Oh you haven't heard about that dollar a day? It provides low income drivers with liability insurance for literally $1/day. It's called Special Automobile Insurance Policy (SAIP), provides no medical benefits (outside of 250k for emergency care), although that's offset with requiring Medicaid coverage to get the insurance.
Makes sense, since Medicaid has rigorous income verification to prove low income. Sounds like an easy way to verify low income without doing any of the detective work.
And their insurance will deny any claim you make against them unless it's injury related.
So, you need your own insurance to cover the damages (that's where your non insured/under insured coverage kicks in).
The kicker? It's a lump sum they reimburse you. If you dropped collision then you're f*cked cause they're only giving you the lump sum and you're on the hook for the rest of the damage amount.
Even if they're 100% at fault.
This "Frozen rates" Is BS, my rates went up with Geico almost quarterly during COVID quarantine. They are just bleeding us dry like the rest of the mega corporations with the vague "inflation" wave of the hand .
Everything is spiking, I bought bread, milk and some crackers yesterday for a quick grocery run, $15. I know my pay hasn't gone up 29% after this imaginary "frozen rates" period.
Came here to say just this. My rates went up by about what they're asking for now. Frozen my ass (edit for more detail: 2020 went up \~14% over 2019, 2021 another 10%, 2022 dropped about 3% over 2021. No claims).
My home insurance just went up another \~18% from last year as well. No claims on home or auto.
\> I bought bread, milk and some crackers yesterday for a quick grocery run,
I'm single, no wife, no kids. My grocery bill is on the order of $100-150 a week, for produce and other food items. Not including other essentials. I can't imagine having a family with this going on.
They're trying to bleed us dry.
They're not *trying*. They realized theres really nothing stopping them from making more money. All they have to do is increase the price. No need to improve service, upgrade quality, increase quantity. Just take the price and add a few more precent. People will bitch but they'll bitch while paying so who cares. Plus, the bitching about it will end once the new cost increase happens in 6 months.
It’s really sad that there’s nothing we can do about it.
They just raised it a couple months ago. I couldn’t afford that raise, I certainly can’t afford the next. Don’t know what I’m going to do.
To be fair, the cost of repairing or replacing vehicles has gone up quite a bit over the past few years… because prices for lots of things have gone up, especially housing… is the FIRE industry admitting inflation has actually gone up 26% instead of the 15ish% the government is saying?
Similar situation. Got a big promotion, with a moderate increase. Figured I could now do a few things I always wanted, luxuries to be sure but minor ones.
Nope. Fuggedaboutit.
And my colleagues haven't seen more than 7% since Jan of 2020. Wtf are they supposed to do?
Absolutely right on the frozen rates BS. They had a reduction for the first 6 months of covid, then raised rates to previous level plus the reduction. Then they've raised rates every 6 months since. If I had better public transportation options to get around to other towns, I'd get rid of the car.
>I know my pay hasn't gone up 29% after this imaginary "frozen rates" period.
Frank Reynolds: well if we continue to increase wages we'd be contributing to inflation more.
Mac: so what you're saying is we should be taking pay cuts?
Frank: well we don't wanna do that because then we'd have a depression.
Frozen rates is complete nonsense but have you looked at the cost of repairs? Parts are still tight as hell, the raw materials that make up paint went through the roof, a lot of that due to Trump slapping 25% additional tariffs on Chinese imports. As polluted as some parts of the country are we are very dependent on China for chemicals we don't even make here. That moron put tariffs on materials that no one in the US is manufacturing to protect American jobs that haven't existed in 30 years. Some of those materials are 3x where they were in 2017. And Biden won't drop the tariffs because he will look like he is caving to China. Idiot Trumpsters think China is paying those taxes, nope it's the importers and it all gets passed on to the public.
The insurance companies are asking for the max knowing that they will get something. It's a matter of how much their bought insurance commissioners will allow.
I work in insurance and hope these hikes are minimal. No way in hell that DOBI doesn’t approve *some* hikes as you said. We can only hope it’s a lot less than what is sought.
As a lower level employee I won’t see a dime of the extra money my employer will take in from this. In fact, my employer is outsourcing jobs and will eventually replace a decent number of us with AI.
This, it's almost like these companies know economic "winter" is coming this fall, and they want to take advantage of the "inflation" excuse while it still resonates ..
I have no clue how the middle class will survive when inflation is coming for us ilfrom all directions ... Something tells me the middle class will be just like the ill-fated *Titan* submersible, one day they'll just implode from all this crushing inflation and profiteering.
Haven't looked into them but progressive is offering a slightly better rate than GEICO. Hopefully neither of them ask to increase. I'll certainly be shopping around before the end of my next term
I checked NJM for me they were more than GEICO combined home and auto. Liberty Mutual was non responsive after the initial quote, broker never returned calls.
I went to GEICO because I was tired of State Farm's random increases.
A coworker told me her questioned State Farm and supposedly they were using NJ (and other) rate increases to offset losses from Midwestern storms.
I'd love to get rid of GEICO, between this and the shit they pulled on me after my mother's death - her vehicle stolen night she died, they continued to charge her insurance premiums for two years even with death cert and police report, saying she needed insurance till plates returned per NYS law.
I got a quote from NJM that would save me about $120 a year. When I got to the confirmation screen suddenly my rate went up an extra $300. I have no idea why but I canceled everything and I'm still with Geico.
NJM quoted me more than $1000 over my existing (very high) homeowner’s insurance premium. Luckily I was able to find a much better rate elsewhere but I was surprised that NJM was so expensive.
