Bob

You've also got a few years US driving and credit history though, which does make a massive difference to the rate in the first couple of years.

Poppy girl

Maybe not the lunch in it's self but a mid morning coffee added to it and your for sure hitting the $20 plus mark

N1cky

That doesn't explain why the premium went down when I called them about the new car. It just explains why it goes down over time.

I agree $60 is too low, $60 still wouldn't cover our cars a month, wish it would.

Bob

Probably because it's a fresh new policy on the new car, where they take into account the history, whilst the old one you're only getting the standard rate drop rather than being looked at as a fresh policy.

Insurance game over here is rather annoying though ain't it.

N1cky

It is

RoadWarriorFromLP

Your rent figure may be too low, but your rent can vary greatly based upon location.

Your car insurance figure is definitely too low.

On the plus side, you could probably get a combined internet/ landline-VOIP line/ cable television package for less than your combined cost of broadband and satellite TV.

If your office is in downtown SF, then transportation is an issue:

-Parking in the city is quite expensive, and you'll want to make sure that your employer pays for it. (Parking is scarce, and may not be provided for you.)
-If you commute into the city by car from the East Bay or Marin, then you need to also budget for bridge tolls
-As an alternative, you should consider living near a MUNI rail line or BART station, and take the train (SF is one of the few places in the US where public transit usage is commonplace). Perhaps you could get away with owning just one car.

Property taxes are paid by the property owner and there is no poll tax. You won't pay property taxes if you are renting.

If you rent an apartment, then water, sewer and trash disposal are probably included in the rent. If you rent a house, then you'll probably have to budget for those costs separately.

Schools can be an issue. If you don't want to pay for private school, then make sure that you account for the quality of the local public school system when choosing a place to live.

Giantaxe

Depends where he lives and works. If he can do it by public transport (BART, for example) then that saves on driving and transportation costs will likely be under $300. My monthly SF bus/tram/trolleybus/cablecar pass costs me about $40 a month given I can buy it on a pre-tax basis. I rarely drive my car except at the weekend.

MMcD

Yup. More than "annoying"
And "game" is the right word (if not "scam")
Like Lance Armstrong:
They're in to Win ...
No compunction re: cheating

SalopianFunk

...Or do like everyone else does in the city, and buy a bicycle if you don't end up living pretty far out. It's the quickest way to get around a lot of parts of the city.

Giantaxe

Or walk... that's what I do a lot of the time.

Sally Redux

When does it drop? Ours just got renewed and had gone up despite our circumstances being the same. The reason given was that there have been two state rate rises.

N1cky

Ours dropped when we left LA (hope that helps)

Sally Redux

MMcD

aka: TOFR (The Old Familiar Refrain)
Haven't we heard that one before?
and then
Before that.....ditto, ditto.....
ad nauseum

Bob

Shop around...that's when you get best rates, if you don't, they don't tend to bother.

It's another annoying dancing game...but location is certainly quite a big factor.

Our insurance after almost 7 years is still double of what we were paying when we lived up in Maine for same level of coverage and back then it was only 1-2 years of US driving history :/