If you knew how this industry actually works, it would save you thousands of dollars each year on auto insurance. Want to know the secrets behind the premiums you pay? Exactly what is the “secret sauce” that is built into each premium? The answers may surprise you.

Paying a low premium on auto insurance is tough enough and getting a straight answer from any insurance agent is always “classified” ( Classified, in the military means…”They can tell you, but then they have to kill you” ) information and only available to the “privileged” few, until today! Getting  annoyed at an increase in your premiums every year, even though you had no accidents or tickets? Again, the answers may surprise you and it will be revealed in this 14 part series, stay tuned.

Well, what  you are about to find out in my blog, may prompt them to send a hitman after me, but I am not afraid….it is about time that their secret gets out. The economy is bad enough and everyone needs to save money wherever they can, because this economy will only get worse, before it gets better. The rule maker has refused to tell you the rules, but today and for the next 2- 3 weeks that game ends.

This post will be the first of a 14 part series, which I will “spill the beans” on the auto Insurance industry’s “secret sauce” on how they determine your rates. Each part in the series will be a full post explaining to you one closely guarded secret after the next. Therefore, I urge you to bookmark this and all 14 posts in this series to your favorite social bookmarking site, and tweet each post (using the convenient “tweet this”link below) to your twitter account so that your followers may read this too. Finally, for those who prefer email, you will find an easy “share this post” link at the bottom of each post, that will allow you to send this blog address link to all your friends and family.  We must get the word out, so we can beat these selfish insurance companies at their own games. Oh, almost forgot, please comment on this post and let me know what you think.

Auto Insurance Secret 1

Stay away from cars with cool gadgets and high priced electronics. When you buy a new car, stay away from all the pricey high tech options, such as GPS, Xenon Headlights, adaptive cruise control, parking sensors, etc. I know that when you buy a higher priced luxury car, like a Lexus, Mercedes or Cadillac, these are standard, but more and more of these “luxury gadgets” are becoming optional equipment on lower priced mini-vans, suvs and economy cars, as well. Stay away from them!

Much of today’s coolest car technology is expensive upfront and even more expensive to fix. Even the most mundane repair or replacement can cost a small fortune. You easily could shell out $1,000 to replace a key or a side mirror, $2,000 to fix a headlight and thousands more to mend more intricate systems such as adaptive cruise control or a rear-view camera.

“We’re just deluged with comfort and convenience items” on new cars, said Jack Nerad, executive editorial director for vehicle-valuation company Kelley Blue Book. “But a lot of the stuff is so complicated (that repairs) can be difficult and expensive.”

Just take a look at this price list compiled by the Highway Loss Data Institute to replace some of the “cool” parts on certain luxury autos. Remember, the more expensive it is to fix these gadgets, the more expensive insurance premium you will be charged…its that simple…its not rocket science!”

2005 Mercedes C Class

  • Adaptive cruise-control system, which maintains a set distance from the car in front: $3,742
  • Xenon headlight with washer: $1,659
  • Parking sensor $345

2005 Lexus RX330

  • Adaptive headlight with washer: $1,627 per light
  • Backup camera: $4,217
  • Adaptive cruise control: $1,318

2005 BMW 5 Series

  • Adaptive headlight with washer: $2,035
  • Parking sensor: $372
  • Adaptive cruise sensor: $2,222

2004 Cadillac Escalade

  • Ultrasonic rear-parking assist: $934
  • Xenon headlight: $765
  • Heated side mirror with turn indicator: $997

Remember, this is just cost of the parts. Labor’s extra. And the list doesn’t touch some of the most popular technology, like global-positioning systems, headset-mounted DVD players and built-in, hands-free calling systems.

Please keep coming back to my blog for PART 2 of this series.

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 at and is filed under Advice, Automotive, Autos, Cars, Insurance, Other - Cars & Transportation, Personal Finance. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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