wxman

I was looking at my first onstar report (coolness!) and checked out the link for the GM auto insurance. They quoted me nearly $200 less than my current coverage (for 6 months). And I thought I had shopped for a good deal before.

Anyone use the GM coverage? Any reason not to get it?

BTW, is GMAC financing the same if they set up your loan through another bank? I think I'm with Regions Bank. That would not be considered GMAC would it? They ask that to get the insurance quote.

Snoopy

GMAC Insurance has been good to GM employees for a lot of years. But, over the past couple years, I was always able to beat their deal by BIG DOLLARS. Only one time their quote was less.....by 8-10%...and it wasn't worth switching companies for $30.

Also, if your payment was as little as 3 days late, you lost your "continuous coverage" discount. This has happened to several friends who appealed and won. But, it's the hassle.

Recently I'm hearing rumors that GMAC Insurance will require certain documents and permissions, to get their lower rates. One is allowing them to monitor, through On-Star if equipt, drivers speed, mileage, and driving characteristics, in order to maintain rates at rates issued.

A friend also said he read an article, in the Wall Street Journal, regarding this.

Oh, should say, I have never had an opportunity to make a claim. So, I can't evaluate their response.

Just something to think about, IF TRUE.

Old Lar

When you see the commercials for auto insurance, each company claims to have the lowest rates, which cannot be true. I have gotten quotes from various companies that show their best rates 20% higher than what I'm paying now to ones that are 50% less to what I'm paying. It is difficult to do actual comparison as to what is covered and what limits they are quoting. I'll just stick with Nationwide for now. There are lots of strings attached to the various quotes.

I'm expecting that the auto insurance companies will want to have a black box installed in the cars to monitor your driving habits and your insurance rates would be based on those readings. ( Like some of the car rental companies)

mongo

I did the auto insurance hop for a few years, you get a low quote, and then either the policy comes in higher, or some feature was left out, or the rate increases at renewal time. This seemed to occur regardless of insurance company.

wxman

The GM plan would use the OnStar to monitor mileage for the under 15,000 mile discount. I'm not opposed to that...Onstar gathers all that info anyway, or does it?

I don't know, I hate having to switch things. I'm happy enough with what I've got I guess.

omniglhs

"The GM plan would use the OnStar to monitor mileage for the under 15,000 mile discount. I'm not opposed to that...Onstar gathers all that info anyway, or does it?"

I used to be in the auto insurance biz. Rule #1: Companies do NOT want to pay claims. Rule #2: Use any information you can get -through any means possible- to exclude high risk drivers in the household (see Rule #1).

Our HHR came with Onstar -we didn't want it but were told all 2008's had it installed. I hate the idea of someone being able to electronically poke about my driving habits and where I've been. Not that I'm doing anything illegal, it is strictly the principle of it all. So, Onstar no longer monitors our HHR at will; I've put a mechanical switch to it. Onstar gets turned on only when I park -in case some bozo decides to steal the HHR. That is the only benefit I see Onstar providing. Before I even turn the key, Onstar's switched off.