Massachusetts Drivers AND Others

[Virgo10]

From Boston.com:

Governor Mitt Romney has overstated the disparity between the number of automobile insurers in Massachusetts and other states in making his case for legislation that would overhaul the auto insurance system here.

Entire article

HERE

The insurance companies view on this:

HERE

The Governor's View on this:

HERE

Why is this important for folks outside of MA? Because mightly Mitt has dreams that include the White House.

Mitt Romney... just another reason I'm glad I don't live in Massachusetts!

 

[pattyT]

As a person with 6 insured vehincles in MA this is NOT good!

 

[chrissyk]

Is it possible that Mitt could make the MA insurance racket any worse? Yikes!! You know that it's not just auto insurance, right? There is something very weird about MA in terms of people's ability to get individual health insurance policies there too.

BTW, I seriously doubt that Mitt will get elected president. He's a wee bit nutty IMHO

 

[Lynn CC]

I wish they would do something to reward safe drivers. DH and I are both a step 9. We have 4 vehicles insured every year and it's expensive, around 5k.
As far as Health Insurance, we pay $850/mo for a family plan.
It's expensive to live here, I don't know why we dont' move?

We should do a list of the least expensive states to live in, we've done the safest before.

 

[chrissyk]

I wish they would do something to reward safe drivers. DH and I are both a step 9. We have 4 vehicles insured every year and it's expensive, around 5k.
As far as Health Insurance, we pay $850/mo for a family plan.
It's expensive to live here, I don't know why we dont' move?

We should do a list of the least expensive states to live in, we've done the safest before.

The only discounts that I could ever find for our insurance (also Step 9) in MA were a multi-policy discount for having homeowners', umbrella, and auto w/the same carrier and also a 10% discount for being a member of a specific credit union. I always envied my sister, who lived 1 state away and could get very inexpensive insurance through Geico!

As for the least expensive states to live in...who knows If you move to NH, you trade high car insurance for high property taxes. It seems like everywhere has their expensive things. In MA, we paid high car insurance...in FL, we pay high homeowners' insurance. Well, at least we don't have to pay MA income tax here I guess.

 

[jocon]

Massachusetts certainly is an expensive state in which to live, but it is not due to taxes. "Taxachusetts" is an unfair label. Our tax burden is #32 out of 50.

http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/taxesbystate2005/index.html

 

[Crankyshank]

Massachusetts certainly is an expensive state in which to live, but it is not due to taxes. "Taxachusetts" is an unfair label. Our tax burden is #32 out of 50.

http://money.cnn.com/pf/features/lists/taxesbystate2005/index.html

ITA Not only is my car insurance (former MA step 9 now step nothing in RI because they don't do steps here. Your insurance rate is based on risk, car, and your credit score) higher in RI, but my taxes are higher - even sales tax.
And seriously I have lived in 3 states and DH has lived in 4 and we both agree MA has the absolute best DMV set up

 

[chrissyk]

And seriously I have lived in 3 states and DH has lived in 4 and we both agree MA has the absolute best DMV set up

Yikes! NH seems to have a much better deal. Yes, you pay higher registration fees, but you can get Geico for insurance and it's way cheaper than what we were paying as Step 9 drivers in MA. In FL, we pay like half of what we did in MA for auto insurance (but we pay insanely higher homeowners' premiums, so it's a wash).

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

I moved from MA to NH a few years ago and I was thinking of moving back to MA. But now maybe I won't. Btw, I used to live in Maine (for a few months) and the taxes there are higher than MA. I believe Maine has the 2nd highest tax rate in the country. Sure, it's cheaper to live there, but they tax you up the tailpipe (no pun intended ).

 

[goofy4tink]

Perish the thought of Mitt the Twit running for president. Oh man. It's enough to make you move to Florida. At least there I could be around to help my dad pick up the pieces after those hurricanes!!! It's looking better and better all the time!

 

[chrissyk]

Perish the thought of Mitt the Twit running for president. Oh man. It's enough to make you move to Florida. At least there I could be around to help my dad pick up the pieces after those hurricanes!!! It's looking better and better all the time!

