I don't think they will cancel you, they 'can' do anything they want though. You would likely lose the discount and if you wanted to switch may not be accepted for a few years or pay higher premiums. Hartford did cancel my Dad's insurance after he put in can't remember 2 or 3 claims over a few years close together when he got into his 60s.

Not sure if they treat it like they do Home Owner's but we had a claim due to a natural sort of disaster (like 3+ feet of snow over a month and ice dams, had to have roof shoveled +++), then lightning struck a tree in the neighbors yard and caused damage I called but ultimately it wasn't enough to file. Just that call was recorded and counted. When I tried to change insurance companies I had to wait two more years because I 'had 2 claims on the record within a 3 yr time frame'.

What's your deductible? Look online, I had to replace a bumper a few years ago and it was $1500 to replace, my deductible was $1K and it was my fault so I opted to pay it myself. Based on info I got online which estimated my insurance may increase for 3 yrs, even as first and only claim in years. The prior one was not my fault, an AT&T truck rolled into me from behind at a red light.

Those two percentages should match. The employer usually takes it out of your check and you never see it. Maybe they used to match 5% and now lowered it to 3%? Is it a new job, or have you been with them for a while?

It's been decades since we've purchased 'brand new'. We've been buying 2-3yo, off lease, low mileage vehicles. They tend to be nice, loaded with all the bells and whistles and well taken care of because they were 'leased'. We haven't looked lately in these crazy last few years though.

If you can pay cash that's/was the best way to go. If someone has to finance at least in the past, sometimes you can get a really good deal on a new with zero financing vs a higher rate for a used car, that's what my SIL did still before pandemic. Somehow I think those days may be gone now?