Car insurance question...

Excuse the dense foreigner but if I wanted to switch insurance companies do I have to wait until the renewal date or can I switch anytime?

Basically, the local State Farm agent was able to come up with a noticeably better quote than a certain lizard with a Mockney accent; the insurance renewal is due in October but the lizard already seems to presume we're renewing with them anyway.

We'll probably get all ducks in a row before the renewal dates but as some people might have noticed, I'm still looking for winter wheels (although the search might have finally borne fruit and no, it's not the M715) so there might be more delays in there.

I do assume however that taking a car off a policy is something I can do anytime, right? The plan is to switch the Corvette to a classic policy once I've got regular day-to-day wheels.

Yes, you can switch companies at any time. At least I've never heard anything different.
Yes, you can take them off and add cars whenever you want.

BTW, thanks if you do buy SF. They are the biggest donors to my school

why do people think buying or switching car insurance is so complicated?

it really is so easy a caveman could do it...

you can start a new policy whenever you want with whatever company you want, and you can drop any policy with any company whenever you want.

novaderrik wrote: why do people think buying or switching car insurance is so complicated?

Throw in all the different companies with different rules and discounts and it does start to get complicated. Especially if its a foreign thing to someone, as it is to tim.

So out of curiosity, how does the insurance deal work in the UK? Is it expensive?

Yup, switch whenever you want.

Funny, I switched from State Farm to the lizard company because the farm wanted 3X the amount per month Geico is charging me.

PubBurgers wrote: Yup, switch whenever you want. Funny, I switched from State Farm to the lizard company because the farm wanted 3X the amount per month Geico is charging me.

It rarely makes any sense. A 16 year old girl with a child gets lower rates than a 24 year old male.

you will receive a pro rated refund for the unused portion of the policy. In some states it will be for the full amount, in others there will be a X% fee taken off your refund. Also you might check with an independent agent that represents many companies, they often can get a better price.

zomby woof wrote: So out of curiosity, how does the insurance deal work in the UK? Is it expensive?

It's noticeably cheaper, but then again your agent or broker normally doesn't have to point out to you that about half your premium is just the uninsured motorist cover (it's still around 15% in the UK, IIRC).

In the UK, you take out insurance for a year and either pay the full premium in advance or pay in a few installments, but the latter includes a lot of finance charges, interest etc so it's usually cheaper just to cough up the whole premium in one go. Due to the way the pro-rated refunds are biased in favour of the insurance company (and the fees those incur), it normally never makes sense to change insurances unless the renewal date is coming up unless you have to - usually because you bought a vehicle that your current insurer won't cover.

mtn wrote:

PubBurgers wrote: Yup, switch whenever you want. Funny, I switched from State Farm to the lizard company because the farm wanted 3X the amount per month Geico is charging me.

It rarely makes any sense. A 16 year old girl with a child gets lower rates than a 24 year old male.

She is responsible enough to raise a child afterall