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I pretty much do that with every car i buy- I get cars that are in good condition, but may lack maintenance, and then fix them up.
Example-My Miata was being sold by the original owner, it was in pretty good condition, had 120k miles (nothing for that engine) but it stumbled a bit and the AC didnt' work. I got the guy to give it to me dirt cheap because of this, and then I just gave it a full tune-up, replaced a fuse to fix the AC (lol) and did some tweaks and it runs better than new.
Got a flat tire today, back right blew a hole through the sidewall. Gotta get a new one tomorrow :(. At least I got a full sized spare.
God I hate insurance companies.
Nevermind that my piddly little state of WV has the 5th highest car insurance rates in the country (thanks to a very high rate of fraud). I just called Geico to see if I could get a rate reduction because this summer I'll pretty much never use my car and ride my motorcycle instead. Nope. Nada. They basically gave me the middle finger.
I'm 29. One ticket over 5 years ago. No accidents. Excellent credit. If I go with the bare legal minimums and a $1000 deductable on comprehensive and collision (which my bank would not allow if they knew about it) I can juuuuust barely get my premium under $1000/year. If I go with something reasonable? My monthly premium easily becomes higher than my car payment.
Oh and this is Geico. Other insurance companes? Double or triple those figures. That's why I went with Geico...
When I looked Geico was one of the most expensive. In CA AAA autoclub offers car insurance through them at very good prices, see if they do that in your area. There are also smaller insurance companies around that will be much cheaper. I was formerly with Mercury Insurance, see if that is available. Just start asking around to see where locals get their insurance from, someone will know who has the good rates in your area. The national ones like Progressive, Geico, State Farm are rip offs.
I've got esurance, I have had them for about two years now and I've only had to make a claim on a cracked windshield and that was smooth sailing.
I've got two vehicles (07 and a 04) and myself and gf (who doesn't have the greatest driving record) and I pay $224 a month. Wouldn't hurt to get a quote.
esurance was really high for me.
geico was the cheapest i could find for my car by a long shot, and progressive was the cheapest I could find for my bike by a long shot (interesting that geico motorcycle was way high and progressive car was way high). But I really haven't investigated any small/local companies. I think I will.
Look for one of those meta-insurance agents--around here, I use AIS. They take your info and run it through all sorts of possible insurance providers to give you the lowest rate. Through them I found that Mercury is the cheapest for me.
Back when I got my car I couldn't find insurance from any of the big companies (Geico, esurance, Progressive, etc.) that was less than $150 a month. My uncle recommended me to an insurance agent who called me back about a day or two later with a local company that was $50 a month, and six months later dropped to $40 (and then after I got into an accident went up to $55). I've since recommended her to all my friends who've needed insurance and she's found places that were at least half what they were paying before, one of my roommates is paying $90 a month for complete coverage.
USAA fo life.
I had them up until (relatively) recently, found out I was paying way more than I could be. My dad was too, even switched the house insurance and is paying like $1000 less for the same coverage.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hubbitron