit Each Accident $100,000

Total Cost: $372.10 / 6 months

I should mention that State Farm rates each car by VIN and installed equipment. I have Driver Assist with Pre-Safe, Blind Spot, Lane Keeping, Distronic Plus which reduced my premium. The premium was actually less than my 2009 C300 which the 2011 E550 replaced.

State Farm also modifies the premium to be charged by your FICO score. The higher the score, the lower your premium.

amdeutsch

Thanx

Interesting. I thought that that practice was found to be in violation and was supposed to be discontinued. Supposedly because they couldn't really proof FICO vs driving correlation.

hyperion667

wow, that's a great rate HBerman.....you must have a great driving record like me, but I'm just guessing since I'm younger? my rate is higher...
I'm with allstate and have been since I started driving.....

HBerman

Violation of what? Insurance companies base rates on various factors. Young drivers are rated differently on GPA, age, marital status, home ownership. FICO scores are just another indication of responsible behavior.

220S

All this policy stuff made me go and look at mine. I haven't looked at in about 5 years.

And ha, it turns out I'm not even heeding my own advice

I need to raise my deductible and raise my liability limits.

California 90265

2009 E63 AMG

Liability: 100/300k
Medical: 1k
Property: 50k
Comp/collision: 500 deductible
Uninsured: 100/300k; property: 50k
plus the usual towing, road service, travel and other crap


$1218.34 per year. My Porsche has the same coverage and is $754.20 per year.

$1972.54 for two (performance) cars.

State Farm Insurance Company.

Just turned 40 and good FICO, etc..

I need to call my agent and raise my deductibles to at least $1k and crank up my liability coverage.

hyperion667

man I've never even heard of FICO....

wow 220, those seem like pretty good rates