[MissTwisties]

I'm a little pissed off right now. We want to transfer the Hyundai under my name, in order to pay less insurance on it. I have a step 9, and my husband is a step 13 or 16, not sure since a perfect step start at 9, and the insurance papers says he's got 4 operator SDIP points (that would only be 13 points total but somewhere else on the papers it says 16...??)

Anyway, it would clearly be much cheaper if we just transfer the car under my name, and save on $$. But my problem is this: the insurance guy (not the actual ins. cie but the office we go thru) tells me that it won't matter, since my husband will still be marked as the occasional driver on the car since he live in the house, and his step is higher than mine and they base the premiums on the higher step in the household. They told me they have to put him on the car insurance anyway. That's bullshit!! He NEVER drives that car. So why should we be penalized and have him on the car coverage and pay big $$ because of his higher SDIP?? They told me "it's the rules in MA" You guys in MA, is it the same for you also?


Edit: the more I think about this, the more aggravated I am. What if a couple have a 17 years old teenager, who occasionally borrow daddy's car, and he end up with a speeding ticket, his points go up....that would mean the main driver of the car (mom or dad) would be penalized because then the premiums would be based on their teen's SDIP? Or worse, let's say the teen has his own car, and get speeding tickets, his points go up, the parents are STILL getting penalized because they consider the higher points in the household?? One thing tho....why is this NOT applicable to our motorcycles?? My bike premiums are based only on my step, not my husband's.....so what's the difference between the car and the bikes? They could as well say that he's an occasional rider on my bike...Grr...

[LiononaLeash]

it seems to be the same nomatter where you go. They try to figure out ways to charge you more. I noticed it was worse in MA though. Glad I'm not there anymore.

If you have a child that lives with you, and they just get their license. That's another fun time to watch the premium go up since they often require all licensed drivers in a household to be listed.

Once my insurance company wanted to even list my wife on my motorcycle policy. I told them she doesn't drive it... they said it didn't matter. I then told them she doesn't have an MC license. I convinced them not to list her by telling them If they didn't see things my way I was going someplace else.

I don't know how much that helps you MT. But good luck.

[MissTwisties]

Yeah, that's what I'm about to do...if they want to penalize me after we transfer the car to my name, I'll just tell them I'm going to get my insurances somewhere else...they would loose money as our car, and both bikes are insured with them.

I just don't understand why this doesn't apply to our bikes. We both have bike licenses, but his points don't affect my bike ins. premiums and vice versa.

[ssg]

Well everyone is right.

But, I've had a similar debate with my ins. co when I lived near downtown and owned 2 cars and 2 bikes and only kept one of them there with me, the other two were actually garaged offsite. They challenged me and even with me transferring the registration(s) to another address wanted to give me shit.

It ultimately came down to me saying I pay you or I pay someone else, doesen't matter to me. Suddenly they were accomidating.

Not sure about your sitch, I always told them I lived elsewhere or was estranged

[stevecbr900rr]

Insurance companyies suck ass and mass is the worst. My friend owns a house and wanted to switch ins companyies. The new insers came out and wanted to charge him more just because he owned a dog. Then they wanted him to do his fire place over, and the list goes on,...it was assinine. Best thing to do is shop around, you will find most have the same rules but some are flexible, smaller ins comp, ones that are just starting out. My friend ended up with a company that was just starting out and they didnt even come out and look at the place and they gave him full replacement cost. Signed the papers thats it.

[typeone]

thats not true for my wife and I, not sure what the laws are but...

my SDIP is 22 or 24 and my wifes is like below 9. i get screwed on my Jeep with points (most tickets) but not my bike (1 ticket) or my '66 Porsche (no tickets). my wifes car/policy does not reflect any of my evil-doing.

i drive her Volvo occasionally, she drives my Jeep and Porsche occasionally and only i ride the bike.

what i outlined above was true for two different MA agents. we left the first one due to being ignored during simple requests. i would take your business elsewhere, or at least inquire with another agent.

[Cue Ball]

Unfortunately your policy will be rated according to teh worst driver's step in the household, so even if your Man God is occasional, you pay just as if he was primary.

