Paying too much for car insurance?

Finance, Taxes, Banking, Insurance and Retirement
1
Hi all,

I was wondering if I could get any feedback on this: our car insurance just got finalized and it is going to cost us about chf 3200 a year for a Subaru Forester 2003 with less than 50,000 miles. That is almost 3 times what we paid for 2 cars in the states! I know everything is super expensive here, but I am wondering if our insurance company is just out there in terms of cost.

Any thoughts?

2
No idea, but is this a French or Swiss insurer?

3
You can reality check at this link:

http://www.comparis.ch/auto/default.aspx

(you can switch it to English by selecting 'En' at the top left)

4
Thank you both. This is a Swiss insurance, I know, I was just noticing that I need to make a few changes to my profile, I've been leaving in Switzerland for 4 months now.

5
3200 CHF sounds awfully high - but without knowing about your nationality, your age, the year you made your driver's license etc. it's hard to tell.

It's legal in Switzerland for insurance companies to charge higher premiums for foreign nationals coming from certain (mostly eastern European and Asian) countries.

peter

6
Seems very high to me too. I just got a renewal notice from Vaudoise Assurance for my nearly new Peugeot 207CC with two named drivers and a CHF 500 deductible. We are both new to Switzerland in the last year and therefore had no driving record here. As this is a cabriolet, I expected to pay a little more but the premium was CHF 1,250 for the year which is about the same as I would have paid to insure a car for a year in Los Angeles county. I would advise you to shop around.

7
Hi Inky007.

You should definitely shop around. Comparis reckon that every second driver in Switzerland can save up to 50% on their insurance premiums.

They saved me close to 40% last month

HTH

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8
I have a Land Rover Discovery 4.0, year 2000. My insurance for this year with Zurich Versicherung was:

Basic comprehensive + collision Fr. = 2'436 (I'm down to 30% rating, which means that I only actually have to pay Fr. 730.00)

"Other risks" = 23.00

Theft = 370.00 (down to 60% = 221.90)

Parking damages = 396.00 (down to 45% = 178.20)

"Other" = 463.00

Total Bill for 2008: around Fr. 1,616.00

9
I have a feeling that we might be missing some elements here.

The 100% rate for full Casco car insurance can easily be in the range that you mention but the majority of people pay only 30-40% of the "quoted rate" based on their good driving record. This is done on a line by line basis on the insurance.

Declared as French or American, you will not get hit with the surcharge that some nationalities do (as stated above).

A question. Have you or another driver in the family had one or more accidents in the last five years? Do you have an under 25 driver on the car? Has anyone been charged with any driving offenses?

If the answer is no, then there is a very good chance that you should be able to get full insurance on the car for about CHF 2-2'500.

The best starting point is the Comparis website.

10
If you have a clean driving record in the US or Europe, you can negotiate with your Swiss insurer for a rebate. They may need a statement from your previous insurer abroad.

11
Thank you all so much! Sounds like I really am paying too much. It's overwhelming when you get to a new place and you have to figure all the paper work and other things out all at the same time. I am going to check my contract against all the things you all have mentioned and go back to see them. Renmaris, I have the same insurance company as you, so there's hope!

12
Soon it ́s renewal time so a question...

If I insure the car in my partners name(she ́s Swiss) will we get a better deal than in my name? I ́m British and wondered about this foreigners loading.

Any similar experiences?

13
I am from India and one of the lowest quote with "Voll Kasko" that I got was 1900 CHF for my BMW 330. This was little over 50% more than if I was a French citizen (who pays only 1200 CHF). I cannot understand this discrimination, when I passed my driving examination in Switzerland with the same set of rules and furthermore I hold the driving permit for little over 10 years.

When I asked the insurance company why this discrimination, I was told it is legal as per Swiss law and I have no choice as other insurers do the same. In my eyes, this is clear discrimination, which dosen't give me a good impression of Switzerland and its legal system.

One can easily check what I wrote, at comparis.ch. Just change your nationality and price drops drastically.

My question, is it possible to have a motor vechicle insurance policy from a negihbouring country like France, which in my eyes is a fair player ?

Thanks in advance

14

In all likelihood yes as she is Swiss and a SHE! (unless she have had recent claims)

15
Shouldn't really I'm a newbie in CH paying 1480 chf vollkasko with vaudoise and Im driving a 3 litre beamer. I could prove however that I have full no cliams since 1997.

16
my 2004 audi s4 with a BIG v8 engine was 2000 full casco with mobilair. and I am a younger driver (27) but here in CH it stops at 26

now my 2001 bmw with half the engine size is 1700 full casco . I just changed to the bare min as the car is prob nt worth that and is now at 900.

SO I really have no idea what it is based on

17
Useful info here folks thank you. Am about to sign up for car insurance myself, and have been offered partial casco, but not sure what it means, and whether i should ask the broker to quote for full casco. Would appreciate some help with this.

18
Vollkasko = full insurance, covers you if you cause damage to your car in an accident

Teilkasko = 3rd party insurance, covers other vehicles in an accident, but not your vehicle

Obviously, full insurance cover is more expensive...

19
Yeah, only go part kasko if you can afford a new car straight up if your car gets damaged also, if it's not of high value.

20
British = Swiss (despite driving on the wrong side of the road)

However, she is a female... but difference won't be that much. In any case, it does not depend on whose name, it depends on who you declare to be the main user of the car.

I have British licence and passport from a non-EU country in which i only spent about 3 years of my life in total. I shopped around, and no chance to avoid this discrimination in Switzerland...