S/O….from flooring and windows to why many rural families have more vehicles

[Ottakee]

This got some debate on @Elizabeth86 thread in flooring and windows.

I thought I would start a new thread on why many rural families have more than 2 vehicles.  Obviously every situation is different.

For me, when I was living rural we always had one extra vehicle, sometimes 2.  Many reasons:

If one vehicle didn’t start we could just go to another one and head off to work/appointments.   Most rural areas have zero public transportation, no ride share options, etc. This was important when a family member was in dialysis, my kids had lots of medical appointments 30 miles away, etc.

One of the extra vehicles was a plow truck.  rural driveways can be 1/2 mile long (mine was much shorter) and they need to be plowed.  This is super rough on transmissions.   Many people owned a beater truck for this as that was much cheaper than paying a plow service and shoveling/snowblower would take hours or days.

often there is a farm truck as well.  I had an old suburban for hauling horses and hay wagons….but could also haul kids.

For me, adding another vehicle was almost no added cost to the insurance premium as they figure you can’t drive 2 vehicles at once so each vehicle will be driven less.

Most repairs and oil changes, etc were done at home.

Now I live in town and have just one minivan as I have more transportation options and I don’t need a plow truck or farm vehicle, etc.

 

[Elizabeth86]

😂 

[Elizabeth86]

Also in many countries there is no trash pick up so you don’t want to haul your trash in a car. Also every body I know picks everything up instead of delivery. New couches, new washing machine, all that 

eta counties not countries lol

Edited July 17 by Elizabeth86

[fairfarmhand]

Activities are often at least 30 minutes away in various directions. If you have teens, you definitely want them driving as soon as they can do it safely because rural moms spend hours on the roads wit their teens. Like my best friend spent 4 hours a day hauling her kids to various activities before her oldest was able to drive. 

[Brittany1116]

2 licensed drivers, 4 vehicles at the moment

We keep older cars, do repairs at home, and drive them as long as possible. Twice before, we have had a third vehicle, sold it, and regretted it. Inevitably, something needs repair and we need backup for the reasons you stated. Even a few fixes a year and insurance on additionals work out to far, far less than the annual cost of a new car. 

We have 3 running, and 1 in the shop. One that is closing in on 300k miles and needs new tires soon, we decided not to put more money into and will sell/scrap. 

[Arcadia]

I live suburban and many families with kids have three vehicles, two sedans and a minivan. Insurance isn’t significantly higher since most cars are more than a decade old and the scrap value is negligible. The two sedans is because of both adults (parents) working and the minivan is for kids activities, grocery runs and road trips. It is also common here for kids to drive themselves to high school and community college so having three cars isn’t unusual. At one time a neighbor has four cars because her daughter was home from college and has her own car too. 

[Brittany1116]

We have 4 other houses on our road. Each has 2 adults, one has a teen as well. There are 3-5 cars in every drive/yard. 

[fairfarmhand]

We have 2 trucks. My dh bought a brand new one in 2022. It’s the first and likely only new vehicle we’ll ever have. It should last at least 25-30 years. But we also have the backup truck. It’s from 2001. The new truck is used for hauling anything in a trailer and oddly because it’s the only vehicle that doesn’t make me hurt when I ride in it, long trips. Th beater truck is the one we haul firewood in. If it gets scratched or dinged in the wood lot, oh well. It generally is driven on the farm or less than 10 miles from the farm. 
 

our other vehicles, if you added them all together are likely worth less than 10k. With 5 drivers on our policy, 4 jobs, 2 college students, and a high schooler, we go so many different directions each day. So yeah, with 5 drivers we have 7 vehicles on the insurance policy .

the only vehicle with full coverage insurance is the new truck. Everything else is on liability.  They’re so old and such high mileage that it makes more sense to bank the difference in insurance and pay for repairs/repcements if we have accidents ourselves.

[fairfarmhand]

Also, there is no public transportation and riding a bike on our narrow, no shoulder, curvy road would be a suicide mission 

 

eta: this does make me sad. We took the kids to Sanibel island in Florida a few years ago and rented bikes. Even my 14 yo could go do things without mom and dad and we really liked it. If I could add one thing to our road it would be a bike lane.

Edited July 17 by fairfarmhand

[Brittany1116]

I should add... 

DH had 3 vehicles when we got married- his first purchase (a Jeep), the sedan he commuted to University with, and a farm truck he bought cheaply and wore out. I had small newish sedan. Over a few years, we worked our way down to 2. 