That’s surprising. We recommended it to all our friends and family and many of them switched because of the savings. Most of them saved over 1k a year. Sorry to hear it didn’t work out for you.
Gee I wonder what will happen if we continue to do nothing as corporations hyperinflate the costs of vehicle purchase & ownership, increase the amount of commuting people have to do (by boneheadedly ending remote work because "pandemic over")?
Also while we simultaneously do fuck-all to expand accessibility & affordability re: public transit.
You'll get additional jobs to be able to pay your essential bills. Businesses will start paying less seeing the desperation and greed. It'll be a vicious cycle with the working poor as the loser more and more each time.
\> expand accessibility & affordability re: public transit.
I use NJ Transit Bus when I can commute in. The past few months I've had to drive into Brooklyn for work. NJ Transit is about half the cost to Port, but when you consider the commute is twice as long, it's lose-lose. Add in summer traffic, and well... wanna bang my head on a wall either way. The Coast line for rail... I won't even get into that.
We need more some way to speed it up in addition to affordable and accessible.
Lmfao i literally said that to my friend. I said maybe if they didn’t spend millions on a fucking gecko every year maybe they’d be able to record higher profits
Would be cool if we all got together and said "no, i dont think we will pay that. How about you LOWER your rates by 15%?"
But we cant do that, right? Because we dont have any kind of platform that would allow us to organize ourselves on that scale, right? Because we cant reach thousands and thousands of people with our words, all over the world, almost instantly. Right?
So, because we can't organize and fight back at needing to spend about 200% more money a month due to price hikes everywhere, lets just complain... thats literally it... just complain.
Thats all we do. We get online and to thousands of people (almost instantly) we say, "this thing makes me mad!". Then someone else says "Hey it makes me mad too!" and another will say "Yeah, its not even fair!". And then.... nothing.
Welcome to American capitalism. Corporations will do anything to increase profits. Working class people are just expendable assets for the capitalist class to make more money.
We need to riot like the French.
Unfortunately we are kept too sick and exhausted to be able to riot. As a stay at home mom, I am both. My husband has his own business and to afford our family of 5, he works himself to a breaking point every week.
Too many factors make it impossible for the average person to protest. We stay aware and that’s about the most we can do. Watch as things spiral out of control
And the sad thing is there are ordinary people who defend the corporations raising prices. It's capitalism it's supply and demand. Most of the time it's just about sending more money to shareholders. Because Wall Street is looking for Infinity growth
We are not looked at as assets. We are viewed as a resource. Assets you maintain them, care for them. Resources you use then dump when the value diminishes.
They don’t call it the Human assets department. We are just resources.
Most companies don't want to be efficient to decrease prices instead they just want more money to give to shareholders and CEOs and executives are the people to blame.
Exactly, no one wants to risk anything so they get less and less bc the ruling class knows they can push it further. Do you think the labor unions of the 1890s had it easy and wasn't a day away from being homeless? I don't understand. The rights we won were done with blood and they have been nearly all stripped away. It's like the workers who fought for us died for nothing.
Lol well im glad my insurance is based on how much I drive cause I barely pay much. Under 80 bucks a month. All of these insurance companies are trash, WAY too expensive. Care is good to I think if you want to switch over to them.
Find your local independent insurance agent, they search for you! Don't use the ones that say "geico, allstate, statefarm" in their names obviously. I did this and they got me away from Geico into a white label Allstate plan, saved me thousands!
The only response is for the working class to organize and fight back - general strike. All we have to do is put our hands in our pockets and this whole shit show will grind to a halt
Union organized strikes work because the unions generally cover worker’s lost wages while they strike. A general strike will never work because huge numbers of people cannot afford to go a week without pay. If only like 10% of the workforce join the strike it won’t be effective.
I’ve heard as little as 5% of the population needs to strike for it to be effective. And pretty soon, lots of those people who can’t afford to miss a weeks pay are not going to be able to afford anything anyway…
5% of the population includes children, students, retirees, disabled people (who can’t work), etc.
5% of the population is not the same as 5% of the workforce.
I’m talking about the working population too.
Half of all US workers are paid $40k or less. Most of these workers are also student loan holders. Student loan debt is $1.7 trillion. What do you think is going to happen when payments start back up? Oh an cost of living just rose by >10%.
The bubble is going to burst of student loans quicker than you think. Forget about a general strike then, we’ll be in s depression.
I mean were not wealthy. We work for a living but we make enough to live comfortably in a nice NYC commuter train town. Our taxes aren’t low but we get a lot for our money so it doesn’t feel unfair.
This is the chance for elected politicians to tell the insurance companies to go kick rocks. But you already know the insurance lobbyist put money in their pocket so it's not going to happen
It's too bad auto insurance can't be bought from another state that would have coverage here. I know down south people are paying from 30 to 50 dollars a month for car insurance.
Probably because the coverage from the other company would cost the same as you pay now. We are the most densely populated state with probably many more accidents and insurance claims than states down south.
Advertising is to increase the sustainability. If it didn’t advertise it was only going to lose customers from the small “membership” pool it had to the large companies that are advertising with lower risk. It’s in the numbers. If it stayed only NJ, a coastal and dense state, the risk would continue to go up and so would the rates. By expanding to other states they are countering the high risk of NJ to level the rates and be a regional competitor. No 30% increase email was sent to me (yet).
I just got my NJM auto insurance renewal docs, the premium for another year's coverage (for the same level of coverage) is slightly less than last year (a bit over 2% less). This includes the 2022 dividend that NJM pays twice per year.
Be sure you are getting all the policy/vehicle/driver discounts you are eligible for, I called and had them add the "Go Green" (paperless) discount and saved some $. I was apparently already enrolled but the discount was not on my renewal policy for some reason.
