I’m not complaining about car insurance and it aggravates the heck out of me that some people drive without it but I think this is funny.
When we were in Kentucky, Chad, being an under 21, unmarried driver, was paying about $2,100 per year for his insurance and that’s just liability and uninsured/underinsured coverage.
Let me insert a little story here about Chad and why he is paying his own insurance. In KY, Chad could’ve gotten his license at 16-1/2 (I think). We told him he had to make A’s and B’s and he could get his license and use one of our vehicles. Didn’t happen. Then he got to be a senior and I explained to him that I felt every kid deserved to drive a car to school his senior year. As soon as you make all A’s and B’s, you can get your license and have one of the cars. Didn’t happen. Chad is a very bright young man so I wasn’t asking him to do something that was difficult for him.
Chad graduated from high school and still didn’t have his license. I told him get a job and then you can get you license! He got a job in June after graduating in May so he got his license and we gave him Vince’s Mazda 626 to drive and Vince started driving the pickup. The one thing I said to him over and over and over: If you get a ticket or have a wreck that’s your fault, then you’re buying your own car and paying your own insurance.
Yes ma’am! He understood fully! Until . . 2 weeks into his driving adventure, he got a ticket. He was going 70 in a 55. Not just any 55 zone but on the Owensboro bypass where there were always police officers and we had talked for years about how dumb it was for people to speed on that road because there were always police officers catching speeders there.
So, Chad had the option of buying his own vehicle or buying the Mazda 626 from us which is what he did and he became responsible for paying his own insurance.
Oh . . the best part. After I calmed down from him telling me about the ticket, I asked him if the officer was nice to him. Yes. I asked him what he said. I’m going to write this up that you were going 70 but I actually clocked you going 77! Oh, thanks a lot Chad for telling me that!
Back to the story . .
When we moved to Missouri, his insurance dropped to $1,276 per year for the exact same coverage on the exact same car with the exact same driving record. He pays it annually and received his 2008 bill a few days ago. I guess the paralegal in me had to read every word on every page and noticed there was a discount available for a “B” average. I called and they asked me to fax them his grades. I faxed the grades for the previous two semesters and by having a “B” average, his rate was reduced to $840 annually but because he was eligible for the discount in May, they applied the discount retroactively and his bill went from $1,276 to $584. Amazing, huh?
And, I must give kuddos to USAA who is the insurer for the guy who hit Chad’s car in the parking lot earlier last month. They’ve been great — very nice to deal with and very prompt! His is car will be fixed as soon as the body shop can get to it.
