Okay, someone in the biz of car insurance. Spill the beans. I live in an area that is frequented by city folk that drive there very expensive luxury SUVs into hazardous, wintery conditions to go skiing.
Am I correct that those people that are filing collision reports using our local zip code are inadvertently raising the rates of residents that live in that zip code due to the astronomical amount of accidents in luxury suvs? And/or just regular cars 😇
Unfortunately I believe the answer to be yes, it just seems unfair that we are rated as a high risk insurance zone due to the fact that we have inexperienced winter drivers causing the bulk of collisions.
Thanks for any insight ❄️🥰
Car Insurance in Hazardous/Wintery Conditions
byu/ChampagnePowder76 inInsurance
Posted by ChampagnePowder76
3 Comments
The insurance company is going to rate, according to the risk. You can’t possibly think out of state drivers are the ONLY people getting in car accidents.
I’m also willing to bet your rate is half the price as someone who lives near a major big city. Probably a quarter of the rate. A normal rate where I am from is $125-$200 a month per car for full coverage for a 2018 Honda accord.
If there are lots of accidents in your area, then you area is more risky for everyone who drives there, including you. Or do the out-of-town city folk with their fancy vehicles only get into accidents with other out-of-town city folk and their big fancy vehicles?
The point is that if you live in an area with lots of accidents caused by unsafe drivers – even those from out of town – then rates for everyone in that area are going to reflect that. You can be safest winter driver in the history of your down, but if your streets are flooded with unsafe winter drivers, you face a higher risk of being involved in a collision. It’s neither fair nor unfair, it’s just data. Or it’s no less fair than any safe driver in a given area having to share in the cost of risk that arises from less safe drivers in that area. Happens everywhere.
One point I’ll add is that it’s not just accidents that matter it’s $$$ losses.
Ten fender-benders between your Honda civics and your Toyota Corollas matter less than two Range Rovers totaling… airbag deployments, ADAS recalibration, rental car claims and of course the big daddy of all.. the medical bills.
Luxury SUVs bigly distort severity models. That’s why these ZIP codes get hammered even if accident counts aren’t extreme..
Different insurers weight ZIP risk differently. Some guys over penalize severity (bad for resort towns).. others go harder on driver-level variables.
Shopping your policy every 12–24 months actually makes sense, even for low-risk drivers. Independent agents tend to know which carriers quietly tolerate resort ZIPs better…
Your credit/insurance score, clean and continuous coverage, low verified mileage, few or no claims, and long driving history matter more for some carriers than location alone. Strong driver variables can materially offset a bad resort ZIP, which is why shopping carriers that emphasize these variables can get you a better deal.