My Buddy Has a Great Deal on Car Insurance. Why Can't I Just Get That Policy?

WV & OH ONLY

"My co-worker pays way less than I do with a different insurance company. Can I just switch and get the same deal?"

Watching a friend pay less than you stings. I hear it all the time.

I wish you could, but you can only buy your own policy, and its price is built on you: your driving record, your claims, your address, your car, your household and, where it's allowed, your credit. The company that's great for your buddy might be one of the most expensive for you, and the one that's best for you might turn your buddy down.

I'd love it if insurance worked that simply. We want the best rate out there for you, whichever company that turns out to be.

Your buddy can tell you what one company did for one person. We can check 13 companies with your actual information and find your version of that deal.

I'll be upfront: I wrote this hoping you'd call. Tell me who your buddy's with. If we write with that company, I'll check it along with the others, and you can see the numbers side by side.

WV & OH ONLY

Because a company isn't selling one price. It's pricing each person based on how likely that person is to have a claim and how much that claim might cost. Two people can walk into the same company and walk out with very different bills.

• A driving record. Tickets and accidents from the last few years belong to the person who got them.
• A claims history. So do past claims.
• An address. Claims cost different amounts in different places, even in the same county.
• A household. Who else drives, how old they are, and what they've done on the road all matter.
• Years of continuous coverage. You can't borrow someone else's.
• Other policies. A home policy with the same company can change the auto price.
• Credit history, where companies may use it. The Federal Trade Commission's 2007 study found that people in the lowest credit score group cost insurers about 2.6 times as much in collision claims as people in the highest. It's an older study, but it shows why companies look.

Picture two neighbors with the same pickup. One is 52, has had the same insurance for 20 years, and has a clean record. The other is 24, went a few months without insurance, and had a fender bender last spring.

Same truck. Same street. They aren't the same risk to an insurance company, and no company will price them as if they were.

Sometimes it isn't. People compare the price and almost never the coverage. A low bill can mean state minimum limits, high deductibles, or no coverage on the vehicle itself. Ask to see the declarations page before you get too jealous.

Only that you don't fit what that company wants to write right now. Companies are good at different things. Some want clean records and homeowners. Some specialize in people who've had a rough couple of years. That's the whole reason to shop.

Tell me who your buddy's with, and let's see what your deal looks like.

WV & OH ONLY

Next in the series: Part 3, I Hardly Drive. Why Isn't My Insurance Cheap?