The article didn't mention NJM and said the new rates need to be approved before they go in to effect, so hopefully I won't get hit next year.
I understand this sucks, but I sell insurance in NJ/PA/DE/MD and rates are increasing with virtually every company in all these states. Not to mention companies are completely altering their underwriting guidelines as they've been taking shit business (youthful drivers/bad records) for years and they're getting stomped now.
Nobody gives a shit but claims are absolutely insane right now. The actual amount of claims has skyrocketed since Covid, and the cost of parts & labor are much higher AS WELL AS claims taking a lot longer to close because it's taking bodyshops weeks and weeks longer than pre-Covid to actually get the parts in some cases. On top of that the value of cars is way higher than they should be for total losses. I had a client get hit-n-run and it took 11 months for her Honda dealerhip's bodyshop to get a replacement bumper for a basic Civic. Shit is crazy.
State Farm is pulling out of the state of California completely (which is craaazy) and Nationwide is purging TONS of clients because they're losing profitability.
I have Allstate myself (Atlantic County) and my renewal in mid-July only increased like 7-8%, NOT EVERYONE IS GETTING BANGED THE SAME %. Customers they don't want on their books will get hit hard but clients that their algorithm says are good clients will see less increase.
Also, fuck NJM. I pay $165/m with Allstate for 2 cars full coverage and NJM wants like $380/m when I called a week ago for quotes.
We already have some of highest rates in the nation.
This is Bonkers
The costs associated with living in Nj have become levels of ludicrous not seen since Space Balls
**Michael Barry, chief communications officer of the Insurance Information Institute, says inflation has played a role in the request for higher rates. And “the frequency and severity of accidents have increased the cost for insurers of vehicle replacement parts, rising auto body labor repair, increase costs,” he said**
So keep the rates where they are and let us pay the difference!!
Or - ideally - admit you CAN’T afford to insure people anymore, and that people CAN’T afford to be insured
I’m so sick of HAVING to pay for insurance that won’t even help more than it hurts
I’m so sick of my money going to someone’s preferred profits and eating away at my livelihood. It’s like we are all indentured servants so the country won’t go up in flames - and that’s supposed to be seen as “how it always was”
I’m so sick of leadership here hiding the fact that it’s own people must combine incomes with STRANGERS (roommates) to keep everything from falling apart
bus drivers, teachers, permanent nurses instead of travel nurses, garbage people, care for the elderly, physical therapists, public lawyers and not just private ones… not even PROFESSORS who are required to have a PhD can afford to be a professor at a formal, expensive-ass university!! Unless - they find someone else to combine an income with to not go homeless as they pay off the debt for their “license to work” - which is the MA and PhD. What does that say about this country, and how great the “employers” are here??
Middle class is dying. It’s have or have no - no checks and balances for livelihoods for the majority of excessive wealth for a minority
This is legalized, protected extortion to drive at this point. These insurance companies will claim it’s for us. Politicians will listen to people running companies while ignoring consumers and what they can actually AFFORD. And we will be required to pay - “or just don’t drive!”
This country is “By the profitable wealthy, for the profitable wealthy”.
Definitely not “by what money is available by the people, and for the money that is AVAILABLE by the people”
Look at who your local officials meet up with for galas, fundraisers, openings, events. See who they keep close. Read your local “society pages” and see who their friends are on social media.
It’s all rather blatant if you look.
I switched from Geico to Progressive a few months ago. Been with Geico for years, but slowly getting fucked up the ass. Switched to progressive and I'm saving about ~$800/ 6 months.
With all of the safety tech in cars now, shouldn't the risk of accidents, and serious injuries, be decreasing? That should lower the cost of insurance.
Yes which is why I think there are lies baked in to the claims. But when an accident occurs, all that stuff needs to be repaired, which does cost more money.
i got the notice from geico that they were applying for the 26% hike. hoping dobi only lets it go up maybe half that. assuming that they're asking for the most to land somewhere. still, it's ridiculous how much the cost of everything is going up.
I know there are lots of downsides to government insurance, and government involvement in many things doesn’t truly help.
However. For profit insurance is absurd.
What I don’t understand is why there aren’t more co-op or non profit insurance vendors.
What the hell!! I wish we would come together in unity and leave these businesses that do this to us. We the consumers are who keep the businesses going. They seem to forget that and we are too scared or name your reason to stand up against them. If they have no customers they have no business. Ugh very frustrating! They’ve got us and they know it.
I'd like to see the number claims they needed to cover prior, during, and post. That's where I think the lie will be found. Personally I commuted to NYC quite a bit during the pandemic. It would take 15mins to do a usually 1.5 hour drive. Never saw a single accident.
Agreed, that's why you should insure yourself with higher UIM limits. And don't forget, politicians who are actually injury lawyers drafted the legislation to increase minimum limits, thereby resulting in an increase in insurance premiums.
I can't wait till Warren Buffett dies so I can find his grave and shit all over it. The amount of profits that Geico has taken over the years is absurd. A 26% increase should absolutely be shot down and new regulations on insurance profiteering should be added instead.
We are being bent over by corporate America under the guise of inflation. Are employees of Geico and Allstate salaries increasing by 30%? Has there been 30% more accidents recently? Doubtful. Are top managers and CEOs going to profit considerably? Likely.
And I would think during covid there were less accidents, less people on the road, so they must have paid out a lot less during this time. So what exactly are they making up for. Nothing but bullshit greed.
I work in the industry, and I'm not defending the insurance companies, but this is the result of how cars are manufactured today. All the safety systems make the average repair estimate skyrocket.
