Car Insurance

How much do you pay?

Recently my vehicle was destroyed on black ice driving back from my job. That really pissed me off. People kept saying, "Don't worry, you are okay, and that is what is important." And I have been saying, "Are you fucking kidding? Do you know what it is like to buy a new car, and deal with insurance companies, and hitch hike to work until that happens?"

So for a month I've been about 50/50 getting rides from coworkers or hitch hiking to work, which is at a ski resort 32 miles away from my house. Today I am signing on a new vehicle.

I called progressive for a quote. They said $300 a month. I laughed.

I called Geico. Their website gave me a quote of $79, which was pretty sweet. However, when I called them, they raised the rate to $145 a month because I did not have insurance for the one month I was without a car, and because in the eyes of the insurance companies and US Courts the accident was my fault for hitting black ice and crashing. Not the ice's fault. No. The ice was granted complete innocence by the unelected, profit driven bureaucrats at the insurance company. Despite my recollection of the ice playing a principal role in my vehicle's decision to slam into a guard rail at 45 mph, and also irrespective of the fact that for the 99.99999999% of my life I have been driving on roads without any ice on them I have never slammed into a guard rail. I called the police but they didn't feel like sending anyone out to investigate the crash site. They did not interview the ice. They did not provide me with a court of law, jury of my peers, or opportunity to cross examine the ice in front of a judge.

This is what pissed me off so much about the wreck. I knew I'd be sitting here, at 12:47pm on my day off, calling insurance companies on the phone trying to get a deal. I knew I'd be ripped off by them. And I knew that even after I set something up I'd still have to walk two miles and then try to hitch hike to another state to pick the vehicle up.

I am excited about it being a new vehicle. Have never bought a new vehicle before. I went to a few dealers and played some off each other and got a slightly better deal, which I am happy about. Still, that being said, newer cars are more expensive to insure. This will be the last new car I purchase.

My plans for the future including drawing up a waiver I get all passengers to sign that forfeits their right to sue me if we get in a wreck. This is in part due to the fact that to get a better deal on insurance coverage I had to agree to drastically less medical coverage for myself / passengers in the event of a crash.

My other plan involves a utopian scheme to organize all proletarians to pool their wealth, to purchase millions of new cars, to have them sit in garages not being driven for 5-10 years, and then to be "sold" to members of the co-op as "used" vehicles, which will lower the insurance rates on them at the same time the drivers will be able to appreciate their condition.


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What car insurance do you have? How much do you pay?

What kind of coverage do you have?

Are you frustrated with it? Happy with it?

Any tips for negotiating a better rate?

Ever switched companies? How did that go?