I Just Joined the AARP

May 4, 2010 by Jeremiah | 3 Comments

Please don’t laugh. I’m over 50 and for the past two years, the only people that know this is the AARP. I’ll bet I get a letter from them, about joining the AARP, about every three months. I’m not sure I like their political leanings, but I have to admire the benefits of membership.

I joined because the price of my car insurance is going to be ½ of what I was paying before. I don’t know if I made that clear enough – I’m paying ½ of what I was paying before. I signed up for a 10 year membership, so my AARP renewal will come due shortly after I am eligible to start collecting Social Security – if it is still around in ten years.

I have always been careful with my car and how I drive. I don’t get tickets and don’t get into accidents, and every year the cars get one year older and my premium goes up and I pay more money for what amounts to be less insurance.

If I have an accident, and total my car, they will figure the market value, and give me the market value less my deductible. Well every year that goes by, means the market value of my car is less every year. So what the insurance company “gives” me so I get to buy another car, is less than it was last year. So the rate goes up and the amount I get back goes down. It is an endless cycle. I pay more and more and get less and less.

I don’t drive a Mercedes, although the car manufacturer name starts with M. It’s a Mazda. It’s a 1992 Mazda Protege’ and three years ago, I checked the blue book value and figured that the trade in value less my deductible totaled up to less than my premium.

That did it for me. I was paying more in premium than I would get back if I totally destroyed my car. So I only got liability and property damage coverage if I ran up on some one’s lawn and ruined some landscaping or something.

You need to run these sort of numbers from time to time to make sure it all adds up and you are not paying more for less. I like to get more for less, not the other way around.
How about you? Why not leave me a comment and tell me how you fell about insurance premiums?

For Taking Early Retirement (TER), I hope you are enjoying a great retirement or are close to that day!