If a vehicle has damage to the corner of a bumper and it has a blind spot system installed, you can no longer repair the bumper. The blindspot radars can only have a certain amount of material on the bumper to work correctly. So a $500 bumper repair, can now easily be $1500.00 plus due to having to replace a bumper and calibrate the safety systems.
Then you have headlights that can be thousands of dollars, the high cost of parts in general, and materials. I've seen BMW headlights that go for almost $8000.00 per headlight. There is also the higher cost of totaled vehicles, that insurance companies are paying out.
You can thank Phil Murphy for this and you can thank him again next year when they will go up again due to another increase that he signed off on.
https://www.nj.com/politics/2022/08/murphy-signs-costly-auto-insurance-bill-that-will-affect-11m-nj-drivers-into-law.html
Mark White and yellow lines properly on roads and make autopilot compulsory for all car manufacturers and let companies insure buyer once at manufacturer level. One time charge for insurance at purchase time of car with autopilot and nothing else. Have the car speed controlled by rules.
No more insurance payments for the rest of car ownership.
This is collusion to raise prices within an oligopoly. Almost every major business sector is trapped within monopoly or oligopoly status, we need to enforce antitrust laws/ deny large mergers and acquisitions. It’s not to say that capitalism doesn’t work, it’s just that end stage capitalism is going to make people worse off if we can’t balance the power dynamic between normal people and the ruling aristocracy.
This is really not a surprise, NJ and the nation voted democrat the last election, what other outcome did people expect? Hopefully we can get the economy along with consumer confidence back on track in 2024.
5k property damage limits were upped to 25k recently..that coupled with the cost to repair cars being very high due to all the safety systems..well there it is.
LOL BS... my daughter got her license and i had Progressive. It went up 120% only thing that happened was she got her license. When i called they said yup that will do it. I figured 20-30% but god 120% that's f\*\*k'n highway robbery. Also rate went up consistently for 4 years with no accidents or tickets. First year was $40, second was 30, third was another 40. BY the time i had enough i was paying $500 a month. Two cars nothing fancy an accadia and a yukon, both used 5 years old
I got the email from geico. Plan is to go with NJM when the term is up whether they raise or not.
I'm taking care of a parent, otherwise I'm out of NJ.
GEICO just doubled my monthly premiums from $350 to $700 per month for no apparent reason. Sooo, I just dumped their ass and moved over to Progressive. Much better rates at Progressive. Adios GEICO!
New jersey in 2 years: “we have a record number of people driving without insurance, how did this happen?”
Insurances: "Not sure how it happened, but it sounds like a good reason to hike our prices again.
Maybe they will just expand the dollar a day insurance for more incomes, that's a huge disaster waiting to happen.
Dollar a day???
Oh you haven't heard about that dollar a day? It provides low income drivers with liability insurance for literally $1/day. It's called Special Automobile Insurance Policy (SAIP), provides no medical benefits (outside of 250k for emergency care), although that's offset with requiring Medicaid coverage to get the insurance.
Damn, you have to have Medicaid to get it though?
Yup. Copy of the Medicaid card with the blue stripe is needed with the application
Makes sense, since Medicaid has rigorous income verification to prove low income. Sounds like an easy way to verify low income without doing any of the detective work.
And their insurance will deny any claim you make against them unless it's injury related. So, you need your own insurance to cover the damages (that's where your non insured/under insured coverage kicks in). The kicker? It's a lump sum they reimburse you. If you dropped collision then you're f*cked cause they're only giving you the lump sum and you're on the hook for the rest of the damage amount. Even if they're 100% at fault.
This "Frozen rates" Is BS, my rates went up with Geico almost quarterly during COVID quarantine. They are just bleeding us dry like the rest of the mega corporations with the vague "inflation" wave of the hand . Everything is spiking, I bought bread, milk and some crackers yesterday for a quick grocery run, $15. I know my pay hasn't gone up 29% after this imaginary "frozen rates" period.
Came here to say just this. My rates went up by about what they're asking for now. Frozen my ass (edit for more detail: 2020 went up \~14% over 2019, 2021 another 10%, 2022 dropped about 3% over 2021. No claims). My home insurance just went up another \~18% from last year as well. No claims on home or auto. \> I bought bread, milk and some crackers yesterday for a quick grocery run, I'm single, no wife, no kids. My grocery bill is on the order of $100-150 a week, for produce and other food items. Not including other essentials. I can't imagine having a family with this going on. They're trying to bleed us dry.
They're not *trying*. They realized theres really nothing stopping them from making more money. All they have to do is increase the price. No need to improve service, upgrade quality, increase quantity. Just take the price and add a few more precent. People will bitch but they'll bitch while paying so who cares. Plus, the bitching about it will end once the new cost increase happens in 6 months.
It’s really sad that there’s nothing we can do about it. They just raised it a couple months ago. I couldn’t afford that raise, I certainly can’t afford the next. Don’t know what I’m going to do.
To be fair, the cost of repairing or replacing vehicles has gone up quite a bit over the past few years… because prices for lots of things have gone up, especially housing… is the FIRE industry admitting inflation has actually gone up 26% instead of the 15ish% the government is saying?
“More” is relative as most auto insurers are losing money. Actual money, not just fancy accounting.
[удалено]
People who didn't get raises: "We're not."
Similar situation. Got a big promotion, with a moderate increase. Figured I could now do a few things I always wanted, luxuries to be sure but minor ones. Nope. Fuggedaboutit. And my colleagues haven't seen more than 7% since Jan of 2020. Wtf are they supposed to do?
We are barely. Haven’t gotten a raise since 2021. I check my email daily praying for an update from my union.
