Newcomer help with Michigan Auto insurance

**hathorlive** · July-24-13, 08:16 PM

I need some advice. I'm moving to Detroit and I need to get auto insurance. I understand that Michigan insurance is expensive. I'm just confused about what some of the options are. For example, if I have full medical coverage, do I need the PIP? It seems excessive for someone who has medical coverage. Granted I have no experience in Michigan but does your medical coverage not kick in whenever you have an auto accident?

Can anyone suggest the options that are necessary versus those that are fluff?

**Wheels** · July-24-13, 08:22 PM

This may help. http://autos.yahoo.com/news/the-city...04.html?page=1

**48202** · July-24-13, 08:32 PM

Or this:

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/ci...gd_25094_7.pdf

**compn** · July-24-13, 08:32 PM

better ask your medical insurance if it covers your auto medical.
sometimes it will, sometimes it will only cover up-to-$5k or some small amount.
sometimes they require you to get auto medical or else you lose coverage.

i suggest buying a big old solid car and invest in a 5point harness + crash helmet.
cant go more than 1 mile without seeing a bunch of smashed up vehicles in the metro area.

i got rear ended [[just fender benders) last year and this year. both while waiting at red lights with other cars. one in detroit and one on 8 mile in the burbs. they say no one is paying for insurance, well no one is paying to get their brakes fixed either!

**Cincinnati_Kid** · July-25-13, 09:08 AM

Best thing I can tell you is look around. If you're giving them a Detroit address, good luck finding reasonable insurance. As the above post says, find you a big older american sedan, and put just liability on it to cut costs. It's not going to be worth anything if it's totaled anyway.

**hathorlive** · July-25-13, 11:33 AM

Originally Posted by Cincinnati_Kid

Best thing I can tell you is look around. If you're giving them a Detroit address, good luck finding reasonable insurance. As the above post says, find you a big older american sedan, and put just liability on it to cut costs. It's not going to be worth anything if it's totaled anyway.

I actually have an older car, but I'm shocked that the prices are so high for a 2005 car. I was going to buy a new car next year, but I'm starting to rethink that. I really have to wonder if a new car could get much worse. I expected my insurance to go up, but I didn't expect it to be 150%.

Thanks for all the advice and links. I appreciate it!

**Gannon** · July-25-13, 11:39 AM

It helps to be flexible when buying car insurance in this town.

The yogis call it a "Forward Fold".

Better to use someone else's address. It is getting quite quaint to have an out-of-state plate in some neighborhoods, it seems.

Sorry. This is a racket. The only way to break it, as far as I can tell, is to create a Credit Union and put everyone's vehicles into a pool self-insured by everyone's assets. There remains a self-insurance clause in the law, as far as I know. Large corporations take advantage of it. I'd guess big trusts would, too.

Cheers.

**EastsideAl** · July-25-13, 11:46 AM

Good luck. Get ready for yet another major league reaming by the insurance "industry." Auto insurance in Detroit is a ridiculous and inexcusable redlining ripoff [[which therefore just begs for the creation of yet more fraud). I drive a 10+ year old car, have no violations, accidents, or claims, and pay more than twice as much as I did when I lived in NYC!

**Downtown Lady** · July-25-13, 01:15 PM

Originally Posted by Gannon

Better to use someone else's address.

Cheaper yes, but insurance fraud is still illegal.

**hathorlive** · July-25-13, 01:19 PM

I am amazed at how complicated the insurance forms are. And more shocked that anyone can afford a new car. Since I will have a new job and my health insurance doesn't kick in until a few weeks later, I also have to say I'm uninsured. It's a very strange way to do car insurance.

I don't think I've ever seen a state do things this way. Oh well, welcome to Detroit for me! How hard will it be to get plates for my car and license my dog???

**gnome** · July-25-13, 01:31 PM

If you can keep your legal address somewhere else, do it. Got an brother in Birmingham? An Aunt in Austin? A Uncle in Uncolaville? slide them $500 bucks and register everything there.

You are about to get one of many rude awakenings. Home Owner's insurance, renter's insurance, life insurance, are just a few of the "taxes" that tax the good nature of Detroiters.

Yes, that is insurance fraud. If caught you will face a jury filled with people who do the exact same thing.

**gnome** · July-25-13, 01:36 PM

from yahoo!'s splash page:

http://autos.yahoo.com/news/the-city...220741904.html

**Downtown Lady** · July-25-13, 01:50 PM

Originally Posted by gnome

Yes, that is insurance fraud. If caught you will face a jury filled with people who do the exact same thing.

