How insurance rates are based....

[downn2(aka starcruiser)]

1. location,,,,in Texas it is County by county...the county it is garaged that is....So if you live in Harris County (Houston) and have a lake house or Condo in Walker County.......try to insure your bike and cars with an agent there during one of your extended stays.......then you're not lying.

2. MVR (driving record) NEVER EVER PAY FOR ANY TICKET!! Always, always get a lawyer and fight it to the death!!!! NEVER take defensive driving, always leave that for an out, so if the lawyer can't get you out of the ticket (which in some out of the way places this might happen) he can then always get you off by talking the Judge into letting you take Defensive Driving since you haven't taken one.....If you get a ticket out of town....call the Judge's Clerks office listed on the back of ticket and as her if she'd be so nice as to give you a name of lawyer in her town who specialized in Tickets....She'll know.....

3. Credit Scoring........Most don't know how this works....Credit scoring is based on the timeliness of paying your bills........And the DUE DATE DOESN'T mean THE POSTMARK!!! You're bill are due the DAY YOU RECIEVE THEM! I always pay them within a couple of days of receipt...If you wait until a couple of days before the DUE DATE to mail them.....YOUR SCREWED, the payment will all be posted LATE PAY as the Co didn't get it input into their computers in time (Due date)........Again, it isn't the day you mail it,,,,,,it's the day the Credit Card Co or whatever gets it into the system...and heck they put it in a room for a couple of day to be check for anthrax before it's even forwarded up to billing anyway. DON’T FALL FOR THAT TRAP. IT CAN BE A VERY VERY EXPENSIVE MISTAKE...We're talking higher HOMEOWNERS INSURANCE, CAR LOAN INTEREST RATES, etc.....This is bad stuff.....and it takes years to get your credit score lowered once you figure it out...

4. Make & Model......Yes, of course Insurance Co's use this...........What vehicle may be on the prohibited list or unrated for one company, would be just a normal vehicle for another Insurance Co to insure.......I see people with Ferraris paying $6,000-7000/yr and others paying $1,000.......the only difference being who they're insured with.....Usually State Farm & Allstate are best on high performance, high valued cars.....Turbo Porches, Ferraris, etc....

5. And of course AGE....at least there's one advantage to getting old...

I hope this helps gives you some ideas on how to keep your insurance rates low, thus always makes it affordable to have an FJR or two in your Garage.......

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

Thanks downn2 for the "inside" info. Ins. Cos. are some of the U.S.'s largest (and richest) corporations. We all are madated to pay and pay and some go all their lives and never make a claim. Great r.o.i. for the ins.co. -- horrible for the consumer. I'd suggest if one likes alot of ins? -- then, alot of claims would be in order. Of course, that tends to get a little "risky".....

 

[Ignacio]

Thank you for contributing very worthwhile information to the forum.

I'm in agreement with #2 especially about never paying a ticket or even mitigating. Although I haven't needed a lawyer yet I ALWAY make the state try and prove I'm guilty.

They're 0 for 4 since I saw the light and started contesting tickets in 1991.

Curious about the due date thing. If one has autopay they set the date. That date is usually a couple of days before the stated due date, but usually a while after the statement date. Are you suggesting in this case credit scores would be increased if I insisted they change the autopay date to the statement date?

 

[downn2(aka starcruiser)]

Curious about the due date thing.  If one has autopay they set the date.  That date is usually a couple of days before the stated due date, but usually a while after the statement date.  Are you suggesting in this case credit scores would be increased if I insisted they change the autopay date to the statement date?

I can only assume that the Credit Card Co, Mortgage Co or whatever you're referring to has predetermined the date to withdraw your funds from whatever account you provided them with, which in that case, you should be fine with. Remember though, you talking electric transfer of funds with is immediate.......that's why there's no chance of a late payment and the fact they're chosing the date anyway........

And what I was referring to was those like myself who do it the old fashion way by mailing in checks with their statements..

 

[Windjammer]

And what I was referring to was those like myself who do it the old fashion way by mailing in checks with their statements..