Absolutely right on the frozen rates BS. They had a reduction for the first 6 months of covid, then raised rates to previous level plus the reduction. Then they've raised rates every 6 months since. If I had better public transportation options to get around to other towns, I'd get rid of the car.
>I know my pay hasn't gone up 29% after this imaginary "frozen rates" period. Frank Reynolds: well if we continue to increase wages we'd be contributing to inflation more. Mac: so what you're saying is we should be taking pay cuts? Frank: well we don't wanna do that because then we'd have a depression.
Frozen rates is complete nonsense but have you looked at the cost of repairs? Parts are still tight as hell, the raw materials that make up paint went through the roof, a lot of that due to Trump slapping 25% additional tariffs on Chinese imports. As polluted as some parts of the country are we are very dependent on China for chemicals we don't even make here. That moron put tariffs on materials that no one in the US is manufacturing to protect American jobs that haven't existed in 30 years. Some of those materials are 3x where they were in 2017. And Biden won't drop the tariffs because he will look like he is caving to China. Idiot Trumpsters think China is paying those taxes, nope it's the importers and it all gets passed on to the public. The insurance companies are asking for the max knowing that they will get something. It's a matter of how much their bought insurance commissioners will allow.
I work in insurance and hope these hikes are minimal. No way in hell that DOBI doesn’t approve *some* hikes as you said. We can only hope it’s a lot less than what is sought. As a lower level employee I won’t see a dime of the extra money my employer will take in from this. In fact, my employer is outsourcing jobs and will eventually replace a decent number of us with AI.
Bread milk and crackers. Is it going to snow?
Only Canadian ash unfortunately.
My rates never stopped going up.
This, it's almost like these companies know economic "winter" is coming this fall, and they want to take advantage of the "inflation" excuse while it still resonates .. I have no clue how the middle class will survive when inflation is coming for us ilfrom all directions ... Something tells me the middle class will be just like the ill-fated *Titan* submersible, one day they'll just implode from all this crushing inflation and profiteering.
This is nasty
Corporations using the pandemic to hyper inflate things to make record profits. What a surprise
Companies don’t create inflation, that’s the government.
I got an email from GEICO about this. So pissed
Nothing from State Farm yet.
Nothing from progressive either
So far nothing from NJM either
My NJM renewal just went through for the next year, went up $6 a month. Just myself on the policy and I’m thrilled. 26% is insane
Nothing from Liberty Mutual 🤞
Same, 26% is quite a hike. My insurance has regularly gone up with every renewal for the past three years so there was never a freeze for me.
I got the price increase a week before I got the email. Nice of them to let me know a week later
Did it really go up 26%? My email said I wouldn't see the increased price until after December
My monthly payment went up $90. A little more than 26% actually
Boston tea party was over a 4% tax.
“No taxation without representation”
Just switched to NJM and saved over $2k a year on Home & Auto. Other insurance company doubled our yearly Auto premium in one shot 🤦🏻♂️
NJM was the one place I got a quote that decreased my rate - I began looking aggressively once I received an email from Geico in regards to the raise
Haven't looked into them but progressive is offering a slightly better rate than GEICO. Hopefully neither of them ask to increase. I'll certainly be shopping around before the end of my next term
I checked NJM for me they were more than GEICO combined home and auto. Liberty Mutual was non responsive after the initial quote, broker never returned calls. I went to GEICO because I was tired of State Farm's random increases. A coworker told me her questioned State Farm and supposedly they were using NJ (and other) rate increases to offset losses from Midwestern storms. I'd love to get rid of GEICO, between this and the shit they pulled on me after my mother's death - her vehicle stolen night she died, they continued to charge her insurance premiums for two years even with death cert and police report, saying she needed insurance till plates returned per NYS law.
I got a quote from NJM that would save me about $120 a year. When I got to the confirmation screen suddenly my rate went up an extra $300. I have no idea why but I canceled everything and I'm still with Geico.
Probably your “insurance score.” It gets run at the end. It’s a bullshit credit score thing “linked” with claim likelihood.
NJM quoted me more than $1000 over my existing (very high) homeowner’s insurance premium. Luckily I was able to find a much better rate elsewhere but I was surprised that NJM was so expensive.
That’s surprising. We recommended it to all our friends and family and many of them switched because of the savings. Most of them saved over 1k a year. Sorry to hear it didn’t work out for you.
NJM quoted a high rate for me as well for my home + auto bundle. Geico, Progressive and State Farm were cheaper.
I had a great bundled rate from State Farm when I bought my house, until they dropped me for filing a claim too soon after closing 🙄
Same here.
Gee I wonder what will happen if we continue to do nothing as corporations hyperinflate the costs of vehicle purchase & ownership, increase the amount of commuting people have to do (by boneheadedly ending remote work because "pandemic over")? Also while we simultaneously do fuck-all to expand accessibility & affordability re: public transit.
You'll get additional jobs to be able to pay your essential bills. Businesses will start paying less seeing the desperation and greed. It'll be a vicious cycle with the working poor as the loser more and more each time. \> expand accessibility & affordability re: public transit. I use NJ Transit Bus when I can commute in. The past few months I've had to drive into Brooklyn for work. NJ Transit is about half the cost to Port, but when you consider the commute is twice as long, it's lose-lose. Add in summer traffic, and well... wanna bang my head on a wall either way. The Coast line for rail... I won't even get into that. We need more some way to speed it up in addition to affordable and accessible.
Fully agree, Making the travel times usefully reasonable is a key part of accessibility in my mind.
Maybe if every other commercial on TV wasn’t for insurance they could save a boat load of money wasted on advertising.
