4 drivers paying dearly for insurance in Detroit

April 30--Mayor Mike Duggan rolled out details of his auto insurance reform plan for Detroit motorists, who pay the highest premiums in the state. These four drivers know all too well what it takes to own wheels in the Motor City.

--DelShawn Farver lives on Detroit's west side and said he feels relatively lucky. He pays about $2,800 a year for insurance on his 2010 Kia Forte.

"It could be a lot better," said Farver, 38, a recording analyst for Title Source. "It's mostly based on your ZIP code. I've yet to have used it, to make a claim for anything, so I'm just paying into it."

Despite the added costs of living in the city, he said he doesn't plan on moving anytime soon, calling right now an exciting time to be in Detroit as it works toward rebuilding downtown and its neighborhoods.

"It hasn't gotten to the point where I've considered leaving the city," he said. "I love living here. But it would definitely be good to get a break in that department."

--Maanami Puryear moved from Detroit to Eastpointe a few months ago and immediately her car insurance payment dropped in a big way.

When she lived in the city, she paid about $250 a month to insure her 2013 Chevy Cruz. Now, with an address outside Detroit, her monthly bill is $143.

"So it's a whole $100 a month cheaper because I left a ZIP code," said Puryear, 28, who works in client relations for Quicken Loans. "You just cross the street and you pay a different amount."

Even with the drop, she said car insurance is too expensive in Michigan.

"I have a clean record, no accidents, no tickets, and it's still high," Puryear said.

--Nicole Williams is a single mom, and she said it's been difficult to keep her cars insured because the costs are astronomical.

She called around for quotes recently but kept hearing from insurers that she'd have to come up with a hefty down payment and then pay as much as $600 or $700 a month.

"I was like, 'I'm about to move out of the city for that reason alone,' " said Williams, 34, who lives on the city's east side and works downtown as an office manager.

Between the monthly payment for her 2004 Chrysler Pacifica and insurance, "I'd be paying $1,100 to $1,200 a month, on top of my mortgage payment," she said. "It's like they're robbing you blind without a ski mask."

Unable to come up with a down payment right away, she got one of those seven-day policies offered by some insurers in Detroit for $297, and hopes to scrape together enough to get a full insurance policy.

"That's all I could afford," she said. "Everything else was ridiculous."

--Sean Jackson moved to Detroit from Santa Barbara, Calif., in 2013 to work for Dan Gilbert'sRock Ventures as a project manager.

He figured he'd be able to live much more cheaply in Detroit, but he didn't factor in costs like insurance that are far higher in Detroit than in the suburbs. As a 24-year-old Californian, he paid $76 a month. Now, at 26 and living in Detroit, his insurance on his 2005 Subaru Impreza is $176 a month.

"It's got like 115,000 miles," he said. "It's an ancient car, and thanks to our roads in Michigan, the steering wheel's at a permanent 45-degree angle to keep driving straight because the alignment is so badly damaged from potholes."

Jackson said he has friends who live in the city and keep their parents' addresses in the suburbs and even out of state so they don't have to pay Detroit rates.

"You always hear that when you turn 25 your car insurance goes way down," he said.

It didn't for him, and the higher rates in Detroit "almost cancels out the lower rents in some of the neighborhoods because you're losing the savings to higher insurance."

Still, he's sticking with Detroit.

"I love this city, and I'm committed to it," he said. "But it's frustrating to see. For some people it's a real issue, especially for people right out of college" who might pick Royal Oak or other suburbs because it's too expensive to live in Detroit.

Contact Matt Helms: 313-222-1450 or [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @matthelms.

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