When we had our second child, we were given an old minivan and sold my sedan.That one gave us grief and we quickly got a different minivan. We thought it would last us a year or two; it's the one we are going to scrap now 8 years later. 

A few years ago, an aging family member stopped driving and gave me her car. It was a huge upgrade and the van was made backup. Then I was hit and it was totaled and replaced with a much newer and more efficient but not as luxurious car. I love my car. 

Last year, another family member offered me an old very sturdy vehicle for my teen in exchange for helping her organize her house. So we have it waiting for him to be old enough to drive. 

[fairfarmhand]

Also, rural people quite often do not buy cars with payments. They pay cash and drive them until the wheels fall off. So there’s savings with no car payments/interest for 10-15 years.  
 

we’ve not had a car payment since 1999. 
 

just for funsies-

heres our car list

2022 chevy truck (paid cash for it)

2001 ford f250

2010 Chevy impala 

2012 Chevy impala my dh inherited this when his mom died

2007 nissan sentra

2002 Toyota camry

1998 Buick lesabre (my 19 yo dd drives this and adores this car. It’s maroon, with crushed velvet seats and interior.) 

Edited July 17 by fairfarmhand

[Elizabeth86]

33 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said:

Also, there is no public transportation and riding a bike on our narrow, no shoulder, curvy road would be a suicide mission 

All this. 

[Corraleno]

We had 3 vehicles when we lived in NM: I had a minivan for hauling kids and DH had a small SUV with 4WD, which was needed in the winter because we lived on a long dirt road that did not get plowed, and when the snow melted it was a rutted, soupy mud pit. Then we had a very cheap basic pickup — it was originally manufactured as a fleet truck so it had manual windows, no sound system, had to be manually locked & unlocked with a key, etc. We used it weekly for hauling hay, as well as taking stuff to the dump and pulling the horse trailer.

I still have the 20-yr old minivan, although I mostly drive a 2019 Subaru now. I took the back seats out and use it for IKEA trips, moving furniture, hauling loads of potting soil and mulch, carrying large plants so I don't trash the newer car, etc. I just have liability insurance on it, and it needs minimal maintenance because it doesn't get a lot of use, so the cost of keeping it is probably the same or less than having to hire a U-Haul van whenever I have to move stuff, and it's a lot more convenient. Plus it's nice to have a back up if my main car (or DD's car) is in the shop. 

[sweet2ndchance]

3 licensed drivers, 4 vehicles and two trailers. One kiddo left at home who is almost a teen. It's 1/4 of a mile to paved road, 3 miles to civilization and about 5 miles to town and about 90 miles to suburbia.

All of our vehicles are older. The one that is technically my vehicle is a 2007 Ford Sport Trac but we put a new engine and transmission in it a couple of years ago. It's our "luxury" vehicle as it has working ac and is the top in the priority list for repairs and such since we can all fit comfortably for road trips.

Dh has a 2002 Toyota Tundra that we do our heavy hauling and towing in. No AC but we don't typically take it for long rides. We also haul our trash in it as mentioned above. We do use it as a backup vehicle for my Sport Trac when it's in the shop.

Grandma has a 2005 Sport Trac but it was used as a rural letter carrier vehicle before she retired so it has had a rough life to say the least lol. She also has a 1998 Ford Flareside pickup truck that was technically willed to DS by Grandpa. She uses it as her backup vehicle so that it gets driven occasionally until DS is old enough to drive it.

ETA: All our vehicles are paid for and have liability insurance except the 2007 which has full coverage because Grandma insists and pays for it. lol

 

Edited July 17 by sweet2ndchance

[Meriwether]

You either understand having a vehicle like this or you don't. Lol

 

(Picture taken of my dad's 1962 hay truck while I drove it for him one afternoon this summer.)

[Meriwether]

36 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said:

1998 Buick lesabre (my 19 yo dd drives this and adores this car. It’s maroon, with crushed velvet seats and interior.) 

We also have a 1998 Buick Lesabre. Lol My 17 year old is driving it to work. My husband used it as a commuter for years to save our more expensive vehicle wear and tear.

[sweet2ndchance]

2 minutes ago, Meriwether said:

You either understand having a vehicle like this or you don't. Lol

 

(Picture taken of my dad's 1962 hay truck while I drove it for him one afternoon this summer.)

 

You also understand the amount of arm strength it takes to drive a vehicle with no power steering and why vehicles like these have huge steering wheels.

