Re:How Allstate’s auto insurance algorithm squeezes big spen...
by alkonaut on Wednesday February 26, 2020 @06:01AM
(#22421994)
The minimum insurance (the one required by law in order to drive) only insures damages on the other party (injury and property). Basically the repair of the other vehicle or the fence I mow down.
What makes it cheaper than in the US (I assume) is that loss of income, healthcare costs is assumed to be taken care of by other (public) insurance, so that's not my liability if I crash into you. Put another way: car insurers can rely on the fact that everyone has other expensive insurance already. I already paid for the other partys ambulance through my taxes - I don't need to do it on my car insurance.
To take an extreme example: if I enter that I want a BMW M3 and I'm 22, the cost would likely be north of $700 per year, but it could be +/- 50% depending on whether it's in a city or rural area.
But for me (40+) the cost would be maybe up or down 10% from a couple of of hundred (say) so I wouldn't really be interested in shopping around. The reason is I shop around for my other insurance, where I have my nice call fully insured. That's a lot more expensive (Say $1000-$1500 per year and varies wildly). I'm likely to just insure my crap car with minimum insurance at a couple of hundred bucks at the same insurance company that gave the best quote for the expensive insurance of the other car. So I do shop around for insurance. Just not when I need only the minimum one. It's not worth the effort to save under $100/year to have multiple insurance companies.
What makes it cheaper than in the US (I assume) is that loss of income, healthcare costs is assumed to be taken care of by other (public) insurance, so that's not my liability if I crash into you. Put another way: car insurers can rely on the fact that everyone has other expensive insurance already. I already paid for the other partys ambulance through my taxes - I don't need to do it on my car insurance.
To take an extreme example: if I enter that I want a BMW M3 and I'm 22, the cost would likely be north of $700 per year, but it could be +/- 50% depending on whether it's in a city or rural area.
But for me (40+) the cost would be maybe up or down 10% from a couple of of hundred (say) so I wouldn't really be interested in shopping around. The reason is I shop around for my other insurance, where I have my nice call fully insured. That's a lot more expensive (Say $1000-$1500 per year and varies wildly). I'm likely to just insure my crap car with minimum insurance at a couple of hundred bucks at the same insurance company that gave the best quote for the expensive insurance of the other car. So I do shop around for insurance. Just not when I need only the minimum one. It's not worth the effort to save under $100/year to have multiple insurance companies.