Lets talk car insurance...

More specifically, do I have too much? How does mine stack up to the coverage you guys and gal keep.

Going over my policy on the '94 K1500 which is currently my daily driver, this is what I have.

• Liability - Bodily Injury - $100,000 each person / $300,000 each accident
• Liability - Property Damage - $100,000 each accident
• Uninsured Motor Vehicle - $100,000 each person / $300,000 each accident / $100,000 each accident
• Comprehensive - Deductible $100
• Collision - Deductible $500
• Emergency Road Service Yes
• Car Rental and Travel Expenses 80% of Cost Max $1,000
• Medical Payments $10,000 each person

Now my questions are if I can cut back in any area? Is it worth it to keep collision on such an old vehicle?

Premium is about $285 for 6 months.

How much would it cost to replace the vehicle?

FWIW, it cost me about $300 more a year to have collision on my Accord. I paid $700 for the car. Yeah, no need for collision on that vehicle.

EDIT: I would see if you can raise your deductible on comprehensive (or remove it altogether depending on how much it moves the needle), car rental and travel (assuming you have a backup vehicle), and possibly emergency road service--a lot of credit cards offer it (Visa is about $60 for the call should you need it). And how often do you break down, and how much does it cost to get a tow? Is that extra monthly payment worth it?

Personally, I increase Collision deductible to $1000 and keep Comp deductible as low as possible.

Unlikely to make a Collision claim for less than $1000 anyway.

I carry $1,000,000 liability on auto.

I pay $285 for insurance.

Every month.

For my motorcycle.

I have bare minimum 3rd-party-only on both vehicles (IIRC it's 0.5m liability?), it's under $500/yr for the Samurai and now under $400/yr on the Corolla.

I say collision insurance only makes sense if you have a car so expensive that you can't afford to pay out of pocket to fix it.

I'm bare bones state minimum for both my cars. The miata might get switched to a specialty policy next year though. For what I have into it I'd like something better than "scrap it" as an option should something happen.

The Vic, God $600 car costs me $350 a year to insure, pretty pointless to me, especially since I think most modern cars would just crumble if they ran into it.

The jeep has full coverage, $500 deductible, rental, glass, all the bells and whistles, but it's mostly my mom's vehicle and she'd need a rental if something happened to it.

I do keep my AAA active, which is cheaper than adding towing to my policy, so that might be something to consider.

DaveEstey wrote: I pay $285 for insurance. Every month. For my motorcycle.

How? Granted this was a few years ago, but when I was 24 I paid $115/month for full coverage on my R6. When I turned 25 it dropped to $11/month for full coverage.

OP, I carry state minimums on liability, $1000 deduct, etc.

I live in the land of bro trucks and SUV driving moms. If I hit someone, I suspect my BRZ will be much worse off than the other car.

DaveEstey wrote: I pay $285 for insurance. Every month. For my motorcycle.

I see you are in MA, a state with one of the highest insurance cost in the nation. Glad I moved out. I couldn't afford the insurance.

I would not pay to have collision on a 22 year old vehicle unless it was a collectible or a show car.

I'd check if your insurance co treats breakdowns as claims. Seems that got popular recently. If that's the case, I'd definitely drop roadside assistance.

Your policy looks pretty similar to mine, actually, at least in terms of liability coverage. I don't think I'd drop your liability at all. I'd say drop the roadside and rental coverage (that's what AAA and "extra" vehicles are for, although I no longer really have an extra vehicle now that the Camaro is no more.)

As for the collision and comprehensive, I'd definitely think about dropping that, depending on how much it's costing you. Look up blue book value for your truck, wholesale, in poor condition. That's what they're going to give you, less deductible of course, unless you fight them tooth and nail for more. Just been there done that, not a fun experience. I'd bet your payout wouldn't be more than $2k optimistically and if you're ok with X% chance of walking away from that much cash, drop it. Of course, if the collision/comprehensive is only adding a couple bucks a month, then what the hell, may as well keep it.

z31maniac wrote:

DaveEstey wrote: I pay $285 for insurance. Every month. For my motorcycle.

How? Granted this was a few years ago, but when I was 24 I paid $115/month for full coverage on my R6. When I turned 25 it dropped to $11/month for full coverage. OP, I carry state minimums on liability, $1000 deduct, etc. I live in the land of bro trucks and SUV driving moms. If I hit someone, I suspect my BRZ will be much worse off than the other car.

People's Republic of Massachusetts

DaveEstey wrote:

z31maniac wrote:

DaveEstey wrote: I pay $285 for insurance. Every month. For my motorcycle.

How? Granted this was a few years ago, but when I was 24 I paid $115/month for full coverage on my R6. When I turned 25 it dropped to $11/month for full coverage. OP, I carry state minimums on liability, $1000 deduct, etc. I live in the land of bro trucks and SUV driving moms. If I hit someone, I suspect my BRZ will be much worse off than the other car.