And you can do this while rolling down hand crank windows for the 2/55 air conditioning lol!

[City Mouse]

Yep, the front of my house often looks like a used car lot. 😀 Especially when the kids come visit. 

For us it is also the side effect of only buying cheap used cars. With a couple of extra cars, we don’t have to stress when a vehicle needs a repair. We can just shuffle vehicles. 

[Ginevra]

1 hour ago, fairfarmhand said:

Activities are often at least 30 minutes away in various directions. If you have teens, you definitely want them driving as soon as they can do it safely because rural moms spend hours on the roads wit their teens. Like my best friend spent 4 hours a day hauling her kids to various activities before her oldest was able to drive. 

This was me, 100%. I could not understand parents who were in no hurry - or actively discouraged - their kids from becoming licensed drivers. I needed the driving help! 
 

We have five cars insured here. Four drivers at home. But my car is the newest at 2015 model. Our “spare” car was inherited and it’s a 2002. College kid’s car is 2003. Dh’s work truck is 2011. And older son’s car is a 2014. 
 

Old cars are cheap to insure, and having more cars than drivers is cheap to insure. 

[kbutton]

1 hour ago, fairfarmhand said:

1998 Buick lesabre

We had one about this year, and drove it almost into the ground. We fully intended to replace the engine and keep on rolling, but it had some under car rust that created a big problem (and our mechanic, who KNEW we wanted to keep driving it), didn’t tell us in time to nip it in the bud. My 20 y.o. still mourns that car.

6 minutes ago, City Mouse said:

 

For us it is also the side effect of only buying cheap used cars. With a couple of extra cars, we don’t have to stress when a vehicle needs a repair. We can just shuffle vehicles. 

Yes! We have “transition” vehicles that help us get over the hump of having a really old one and one getting up there while also not quite being ready to dump it.

The lack of public transit is a big deal, and we’re suburban, not rural. When I lived in a rural town, Shank’s Mare was often an option, and we had relatives that could give us a ride. Here there are sidewalks to nowhere if there are sidewalks at all!

[fairfarmhand]

1 hour ago, Meriwether said:

We also have a 1998 Buick Lesabre. Lol My 17 year old is driving it to work. My husband used it as a commuter for years to save our more expensive vehicle wear and tear.

 

42 minutes ago, kbutton said:

We had one about this year, and drove it almost into the ground. We fully intended to replace the engine and keep on rolling, but it had some under car rust that created a big problem (and our mechanic, who KNEW we wanted to keep driving it), didn’t tell us in time to nip it in the bud. My 20 y.o. still mourns that car.

Yes! We have “transition” vehicles that help us get over the hump of having a really old one and one getting up there while also not quite being ready to dump it.

The lack of public transit is a big deal, and we’re suburban, not rural. When I lived in a rural town, Shank’s Mare was often an option, and we had relatives that could give us a ride. Here there are sidewalks to nowhere if there are sidewalks at all!

My dd paid 800 for her car and has put about 1200 in repairs in it. (Oil leak and air conditioning)

[Laura Corin]

5 hours ago, Meriwether said:

You either understand having a vehicle like this or you don't. Lol

 

(Picture taken of my dad's 1962 hay truck while I drove it for him one afternoon this summer.)

In Scotland there is a fleet of tiny ancient tractors that only come out for haying, to turn the hay in the field so it dries better. There's undoubtedly a technical reason why they are used rather than the big modern ones, but I love to see them every year.

[YaelAldrich]

5 hours ago, Meriwether said:

You either understand having a vehicle like this or you don't. Lol

 

(Picture taken of my dad's 1962 hay truck while I drove it for him one afternoon this summer.)

My boyfriend before my DH drove me around in one of these. Had to climb in the window on the passenger side! Oh the memories! ❤️

[Rosie_0801]

11 minutes ago, Laura Corin said:

In Scotland there is a fleet of tiny ancient tractors that only come out for haying, to turn the hay in the field so it dries better. There's undoubtedly a technical reason why they are used rather than the big modern ones, but I love to see them every year.

I've read a few books by a regenerative farmer around your part of the world (ish) and would guess because they are lighter and don't compact the soil so much, and the operator can see birds nests. The author wrote about his grandfather parking the tractor, moving the nests, then shifting along before stopping to put them back.

[Laura Corin]

46 minutes ago, Rosie_0801 said:

I've read a few books by a regenerative farmer around your part of the world (ish) and would guess because they are lighter and don't compact the soil so much, and the operator can see birds nests. The author wrote about his grandfather parking the tractor, moving the nests, then shifting along before stopping to put them back.

