Car insurance question

[zookeeper]

Do you carry full coverage on your paid for cars? We're trying to think of ways to save some money and were thinking of dropping some insurance coverage on our big van. At this point, we rarely drive it - only when we ALL need to go somewhere. It's 7 years old. Do we really NEED full coverage on it?

 

I keep thinking of a little bumper thumper my mom got into a few years ago. She had full coverage on her car but because of it's age, it was cheaper for the insurance company to total it and pay her what it was "worth" than to pay for the repairs. My mom wanted it fixed because it was worth more to her since it was paid for. She ended up getting it fixed, but it did cost her some. :glare:

[melissad2]

No, just the required liability.

[MrsBear]

We carry full coverage as long as the value of the car far exceeds the premium payment for the coverage; otherwise a total loss would cost much more than the premium does for the years remaining we'll drive the car.

 

For example, when DH's Trooper was long before paid off, the premium to continue full coverage (collision and comprehensive, not liability) was $400 a year of the total we paid for the premium. When someone drove into it, while it was parked, and totaled it, I was certainly glad we decided to continue coverage, the insurance company cut us a check for $7800, what the Trooper was worth when it was totaled, which we used to buy another car with some of our savings. If we hadn't had coverage, we'd have had to finance a new car rather than pay it in full because we wouldn't have had enough money to buy a new used car at that point in time.

[Jennifer in MI]

Depends. If I can reasonably afford to take the loss, I drop collision. We haven't had collision on my 12 year old minivan in about five years now. By that time, we had saved up enough for another car and could take the hit if my car were totalled. I figure we've saved around $700/year on that alone! (I should've kept an account just for that money - heh?)

[TheTwinsMom1]

We carry full insurance on both cars. For us though, the cost really is not that bad for full coverage in our state. Cheaper here then it was when we lived in TN.

[happypamama]

Well, I suppose it depends on what you have available to replace the vehicle, should it be in any kind of accident.

 

Being in a similar position in October 2009, we dropped full coverage on our then 9-year-old, paid-for Ford Expedition. It had 160K miles or so and was in decent shape but not fantastic; it was starting to need a bit of work, and its gas mileage was terrible, but we weren't going to replace it quite yet. And it could seat 8, though we only had 5 at the time. So we dropped comp and collision coverage on it to save a bit on our monthly bills.

 

Well, after never having had an accident, it skidded on some ice THREE months after we dropped the full coverage and ended up rolling over completely and being very badly damaged. (However, because of its size, plus properly installed and properly used carseats, my husband and two children who were in it were completely unharmed, so the vehicle served its purpose.) Because we only had liability insurance, we lost the value of the vehicle completely, and when I got pregnant later that year, we ended up having to buy a van so we could have sufficient seating for all 6 of us. Had we kept full coverage, even with a deductible, the Expedition's payout from the insurance company would have more than paid for the van. So that was a gamble that did not pay out well for us at all. Otoh, years ago, having full coverage on a vehicle that got stolen meant that we received enough from the insurance company to replace that vehicle without having a car payment. We now maintain full coverage on all vehicles.

 

I would really try to cut in other areas first before dropping full coverage, unless you can easily afford to replace a damaged vehicle.

Edited April 6, 2012 by happypamama

[zookeeper]

At this point, if something happened to it, it would mean we would need to split people up between the other two cars if we needed to ALL go somewhere. That wouldn't be convenient, but would work. I guess it really is a gamble, huh? We've never had to use our insurance for anything other than towing in over 20 years, but I guess you never know.

[mytwomonkeys]

liability on our 1999. full on our 2007.

[Tap]

Full coverage on all cars. They would all cost over 5 years worth of full premiums to replace.

 

If we had a $1000-2000 car....I would consider it.

 

 

ETA: we pay $130 a year for just collision on ds's $4000 car. With the prices of used cars being so high, we couldn't replace his car for the $4000 KBB value, (that we would get if it was totalled), but it sure would help!

Edited April 6, 2012 by Tap, tap, tap

[QueenCat]

We keep full coverage on vehicles valued at over $4000.

[Thea]

We kept full coverage on our '04 Sienna and '06 Jeep Wrangler, however, we only have liability on our '00 Toyota Corolla--it's only worth about $3,500.