I’ve always been told that I would pay way too much for my car insurance until I was 25 years old. I was paying about $80 a month for full coverage before I hit the magic number and when I woke up on my 25th birthday last May, I was expecting a magical car insurance fairy to await me in my bedroom and hand me a wad of cash.
No genies. No fairy dust. I got nothing!
I called my car insurance company, GEICO, and asked for the “old person” discount. The woman laughed (because I’m hilarious) and said that I would have to continue paying the same amount through the end of my six month contract, and then they would factor in my age for my renewal. Well my renewal just came up, so my long awaited magical 25 year old discount is finally here!
$6 a month
Seriously? I literally have a flawless driving record. I got my driver’s license when I was 16 years old and I’ve never had a ticket (okay, I’ve had speeding tickets but I had them changed to non-moving violations) and have never been in an accident. I’m going to estimate that I’ve paid an average of $100/mo for car insurance for as long as I’ve been driving.
$100 * 12 months * 9.5 years = $11,400
That’s enough to buy myself a brand new 2011 Nissan Versa with luxury extras like air conditioning!
This is just one more episode in the saga of vehicles being a horrible investment and ruining my financial life.
If you’re old like me, did you get the 25 year old discount? If so, was it as magical as you hoped it would be, or were you miserably disappointed like I was?
Kevin McKee is an entrepreneur, IT guru, and personal finance leader. In addition to his writing, Kevin is the head of IT at Buildingstars, Co-Founder of Padmission, and organizer of Laravel STL. He is also the creator of www.contributetoopensource.com. When he’s not working, Kevin enjoys podcasting about movies and spending time with his wife and four children.
Knew it was a load of crock. I got my license and paid insurance at the age of 26, so for me, I never knew what it was like under 25.
I just know for renting cars, it’s an extra freaking $20/day
Yeah, at least the $20 is good for something, although I will probably never rent a car.
I work for an auto insurance company and can tell you that there is no ‘magic’ number. Also, there are a lot of factors that go into your insurance rate, and that they vary by state.
Also, you can’t be sure that the age was the only factor that even made that $6 decrease. Maybe it was that you’ve now been licensed for one more year or your good track record is 6 months longer.
What a crock! I was told forever that I’d get a huge discount at $25. I should sell my car and walk everywhere!
Make sure you shop around. I didn’t find Geico to be the least expensive. Progressive was much better. You don’t need to wait ’til the end of your contract to switch. You’ll be reimbursed the prorated difference.
I’ve done lots of shopping around. GEICO is the cheapest by at least $20 a month. And trust me, I’ve done some shopping.
You gotta get married. 🙂
No. 🙂
HAHAHAHAHA!
Like you, my insurance company promised me the world once I turned 25, and gave me a discount of about 40 bucks for the year- on a $2000 yearly policy. I wasn’t happy so I shopped around.
After 15 minutes on google, I had an online quote for just above $1500. I saved close to $500 in 15 minutes. The lessons:
1. Car insurance in Canada is $&@#% expensive.
2. Shop around. GEICO may be the leader in witty commercials, but maybe not on price.
Again, I have done a lot of shopping. I think the only place that would be cheaper would be USAA and I’m not eligible.
USAA is awesome. I thought I was getting a good deal with Geico. When I switched to USAA because of my wife, of course Geico tried to ask me what I was paying. I told them I won’t waste their time or mine by avoiding saying but they were adamant in asking so I finally answered. Sure enough, the guy told me he couldn’t beat it and so I said I told you so and ended the call. I still don’t understand how USAA can survive with insurance costs so low.
I guess the thing is to just be glad you don’t pay as much as most people. It seems most people I know that we’ve talked about car insurance costs, we’re always paying much less. It’s still too much for not getting in accidents but oh well.
I’m with retireby40. My husband got a huge discount when we got married at 22, but hardly anything at 25. Married is where the big isurance savings is, lol.
What’s the use of the net, so go on search. Don’t just nod what your car insurance has to offfer you. Remeber they are all in competition, so that means many will have a good offer for you.
I was paying. I told them I won’t waste their time or mine by avoiding saying but they were adamant in asking so I finally answered.. 😛
I guess you don’t need to wait ’til the end of your contract to switch.
I think you can switch to other contract and you don’t need to wait until it ends.
hahaha!! your experiences are hilarious, really they are but they’ve got some useful information along with them. Those insurance firms are all cheating scums! they will trick you with words and lies! great post!
This is funny.. But I understand you why you did that, you are just trying to be practical..
What a funny experienced… Thanks for sharing.
They were adamant in asking so I finally answered. Sure enough, the guy told me he couldn’t beat it and so I said I told you so and ended the call. | 😛