Insurance question for you guys with two cars

I'm considering a 996 C4S, I have a 2002 E46 as a daily driver. I was under the impression, until I called my insurance company, that a second car did not add a huge amount to my policy. However, to add the porsche as a second car with low annual mileage it will cost slightly more than what the BMW is so I'll end up paying double? Umm, I can only drive one car at a time, why would I pay double? I understand the car needs to be protected as property but from a liability point of view...what am I gonna do...crash the two cars together? Seems like there are quite a few guys here with two cars (or even two Porsche's!) Any suggestions how to minimize the cost of this? Or am I SOL? Thanks!

My insurance lists my car as a "weekend driver" and it's about $600/yr to add it to my policy.

That is the fact. I have three cars and two motorcycles. The multi-car discount isn't very much. In fact, the 996 is cheaper on one insurance company by itself even without the discount, and the others are cheaper where they are.

If you are the only licensed driver in your houshold, work with your agent to assign you to the car that is cheapest to insure. Each car must be assigned to a licensed driver up to the number of drivers. For example, it is cheaper to insure my 996 having my 21 year old daughter assigned to that car than having her assigned to any of my other vehicles. Best driver, including age, records, etc, should be assigned to the car most costly to insure, or most expensive should be unassigned if cars out number drivers.

Thanks Chris, I'll have to ask my insurance company about that option...never heard of it. I have a perfect record so unfortunately can't register the car to any of the other 'lesser' family members Is there any insurance companies that offer more favorable Porsche rates? I'm in LA. Currently with AAA. Thanks!

You don't have to register the vehicle in their name, just assign it with the insurer (it's not an official, government thing, just insurance company policy) Multi-car discounts tend to increase with the amount of time you're with a particular company, and you have to push for them. Still, they don't amount to much.

Not sure who your insurance carrier is but with USAA I can do the following: 1. Sate who the PRIMARY driver is for the car 2. State the nature of the cars use....PLEASURE OR BUSINESS 3. Miles driven in a calendar year When all is said and done my rates are adjusted accordingly. Instead of adding a smaller premium for a 2nd, 3rd, etc, car, it drops the rate for each car so in essence they are essentially all the same with varaince based on option 2 and 3 listed for each. FYI....my wife and I pay roughly $900 per six month policy for 5 cars and an enclosed 20' trailer. And that is with HIGH coverages and LOW deductibles. Gotta love USAA!!!

Hans, I mispoke, I meant assigning not registering...my point was more that, as one of the better drivers in the family, it probably wouldn't be any cheaper assigning to anyone else. Wow Dell, that's a phenomenal deal! That's 50 bucks more a year than I pay for my BMW! Of course, LA sucks for insurance but to add the C4s it double my policy Unfortunately I'm not eligible for USAA. Are there any decent flexible companies out there? I can't imagine the blowup at AIG is going to improve insurance premiums

I guess it helps that my wife and I have no tickets and 1 accident (extremely minor 1 car repair) in the entire time we have been with USAA (10+years). When we turned 25 our rates went down DRAMATICALLY!

You will get premium advantages if you insure your cars and house with the same company. We are with Travelers and it costs us about $500 per car per year (3 cars). Again, this comes with the disclaimer of no tickets, 2 professionals with higher education, good credit scores - all of which where factored into the rates.

Multi-car discounts tend to run about a 15% reduction from full rate. (While it is basically a marketing strategy, some companies justify it as multiple car policies with the same company create a liability umbrella which is less expensive than separate liability policies.) Other discounts include safe driver discounts (some amount of time without accidents or tickets--depending on the company), driver training, some car alarms & air bags for all passengers. No discounts for ABS as that's never been shown to statistically reduce accidents. It's certainly worth asking the agent what discounts are available. Identifying who is assigned to which vehicle & the vehicle usage can make a big difference--but these are not discounts--just ratings. Most people assign kids & business use to their oldest/least costly vehicle. Mileage driven can't be averaged across vehicles--so you need to report a realistic value for each car. Oddly enough, the reason to have the insurance on your 2 cars from different companies is that many companies deny collision claims for two vehicles owned by the same person, insured by the same company. So, if you and your wife are both insured by State Farm and run into each other with your own vehicles, you may not have any collision coverage and have to pay for the damages out of pocket.

I am with state farm and they just gave me a separate policy for the P...I get a discount because I have all my insurances with them....I pay about 950 per year

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This makes absolutely NO SENSE at all. While it can happen it is extremely rare. If this possibility is something that would worry you then call your carrier and ask them what would happen. I find it VERY HARD to believe you would be denied coverage based on hitting another car you own. So what happens if you hit another car in your garage or back into the garage frame, etc? Please.

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+1 I have three cars on USAA and only two drivers. The second Porsche is not too much more. USAA rocks