Prius Insurance vs Gas Savings?

For those concerned with monthly insurance cost; it should be noted that there is significant savings to be had by paying the 6 month premium in full. Even if you cancel before the 6 months is up, the pro-rated amount is refunded.

 

Essentially my advice to my mom last fall, but I got overruled ... she likes what she likes ....

-Chap

 

I'd expect those savings to be a fairly uniform percentage off, irrespective of the car model or the premium amount, so in terms of comparing cost-of-ownership for different cars, a consideration like this shouldn't be important as long as the costs being compared are assuming the same payment terms.

When I changed to my current insurer after moving to Indiana, I discovered this firm has a once-a-year billing option. The way I discovered it was I asked for their quote, and when I saw it I made a face and said "er, you know, that's even a bit more than I'm paying now" and he smiled at me for a moment before saying "er, you mean than the amount you're currently paying twice a year?" and I didn't get what he was saying right off, then I took a second look at the quote and then I was smiling too. He said, "yeah, we're used to that reaction."

I ended up going with them for my other insurances too, and I can't complain about the price, though it always feels like smashing the piggy bank the one month each year they all come due....

-Chap

 

I'd pay 3 years up front if the savings were substantial. Neat to see some company offering an annual premium.

I manage internet and cell phone service for my grandparents, and they pay me up front for the year even though I'm billed monthly. A lot less hassle if you ask me.

It would be neat if other fixed cost services such as garbage and sewer would offer a discount for paying up front for the year.

 

You'd probably want it to work like the insurance bill, and have them owe you a pro rata refund if you cancel mid-year, and the sticking point for them might be needing more or less to have actuaries tell them how much liquidity they'll need to cover a likely number of people cancelling in a short time - in other words, to insure against that, really. Might be easier for insurance companies since, well, that's already what they do.

-Chap

 

CycloPathic talked a lot about insurance rates being high in Maryland especially for the Prius "c" for younger drivers. He got one anyways.

My expertise is relative state/local taxes/incentives...taxes are high on Prius in VA (any more expensive car taxed harder here as we have a progressive local car tax system), and I tried to add insurance onto that but I did not get too far. But a Mazda 3 probably has a nice local car tax advantage over Prius here.

 

Sounds like AZ tax law. If it's anything like that, I'd drive a beater and put the money into my home.

 

Yes it is a little like AZ but AZ uses a standard table for depreciation whereas VA uses blue book, so its impossible to predict but my Prius has depreciated very slowly. and AZ is not progressive so penalty for more expensive car is just straight %. Actually to digress its about a 25% local car tax here plus 4% state tax, over 10-yrs, so bad local tax the state decided to help car owners pay it, so its partially rebated but its just absolutely nuts formula and nearly unfixable, because if we fixed it, the towns would not get the state rebate payment portion of the car tax. Yes this is affluent area but we drive modest cars. We'd have Teslas all over the place if it was not for the car tax, I am pretty sure.

 

It can also be a matter of actuaries.

Lots of factors involved. Frequency of accidents of that make/model, where you live, cost to repair, etc. A Prius might cost more to fix in one area but not another just because of local/regional factors increasing the risk of total loss claims.

 

Just make sure you really like the car cause if you have any hankering for pretty good handling, look elsewhere. The flat -across upper seatbacks give no shoulder support in a turn / long cloverleaf turn. That's to save weight.

 

In my out of a dozen or so new cars I've owned I only wrote a check for one in 2002. A few months later I was rear ended and it was totalled. I'll never write a check for a car again.

 

So, you're claiming that writing checks for a car cause others to crash into it?

I've never written a check for a car, only paid cash for 4 of them. I financed the TSX, not because I couldn't pay cash, but because the interest rate was 1.99% and I was making more interest in my rewards checking account at the credit union.

 

You wouldn't have been any happier if you still had a loan to pay off for a few-months-old new car, though at least you could have bought GAP insurance in that case.

Nothing I see suggests you can even buy GAP insurance to protect yourself if you don't have a loan, which in essence means you're self-insuring: writing that check for a new car might be a good idea if you not only have enough in the bank to cover the check, but also to absorb the possible loss of the car's depreciation in the event of an early accident.

-Chap

 

LOL, if one was really serious about saving money on a car, one would buy <$1000 POS and have liability only on it. I've been there when I was dirt poor. I also just bought one for my teenager, so he wouldn't feel spoiled.

 

I bought my prius to save money comparing to another car I had around the same value, but commuting 200 miles a day.
So I guess I was better off with my other car that got me 28 to 31 at best miles per gallon

 

Consumer Reports lists the least costly cars to own for 5 years as follows:
Sub-Compact Cars: Prius C Two
Compact Cars: Prius Four (Liftback)
Mid size Sedans: Camry Hybrid XLE
Large Cars: Avalon Hybrid Limited

They don't appear to find a "hybrid premium" if you look at total cost to own rather than initial price alone.

Individual circumstances can change things. In my case the cost advantage of the Prius would be greater than they report.

 

When we leased (now bought) our new 2011 Prius gas was $4 a gallon and with the type of driving my wife does just the fuel savings compared to our 2001 Chrysler Voyager made the $280 a month payments. As far as insurance, I was worried about how much it would go up but pleasantly found that full coverage was nearly the same as just liability on the van! If you want to save money on insurance costs....raise the amount of your deductible.

 

My insurance on a NEW Prius was very respectable compared to my 12+ year old pickup truck. A big part of it was all the safety features on the Prius that didn't exist when the pickup was manufactured.

 

I did check insurance rates to see how much more the Prius would cost than our old van. I found the cost was in line with or less than what it would have cost for any other new car I was considering. If I wanted to save money, I would have simply fixed up our old van and kept it another 16 years. I could have driven a lot of 24 mpg miles for what I paid for the Prius. However, that wasn't the point. I began the journey willing to spend up to $40k and I wanted a "green" car. The Prius was #1 on my list and everything else was compared to it. I did have some advantage in that my brother has a Sonata Blue that I had some experience driving, etc., so I had a pretty good grasp of what I was willing to accept as far as space, power, etc. The cost of insurance has never been a factor in my choice of cars.

 

I've used on-line insurance calculators (insurance.com?) to find cost deltas on vehicles (looking for hybrid penalty) and I never saw too much.