To: bovik@K.GP.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: car insurance for new PA driver Date: Tue, 15 May 90 13:04:12 EDT From: Fu-Hua.Liu@SPEECH2.CS.CMU.EDU Hi, Larry: Following are the resposes to my recent post for information on auto insurance for a new PA driver. Since there are constantly new interantional students and visiting scholars at this school, this might be useful to them. First, here goes my previous post to ask for pointers on auto insurance. Two months ago, as soon as I got my car, I was in the market searching for car insureance agents and ended up with one who is with ALLSTATE. He told me that I had to pay $751 for liability. Now after some lottery-alike process, I was assigned to another company, to be more specific, Mutual Benefits Incurance Co.. And they raised the insurance to $1021. Wow, can you imagine that I have to pay $1021 one year for only liability with 15K/30K limilts? I was told that if I cancel this deal right now and apply to another company, chances are that I need to go through that lottery and lose money again. Is this true? Any better idea? Any pointers will be highly appreciated. Fu-hua P.S. I am 29, male, married, and have PA licence for 3 months, but have had a foreign licence for more than 6 years without any record of accidents within the past three years. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 4 May 1990 11:06-EDT From: Robert.Frederking@ISL1.RI.CMU.EDU Subject: Re: insure info needed West Penn AAA is where I got my insurance, at very reasonable rates. You should talk to them, since they are primarily an automobile organization. Bob ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 4 May 90 11:15:38 EDT From: Paul Dietz Subject: Insurance... Fu-Hua - Your post got me curious, so I called my State Farm Agent to see what I could find out. Apparently, there's not much you can do except pay the exorbitant rate for a year, and then switch to another company after you have some insurance history. There is one possibility though. Apparently, if you can get on somebody else's policy, you can establish history without paying exorbitant fees. This is what I did with Cathy. Since we're living together, it cost me nothing to add her to the policy. Anyhow, I empathize with your situation. If you think this is bad, ask me about my Dad's buisness insurance... Good luck! --- phd ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 4 May 1990 13:27-EDT From: Lonnie.Chrisman@A.GP.CS.CMU.EDU Subject: Re: insure info needed Call Joel Rudik at Tut Melman assoc. I had some rediculous hastles with State Farm (a co. to avoid at all costs!), and he was the only one that seemed capable of solving my problems. Highly recommended. (He's an insurance broker). Lonnie ---------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Katsufumi Nakamura Subject: Re: Rem:insure info needed Date: Sat, 05 May 90 02:51:43 EDT Unfortunately, the state of PA has this ridiculous policy that you must have at least 3 years of driving record in the US to be able to shop around for an auto insurance. What this means is that no insurance company won't write you a policy without a good record and a valid insurance policy from another insurance company. So, the only way for you to get a policy is through the state-assigned-risk program, which will find you a company through a lottery like process, and your policy rate is fixed by the program regardless of which company they assign you to. Basically, insurance companies has a right to cancel the policy if the the policy-holder start building a bad record (like moving violations tickets, accidents, etc), in which case, the assigned-risk program becomes the only alternative. Now, the rate is high because the program is classifying you as a "risky driver" although you don't really have any bad records. I myself had to go through this program, and now after 3 years of the hell of paying big money, I'm free to shop around for a competitive rate. FYI, I was paying alot more than the number you quoted since I was not over 25 at that time, but my policy rate has gone down by 1/3 as soon as I got out of the program. I'm sorry I cannot help you much, but I hope my explanation has clarified your question. So, the answer is you won't gain any by cancelling your current policy since your policy rate is fixed, and the odds is high that you might loose some money. Good Luck! Katsu ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 5 May 90 15:22:19 -0400 (EDT) From: "Marek J. Druzdzel" Subject: Re: insure info needed Fu-Hua, I am in exactly the same situation (except maybe that I drove for 1.5 years in New York state before coming to PA and I was 31 when I moved to PA and started the insurance), but my deal was way better. I am paying about $380.- a year, but this is for a $100K insurance, i.e. much higher than the minimum required. I will resend you a note that I sent to somebody else months ago. You will find the name, address, and phone number of the agent there. Give him a call. If you think it helps you, you can give him my name. Greetings, Marek ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sat, 5 Aug 89 22:40:47 -0400 (EDT) From: "Marek J. Druzdzel" Subject: Re: Auto Insrance for new driver Lian, I would like to suggest you calling the following person (he sells Travellers insurance): Arthur D. Tripp, jr 346 Bower Hill Road Pittsburgh, PA 15228 Phone: (412) 341-7527 I don't know if he will be able to insure you and how much it will cost you, but when I was looking for an insurance in Pennsylvania, he was the cheapest I could find. Generally my situation may be very different than yours, but I ended up paying half as much as what other companies, including AAA, suggested. I am still insured with him (this is my only relation with him and his business). Give him a call and ask him what he can offer you (you are free to tell him that you got his name from me). Greetings, Marek