Insurance

I know it is very difficult to compare insurance rates as everybody is different, different locations, different history's, etc. I just wanted to share some frustration and see if anyone has some insight or suggestions.

When I turned 23 I moved to Kentucky for a brief period before moving to Memphis, TN. While in Kentucky I switched to State Farm from Allstate that I had had in Oklahoma. I kept State Farm in Memphis and every few years my agent would tell me "your rates are about to go down." Like a broken record. At 25 I bought my e46 ZHP that will be leaving me this week. In year 9 with state farm my OEM windshield (12 years old, 115k) finally cracked from a chip that had been there since I bought the car. I had never had a claim, ever. So when they wanted to put some cheap aftermarket windshield in the car instead of an OEM windshield (at double the cost) I took their check and paid the difference (I had a $0 deductible). But that was the last straw. Last fall I switched to Liberty Mutual because they advertise that they only use BMW parts should something happen to your BMW. They were a couple hundred less per year on my car, but a couple hundred more on the house, it basically evened out so I went for it just on principle. With State Farm I kept being told my rates would go down, they never did. Prior to buying my house in 2011 2.2 miles from work I lived in a home 30 miles from work, yet when I moved closer to work my rates actually increased. I called and told them this made no sense, my car stayed in a garage at my old house, it stays in my garage at my new house, my annual milage dropped to 5000 miles per year, as well as my risk, yet my rate went up.

So now I'm trying to buy an i3 and I shoot my LM agent a quote request. He has someone else in his office email me back. The rate on my 2003 BMW 330i ZHP was $1086 per year, the quote on the 2014 BMW i3 with REx was $2087 per year.

Really?

So I went online and I've removed towing and rental insurance as I really don't need either (car will have roadside from BMW, family has an extra car should I ever need one), I've raised my deductibles from $50/$500 to $500/$500 and I've gotten it down to 1886, but this is still crazy in my opinion. I am about to turn 34, no tickets, no wrecks, no accidents, the only claim was the windshield and then shortly after I had to have a chip filled. No claims on my homes, any of them, I have excellent credit, I don't get it. Unfortunately I cannot adjust the coverage limits online, it says I have to contact my agent for those types of quotes, but I'm going to lower them to try to get this more affordable. I realize a total loss on my 2003 ZHP would be a lot less than a total loss on a 2014 i3, but I am still flabbergasted at this rate. I called my old State Farm agent who I still have life insurance with and asked one of the ladies to give me a come-back quote on the home and auto but replace the 2003 with the 2014, that was Thursday. They are open on Saturdays, yet I still have not heard back from them.

Any suggestions? Do any insurance companies give a discount for driving an EV?

I looked at Erie insurance online, but the quote was not apples to apples although it was less ($1775/year) as the limits were much less than I have with LM.

I have State Farm. My premium remained about the same as my previous cars.

I was with Geico for about 10 years before getting the i3. My rate jumped nearly $1000 when I asked them for a quote to replace a 2012 X3 with the i3 lease. Shopping around, I wound up going to eSurance, where my rate still went up, but only by a hundred or two.

Looks like I might be going to Erie Insurance. Some good friends of ours switched recently and he is tr type of a friend that researches everything to death. He switched from Liberty Mutual. My quote on the i3 throne this them was more but my house was less, way less. I'll probably end up about the same overall.

BMW has a thing where they offer a group rate via Liberty Mutual. I didn't look into it, but you might want to double-check on the BMW website to see if they have any links. You may get better rates than going to them independently.

State Farm here. Went from $444/6 months(purchased VW) to $462/6 months(leased i3).

FYI,
I have been with Liberty Mutual which I get 10% off BMW X-series (We have X1 and X5) and they quoted me that the premium for i3 2014 REX would be $120 more a year than my X1 2013 which I pay $1,050 per year (100k/300k/100k coverage and $100/$1,000 deductible)

AllState $1400/year, Agent said EV is more expensive to insure then their ICE sibling

Insurance is typically lower if you package with a provider for both Home & Auto. We are all the way on the West Coast (CA Bay Area), so we actually use Ameriprise insurance as a benefit with our Costco Membership.

We have the following policies through Ameriprise:

Home - annual premium of $1,400
Auto - annual premium of $1,200, which covers 2 adult drivers with 3 cars listed (2015 MDX, 2013 CT Lease, & 1997 Corolla Beater)
Umbrella - annual premium of $200 for $1M coverage

We added the Umbrella this last year, which required us to increase our auto coverage from 15/30 to 25/50. We just started our i3 lease this past Sunday and it was interesting to get quotes for adding that to our policy. We are currently under a Swapalease deal to transfer our CT lease to a 3rd party. So the Ameriprise rep quoted me a slightly higher amount for going from the 2013 CT to a 2014 i3, but it had nothing to do with it being an EV. It was purely driven on the MSRP value of the vehicle.

If you are a Costco member, I would suggest getting a quote from Ameriprise because their rates are VERY competitive. Also, if you happen to have more cars than drivers, you should list your highest MSRP vehicle as a "Pleasure" vehicle with a low annual mileage allotment.

The theory is that you can only be a FT driver if you have the same number of vehicles to drivers, so if you happen to have more cars, just list the cheaper car with the driver with the best driving record to get the most discounts. There's a reason we keep the 1997 Corolla as my beater!

Good Luck!