Comments on: Does High Deductible Car or Home Insurance Actually Save Money?

By: Derek Chamberlain

Derek Chamberlain — Wed, 20 May 2015 16:37:31 +0000

Johnny,

Sure – glad to help! I didn’t realize it either until I actually tried to sit down and run the numbers. It was very surprising to me as well.

By: Johnny Shi

Johnny Shi — Tue, 19 May 2015 20:34:16 +0000

I didn’t realize it would take so long to break even on a higher deductible. I thought that I would be able to save the money a lot faster. This is something that was really helpful to learn. I could of made a financial mistake. Thank you for sharing.

By: Derek Chamberlain

Derek Chamberlain — Mon, 07 Jul 2014 11:13:56 +0000

Why do you have insurance if you never intend to make a claim? You must have the minimum insurance required by law? In this case, they told me because I was not at fault, it would not “go on my record.” Not sure if that is true or not…

By: Brandon

Brandon — Fri, 04 Jul 2014 20:32:18 +0000

Also, with the new health care laws, when you buy insurance, you are paying for all the employees of the insurance company to have health insurance. Its a legal expense, and the costs must be passed on. Are you sure you really want to buy all that?

By: Brandon

Brandon — Fri, 04 Jul 2014 20:30:13 +0000

It is my personality type, I believe. I only buy insurance because I legally have too. I don’t sue people either. I don’t go after insurance companies for my mistakes. It doesn’t seem right. Part of your premium pays for people that take advantage of insurance.

By: Brandon

Brandon — Fri, 04 Jul 2014 20:26:09 +0000

Yep, but now, you have made a claim $$$. The insurance company now knows that you make claims. It costs more to insure you. I also hit a deer. I did not make a claim. I still do not make claims. I will get better rates than you for the rest of my life.

By: Derek Chamberlain

Derek Chamberlain — Tue, 27 May 2014 17:25:39 +0000

NC,

Great point – I did overlook this fact. All I know is that about four months after writing this article a huge deer randomly ran into the side of my car while I was on my way to work. This caused ~$2,500 worth of damage. I’m glad that I didn’t go with the higher deductible amount or I really would have been out a ton of money 🙂 So I guess I accidentally made the right choice for this random event!

By: Nightvid Cole

Nightvid Cole — Fri, 23 May 2014 15:24:46 +0000

You are overlooking the fact that if you do make a claim, your premiums could rise by a significant amount. Even if it doesn’t take the full 14 years before you use it, you could still save money by having high deductibles since you would avoid filing a claim since you came out of pocket for the whole thing. And then the rise in premiums that *did not* happen would be added to your previous monthly savings, resulting in savings enough to more than cover the out-of-pocket cost of the accident/incident.

In the long run, the high deductible IS cheaper, once you do a thorough analysis which accounts for this effect.

By: How Can I Choose The Right Car Insurance Deductible? - Finance QA

How Can I Choose The Right Car Insurance Deductible? - Finance QA — Mon, 23 Dec 2013 14:31:11 +0000

[…] Some of the most common personal finance advice that you’ll run across suggests that you should take out the highest deductible possible that save yourself money every month. Well, I decided to take my own information and run some numbers. I looked at the difference on car insurance with a $50 deductible, $250 deductible, and a $500 deductible on both comprehensive and collision. You can check out the details in a post I created here: Does High Deductible Car or Home Insurance Actually Save Money? […]

By: Derek Chamberlain

Derek Chamberlain — Thu, 14 Nov 2013 18:58:41 +0000

Yeah, going with the 6-month payment you save ~$40 a year I’ve found.

8-years for break even? Do you think you can go that long without even a minor accident? I do not think I could…

Just recently someone tapped into my wife’s van at like 3 mph and cracked the rear bumper. The total repair costs were ~$1,400 and 4 days of car rentals!!!! Luckily their car insurance paid for everything. Just something to consider, especially if you’re not driving a beater 🙂