I have insurance, but I don't have much faith in it. When New Orleans flooded, I figured that because we had insurance we'd be fine. We did come out fine, but it took several years of fighting with the insurance companies. We've also had several problems over the years of getting insurance companies to pay various healthcare and auto costs that were supposed to be covered.
But in order to drive, and to have a mortgage, and to be "responsible," our society deems it necessary to have insurance. However I think I'm paying way too much for it. In fact, insurance costs wind up being more than 25% of my salary. It costs much more than the national average to have homeowners and auto insurance in New Orleans, so I bet that I pay more than you. I pay $15,033.79 for various forms of insurance.
Here is a breakdown of what I pay for insurance annually:
Homeowners/Flood/Termite
$4,022 Homeowners Premium (Louisiana Citizens for $355,000 dwelling & $177,000 personal coverage)
$645 Flood Insurance (American National for $250,000 building and $100,000 content)
$173 Termite Insurance with Terminex
Then we have a rental property on South Hennessey:
$2422 Homeowners (Louisiana Citizens $200,000 dwelling)
$458 Flood Insurance (American National for $224,000 coverage)
$151 Termite Insurance with Terminex
Health Insurance
$2,213.76 for healthcare coverage for me, Kalypso and Gilgamesh with Humana.
$708.72 for dental insurance for me, Kalypso and Gilgamesh.
$1034.17 Therese's health Insurance
$53.77 Therese's Dental Insurance
$122.17 Vision Insurance
Auto & Scooter Insurance
$2,292.20 for 2001 Toyota Highlander and 1966 Pontiac Catalina for Therese, myself, and Kalypso with Geico.
$140 Vespa Scooter Insurance for Therese and me with Geico.
Life Insurance
$470 annual payment for me for a $500,000 policy with American General.
$128 for Therese for $200,000 policy with Genworth.
I know I can save money by shopping around for homeowners and car insurance. My goal is to have this bill be under $10K within one year.
8 comments:
Do you have antique car insurance for the Pontiac? That's typically only ~$200 a year.
Was your (or Therese's) father a veteran? If so, was he a member of USAA? If that's the case, you (or Therese) can become members, making you eligible for insurance. It's the best in the country, and it's typically less expensive. And after the house fire, they paid me really well. I would definitely pursue it if you have a chance.
Also, are your life insurance policies term life insurance? They should be. Whole life policies are for suckers.
dumb question , but have you tried bundling your home and car insurance. it saved us a good sum.
if you can get off the la. citizens you gonna save some bucks right there.
health insurance thru your employer seems to still the best deal out there for us. the old strength in numbers game.
that terminex is the best peace of mind i've ever paid for. a friend of mine who is a lawyer says she's handled a couple of cases for clients against them and she found the results to be very fair, equitable, and easy to handle.
when me and my wife were renters back in the day we got renters insurance thru carl mixion from state farm over on canal stret by the cemetaries. we stuck with him / them when we bought the house and while i'm not a fan of the insurance biz , it's been a realitivly painless relation ship.
i would recomend yall go in there one day and talk to him.
if nothing else it will give you a little more info to chew on.
good luck.
David and Anonymous, all very good advice, thanks. My father was a veteran and we tried to join USAA right after the flood, but were turned down. I hear it's easier to join now and just did. Also, while I'm reluctant to join State Farm as they had a negative approval rating following the flood second only to Allstate, I will check into Carl, but I'm afraid that after Katrina and our fight with Allstate, Statefarm won't want us. But I'll ask.
We were paying Allstate $3800 a year for homeowner's and another $1400 a year to Citizens for wind insurance. I was able to get a policy through ASI Lloyd's for homeowner's and wind for $2,800. Calling Allstate and telling them to cancel my policy was immensely satisfying, especially after the ordeal we went through with them post-Katrina. You might want to check ASI out.
I did not know you had a '66 Catalina. That's excellent. Pictures somewhere?
For what it's worth, Clay tried to get our '62 chevy pickup onto antique car insurance and we got turned down. Too rusty and not original enough. We pay somewhere a little under 600/year on progressive for it.
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