Minimize Repair Cost Above Deductible?

[stevewaclo]

And another thing!

I'm an AARP member and have been getting emails about taking an online driver safety course ($20) for a possible premium discount. Called Progressive to see if it was worthwhile. How does $0.80 off my premium sound? You read that right, $0.80.

Also, my final effort for a better rate was to check with AARP/Hartford.

They do not insure Teslas…

 

[stevewaclo]

A follow up on my efforts to lower car insurance cost.

A quick review. My collision claim of last summer shot Progressive coverage at January renewal (full on a 2020 Tesla M3, liability on a 2003 GMC Sierra PU) to $1900 for 6 months (!) and I was unable to find a better rate…anywhere.

Decided to recheck Tesla insurance (first effort several years ago didn't pencil) and I'm currently paying Tesla a total of $930 for 6 months for the same coverage .

When I first received the Tesla bid in late December of '24, I called to confirm the surprising low amount and reminded the rep of my earlier claim. She told me it didn't matter because they start new accounts with a clean sheet. I started with an automatically assigned Safety Score (SS) of 90 (like all new accounts) that improved to 97 ($780/6 mo) but lately have dropped to 92 ($930) due to difficulties dealing with "unsafe following", a metric of SS which monitors six aspects of driving. UF is only measured above 50mph, but it's making me nuts and I'm still working on improving.

Tesla SS is reevaluated monthly and I can use the phone app to see how each aspect of my score changes on a trip by trip basis. Unfortunately, no real time warnings.

Finally, members posting on the Tesla Forum, where mostly I hear only complaints and bad things, have reported challenges dealing with Tesla claims. Fortunately, I have no plans to ever make a claim.

 

[marindependent]

Not all of that is from the claims. Not shocking to have seen 20-50% in auto rate increase over the last 2-3 years.

This