The renewal letter came on a Tuesday, sitting under a hardware store flyer on the kitchen counter. Tina had already opened it and drawn a circle around one number with the pen from the junk drawer. Our six-month premium, starting April 1, was going from $1,068 to $1,254.
That is $186 more every six months, or $372 a year, for the same two vehicles and the same two drivers. The Sienna had 187,400 miles on it that week. The Silverado was at 131,800. Neither of us has had a ticket in years, and we have never filed a claim with this company. Nothing about us changed. The bill did anyway.
I started this blog to keep honest track of what our cars cost, and insurance is the line I understand the least. So I did what I do at work when a freight rate jumps without warning. I called and asked why.
What I asked
I wrote my questions on the back of the envelope before I dialed, because I know myself. If I don't write them down, I hang up having said "okay, thanks" four times and learned nothing.
- Did anything on our record change? A claim, a ticket, a credit check, anything tied to us specifically?
- Did the coverage change, or is this the same policy at a new price?
- How much of the increase is on the truck and how much is on the van?
- Is there anything on the policy we are paying for and don't need?
- Would raising our deductibles bring it back down, and by how much?
Our agent pulled up the file while I waited and went through it. Nothing on our record had changed. The coverage was identical. The increase was spread across both vehicles, a little heavier on the Silverado, and most of it sat in the parts of the policy that pay for damage to vehicles, ours or someone else's.
What I learned
The short version is that we did not cause this. Our agent said rates across the state had been climbing for a couple of years, and the reasons are mostly about what it costs to fix and replace cars now. Parts cost more. Labor costs more. A bumper on a newer car has sensors in it, so a fender-bender that used to be a $900 repair can be several thousand. Medical bills after a crash have gone up too. Every customer carries a slice of that, including people like us who mostly drive to work and the grocery store.
That made sense to me in freight terms. When diesel, tires and drivers all cost more, the rate goes up for every lane, not only the ones with problems. I don't have to like it, but I understood it.
I also learned what was actually on our policy, which was a little embarrassing. Our liability limits were Missouri's minimum, 25/50/25. I had assumed for years that we carried more than that. Our agent didn't push, just asked if I wanted to talk about it sometime. I said yes, but not in the same phone call where I was already annoyed about $186.
On deductibles, we carry $500 on comprehensive and collision for both vehicles. Moving to $1,000 would have saved some money, but not much, and the van is the vehicle most likely to need a claim with Tina's errands and Lainey's volleyball runs. We left them where they were.
What we did about it
For now, we paid it. I didn't shop other companies this time, partly because I wanted to understand what we had before comparing it to anything else. Shopping a policy you don't understand just means comparing prices on two things you can't describe.
Here is where the math lands. At $1,254 for six months, insurance runs us about $209 a month for two vehicles. Between the truck and the van we drive something like 2,000 miles a month, so insurance alone is around ten cents a mile before a single drop of gas. I wrote that in the spreadsheet next to the oil changes, because a cost you don't track is a cost you can't argue with.
I also made myself a note for the fall renewal: get the declarations page out, read every line, and ask about those liability limits properly. Garrett has his learner's permit now, and the day he gets a license, this bill is going to look very different. I would rather learn how the policy works while the numbers are still small.
Tina put the letter in the folder where we keep the titles. She said it was the most expensive piece of paper in there. I pointed out the titles are worth more. She pointed out the titles don't send us a new bill every six months. She had me there.