let's talk auto insurance so the rates have been going up and up and up and the reality is I know you're not going to cry a river a lot of Auto insurers have been losing big money they got caught flat-footed by a couple of things one how much they were having to pay on claims uh because of the absolute rise in the value of used vehicles now that problem is solving itself because as I've talked about the value of used vehicles has been going way way way way down not back to where they were before
but they're pretty far along that path uh values down uh somewhere 27 to 30% from their Peak but that was a big uh hit on the insurers and then the cost of repairing Vehicles following an accident has gone through the roof because there's an absolute shortage of people in the body shop business and the parts have been expensive and and hard to get and all that and so there are legitimate reasons why the cost of auto insurance has been going up insurers now are starting to make money again and so they'll move into the next
phase uh it's an automatic cycle in the auto insurance business the insurers uh go through cycles that they're focused on their profitability and then they go through Cycles they want market share unfortunately we're in the profitability cycle now so it requires more work on your part when you get that shocking renewal price for your auto insurance to go shop and people are being more creative in how they're SHO number one I want your deductibles higher biggest mistake Auto insured make is having a low deductible and so you got to make sure you don't go if
you have a loan on your vehicle you don't go higher than the lender lets you go but you want to raise that deductible because you don't want to make small claims on auto insurance anyway it means I'm making you your own insurance company for whatever that deductible is a lot of insurers will only let you have a deductible uh capped at a th000 bucks but so many people have these very low deductibles and you don't want to make those small claims ever not ever in some states um like I'm eligible for a 10% discount if
I take an auto safety course a driving course that's an online course doesn't take that long I got a 10% discount I think it's for three years a lot of states have these kind of safe driver discount programs not the ones the insurers advertise I'm talking about that the state requires and uh the takeup rate of people taking these safety courses in states that mandate the discount about nobody uh but these are things you can do and depending on the state I always talk about knowing what your credit score is and what your credit standing
there are errors with your credit report which recent study by Consumer Reports found half of us had mess ups on our credit report your credit report having bad information about you that's false drives your auto insurance rates way high number one factor insurers use in setting your rate so you want to check your credit and get it cleaned up before you go shop around for auto insurance and then I'm going to mention again something I've mentioned before and it really is valuable for you to shop andur and insure make sure you're getting the same coverages
but this uh crazy charge by the mile thing that is more and more available from insurers you've never heard of and more and more States for a lot of people who live close in don't drive a lot this is a great way for you to lower your auto insurance rates you pay a base rate based on your um prior driving record tickets accents that kind of stuff and then you pay a per mile so if you drive not a lot of miles a year like let's say you're driving um let's 700 800 miles a month
or less you're going to save money if you go to one of these per mile insurers almost always and then the craziest thing happening people are getting rid of their car getting rid of the entire Auto exp expense and they're doing things like riding electric bikes if they live close in um they're taking Ubers and lifts they're doing different things to where just totally excise that auto insurance cost the payment for a vehicle the the maintenance and repair of one having to pay for parking I mean it can actually work out for people who don't
do an enormous amount of driving or live in an area where you can walk to a lot of places it's just a thought you know how much I walk everywhere now you do you definitely do and I do something that you get a kick out of I ride the public bus a lot in the for dollar right well because my age I pay $1 in New York City where we are part-time I pay a145 to ride the subway New York the subway is the way to go for sure Buck 45 I'm not bad and then
um elsewhere I'm paying a dollar nice
