Increased premiums, anybody?

[ColonelPanic]

Hmm, just got my bill from State Farm in the mail today... (I'm doing the monthly payment plan through them.) I find it is now about $5/month more than it previously was.So, I decide that it would be good to look at the new policy they sent me a few weeks ago. Quote »The claim experience on your make and model of vehicle has resulted in an increase to your vehicle rating group for comprehensive and/or collision coverages.I downloaded the PDF from State Farm that shows how they rank vehicles and found that apparently the "Damage and Theft Index" shows to be "charged higher-than-standard collision and comprehensive premimums."http://www.statefarm.com/media/release/vehrat.aspBummer. Luckily it didn't go up by that much, but still... At least it wasn't my fault that the insurance is going up - no accidents or tickets... *knock on wood* So I guess that people with these cars are experiencing expensive repairs or lots of people are stealing crap off Vibes. Must be all that Toyota crap, expensive parts are in demand. Anyone else have a similar increase?

[ColonelPanic]

From what I gather, the rate for liability/personal injury/whatever looks to be average... But the increase seems to be due to parts - not sure if that was due to theft or cost of replacement parts, or a combination of both...

[ColonelPanic]

Yeah, the prices they try to charge for parts is quite outrageous. I've been quite surprised - a few parts I would expect to pay hundreds of dollars for end up being really cheap... But on the flip side, things that should be five bucks are $100 at the dealer. lol

[tnpartsguy]

I'm just glad I got the Vibe rather than the 'trix. Check it out in the schedule. Also, they don't include a 2WD S10, so I have to pay my premiums on what the 4x4 model does? That's a load of crap.....good thing I get so many discounts; the old discount, the married discount, the multi-car payment discount, the mulit-policy discount, and the good student discount (my wife Teena just got her MS in Cognative Psychology, ended up with a 4.0, and is now in the Phd program)

[Kari]

I'm sure I'll be getting one...or rather, my parents will be getting one and wondering what the deal is. Or did they re-analyze all of the vehicles?

[jake75]

This appears to be a State Farm thing - may not apply if you have insurance from some other company. Also, I suspect that it may reflect the "people" who drive these cars. Otherwise why would a Chrysler T&C rating differ from a Dodge Caravan rating. Essentially the same vehicle. The Corvette hardtop has a "A-40%-A' rating. Perhaps those who drive these corvettes are very very careful. Why would a Matrix have a 0% vehicle safety discunt and the Vibe a 20% discount. Perhaps the Matrix owners as a class are younger less careful drivers while the Vibe owners as a class are old fuddy duddies.

[Kari]

Yes, we have State Farm as well, so I'm sure we'll get one. I remember they got a refund when they traded the '02 Trailblazer for an '04 extended model, apparently the extended has a better safety rating.

[DaddyVibeMI]

We have State Farm well. Our didn't cost too much and we do monthy payment about $140.62 per month with my truck 94 S-10 Blazer 4X4 and 04 Vibe base. I'm not sure ours goes up or not. When your premiuns increased?

[ColonelPanic]

They just went up... The policy is renewed in May and November, so it just now took effect.

[Pick]

I have Allstate and when i traded in my 04 crew cab 4x4 S-10 for this 05 Vibe i expected my rates to go down. Surprise, this car costs a good deal more to insure than my truck.

[Kari]

I wonder if the Vibe's higher rates could be because the car seems to have become more of a tuner car for many of its owners rather than the "economy wagon" it was to the insurance company when it first came out?