Being in the Mass Auto Ins Industry, I do not recommend trying to circumvent or get creative with who is listed on your policy, you'll get screwed in the end as your ins company will deny any optional coverages like coll/comp, optional BI etc. If you try registering the car that was your Man God's in your name, they will run the vin# and see he used to own it and put two and two together.

Insurance companies do sneaky stuff like send investogators out to check with your neighbors to see who drives the car and how often etc...

The only way to beat teh system is if you only carry the state minimal limits and not list your Man God at all, the compulsory coverages are very hard for the insurer to deny, unless they can prove misrepresentation at the time of application, then they can void the policy all together and its like it never happened and your stuck, but on the bright side they give you a full refund of your premium.


PART I. ADMINISTRATION OF THE GOVERNMENT


TITLE XXII. CORPORATIONS


CHAPTER 175. INSURANCE


MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS


Chapter 175: Section 186. Misrepresentations by insured; effect


Section 186. No oral or written misrepresentation or warranty made in the negotiation of a policy of insurance by the insured or in his behalf shall be deemed material or defeat or avoid the policy or prevent its attaching unless such misrepresentation or warranty is made with actual intent to deceive, or unless the matter misrepresented or made a warranty increased the risk of loss

[MissTwisties]

The Hyundai is a 2000. It has about 135 000 miles on it. We were to transfer the car to my name. He never, ever drive that car. I was to keep only minimum coverage on it (liability) to reduce insurance costs. They told me (the insurance guy) that they would only do a family ownership transfer (or something like that) from husband to wife.

If our insurance guy won't do anything, maybe I could take my business elsewhere, with my bike (my name is on it) and the car transfered under my name, and my husband could keep his bike insurance with them?

[stevecbr900rr]

Your going to get alot of diffrent opinions in here and situations. The best thing to do is shop around. The more insurance companys you talk too the more educated youll get on how things work. Afterall the insurance companys are who you will be dealing with in the end.

[benVFR]

There is a way to do it.. but it might take some work. You need to find a good agent who is trying to help you as opposed to extract the most money from you.

Since my brothers and sisters and I first got our drivers licenses my parents always kept an old crappy car around for us to drive. We were listed in such a way that we were completely forbidden from driving their newer, nicer cars. If we had driven them and gotten in an accident the policy was such that the claim would have been denied. This apparently saved a good amount of money. I got some tickets, and all my siblings got tickets & crashed the crappy old cars.

Maybe you can't do this with your husband since he is not a dependent and he actually owns the car. But there may be a way to do it.

The other thing you can do if you're trying to save money is move out of Springfield. If you moved to one of the rural areas outside the city your insurance would surely go down a great deal.

[MissTwisties]

Originally posted by benVFR
Maybe you can't do this with your husband since he is not a dependent and he actually owns the car. But there may be a way to do it.

Like I said...it's a question of time (days) before the car is being transfered into my name. And moving out of our house right now is not an option, seeing how real estate here is ridiculously expensive (buying a decent house in the suburbs these days is not under $250 000) We are also bound by a stupid contract that when we signed for our house, the down payment and closing costs were waived, under the condition that we would not sell the house for 7 or 10 years after (not exactly sure of the amount of years) or we would have to re-pay all that money back. We've been here about 6 years. Besides, we don't have money put aside for a down payment on another home, and we barely have any equity built on this house as we are paying mostly interests on our monthly mortgage ($1100 a month including home insurance)

As suggested, I will shop around and see what other cies tells me...

[neuthunder]

well I have my car registered in boston for my address at school and I'm paying $250 a month, so I ask to switch it to my parents address and they told me i could but if anything happens to it ever in roxbury they wont cover it because they know i live there.... moving it out of the city will save me about $700 a year or more.... so yes insurance companies can like balls

[stevecbr900rr]

The state is trying to pass laws on charging people diffrent prices for insurance depending on where they live anyway, so you might as well stay were you are. The state wants to make insurance companys charge depending on how safe a driver you are, better record of driving lower premiums, the worst drivers higher premiums. If you ask me they should have been doing it that way the whole time. Thats were the insurance companys are making alot of money. Although if that were the case there would be a lot of people hoofinit out there.

[MnM]

just tell them forget it, cancel the insurance and go elswhere....