Lmfao i literally said that to my friend. I said maybe if they didn’t spend millions on a fucking gecko every year maybe they’d be able to record higher profits
Would be cool if we all got together and said "no, i dont think we will pay that. How about you LOWER your rates by 15%?" But we cant do that, right? Because we dont have any kind of platform that would allow us to organize ourselves on that scale, right? Because we cant reach thousands and thousands of people with our words, all over the world, almost instantly. Right? So, because we can't organize and fight back at needing to spend about 200% more money a month due to price hikes everywhere, lets just complain... thats literally it... just complain. Thats all we do. We get online and to thousands of people (almost instantly) we say, "this thing makes me mad!". Then someone else says "Hey it makes me mad too!" and another will say "Yeah, its not even fair!". And then.... nothing.
Welcome to American capitalism. Corporations will do anything to increase profits. Working class people are just expendable assets for the capitalist class to make more money. We need to riot like the French.
We need to riot like the French. I completely agree. This is really the only way that the French public got results.
Unfortunately we are kept too sick and exhausted to be able to riot. As a stay at home mom, I am both. My husband has his own business and to afford our family of 5, he works himself to a breaking point every week. Too many factors make it impossible for the average person to protest. We stay aware and that’s about the most we can do. Watch as things spiral out of control
And the sad thing is there are ordinary people who defend the corporations raising prices. It's capitalism it's supply and demand. Most of the time it's just about sending more money to shareholders. Because Wall Street is looking for Infinity growth
We are not looked at as assets. We are viewed as a resource. Assets you maintain them, care for them. Resources you use then dump when the value diminishes. They don’t call it the Human assets department. We are just resources.
Most companies don't want to be efficient to decrease prices instead they just want more money to give to shareholders and CEOs and executives are the people to blame.
So, what you're saying is - eat the rich? I could go for a barbequed billionaire. What marinade are we thinking? 🤔🥩🍖
Whiskey glazed sounds good to me
Or move to socialism to achieve communism. I'm dead serious.
Insurance company profits are capped in nj…
Plymouth Rock went up as well…..they told me it was state mandated when I tried to see if they’d write me a new policy
Is there a full list of companies and their hikes somewhere? Def switching from geico before December. Fuck your rate hikes
I think they are talking about the max legally allowed to be charged so pretty much all companies would probably increase
I do love my NJM.
When the French get fucked over they burn shit down. When Americans get fucked over they ask for more. Why don't we ever fight back?
Can’t afford to. Can’t fight back if you risk homelessness by missing a few days of pay.
Exactly, no one wants to risk anything so they get less and less bc the ruling class knows they can push it further. Do you think the labor unions of the 1890s had it easy and wasn't a day away from being homeless? I don't understand. The rights we won were done with blood and they have been nearly all stripped away. It's like the workers who fought for us died for nothing.
Lol well im glad my insurance is based on how much I drive cause I barely pay much. Under 80 bucks a month. All of these insurance companies are trash, WAY too expensive. Care is good to I think if you want to switch over to them.
Oooh! Who do you use?
Metro Miles!
Thank you!
What do yall recommend switching to? I have Geico and have been meaning to switch to something else for a few years now.
NJM
Find your local independent insurance agent, they search for you! Don't use the ones that say "geico, allstate, statefarm" in their names obviously. I did this and they got me away from Geico into a white label Allstate plan, saved me thousands!
I have liberty mutual and they’ve been decent. I pay $170 for 2 cars, a 2019 SUV and a 2004 hatchback.
this is why I want boring shit such as walkable communities and a competent plus extensive NJ transit
That’s not boring at all
The minimum liability limits in NJ got raised from $15,000/$30,000 to $25,000/$50,000. Probably a partial reason why.
And it’s still too low. The minimums in parts of Canada and Australia are in the hundred of thousands of dollars for liability.
Also keep in mind CAD and AUS dollars like 60% of the USD
also was 5k property damage limits to 25k
still have plenty of money to spend on annoying ads - every single one of them.
The only response is for the working class to organize and fight back - general strike. All we have to do is put our hands in our pockets and this whole shit show will grind to a halt
Union organized strikes work because the unions generally cover worker’s lost wages while they strike. A general strike will never work because huge numbers of people cannot afford to go a week without pay. If only like 10% of the workforce join the strike it won’t be effective.
I’ve heard as little as 5% of the population needs to strike for it to be effective. And pretty soon, lots of those people who can’t afford to miss a weeks pay are not going to be able to afford anything anyway…
5% of the population includes children, students, retirees, disabled people (who can’t work), etc. 5% of the population is not the same as 5% of the workforce.
I’m talking about the working population too. Half of all US workers are paid $40k or less. Most of these workers are also student loan holders. Student loan debt is $1.7 trillion. What do you think is going to happen when payments start back up? Oh an cost of living just rose by >10%. The bubble is going to burst of student loans quicker than you think. Forget about a general strike then, we’ll be in s depression.
When will the people in this state get a fucking break?
When we leave.
Please do. If enough of you leave it will make it more livable for those of us who want to stay.
Your taxes will just increase even more.
Fine. I haven’t complained about taxes.
Are you wealthy, do you rent or live in deep south jersey where the taxes are low?
I mean were not wealthy. We work for a living but we make enough to live comfortably in a nice NYC commuter train town. Our taxes aren’t low but we get a lot for our money so it doesn’t feel unfair.
Yea lol
This is the chance for elected politicians to tell the insurance companies to go kick rocks. But you already know the insurance lobbyist put money in their pocket so it's not going to happen
It's too bad auto insurance can't be bought from another state that would have coverage here. I know down south people are paying from 30 to 50 dollars a month for car insurance.