I still pay bills the old fashioned way myself. I try to help matters as much as I can by paying a month in advance, if it's affordable to do so. That way if some circumstance makes you late, you don't get busted as you're still a month ahead.

Some other tips to improve your credit score, and thus your insurance rates:

1. If you EVER get charged a late fee, call the company that charged you right away and explain why payment was a few days late, and beg them to rescind the late fee and NOT mark the payment late. Ask for a supervisor if you need to. Note, this only works if you have a good payment record with the company in question. If you're late all the time, use autopay instead.

2. Don't overburden yourself with too much debt. Doing so will have a negative impact on your debt to income ratio, which is used in determining your credit score.

3. Don't fill out a ton of credit applications. Each time a creditor runs a credit report on you to determine your creditworthiness, it puts a "ping" against your credit score. Too many pings make you look desperate for credit, which hurts your score.

4. Don't allow revolving accounts to sit at their credit limits. Having 2-3 Visa cards maxed out makes you look irresponsible with credit, and makes your score worse, even if you make the payment on time.

5. Pick one monthly loan, the one with the lowest payment amount, and begin paying it off early. Even sending $10 extra per month against principle will put you a little ahead at the end of the year. Paying debt before it is due is very healthy for your credit score.

6. Consolidate your debt. If you've gotten a bit buried, as I once was, this can take time. Begin making steps and it will pay off (pun intended!). Minimize high interest debt that traps you in its never ending cycle. Having a shitload of credit accounts does not help your credit score, even if you pay them on time. It's better to have the same debt amount held by fewer creditors and then pay ahead a bit.

@downn2 - I agree 100% regarding the way they determine insurance rates. Great idea to post it here. Also worth noting are the availability of discounts to homeowners and multi-vehicle discounts if you can bundle your policies with one company. Not always possible, but worth a try.

I think you'd know this better than me, but don't the ins companies also consider whether you are male or female? IIRC, women get lower auto rates. Still true?

 

[downn2(aka starcruiser)]

1. If you EVER get charged a late fee, call the company that charged you right away and explain why payment was a few days late, and beg them to rescind the late fee and NOT mark the payment late. Ask for a supervisor if you need to. Note, this only works if you have a good payment record with the company in question. If you're late all the time, use autopay instead.
I think you'd know this better than me, but don't the ins companies also consider whether you are male or female? IIRC, women get lower auto rates. Still true?

I agree with most everything you said....however you need to be made aware of a couple of things .....

1. Just because you talked the company out of charging you a late fee, you can bet your bottom dollar, they will still report it to the credit bureaus as a late payement..and payment timelyness is the basis of credit scoring....Don't be mislead...WHETHER LATE FEES WERE WAVED OR NOT, has nothing to do with the reporting aspect..

2. Don't be late! And I mean ONE FREAKING TIME.....Pay your bills within a couple of days of receipt......And if you want to use your computer to remind you to pay bills....use it to notify you when the bill should be there, and then if it's not....contact the company as to inquire to where it is......in other words COVER YOUR ARSE!

3. No, women don't get cheaper rates, sorta that is.........There is an age gap in rating classifications.....women are deemed to be adult drivers at age 21, thus get a significant reduction in rates from not being considered an underage driver anymore, whereas Males it is age 25 before their rates drop......That's about the only break women get...........and I'm not even aware of any age bracket rating on motorcycle insurance...No wonder my parents got me motorcycle at age 14..

 

[Silver Penguin]

I see people with Ferraris paying $6,000-7000/yr and others paying $1,000.......the only difference being who they're insured with.....Usually State Farm & Allstate are best on high performance, high valued cars.....Turbo Porches, Ferraris, etc....

Echoing your advice to shop around. We recently bought a bike on a Saturday and were required to prove insurance coverage before taking the bike off the lot. Our regular carrier was unable to issue a binder for a motorcycle so we shopped around.

For DH's BMW K1200S, which has similar performance to the FJR, we were quoted $1800 by most companies but Geico wanted $5000 (each year). The bike stayed in the shop until we were able to contact State Farm, who covered it for $800.

Jill