How come none of you see a problem with paying $400+ change for the ability to drive a car that is 20 years old...

Toronto is rape.

 

I feel bad for you guys, my two cars cost me a grand total of 80 bucks a month, my rx7 is an '88t2 and my daily is a 2004 Toyota matrix xrs. I'm 22 for reference and have had several tickets.

 

^^ damn americans... lol jk, but yeah toronto is kinda gay, and we cant really do anything about it. @2fierce maybe to you it might not be worth it because its a 20 year old car but at the end of the day, its worth it to alot of other people because youre driving something you love =) Id much rather pay 300-400 to drive a fc than pay 150 to drive a damn civic LOL

 

haven't actually insured the rx7 yet, but quotes have been around 40 bucks a month as a secondary car. 27, pretty spotty record, not near a big city

 

I have literally tonnes of tickets and a few claims (more then 3)
That was 6 years ago, so my rates are acceptable now. Im using a local broker called mls insurance... They are reasonable... I paid about 2700$ with them a year about 3 years after i had all my driving troubles..

They quoted me at 11,500$ a year to start, but simple reasoning and paying the full amount in one shot lowered ot drastically.

Point is, its a pain, it takes a lot time, effort and sometimes evening sitting down with your broker and explaining your situation before you will see results.

I even had to not drive for a year due to high premiums. If your patient and reasonable it will all work out eventually.

6 years after all my crap and i now own brand new f150 and pay less insurance then i did a year ago one way on a 2000 focus with 375k

 

To be honest I actually do abide by a few of the rules... for example I don't ever drive it out of the GTA, the car is garage parked overnight and in the winter. The only thing is I do use it for daily use lol. But I was quoted about $700 a month for me to a primary driver on it, which is just ridiculous!

 

Moral of the story: Call a broker. Everyone's situation is different and most companies don't rate things exactly the same for each factor they take into consideration, which is stupid because a lot of companies lose business by being excessively overpriced for the exact same coverage you can get for half if you take the time. When I got my FB there were some brokers that wouldn't touch the car due to it's age, which is honestly stupid. If it can be legally driven on the street there is no excuse to not insure it. It got to the point that my first question was "How old of a car will you insure?"

 

i have a 1990 GXL and I'm with Johnson and Johnson, it was $210/mo before i turned 25 and its been in storage from before my birthday so i don't know what my active price is going to be. but I know that Johnson and Johnson is pretty good. When i tried to register my 88 AE with them when i was 19 it was about $340/mo

 

Put car in parents name. Change address to friends, or your buddies student address. Profit.
You dont live in the househiold, you dont need to be on the policy. Bingo.

 

^^Why even get insurance at all if you totally fraud it? Come claim time, your carrier will deny and drop you like a hot potato.

 

Because in toronto, if you get into a small fender bender you probably wont report it.

I'm not advocating their stupidity, I'm just beating them to the punch...line

 

Wow. I hope no one follows this advice.... when you get caught its fraud and that means that you and your parents will no longer be able to get market rate insurance for 7 to 10 years.

suck it up and drive what you can afford. I paid 400 a month for 4 years with a cavalier, we all have to do our time with the insurance company's.... face it when your a new driver you suck at driving, no matter how good you think you are you still don't have the experience to recognize and avoid dangerous situations and other stupid people.

 

sure i might not be the best driver, but ill say im sure im way better that most of the clowns i incounter on a daily basis. who have never had the opurtunity to really learn the breaking points of there cars and what to really do in a tough situation. who go 80 on a perfect night on the highway, hit one tiny piece of crap and hurp da durp smash there crapy civic into everyone else.

sorry that was just my rant. i only wish there was a way to prove your a skilled diver to inurance companys, rather than just having them say, you 19, you stupid and dive nice car. hahahaha you pay $3937474. while dumbo who is 35 had 3 at fault accidents only pays 80 a month.

i just dont get this world.

 

I loled at that. But u sir speak THE TRUTH!

 

companies* i found a million more mistakes but I'm tired.

Why not prove to people you're educated?

If you have a degree most universities give you a discounted group rate for insurance.

 

^ not the case anymore... I asked 3 different companies if having good grades and a university degree mattered; they said nope. Mind you I don't actually have my degree yet but I'm past 1st year.

 

by joining this association in 2nd or 3rd year of school, or anytime thereafter for that matter, we get group insurance haha

I haven't actually gotten a quote or anything for it though. I think discounts are given to groups who purchase insurance through a company rather than just having a degree. And all insurance companies are able to give discounts based on whatever they decide such as good grades, or whether or not you use snow tires, or winter wiper blades.