People's Republic of Massachusetts

http://www.ibamag.com/us/news/breaking-news/10-states-with-the-most-expensive-car-insurance-rates-in-2015-22160.aspx

https://www.valuepenguin.com/average-cost-of-motorcycle-insurance

Has to be something else. Mass isn't in the top 10 in either.

Are you insuring something like an MV Augusta in a terrible neighborhood with a poor driving record?

I'm not criticizing that's genuinely mind blowing it's so expensive.

Pleasure use.

3 million in liability (there have been cases up here that have crossed the 2 million mark, and it's good to have if I get whacked by a particularly egregious scam artist).

$300 comprehensive deductible.

No collision coverage ($1000 car).

Extra underinsured motorist protection.

Ineligible for rental as I'm 17.

Cost: Around $2k a year, and it will be going up significantly in a month as I'm going to be commuting in to a school as opposed to doing all my schoolwork via internet.

I carry a half million in liability plus another million on an umbrella policy. Cars worth more than about $5-7k get collision. I currently have five cars insured, all have collision and they're a little above or below $500 each every six months. About $250 of that is liability/uninsured motorist. It still drives me nuts that I have to pay this for every car. I'm only liable when I'm driving and can only drive one at a time.

Ask your agent how it would effect your total cost if you raised your deductibles on comp and collision. On a vehicle of that era it may not make a large difference. Beyond that find a good multi-lines agent who still understands the concept of you pay the bill so he works for you. We have been with the same agent for 23 years and up until this year same insurance company.

Thanks for the insight guys. I'm probably going to drop the collision all together and see how much I'll save by upping the comp deductible. I'll need to look at the bike next, I think it has collision also, which is totally not worth it on a $1500 bike.

And million dollar liability... Holy crap... I can't imagine ever needing that much insurance. I guess I could crash off a dock and sink a yacht, but I think even my luck isn't that bad.

In reply to t25torx:

I've heard of medical bills in certain accidents going well over a million. Liability isn't mostly there for property.

Also check your agent for discounts. I know with State Farm if you get either homeowners or rental insurance it typically saves you more than it costs in discounts on the car insurance. That means you are getting paid to have more insurance. For me it was a $30 or so a month reduction in the auto policy for adding a $12/mo rental insurance policy.

I also have a million dollar umbrella policy. It wasn't much more money but when I had a accident and spent one month in hospitals and three more in physical therapy I never had to pay any of it out of pocket, my insurer handled everything.

Furious_E wrote: Look up blue book value for your truck, wholesale, in poor condition. That's what they're going to give you, less deductible of course, unless you fight them tooth and nail for more.

Not true. One person's experience with incompetents does not indicate the correct way vehicle valuation works.

ddavidv wrote:

Furious_E wrote: Look up blue book value for your truck, wholesale, in poor condition. That's what they're going to give you, less deductible of course, unless you fight them tooth and nail for more.

Not true. One person's experience with incompetents does not indicate the correct way vehicle valuation works.

Exactly. That statement is just the typical uninformed and angry stuff you hear all the time. Has no basis in reality. In fact, the opposite tends to be true, but that's another story for another day.

I'd agree you may want to drop collision coverage, it's an old truck.

As for liability, honestly, the amount you need has a lot to do with how much assets you have. It's never a bad thing to have high liability limits, regardless, so let me get that out there first. Never bad. But in reality, $100k per person will cover 99% of all claims and $500k will cover 99.9% of all claims. Even outside of that, it then comes down to what assets you have. As someone else said, the real liability risk comes in injury claims, not property damage. Without going too far into detail, when your insurance company offers an injury settlement, the person making the claim must sign a release, which releases you as the policyholder from any further liability. So let's just say you only have $15k in injury limits, because that's the state minimum. The injury you cause is worth $50k. Your carrier will offer their $15k limits (and inform you that you may have excess exposure). However, they won't pay the other party the $15k until they've signed the release. That party then needs to decide if they want to pursue you personally for the extra money, which could take who knows how long and cost who knows how much, or take the $15k and run (and then file underinsured motorist against their own carrier, if they have coverage). So if you have no assets, they're trying to get blood from a stone. If you have assets, then it may be worth it to them to pursue.

G_Body_Man wrote: In reply to t25torx: I've heard of medical bills in certain accidents going well over a million. Liability isn't mostly there for property.

This. I have a $500k CSL on mine. I made a big mistake near the tail of the dragon almost 10 years ago. Very glad I had a limit that high. That's with $0 in property damage and only one person injured.

Medical bills get mega huge real quick.

What I've found is that liability is the vast bulk of the premium. I have comprehensive and collision on all my cars because it just doesn't add that much expense. I'm with NGTD on the higher collision / lower comprehensive deductibles, and the $1M liability.

ProDarwin wrote:

G_Body_Man wrote: In reply to t25torx: I've heard of medical bills in certain accidents going well over a million. Liability isn't mostly there for property.

This. I have a $500k CSL on mine. I made a *big* mistake near the tail of the dragon almost 10 years ago. Very glad I had a limit that high. That's with $0 in property damage and only one person injured. Medical bills get mega huge real quick.

Um.. story time? Or still too painful?