If he's president, he'll still be your president in FL Just kidding...I seriously don't see how he could ever get elected. He's a total weirdo IMHO. I'm fairly certain that that trait will come shining through if he does ever get to campaign for president.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Can I have a reader's digest version???

What is his issue?

Is this like Florida and expensive homeowners and high deductibles for hurricane damage?

 

[mickeyfan2]

Wow I was surprised at the taxes. I would have never guessed Maine to be the highest or Arkansas to be so high either. My state is 10 positions lower than I though. A good thing.

 

[BunsenH]

Mitt is spending all of his time preening and posing for national exposure. As long as no one falls for his line, he will soon fade into the obscurity that he deserves. He has no interest in governing MA for the benefit of its citizens. It was a stepping stone for his political ambitions.

Auto insurance has been a mess in Mass for as long as I have been driving (30+ years). When regulated, the rates are negotiated between corporations and a government bueracracy. When unregulated, the insurance companies colluded to keep rates high.

 

[Crankyshank]

Yikes! NH seems to have a much better deal. Yes, you pay higher registration fees, but you can get Geico for insurance and it's way cheaper than what we were paying as Step 9 drivers in MA. In FL, we pay like half of what we did in MA for auto insurance (but we pay insanely higher homeowners' premiums, so it's a wash).

I can't comment on NH's set up because I'm from SE Mass and never lived there, but Geico RI was a laugh. We have insurance through AAA because that's our homeowner's insurance and we get discounts for that and being AAA members. Our credit is mediocre and that caused our auto insurance premiums to skyrocket in RI, where in MA it was reasonable because we were step 9.

Oh and if you want a nightmare, try dealing with the RI DMV where there's less of them and they're operating over a decade behind the times.

 

[chrissyk]

Can I have a reader's digest version???

What is his issue?

Is this like Florida and expensive homeowners and high deductibles for hurricane damage?

It's not really like the high deductable situation for FL homeowners' insurance. BunsenH described the situation well...regulation, collusion, and the whole bit In MA, car insurance varies WILDLY depending on which town you live in.

In MA, your insurance is based on a "step" scale. I think that you start out at like a step 15 or something when you get your license, and then for every year with no tickets and no at-fault accidents, you go down a step. The lowest is the Step 9 that people keep mentioning on this thread. You supposedly get the best rates as a Step 9.

Also, the MA insurance market is regulated such that the really competitive carriers like Geico and Progressive can't do business there for some reason. It's not really Mitt's mess (it's been like this forever), but it doesn't exactly sound like he's working on cleaning it up either.

 

[4boston]

Having it be as simple as good drivers pay more so bad drivers pay less is exactly what companies like Geico and the politicians under their lobby want you to believe.

First of all, the comparisons between Mass and NH insurance rates are ridiculous considering there were probably as many accidents in MA last year as there are cars in NH. Have you ever driven from MA to NH in a snowstorm? The roads are terrible right up until the state line and then all of a sudden you get into NH and the roads look like it’s the middle of summer.

Massachusetts has a terrible accident rate and some of the worst roads in the country. If you want to compare rates with another state, compare them to New York. New York has a similar accident rate and the deregulated system Governor Romney and Geico are so high on. All of a sudden our system doesn’t look so bad.

Fairness for good drivers sounds great to me, but the fairness being proposed in Mass right now is fairness for good drivers who are married, own a house, live in nice neighborhoods and have nice credit.

People talk about deregulation like it will finally open up competition…but that’s crap. The only thing stopping any new company from writing auto insurance in MA under the current system is a price cap.

Geico can come to MA tomorrow if they want and do all the competing they please, they just can’t charge people a rate over what the state feels is exhorbinent.

Rates in MA are too high, absolutely, and we should do whatever it takes to bring them down. But, making insurance cheaper for some and more affordable for others is just shifting the scales around.

Let’s concentrate on methods that lower rates for everyone, like fraud prevention and road improvement, which have already lowered rates for the new year 6%-10% for all drivers.