Thanks @Rosie_0801   I also just watched a UK video that showed the farmer using his own small tractor to turn the hay before a contractor comes in later with a monster tractor to bale.

Soil compaction and also breaking underground drainage pipes - that has become a big issue here with heavier tractors.

[frogger]

6 hours ago, City Mouse said:

Yep, the front of my house often looks like a used car lot. 😀 Especially when the kids come visit. 

For us it is also the side effect of only buying cheap used cars. With a couple of extra cars, we don’t have to stress when a vehicle needs a repair. We can just shuffle vehicles. 

Yep. We have done this for years.

 

Finally bought a 2022 and guess which car spent a week in the shop last month getting recall work done?

[frogger]

7 hours ago, fairfarmhand said:

Also, rural people quite often do not buy cars with payments. They pay cash and drive them until the wheels fall off. So there’s savings with no car payments/interest for 10-15 years.  
 

we’ve not had a car payment since 1999. 
 

just for funsies-

heres our car list

2022 chevy truck (paid cash for it)

2001 ford f250

2010 Chevy impala 

2012 Chevy impala my dh inherited this when his mom died

2007 nissan sentra

2002 Toyota camry

1998 Buick lesabre (my 19 yo dd drives this and adores this car. It’s maroon, with crushed velvet seats and interior.) 

We just sold 2 cars! DH is happy to have less to work on but that is because 2 sons now have cars parked in our driveway but they don't belong to us so I won't count them.  😬

2022 Ford Escape

2011 Subaru Outback

2002 Excursion 

2004 Excursion purchased with blown engine. Body will be put on 2002 listed above.

1967? Thiokol Spryte (snow cat) to get to property without plowed roads

1969 Mustang because DH bought it at 14 years old. Really it is unneccesary. 

 

PS. DH commutes 18.5 miles each way by bicycle for enviromental and cost saving reasons but hard to tow stuff with his bike. 

When more kids move out we may stick with one utility car and our Excursion for towing. But we try not to drive on a daily basis. But the mustang and snowcat aren't going anywhere. 

 

[SKL]

My relatives who live rurally will often keep their "old car" when they buy a "new" [used but working] car.  One requires a vehicle to get to work.  And one has to show up at work.  No employer wants to hear "my car is in the shop, see you after it's fixed."  There's no public transport, and the nearest friend probably lives 20 minutes away and has to get to her own job.

Plus, I think a lot of people keep the "old car" around for their kids (or other young relatives) to eventually drive.  As others have said, there isn't really a cost to doing this when you have lots of space.

I also agree with the reasons to have a pickup truck (hauling many things because home delivery/collection isn't an option), and most pickup trucks can't double as the family car when the family isn't tiny.

When my folks' 3 older kids were driving, and the 5 drivers were college students (commuting to a nearby city), they went from 2 cars to 3.  However, there was a period when my dad's car was out of commission, so we juggled 1 car between 5 students who also had various jobs.  That was interesting.  😛 

We lived in a village, so we did have lots of walkable amenities.  We didn't drive for "kid activities."  Out-of-town folks would drive their kids for things like church and 4H, which would be combined with grocery trips etc.

 

Edited July 18 by SKL

[Elizabeth86]

5 hours ago, YaelAldrich said:

summer.)

 

5 hours ago, YaelAldrich said:

My boyfriend before my DH drove me around in one of these. Had to climb in the window on the passenger side! Oh the memories! ❤️

Haha yep. I’ve been picked up in the ole farm truck a time or 2. 😂 

[fairfarmhand]

5 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

In Scotland there is a fleet of tiny ancient tractors that only come out for haying, to turn the hay in the field so it dries better. There's undoubtedly a technical reason why they are used rather than the big modern ones, but I love to see them every year.

Hay rakes and tedders don’t require much horsepower and those small machines need much less fuel than the large ones.

[Melanie32]

Car insurance has gotten too expensive here in Florida for us to keep extra vehicles anymore. We have two. My husband’s truck is huge and old. He bought it used with cash. I have a small new car that we got for a great deal. My hubby wanted to keep our old car instead of trading it in but insurance is just too high. 
 

My in laws always keep an extra truck around for my FIL to drive when he’s on bad, dirt roads to go fishing or hunting. 

