Jump to content

When do you get rid of full coverage on a vehicle?


Trouble Maker

Recommended Posts

Usually when the replacement cost for the car is somewhere around $6-8,000. I've held onto full coverage for my Sedona longer than I probably should have, mostly because I want the rental car coverage. Being able to transport my kids around is vital.

 

When my wife wrecked the Corolla, I did the math and discovered we had broken even. The amount of money I'd saved over the years by only carrying liability went into fixing the car. Technically I came out "ahead" because of the time value of money, but all things being equal, that didn't make it worth the headache. Of course, that's just one car out of many we've owned, so I'm still ahead overall with my strategy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If it is worth more than 3-4 grand Ill keep the full coverage.

 

Also keep a low deductible. I learned that lesson last year with a hit and run. Had to blow all my Xmas bonus on repairing my door. I could have went from a 1000 deductible to 200 or even 0 for close to nothing.... live and learn

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Insurance is about the only thing in this world that you pay for with the hope that you never have to use it. I carry full coverage (Liability, Comp, Collision and Rental) on both cars and my bike because the sense of security is worth it to me. The primary motivation for keeping collision coverage on the 191k mile Jeep? If I leave my car parked anywhere and someone hits it and takes off, that is a collision claim. If my wife is driving down the road and a deer jumps out and she manages to miss the deer, but hits a mailbox in the process, that's a collision claim. If we're driving down the highway, and are left with no option but to hit an object in the road (even if it is a dead animal) because of traffic, that's a collision claim as well.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So, for a little background. I bought a 2001 Pontiac Sunfire a few years ago for $2200 that's my DD and never felt the need for full coverage. It's always been a 'throw away car' to tide me over while we take car of other things financially. My partners had her 2003 Hyundai Elantra since new and has always had full coverage on it. But being a 2003 with 13xkmi on it, it's not worth a ton of money, maybe $2-3k at this point?

 

We have a decent chunk of money saved up for a new car, and when something happens to one of our cars we will likely just buy a few year old car outright.

 

Full coverage on the Elantra only adds about $80/6 months to our insurance. But our car insurance is only $350/6 months so it's a big chunk when you look at it that way.

 

Just debating whether to drop full coverage. Thanks for all of the input.

I should have expected, but didn't expect, to get such varied answers. Some people saying they never get it no matter what the car is worth. Some people saying they always get it no matter what the cars worth. :lolguy:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's the way I would look at it... Lets say that the day after you bought your newer used car, some drunk runs your girl off the road and into a guard rail rendering it not drivable any more. If you have collision coverage, the car will either be fixed or totalled. If you have no collision coverage, you're left with the tow bill, storage charges if you don't have a place to take it right away, and a car that you can't drive, that isn't worth even half as much as it was before it got wrecked.

 

You may be a great driver and your skills may have gotten you out of some sticky situations many times before, but insurance is there to take care of those situations that you never thought could happen.

 

If it were me, I'd look into adjusting my deductibles to lower my premium, and maybe if it'd be the third car, take the rental coverage off of it, but I'd keep the comp and collision for sure.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You may be a great driver and your skills may have gotten you out of some sticky situations many times before, but insurance is there to take care of those situations that you never thought could happen.

 

Once upon a time, Americans had these things called "savings accounts." You'd put money in them, money that you could later use to pay for unexpected expenses.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I keep full coverage on the FD, Si, and Jeep. I have comprehensive on the Bronco, and liability on the GL1000. If something happens to the bike, I have have a surplus of parts to fix it. I am going to switch the FD to something like Hagerty next year because I rarely drive it. I want to do more research before I go through with it though.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is not always the case. Uninsured Motorist Property Damage will take care of the damage to your car if someone without insurance hits it' date=' and usually will carry a very low deductible (between $200 and $300 is what I usually see). In most states it's a very cheap coverage to have....[/quote']

 

Of course - If the person hits you and then leaves, you will not be covered with uninsured motorist property damage. Your company may cover you, but I couldn't get my company to cover a hit/run on my car with liability only.

 

Matt

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm with Doc, I only have liability on my two cars because I know I'm a better driver than all the normal people on the road.. an accident would be their fault.

 

I would normally agree with that but last month when I was side swiped by a driver that passed me in the berm of the road it was my story against hers police would not site her her insurance said there was not enough evidence she was at fault. If I didn't have full coverage I would have been out the money on my own.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I would normally agree with that but last month when I was side swiped by a driver that passed me in the berm of the road it was my story against hers police would not site her her insurance said there was not enough evidence she was at fault. If I didn't have full coverage I would have been out the money on my own.

 

 

Yes, but it's a Jeep.

 

You can buy a new one for what it costs for a good pack of bubble gum.

Fenders: 75 Cents

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course - If the person hits you and then leaves, you will not be covered with uninsured motorist property damage. Your company may cover you, but I couldn't get my company to cover a hit/run on my car with liability only.

 

Matt

 

Maybe this varies company to company. I'm almost sure that uninsured motorist bodily injury covers most hit and run situations for hospital costs and surgery, but I'll have to double check on UMPD for damage to the car specifically. Like I said, this is how it is where I work but coverage can vary slightly from company to company, and state to state.

 

For example, in many states you can carry both collision coverage and UMPD. In Ohio though, we offer either UMPD or collision coverage, but you can't carry both at the same time here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Here's the way I would look at it... Lets say that the day after you bought your newer used car, some drunk runs your girl off the road and into a guard rail rendering it not drivable any more. If you have collision coverage, the car will either be fixed or totalled. If you have no collision coverage, you're left with the tow bill, storage charges if you don't have a place to take it right away, and a car that you can't drive, that isn't worth even half as much as it was before it got wrecked.

 

I wasn't saying to do this on the newer car we will get in the next few years. I was talking about dropping full coverage on her Elantra since it's older and not worth as much now. And since we have a car fund, if something happens we will just replace it anyways. Of course when we get the newer car we will put full coverage on it. Even if I had 10k, 20k sitting in the bank for a car that doesn't mean I'm going to drop full coverage on my car that's worth 10k or 20k.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wasn't saying to do this on the newer car we will get in the next few years. I was talking about dropping full coverage on her Elantra since it's older and not worth as much now. And since we have a car fund, if something happens we will just replace it anyways. Of course when we get the newer car we will put full coverage on it. Even if I had 10k, 20k sitting in the bank for a car that doesn't mean I'm going to drop full coverage on my car that's worth 10k or 20k.

 

I think he was saying if you buy a new car, then the 1 older car with partial coverage gets hit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think he was saying if you buy a new car, then the 1 older car with partial coverage gets hit.

 

Well, in theory we would always have a fund once a car gets older for a newer car. But we are just starting this and we have a fund for 1 car, but will need to replace 2 cars in the next few years. Once we get into a good cycle of replacing cars not at the same time it should work out fine. The why doesn't matter, cars getting wrecked or just dying, they will both need replaced soonish. So that’s a financial wall we are trying to figure out regardless of the why. We always have other liquid funds we can use if needed, but they are not earmarked for a car. Worst case, we can always get a small loan but I would rather not every have another car loan.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm with Doc, I only have liability on my two cars because I know I'm a better driver than all the normal people on the road.. an accident would be their fault.

 

I used to think this way, but then someone ran a red light and totaled a very rare vehicle of mine. Bitch had no insurance in a rental, and weeks after the accident had one of her friends lie and say she was a witness to say I was at fault. Bam, instant total-loss. If I had collision coverage I wouldn't have been so screwed.

 

On a motorcycle it is silly though, with the premium I paid for collision it would have been the value of the bikes in 2 years. What a racket.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...