I get it, I really do, about wanting the little guy to catch a break, but this kind of thinking -- "everybody does it so I might as well too" -- is what allowed corruption in the city to flourish.

Sometimes the struggling little guy just has to say no even if it would be easier to say yes. I know firsthand that insurance rates are outrageous. Sorry, just my thoughts.

**gnome** · July-25-13, 02:28 PM

Agreed DL. registering in an alternative city is an odious crime, but we don't know how long the OP is going to be staying here. He may very well see everything we offer and pack up his stuff and return to the comforts of anywhere else. I say give himself some time to adjust to his new realities.

If the difference between rolling dirty or registering in a different city, I would say his best option to is to be absolutely positive he is staying before he gets stuck paying.

**DTFellow** · July-25-13, 02:29 PM

I, too, need to get new insurance soon for a city address. Any tips on companies to shop with or brokers to get in touch with?

**Wheels** · July-25-13, 04:38 PM

If everybody registers outside of Detroit, who will be left to vote on city business?

**sumas** · July-25-13, 07:56 PM

Originally Posted by gnome

If you can keep your legal address somewhere else, do it. Got an brother in Birmingham? An Aunt in Austin? A Uncle in Uncolaville? slide them $500 bucks and register everything there.

You are about to get one of many rude awakenings. Home Owner's insurance, renter's insurance, life insurance, are just a few of the "taxes" that tax the good nature of Detroiters.

Yes, that is insurance fraud. If caught you will face a jury filled with people who do the exact same thing.

That is so true!

**hathorlive** · July-25-13, 10:23 PM

I've gotten a quote I can live with and will be honestly enrolled with a Detroit address. I knew it would be expensive, but it's not as bad as I feared. And it will be better when my health insurance with the new job kicks in. I don't know if I will ever buy a new car but I can afford it with my old one.

I just to live in Chicago and I'd meet people with two cars and think, they must be rich to have TWO spaces. Now I will look at people with a new car in Detroit and think, "they must be rich to afford the insurance on a 2008 accord".

**Marlon_JB2** · July-25-13, 10:34 PM

I have two vehicles, one is a 2010 and the other is a 2013. Trust me, I'm paying way too much but oh well, it is what it is.

And trust me, insurance doesn't go down very much as the vehicle gets older. My cousin had a 2000 Grand Prix and was still paying over $200/mo.

Granted we are young, but still... even my mother pays $150/mo...

**hathorlive** · July-26-13, 12:28 AM

Originally Posted by Marlon_JB2

Granted we are young, but still... even my mother pays $150/mo...

I have to wonder how the insurance companies got this pushed through. I mean, someone has to be making a fortune off everyone's back. I think it's funny that you pay a fortune so just in case you have a life altering accident, you are covered. Most of us won't have accidents ever. And of those who do, most aren't life altering. So you over pay for years and get no benefit.

Then again, I've seen the way people in Michigan drive, so maybe accidents are that serious on a regular basis.

**kanfar** · July-26-13, 02:26 AM

Not sure what everybody considers reasonable but my Progressive full coverage policy is $ 2200 per year on 2012 Impala. I had a tree fall on my old car and my rates did not go up. Excellent service provided to me. And yes, I live in the city.

**EastsideAl** · July-26-13, 09:09 AM

Originally Posted by hathorlive

I have to wonder how the insurance companies got this pushed through.

The funny thing is that the insurers mostly objected when no-fault was first brought in back in the early '70s. Obviously, they have since found a way to make it work to their considerable benefit.

**sumas** · July-26-13, 10:34 AM

Originally Posted by EastsideAl

The funny thing is that the insurers mostly objected when no-fault was first brought in back in the early '70s. Obviously, they have since found a way to make it work to their considerable benefit.

You got that right!

**Zacha341** · July-26-13, 10:54 AM

This topic comes up often as insurance rates continue to escalate for Detroit and bordering suburbs... Michigan in general.

I've long abandoned the big name insurance companies 15+ years ago... I use a broker to get me the best rates and have a decent policy thru Citizens right now. I have used my a broker to switch me a few times when I have changed cars. It's been an advantage to go this route. Broker:

Valenti Trobec Chandler Inc
248-530-3283
1175 W. Long Lake Rd, Ste #200
Troy, MI 48098