[Ottakee]

1 hour ago, Melanie32 said:

Car insurance has gotten too expensive here in Florida for us to keep extra vehicles anymore. We have two. My husband’s truck is huge and old. He bought it used with cash. I have a small new car that we got for a great deal. My hubby wanted to keep our old car instead of trading it in but insurance is just too high. 
 

My in laws always keep an extra truck around for my FIL to drive when he’s on bad, dirt roads to go fishing or hunting. 

Car insurance in Michigan is high too….but for me, it only cost a very small amount…like $65/year to add another vehicle with the same number of drivers.   But I know not all places are like that.

I do worry a bit now about my van needing a repair and what I would do.  I work 20 miles from home and no coworkers live in my area.

Having an extra old car does allow you to drive older cars much longer as if one breaks down you have another one to use.

Now I have only my van and if it breaks down I might have to rent a car while it is being repaired if it is longer than a day.

That all means that once my current van (2018 Honda with 150,000) starts to be unreliable, I will get another newer vehicle.  Before when I had an extra vehicle I could take those risks.

[Ali in OR]

Not rural, but here's another reason we have 3 cars for just dh and I: one is a conversion van that fits our dd's wheelchair. When we got it she was in a state program that paid for the conversion part of the Honda Odyssey. Add that $20k to the cost of a new Honda Odyssey and you want to make that car last forever. Which means you only drive it when you need to take your wheelchair kid somewhere. It's 12 years old now and I think it still has less than 90k miles on it.

When we got that car we kept our old Honda Odyssey. We had 2 Honda Odysseys for 7 years until the transmission went on the 20-year old van. The two younger kids learned to drive in it and drove it to school. When it died we knew we wanted to buy another car to replace it and keep the miles off the conversion van. So I now drive a CRV (which can fit dd's wheelchair in a pinch).

[Brittany1116]

4 hours ago, Melanie32 said:

Car insurance has gotten too expensive here in Florida for us to keep extra vehicles anymore. We have two. My husband’s truck is huge and old. He bought it used with cash. I have a small new car that we got for a great deal. My hubby wanted to keep our old car instead of trading it in but insurance is just too high. 
 

My in laws always keep an extra truck around for my FIL to drive when he’s on bad, dirt roads to go fishing or hunting. 

I am also in FL. There are so many factors in cost. Our 2007 van is not the oldest, but hard to find a replacement for, large, and heavy. It costs more to insure it than 2 other vehicles together. 

Edited July 18 by Brittany1116

[SKL]

Now I'm curious about how insurance works in different states.  Why would it cost a lot to insure an old vehicle, unless you have comprehensive and collision on it?  Are C&C required in that state, and if so, what would be the logic of that?

If anyone knows, this is just out of curiosity.  I might be procrastinating at work ....

[Brittany1116]

3 minutes ago, SKL said:

Now I'm curious about how insurance works in different states.  Why would it cost a lot to insure an old vehicle, unless you have comprehensive and collision on it?  Are C&C required in that state, and if so, what would be the logic of that?

If anyone knows, this is just out of curiosity.  I might be procrastinating at work ....

It's not required here. The harder it is to find a replacement for or fix, the more it costs to insure. Size/weight also has a big impact. That's what they told me with our last rate increase. I called to work out some things since we were adding a vehicle and considering dropping this one anyhow.

Idk how many people replace a car for the same one after a loss. We did not; we got a 10 year newer version of a similarish vehicle from a different maker. But our neighbor had a total loss the same week and got the exact same car because he was impressed at how it held up in a rollover. 

 

[frogger]

Vehicles affect our insurance very little. Taking my 19 year old son off cut our bill in half. Taking my subaru off did little. 

In Alaska we are not required to have C&C. We are only required to cover other people's losses. 

Bigger vehicles can cause more damage and are more expensive to insure especially if you allow a young driver in them. Also, there are more safety features on newer cars.

Driving fewer miles is tracked by our insurance company via an app so they assume fewer miles=less likely to cause an accident. 

Edited July 18 by frogger

[fairfarmhand]

We have 2 policies for our family. Only the new truck has full coverage. All others are liability. The reason for 2 policies is that having our young drivers on a policy that includes the 2022 truck would cost a fortune. So the young drivers are on one policy and there are certain cars they can’t drive.

[kbutton]

12 hours ago, frogger said:

Yep. We have done this for years.

 

Finally bought a 2022 and guess which car spent a week in the shop last month getting recall work done?

