With that accident, Amica immediately eliminated our $500 annual safe driver discount for the next SIX YEARS! So, for a claim on which they paid out $1,250, Amica is charging us an extra $3,000.

Massachusetts is the only state that regulates insurance rates. We are paying $2,568 per year for two cars in Watertown, each of which we drive less than 7,500 miles per year. There is something wrong with this.

An article in the Boston Globe in January reported

Romney has a task force working on sweeping proposals to overhaul the auto insurance system. He wants to attract national insurers to Massachusetts by reducing state regulation and letting insurers set premiums themselves.

The article also reports that meanwhile, the insurance industry is fighting changes and claiming that their rates aren’t high enough:

During the 1990s, companies sought to increase their market share by offering discounts of as much as 20 percent, but since 1999 the size of the discounts has steadily declined, along with the number of companies offering them. Auto insurers say the drop-off reflects an inadequate rate structure and an unfriendly regulatory climate.

While group discounts continue, officials at several companies said their ability to keep offering them may be jeopardized by changes recently approved by Romney's insurance commissioner in the way high-risk drivers are apportioned among companies. Many of those changes will not take effect until next year.

Commerce, the largest auto insurer operating in the state, with 28 percent of the market, has sued Insurance Commissioner Julianne M. Bowler to block the new rules.

I’m going to shop around

Plymouth Rock Assurance Co., of Boston, offers 10 percent discounts to members of the Conservation Law Foundation and the Massachusetts Audubon Society, while Premier Insurance, of Worcester, offers a 10 percent discount to employees of Boston University.

A list of approved group discounts is at www.state.ma.us/doi. Select “consumer service” and then “auto.”

UPDATE: I called Plymouth Rock about the 10% discount. The corporate office told me I had to go through an agent. The agents they referred me to said that agents don’t offer the discount and I would need to go through the corporate office. So much for that.

UPDATE: Tried Plymoth Rock corporate again and, with some persistence, got through to someone who was able to generate a quote. $2,476 ($1,019 for the VW and $1,457 for the Toyota). This compares favorably to $2,568 ($1,012 / $1,556) for Amica. But it’s probably worth $100 to keep everything with one company since I get a “multi-line” discount on my homeowners insurance.

On 9/2 I sent this on the VW Customer CARE web site

My car's water drains clogged and the brake booster was saturated and needed to be replaced. Brookline Volkswagen Audi (617-734-2020, Jeff Buchholz) charged me $848.33 to clear the drains and replace the brake booster.

I have had several cars on which I have put over 100,000 miles and I have never had clogged drains in any of them. My driving habits and the location where I park my car have not changed.

The service representative told me that clogged water drains are a common problem in this car and that he recommends to owners that they clear the drains at least twice a year.  I told him I did not see that in the manual and he said it is not in there.

When I asked him how to clear them myself he said I could not do it myself because I would have to remove the battery and then would have to reset all the electrical systems. So I needed to bring it in to have the drains cleared.

I have brought the car in many times a year since buying it – for the regular maintenance and for many other problems. I asked if the drains had ever been cleared. He said no, they would only clear them if I specifically asked.

I think that Volkswagen should cover this expense as part of my warranty.

And I received this form response

Thank you for contacting Volkswagen! Your suggestions, comments and concerns are important to us and we appreciate the opportunity to serve you.

This reply has been sent automatically to let you know your message has been received. Please do not reply to this email. One of our advocates will contact you within 2 business days of receiving your comments. All messages are personally read and handled to give you the attention you deserve. If you should have an urgent question, please contact us at 1-800-822-8987, M-F 8:00AM – 5:00PM Eastern, Central, Mountain or Pacific Time.

Sincerely,

Volkswagen Customer CARE Center

Just
returned from Brookline VW. Sure enough, they neglected to check the
squishy brake sound so I had to wait while they did. Turns out the
plenum drains are clogged and the brake booster is under water and will
need to be replaced at $900 plus the master cyclinder may also need to
be replaced which would add $300. And because clogged drains are
considered normal wear and tear, none of this is covered under the
warranty.

Wow, I could have written the same exact post myself.

One
annoyance is that they won't cover the rental since they diagnosed it
and fixed the problem the same day, even though they told me to bring
it in the day before and leave it.

Steps:

1. Power on the car to IG-ON or READY. IG-ON will do for this purpose.

2. Using the Trip/ODO button, set the Trip/ODO display to ODO (not Trip A or Trip B)

3. Power off the car.

4. Now power the car to READY (brake on). This is required so that step 6 works correctly.

5. Within 6 seconds of powering on, press and hold the Trip/ODO button for 10 seconds or more.

6. WHILE STILL HOLDING ODO *after* the 10 seconds, shift the “gear”
selector from P to R, then back to P. Now release the Trip/ODO button.
7. If the last step was successful, “b on” or “b off” should be
displayed in the location where the Trip Odometer or Odometer is
normally displayed. “b on” is beep on, and “b off” is beep off.
8. Press Trip/ODO to toggle the mode.

9. Now power the car off to exit the toggle mode.

10. Power the car on to READY and confirm the reverse beep status by
shifting to R. The beep should not be audible if “b off” was selected,
and should be audible if “b on” was selected..

Note: The Repair manual page states that if the the 12v battery is
disconnected, the beep will reset to the default of on, and this
procedure will need to be performed again. The repair manual also isn't
clear that Trip/ODO should remain depressed while shifting.

Additional Note: The driver and passenger seatbelt reminder chime can
be disabled or enabled (respectively, defaults appear to be driver on
and passenger off) using similar steps. Instead of shifting from P to R
to P in step 6, simply buckle then unbuckle the appropriate seatbelt
while continuing to depress the Trip/ODO button. There is one caveat to this procedure. No one can sit in the passenger seat while attempting to complete this task.