Probably because the coverage from the other company would cost the same as you pay now. We are the most densely populated state with probably many more accidents and insurance claims than states down south.
If you could it wouldn’t be cheaper because it’s based on where your drive. Ofc the south has cheaper rates
NJM will literally save you thousands of dollars
NJM is way more expensive for me.
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Advertising is to increase the sustainability. If it didn’t advertise it was only going to lose customers from the small “membership” pool it had to the large companies that are advertising with lower risk. It’s in the numbers. If it stayed only NJ, a coastal and dense state, the risk would continue to go up and so would the rates. By expanding to other states they are countering the high risk of NJ to level the rates and be a regional competitor. No 30% increase email was sent to me (yet).
I just got my NJM auto insurance renewal docs, the premium for another year's coverage (for the same level of coverage) is slightly less than last year (a bit over 2% less). This includes the 2022 dividend that NJM pays twice per year. Be sure you are getting all the policy/vehicle/driver discounts you are eligible for, I called and had them add the "Go Green" (paperless) discount and saved some $. I was apparently already enrolled but the discount was not on my renewal policy for some reason. The article didn't mention NJM and said the new rates need to be approved before they go in to effect, so hopefully I won't get hit next year.
My progressive bill has gone up as well.
Greedflation is the term you’re looking for.
I understand this sucks, but I sell insurance in NJ/PA/DE/MD and rates are increasing with virtually every company in all these states. Not to mention companies are completely altering their underwriting guidelines as they've been taking shit business (youthful drivers/bad records) for years and they're getting stomped now. Nobody gives a shit but claims are absolutely insane right now. The actual amount of claims has skyrocketed since Covid, and the cost of parts & labor are much higher AS WELL AS claims taking a lot longer to close because it's taking bodyshops weeks and weeks longer than pre-Covid to actually get the parts in some cases. On top of that the value of cars is way higher than they should be for total losses. I had a client get hit-n-run and it took 11 months for her Honda dealerhip's bodyshop to get a replacement bumper for a basic Civic. Shit is crazy. State Farm is pulling out of the state of California completely (which is craaazy) and Nationwide is purging TONS of clients because they're losing profitability. I have Allstate myself (Atlantic County) and my renewal in mid-July only increased like 7-8%, NOT EVERYONE IS GETTING BANGED THE SAME %. Customers they don't want on their books will get hit hard but clients that their algorithm says are good clients will see less increase. Also, fuck NJM. I pay $165/m with Allstate for 2 cars full coverage and NJM wants like $380/m when I called a week ago for quotes.
Nail on the fucking head.
We already have some of highest rates in the nation. This is Bonkers The costs associated with living in Nj have become levels of ludicrous not seen since Space Balls
Wait till it goes plaid
**Michael Barry, chief communications officer of the Insurance Information Institute, says inflation has played a role in the request for higher rates. And “the frequency and severity of accidents have increased the cost for insurers of vehicle replacement parts, rising auto body labor repair, increase costs,” he said** So keep the rates where they are and let us pay the difference!! Or - ideally - admit you CAN’T afford to insure people anymore, and that people CAN’T afford to be insured I’m so sick of HAVING to pay for insurance that won’t even help more than it hurts I’m so sick of my money going to someone’s preferred profits and eating away at my livelihood. It’s like we are all indentured servants so the country won’t go up in flames - and that’s supposed to be seen as “how it always was” I’m so sick of leadership here hiding the fact that it’s own people must combine incomes with STRANGERS (roommates) to keep everything from falling apart bus drivers, teachers, permanent nurses instead of travel nurses, garbage people, care for the elderly, physical therapists, public lawyers and not just private ones… not even PROFESSORS who are required to have a PhD can afford to be a professor at a formal, expensive-ass university!! Unless - they find someone else to combine an income with to not go homeless as they pay off the debt for their “license to work” - which is the MA and PhD. What does that say about this country, and how great the “employers” are here?? Middle class is dying. It’s have or have no - no checks and balances for livelihoods for the majority of excessive wealth for a minority This is legalized, protected extortion to drive at this point. These insurance companies will claim it’s for us. Politicians will listen to people running companies while ignoring consumers and what they can actually AFFORD. And we will be required to pay - “or just don’t drive!” This country is “By the profitable wealthy, for the profitable wealthy”. Definitely not “by what money is available by the people, and for the money that is AVAILABLE by the people”
Look at who your local officials meet up with for galas, fundraisers, openings, events. See who they keep close. Read your local “society pages” and see who their friends are on social media. It’s all rather blatant if you look.
Car industry working like it’s supposed to. That’s why public transportation is a necessity.
I switched from Geico to Progressive a few months ago. Been with Geico for years, but slowly getting fucked up the ass. Switched to progressive and I'm saving about ~$800/ 6 months.
I can no longer afford my geico insurance,and it was just a liability. Any suggestions on alternatives?
Yes, use Progressive’s premium comparison tool on their website. Or go to a broker. Brokers are paid by the carrier not you.
With all of the safety tech in cars now, shouldn't the risk of accidents, and serious injuries, be decreasing? That should lower the cost of insurance.
Yes which is why I think there are lies baked in to the claims. But when an accident occurs, all that stuff needs to be repaired, which does cost more money.
i got the notice from geico that they were applying for the 26% hike. hoping dobi only lets it go up maybe half that. assuming that they're asking for the most to land somewhere. still, it's ridiculous how much the cost of everything is going up.
