How to cut your car insurance costs

I've noticed this. You probably noticed if you've opened up, you know, anything from your insurance company, it's costing more. Certainly those premiums have gone up. In some cases, Georgia drivers are paying 50% more than the average national average when it comes to car insurance. So let's get into this. Let's talk about ways to potentially say we have Justin Farmer with us. He is the founder of Forest City Private Wealth. With help as usual, Justin. Hey, Elise. Is there anything more annoying than buying insurance and paying those monthly premiums? The worst. Yeah, it's just sort of annoying, of course, until you need it. But here's what we're going to do today. So if you want to write this down or take some notes in your phone, maybe you'll throw this up on the Fox 5 website when we're done. We will. I'm going to give you four questions to ask either your insurance broker or direct to your insurance company. First, we're going to tackle two when it comes to auto insurance. Number one, ask if your mileage assumption is actually reflecting how you drive your commute mileage. So what they do by default, the insurance companies, is they make an assumption about 12 to 15,000 miles per year that you're involved in your commute. But think about how the world changed during and after COVID. A lot of us are now are fully work from home or hybrid, maybe really only going to work two and a half, three days a week. So you may be driving substantially fewer miles than 12 or 15,000 a year. Bring this up to your insurance company and you say, hey, I'm only driving 7,800 miles a year on average or something, and then have them take that to the underwriters. Maybe you save a couple bucks. I didn't know that that factored into this. It does. That's helpful. In some situations, not all, but again, if you don't ask the questions, you have 0% chance of saving money. Very nice. Okay, so we got that. Let's talk about question number two. Question number two. It's the 10% collision rule. And here's what we're saying. You know, my wife, for example, she loves her old car. The thing's only worth probably $5,000, but she doesn't want to sell it. So what we did recently, if the car is only worth $4,000 or $5,000, and you can drop the comp and collision coverage. if the if the comp and collision coverage costs more than about 10 percent of the overall value of the vehicle drop that particular coverage because it's usually five to eight hundred dollars a year plus a thousand or two thousand dollars of your deductible stay with me here here's what i'm trying to say make sure you still carry liability in case you make a mistake driving you hurt somebody you need liability make sure you still carry your uninsured motorist because 12 to 15 percent of people driving around Atlanta and Georgia are uninsured yeah but if your car is like it's your teenage teenager's car or you drive a car that's just a beater and you and you're happy to have a car that's worth three or four or five thousand dollars you can drop that comp and collision coverage and save yourself 50 to 100 a month significant why not yeah certainly so if that applies to you then that's worth checking out so you have another one for us we're going to switch gears and talk about homeowner's insurance oh man the percentage deductible trap. And here's what we're saying is the wind and hail deductible on your home, a flat fee, which is what I recommend, or sometimes the carriers, I'm not saying it's nefarious, but sometimes they'll move you into a percentage situation. Let's say you own a $500,000 home. If you don't have a flat fee deductible, if you have hail damage or a tornado comes through and your roof is ripped up, then on a $500,000 home, if it's a 2% deductible instead of a flat fee, you could be out $10,000 before the insurance company even steps in. So I know this can be a little bit confusing, but here's what I'm trying to say. Ask the question to the company that's insuring your home. Do I have a flat fee if I have hail damage or storm damage, or is it a percentage of the value of my home? You want to ask them to move it to a flat fee unless you live in a relatively inexpensive home. That's huge. It is. That's a big difference. Okay, so that's our number three. very important to do that. Well, you've got another one pertaining to home insurance for us. What's this one? Final question. They're going to give you, it's not huge discounts, but they're going to give you discounts. If you have cameras around your house, you know, a Ring doorbell with a camera. If you have leak detectors, some insurance company, insurance companies even require leak detectors now on higher value homes. But even if you don't live in a high value home, but you have a leak detector installed, that thing will pay for itself relatively quickly. So those are the kinds of things. You have an adequate fire alarm system and burglary alarm system. Make sure that your insurer knows of all those little kinds of things because usually an insurance company will give you $20, $50, $100 a month off as a discount because you're doing the smart thing and being proactive in protecting your property. Love it. Some good stuff. Let's put that last graphic up one more time, Gwen, so that folks can see that. These four questions, these four points to consider. It seems like the bottom line here, don't just hit auto pay. Don't. And they will renew you. And sometimes they'll renew you at a higher rate. I mean, we love living in Atlanta and love living in Georgia. At least I do. But our insurance rates here keep climbing. Your only defense against that is communication. You can't just set it and forget it unless you're so rich you don't care about money. But I happen to care about money. That's not us. So get on the phone, talk to your insurance company or talk to your insurance agent go through these four items and just say hey i need you to find me a couple bucks because i'm trying to save up for Delta One lay flat you never go back you want that braised short rib on Delta One and the silver oak and all of it all that yeah all of it some good stuff some important stuff to bring it with your insurance agent they want to keep your business how's your thursday you doing all right i'm good okay good it's gotten better since you were here this streaming world is different isn't it it's different it's a little in the best way in the in the best way no tie here some good stuff Justin Farmer with us today from Forest City Private Wealth I look forward to thursdays when you come in very very nice