Insurance costs for those of us with 3+ Hummers

[Tractordoll]

Hi all, I ran into something interesting since becoming a 3 Hummer-ed family, namely a sharp upward spike in my auto insurance. I was told by the insurance company that the reasoning for the sharp cost increase is that the number of vehicles that I own ( 4 vehicles 2 motorcycles and 2 scooters, 3 of the vehicles are Hummers and 1 is the Jeep) exceeds the number of people living in my house. The funny part is the number of vehicles exceeded this crazy underwriter quota last year and yet my insurance was much much lower. I have a completely clean driving record with no accidents, tickets, or anything.

Maybe the underwriting risk I am thinking is that they are insuring a large number of vehicles at a single location and if something bad happened, (fire, storm, who knows) it would be a catastrophic loss for the insurance company. It certainly cannot be from a crash because I cannot simultaneously crash 4 vehicles unless I come home from work some day and go crazy and crash into my own cars!

My recently purchased 2006 H2 almost doubled the cost of my insurance and I am at a loss to understand how adding this 1 vehicle could be so expensive. If anyone out there is in a similar situation, or for that matter own 4 or more vehicles, I would be interested to understand how this cost can be reduced. Should I consider splitting up my vehicles with separate insurance companies to reduce cost? Thanks for any help or advice anyone can offer!!

Angela

 

[atvspeed4]

They are concerned that you are insuring them under your name and other people are driving them.

 

[M22KLARS]

Interesting... If I were you I might be insurance shopping. But let's hear what some of the big dogs say.

 

[Tractordoll]

No one else is driving them though. My 05 H2 is lucky to get a few thousand miles in a year. I mean simply reading the odometers would prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that no one else is driving the vehicles around.

 

[abearden]

Remember, it's based on risk. For all we know they associate any household where vehicle# > people# with wrench heads that are really into motorsports and have a higher incident rate. I would talk to your agent and explain that if they can't "fix" the premium spike they will lose out on half (or more) of your business. I'd bet they find a way to make you happy.

 

[cgalpha08]

My parents have tooooo many vehicles to count ok well i guess you can; 2 suburbans, 1silverado, 1 H2, and 2 sports cars. One of the suburbans is 10 plus years old, one of the sports car we had labled by the insurance company as a "classic" so that reduced some cost, and the other sports car was "inherited" from a family member who passed away.

I don't have the actual numbers, but they have geico and from what i can tell it isn't too bad of a price....yet. This may also be due to a long membership with them as well.

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk

 

[MUTAINT]

I have not noticed an increase that was not proportinate to the # of vehicles we own (3 HUMMERs and an XJ). When we added our newest H3T the premium was actually lower than I had calculated it to be.

I think you need to start shopping around. Plenty of good companies out there that won't stick it to you and will cover your fleet quite nicely!

 

[Chook]

ATV answer seems logical............. They probably assume your children are driving them or some other high risk individual that can't get insurance in their own name.

Shop around, get quotes, and see if spreading your insurance costs more/less (doesn't cost anything for a quote).

Each year @ renewal time I get quotes. I end up renewing with them, but my insurance company runs a promotion where they guarantee to beat the best quote by 10% (I save hundreds each year with the same insurer)

 

[Pappibri]

When I got my H3, that made our cars go up to 3.. One minivan, Ford Explorer Sport Trac, and the H3... Did not notice to much of a increase.. It was a few dollars more than the Sport Trac which is a 4 wheel drive also.. Like everyone else says, shop around.. My insurance guy calls me if he finds me a cheaper rate with a good company...

 

[DJinCO]

I can only speak from my personal experience with USAA but they will not allow different ins companies for the different vehicles at one address.

This became a question when we had a foster child get a car. Even though she was NOT our child, but a foster child, USAA required that she be on MY USAA policy. I told them that as a "owner" in USAA, I could not recommend that the company take the risk with her vehicle. Also said that hell would freeze before she EVER drove my truck.

Didn't matter to USAA.

Yes, she did wreck her car while it still had temp tags and no, she never drove my truck.

 

[3Hummers]

I have USAA and my costs have always gone up on a slightly less than proportional basis. I get a discount for having more vehicles insured with them. Some should be covered as recreational vehicles with limited miles driven. I would get quotes from some other companies.

 

[davidh3]

I pay $3000+ a year for my 09 H3.

Is this too high???? Someone please respond. I really don't know.

 

[alrock]

$3000/year? Maybe if you're young, have had accidents/DUIs and/or live in an area with high crime and uninsured drivers. The only way to really tell is to call other agencies and get quotes. The only time I was ever quoted above about $1400 annually was many years ago (different vehicle) when I lived in New Orleans and that was a byproduct of my young age and the number of uninsured in New Orleans.

 

[davidh3]

High crime rate, Fort Laduerdale, Florida.
Accidents, Someone hit the back of my h3 in a parking lot, reported and approved.
Got one speeding ticket in GA
:huh:

 

[cbetts]

I also have USAA. I currently have three cars with only two in the household. The Hummer is setup to be the part-time driver with only 5k-8k miles per year since I bought the Monte Carlo. This brought the rate down quite a bit.

 

[Portager]

I own 5 vehicles, but only 4 are at my residence since my daughter drives one. I had to put my daughter and her car and my stepson and his car on separate policies or my rate would have gone through the roof. My daughter ad stepson are not cover on my other three cars. My daughter and I are both with Mercury Ins Co. and the stepson is with a different company, but that was to get a better deal on home owners insurance. I pay $1800 per year for the three cars that my wife and I drive, a Cadillac SRX, a Hummer H3T and a Honda Civic GX. We each drive about 25,000 miles a year.

I'd shop around and compare quotes.

 

[Silverton34]

We have twice as many vehicles as drivers but insurance is cheap, the agent says you can only drive one at a time. There are no issues of theft here, no stolen cars in the 16 years I have lived in this little town. My 2012 Rubicon Unlimited is $538/year. My 16 year old son's Mazda is almost $1,300! Maybe they don't know I offroad my Jeep!

 

[MSC]

I have six vehicles, 1-H3, 2-Colorados, 1-3/4 Ton Chevy, 1-Ford 3/4 Ton Van and 1- Dodge 1/2 Ton 4x4 and my insurance is about $1,800.00 per year in Montgomery, Texas. First 4 vehicles with full coverage. We also do not have any young drivers living at home. Some insurance companies will increase rates the longer you insure through them thinking their exposure is greater over time. I deal with an independent agent that sells policies from many companies, so he shops price. You may want to bundle your homeowner's and any other policies together for a greater discount. If you have a young driver in your household, some insurance companies will rate them on the most expensive vehicle. Get a separate policy for them at a different company and exclude them from your policy...that's what I had to do about 15 years ago with my oldest son, my wifes Explorer was going to cost us $4,800.00 per year and he had no tickets or accidents...how crazy is that. I hope this info. helps.

 

[Kurt]

I pay around $1400/yr for my H1, I can get it cheaper but I really upped my coverage after seeing another H1 owner do some serious property damage at a gas station one time. Made me think that the standard property damage coverage most insurance companies offer as a default would leave me exposed ...

That's just me, with 18 years driving experience, no tickets, no accidents or claims.

When I had multiple vehicles my insurance was slightly higher, but not by much, the other vehicles were worth a fraction fo the H1's repair/replace value.

 

[Silverton34]

Kurt, one other route to go is leave the limits low on the auto policy and purchase a liability umbrella policy. Mine is $400/year for $5 million. Just another option to look at.

 

[Kurt]

I'll probably look at an umbrella policy. You never know what could happen and it's cheap insurance.