 

Reading about some of the rates you guys pay, makes me cringe.

But , thinking of it, in the past when I was 17/18 payed a hefty sum to insure a car.

The things we do , ( my recommendation, take the bus, borrow mom dads car, play alot of GT5 or forza and when your insurance is a little less ( aka 21 or 22 ) . get the car with all the money you have saved.

 

^^ LOL ive been doing that for the past 2 years now =P

 

Charles, its not about having good grades.

When you have a degree from a real school they have group policies for graduates. You have to get insurance through that policy. As with all things there are limits and stuff, but it's usually cheaper.

Regardless, my point is spending 400$ a month for insurance is ridiculous.

If you take the bus instead of drive thats 1200$ a year in Toronto, lets throw in 100$ in cab fairs a month just for emergencies, $2400 a year.

Still half the price of $4800 for insurance...not to mention gas and repairs. Realistically your talking 7k to drive per year.

Now, let's do that 18-24, 7 years.

$49,000 vs $16,800

^it's not rocket science.

 

$5000 fine if you don't have the slip. But those are easily printed off anyway.

I have a friend who was paying $650 a month for his 97 honda civic. This may seem ridiculous but for a guy who was working all over the place in southern ontario it was still cheaper than paying for a taxi or taking 3.5 hours out of his day to make it one way using public transit. I'm not saying it's the best alternative but the only few for some.

It's easy for us to look back in hindsight and say we were idiots for paying that much or that we should have got a cheaper car to insure. The reality is, if we all went back in time, we would all pay it because we're car people, and we're stupid as heck when it comes to what we'll do for our cars. Also the difference between insuring a 1990 ford taurus station wagon compared to insuring a 2005 corvette is going to be negligible.

Also if you have the time, call different agencies yourself and save a few hundred bucks. If your really looking for the cheapest rate, a broker is a waste of money.

As long as we're forced to pay something, we'll never be happy with it, whether it's taxes, gas prices, food prices, or our insurance rates.

 

See this is why I don't keep track of what I spend on my car. I was much happier 45 seconds ago before I read that.

Here's my issue with the bus and other forms of public transpo.

The drive from my house to school takes on average between 15-30 minutes depending on when I leave for class during the day. For this argument let's consider early morning classes right at 8:10am during which I get medium traffic (going east from Ajax to Oshawa - not 1/2 as bad as going west). I get up at 630 and am on the road by 7:20 to get to school at about 7:50 with enough time to scrounge through parking and into the class.

Now my second year I tried taking the bus because we get a very good deal with our student transit fee of $120/semester for anywhere to anywhere in Durham using Durham Transit. This is less than I was spending on gas in a week in first year since I was working in Toronto in the evenings and driving the Rx-7.

Route:---------------------Bus Time:--------------Car Time:
House->Go station--------~35 min---------------~5 min
Go-> School-------------~45min-1h-------------~20 min

Total:---------------------80 - 95 min--------------25 min

This doesn't take into account the time needed to walk from my house to the bus stop and wait in the rain, snow, freezing cold, etc., nor the fact that a number of my classes run until 10pm, and the bus back leaves at 9:45 or 10:20. So either I have to leave class early or wait 20 mins MORE to get home. Add to this that I can also leave the school and go other places anytime I want and a car almost becomes necessary.

Granted, in the city this becomes a lot easier as the buses run more often and you usually don't have as far to go.

Now that I'm driving a brotege which uses half the fuel the Rx-7 does I'm finding it harder and harder to justify putting it back on the road for DD use.

 

Reading this makes me appreciate Alberta so much more. 22 years old, my 02 jetta is 700 a year as my primary vehicle and my 93fd is 550 a year.

 

To the grades thing.... State Farm has a "Good Student Discount" that drops the premium a bit...

http://www.statefarm.com/insurance/a...nce/on_can.asp

Scroll down

 

This is only a short term solution that will just delay the inevitable. If the car is anything but under your name, you'll have to recorded driving record and when you'll HAVE to get insurance under your name, you're rates will be high again. We all go though that phase of paying high rates, get it over with now while the only bill and expenses you have now are your car. I've only been in the military going on 2 years now, and being 31, I'm typically one of the older Pte's (should of been a Cpt, but that's a rant that's irrelevant here) and there's many of my friends and co-workers in the forces that are getting vehicles, although some it's not their first, a fair amount it's their first time having a car under their name and there's a big difference in rates, almost double, and still expensive rates for bring in Quebec.