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

In reply to Brandon. 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

In reply to Brandon. 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

In reply to Brandon. 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

In reply to Derek Chamberlain. 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

In reply to Nightvid Cole.

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

In reply to MN.

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 🙂