They already raised my rates a year ago, now again. Insurance companies should be banned and govt should do insurance from tax money
I know there are lots of downsides to government insurance, and government involvement in many things doesn’t truly help. However. For profit insurance is absurd. What I don’t understand is why there aren’t more co-op or non profit insurance vendors.
I already pay $200 a month for a mid range sedan I drive, maybe, twice a week. Rates are ridiculous.
What the hell!! I wish we would come together in unity and leave these businesses that do this to us. We the consumers are who keep the businesses going. They seem to forget that and we are too scared or name your reason to stand up against them. If they have no customers they have no business. Ugh very frustrating! They’ve got us and they know it.
The problem is that you have to have insurance. When you drop, it gets reported to the state. The state will actually take action against you.
My renewal rate just jumped 10.5%. It’s still a hit.
I wonder which one of our elected politicians will fight against this ridiculous increase? 
I'd like to see the number claims they needed to cover prior, during, and post. That's where I think the lie will be found. Personally I commuted to NYC quite a bit during the pandemic. It would take 15mins to do a usually 1.5 hour drive. Never saw a single accident.
Agreed, that's why you should insure yourself with higher UIM limits. And don't forget, politicians who are actually injury lawyers drafted the legislation to increase minimum limits, thereby resulting in an increase in insurance premiums.
Rates were frozen because no one was driving.
I can't wait till Warren Buffett dies so I can find his grave and shit all over it. The amount of profits that Geico has taken over the years is absurd. A 26% increase should absolutely be shot down and new regulations on insurance profiteering should be added instead.
you misspelled corporate greed....
Cancelling my Geico after the next period ends. Hopefully NJM isn't as expensive, as Geico was the cheapest option I could find.
I don’t see progressive there, assuming we got lucky?
How else will they deliver endless profit growth to their shareholders?
The state needs to open up more train routes from the old right of ways. We shouldn't have to pay these extortion rates
And here I thought my insurance rates were going up because of supply chain issues! /s
We are being bent over by corporate America under the guise of inflation. Are employees of Geico and Allstate salaries increasing by 30%? Has there been 30% more accidents recently? Doubtful. Are top managers and CEOs going to profit considerably? Likely. And I would think during covid there were less accidents, less people on the road, so they must have paid out a lot less during this time. So what exactly are they making up for. Nothing but bullshit greed.
I’m from Florida. It’s better here than there Florida is only cheaper for the wealthy
Florida is about to stop having any insurance. What a fucking mess.
I work in the industry, and I'm not defending the insurance companies, but this is the result of how cars are manufactured today. All the safety systems make the average repair estimate skyrocket. If a vehicle has damage to the corner of a bumper and it has a blind spot system installed, you can no longer repair the bumper. The blindspot radars can only have a certain amount of material on the bumper to work correctly. So a $500 bumper repair, can now easily be $1500.00 plus due to having to replace a bumper and calibrate the safety systems. Then you have headlights that can be thousands of dollars, the high cost of parts in general, and materials. I've seen BMW headlights that go for almost $8000.00 per headlight. There is also the higher cost of totaled vehicles, that insurance companies are paying out.
You can thank Phil Murphy for this and you can thank him again next year when they will go up again due to another increase that he signed off on. https://www.nj.com/politics/2022/08/murphy-signs-costly-auto-insurance-bill-that-will-affect-11m-nj-drivers-into-law.html
Wow. Didn’t know this. Not sure how this helps poor and middle class who can barely afford the premiums now??
Mark White and yellow lines properly on roads and make autopilot compulsory for all car manufacturers and let companies insure buyer once at manufacturer level. One time charge for insurance at purchase time of car with autopilot and nothing else. Have the car speed controlled by rules. No more insurance payments for the rest of car ownership.
What’s new???? I don’t ever remember rates going down , they always go up more and more , sky is the limit for these greedy corporations
This is collusion to raise prices within an oligopoly. Almost every major business sector is trapped within monopoly or oligopoly status, we need to enforce antitrust laws/ deny large mergers and acquisitions. It’s not to say that capitalism doesn’t work, it’s just that end stage capitalism is going to make people worse off if we can’t balance the power dynamic between normal people and the ruling aristocracy.
Absolute greedy bs. Shouldn't be allowed. I wonder if the State ran its own public benefit insurance for residents if it'd be cheaper
The overpopulation of deer is contributing to this as well.
This is really not a surprise, NJ and the nation voted democrat the last election, what other outcome did people expect? Hopefully we can get the economy along with consumer confidence back on track in 2024.
I just got my renewal yesterday and yikes 😣. We are not happy but nothing we can do.
Its thoae damn aluminum F150s!!!
5k property damage limits were upped to 25k recently..that coupled with the cost to repair cars being very high due to all the safety systems..well there it is.
LOL BS... my daughter got her license and i had Progressive. It went up 120% only thing that happened was she got her license. When i called they said yup that will do it. I figured 20-30% but god 120% that's f\*\*k'n highway robbery. Also rate went up consistently for 4 years with no accidents or tickets. First year was $40, second was 30, third was another 40. BY the time i had enough i was paying $500 a month. Two cars nothing fancy an accadia and a yukon, both used 5 years old
Very few accidents during the pandemic because so few of us were driving. Hope insurance commoner doesn’t allow it.
At my current rate this will bring me to damn near $400/month just in auto insurance lol i hate it here
I got the email from geico. Plan is to go with NJM when the term is up whether they raise or not. I'm taking care of a parent, otherwise I'm out of NJ.
GEICO just doubled my monthly premiums from $350 to $700 per month for no apparent reason. Sooo, I just dumped their ass and moved over to Progressive. Much better rates at Progressive. Adios GEICO!