I need to lower my insurance somehow since I plan on buying a 325i in the near future. What can I do to lower my insurance rate? Also are there any local insurance places you guys would recommend? Also what features on a car would cause the insurance to be higher? ex: newer,2 door, etc.

What can I do to lower my insurance rate?
- Don't be at fault in a wreck;

- Don't get tickets;

- Get older.


Beyond that, the best thing you can do is shop around, and be a savvy consumer of the product you're seeking. Get rates, quotes, etc., and consider carefully your needs versus what you want to spend. Also, be mindful that with insurance, you often get what you pay for: The companies with the cheap premiums often fall far short of expectations if/when it comes time to pay a claim.

www.clarkhoward.com is a good place to start with basic research on such topics.

Good luck!
DW


:cool

Yeah, the stuff he said. Plus:

- Take a defensive driving course.

- Get married.

- Make good grades - good student discount. Sometimes you can't get this one if you're married.

- If you have more than one car, insure them with the same company. There's a "multi vehicle" discount.

- Add another type of insurance so that you get a "multiline" discount (renters or homeowners with the same company). When I had an apartment the discount I got on my auto from adding renters ins. nearly (or completely) cancelled out the cost of the renters insurance.

Also, you can look up vehicle ratings here: http://www.statefarm.com/insurance/auto_insurance/ratings.asp

The value of the car doesn't always matter. Amber's 96 328 with 100K miles cost more to insure than our 2002 Escape even though the Escape was worth much more. They chalked it up mostly to more expensive replacement parts for the BMW, even though it's older.

^^^
Extremely good points as well! :buttrock

The value of the car doesn't always matter. Amber's 96 328 with 100K miles cost more to insure than our 2002 Escape even though the Escape was worth much more. They chalked it up mostly to more expensive replacement parts for the BMW, even though it's older.

Spot on with everything you said except this one. The rates for the E36 M and NON M cars is solely due to the fact kids buy and wreck them at a alarming rate. The actual real world costs of repairing a E36 at least is no more than the average car on the road, actually a bit less in most cases. Body repair parts are quite cheap for the E36. The insurance for a E36 M3 is about 3-4 times higher than when they were brand new simply because the actual pay out on those cars has increased greatly once the drivers average age dropped below 25 and thus much higher pay outs for State Farm.

When I bought my 95 M3, full coverage with a $250 deduct was $570 a year!!! I was 26 with 1 ticket, no wrecks at the time. I checked to see what a 97-98 4 dr would run me now and the same coverage is about 1500 a year. No tickets and now 37.

Spot on with everything you said except this one. The rates for the E36 M and NON M cars is solely due to the fact kids buy and wreck them at a alarming rate. The actual real world costs of repairing a E36 at least is no more than the average car on the road, actually a bit less in most cases. Body repair parts are quite cheap for the E36. The insurance for a E36 M3 is about 3-4 times higher than when they were brand new simply because the actual pay out on those cars has increased greatly once the drivers average age dropped below 25 and thus much higher pay outs for State Farm.

:dunno

That's just what they told me. I asked if it was because of a higher risk rating and they said it wasn't significantly higher than the Escape, and I wouldn't think the Escape is a high risk in the first place.

I agree with everything you said making sense, though, and that's what I would've thought had I not asked them.

Keep in mind, though, that some convertibles are significantly lower risk than their coupe counterparts. For example, E46 M3 and E46 330:

M3 | 2D | C | 20% | E
M3 | CONV | A | 40% | C

330CI | 2D | B | 20% | D
330CI | CONV | A | 40% | A

a) The Vehicle Safety Discount is twice as much for the vert (40%)

b) The middle column (LRI) (the vert is much cheaper):
A year ago, State Farm began using its claim payment amounts for damage to other vehicles and injury to the occupants of those vehicles to create a liability rating index (LRI). The LRI determines which vehicles qualify for what level of premium for the liability coverage.

c) The right hand colum (the vert is cheaper):
Damage and Theft Index (DTI) -- Index of collision and comprehensive premium

A -- charged significantly lower-than-standard premium
B -- charged somewhat lower-than-standard premium
C -- charged standard premium
D -- charged somewhat higher-than-standard premium
E -- charged significantly higher-than-standard premium

Given all this, there's a good chance Amber's car doesn't fit the "higher rate because it's wrecked by young drivers all the time" stereotype. I'll ask my agent what the rate would change to if it were a 328 coupe just to find out, though.

I've been considering switching to Esurance. It's all online, based out of Cali, owned by a much larger group in NH (i think) and has no issues with the BBB. They are considerably cheaper. For me, my rate would drop $50/mo. and that's not only with greater coverage, but with the maximum "aftermarket upgrades" allowed. It's sounding really attractive to pay less, and have most of my turbo stuff covered... Esurance.com

Hey what's up Brett, this is the kid from Cappucino Bay you talked to.

Waddup Homie :wave

I have seen you at Cappucino Bay, you have the //M key Chain. I started to ask you when I saw you if you were on the forum but did not want to seem like a dork.

I have seen you at Cappucino Bay, you have the //M key Chain. I started to ask you when I saw you if you were on the forum but did not want to seem like a dork.

Too late for that.

buy a 318 and let brett drop a s52 in it :buttrock

Spot on with everything you said except this one. The rates for the E36 M and NON M cars is solely due to the fact kids buy and wreck them at a alarming rate. The actual real world costs of repairing a E36 at least is no more than the average car on the road, actually a bit less in most cases. Body repair parts are quite cheap for the E36. The insurance for a E36 M3 is about 3-4 times higher than when they were brand new simply because the actual pay out on those cars has increased greatly once the drivers average age dropped below 25 and thus much higher pay outs for State Farm.

When I bought my 95 M3, full coverage with a $250 deduct was $570 a year!!! I was 26 with 1 ticket, no wrecks at the time. I checked to see what a 97-98 4 dr would run me now and the same coverage is about 1500 a year. No tickets and now 37.

yeah, I pay around $770 every six months for my E36 M and Im 26

Just did a quote on Esurance.com and it was a bit higher than what I am paying now all things being equal. Pays to know people in the insurance biz I guess...

Too late for that.

:lol I should have known as I sat in the back seat of the cab that would happen.

When was the last time you came in the store? My insurance right now is about $600 every 6 months on a 1995 318ti. It will get higher since I just hydroplaned and hit that Isuzu.

dang ya'll pay out the wazoo for insurance. mine is $600 for my 325 & my F350, When I bought the 325 & sold a '94 mazda b3000 insurance premium did not change a single penny, & mine should be going down antoher 10% thanks to the defensive driving class work paid for.

dang ya'll pay out the wazoo for insurance. mine is $600 for my 325 & my F350, When I bought the 325 & sold a '94 mazda b3000 insurance premium did not change a single penny, & mine should be going down antoher 10% thanks to the defensive driving class work paid for.

you are carrying full coverage on a 93 325i?

Mike

USAA FTW!
ive got the Z and the e30 insured with them.
i pay around 67 a month for everything but collision (they dont offer since the cars are more than 15 yrs old) and 100$ deductibles

Oh yeah i forgot to mention the $600 every 6 months is just for liability!

you are carrying full coverage on a 93 325i?

Mike

nope it's on the '95 because it is still valued @ 18k thanks to the conversion on the truck.