We almost got rid of a reliable old car that rarely needs repairs but is expensive when it does (Volvo). Then we got a newer Impala (last year they made it). Oh, my word! It’s at least as expensive, and frustratingly, we had to buy it during the pandemic when used cars were $$$. It made us pony up and fix the climate control in the Volvo. I have a whole new respect for it, lol!!! 

9 minutes ago, fairfarmhand said:

We have 2 policies for our family. Only the new truck has full coverage. All others are liability. The reason for 2 policies is that having our young drivers on a policy that includes the 2022 truck would cost a fortune. So the young drivers are on one policy and there are certain cars they can’t drive.

I need to find out what it might save us to do something like this when we add a new driver soonish. 

[fairfarmhand]

Just now, kbutton said:

We almost got rid of a reliable old car that rarely needs repairs but is expensive when it does (Volvo). Then we got a newer Impala (last year they made it). Oh, my word! It’s at least as expensive, and frustratingly, we had to buy it during the pandemic when used cars were $$$. It made us pony up and fix the climate control in the Volvo. I have a whole new respect for it, lol!!! 

I need to find out what it might save us to do something like this when we add a new driver soonish. 

We have to sign exclusions for the vehicles that they can’t drive swearing they won’t use this cars. The hard part is if one of their vehicles needs repair they can’t use some of the others. So far not too big of a deal since my ds just got his license and won’t be working after august.

[Faith-manor]

We have 2 cars, and a mini van. Technically, we deeded the minivan to my mom when she could not afford a vehicle of her own, but we still use it for camping, and for towing our boat, and we pay for A LOT of the maintenance.

What we also own now (purchased over the 4th of Juky weekend) is an adorable, red and white, 1954 Ford 8N tractor with blade. We got an excellent deal on it, unbelievably good deal. Mark and I always have the back breaking labor of snow blowing and shoveling not only our drive, but my mom's, and his mother's. It is really wearing on us. It is $60 per plow to hire it, and few people providing plowing service, so it isn't even readily available in any kind of timely manner. Mark, in particular is just getting worn out. Now we can plow all three driveways in a matter of minutes saving our backs from injury. At $180 worth of plowing per snow event, it will pay for itself in 1 season. (We paid $2600.) It came with some other implements as well, so Mark is going to disc a section of the yard for me to have sweet corn and sunflowers next year. When we get our property up north, we will use it for cutting and moving logs. It comes with none of the costs of expensive pick up truck insurance, licensing and registration.

This is pretty common around here.

Michigan has the highest insurance rates in the nation. No Fault is the dumbest insurance ever. As a result, people pay through the nose. Car insurance on an OLD vehicle costing $400-600 a month in areas of heavy traffic is normal. Registration and plates is not a flat rate either. The fee is based on a percentage of what your vehicle is worth according to the state which is nearly always more than the Kelly Blue Book value of you were to try to sell the vehicle. $250 per renewal per vehicle is not uncommon.

 

[frogger]

2 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

Michigan has the highest insurance rates in the nation. No Fault is the dumbest insurance ever.

I had to look this up as I had never heard of it. That is crazy. Dumbest idea ever. 

[kbutton]

3 hours ago, Faith-manor said:

What we also own now (purchased over the 4th of Juky weekend) is an adorable, red and white, 1954 Ford 8N tractor with blade. We got an excellent deal on it, unbelievably good deal.

Oh, that’s fun! 

[City Mouse]

8 hours ago, SKL said:

Now I'm curious about how insurance works in different states.  Why would it cost a lot to insure an old vehicle, unless you have comprehensive and collision on it?  Are C&C required in that state, and if so, what would be the logic of that?

If anyone knows, this is just out of curiosity.  I might be procrastinating at work ....

Insurance where I live now is way cheaper than our insurance was in Houston years ago, and that is with 1 teen boy included. We have had 3 different vehicles “totaled” by that boy, but the value of the vehicles was quite low. My DH even called our insurance company after the most recent accident (hitting a deer) to inquire, and he was told that the company looks at total pay outs rather than number of incidents. 
 

[Laura Corin]

Do the different states have roadworthiness checks on vehicles? Here it's every year by law once a vehicle is three years old. It's often hard and expensive to keep older vehicles on the road.

[SKL]

46 minutes ago, Laura Corin said:

Do the different states have roadworthiness checks on vehicles? Here it's every year by law once a vehicle is three years old. It's often hard and expensive to keep older vehicles on the road.

My state has 88 counties, but only 7 of them require "e-checks."  These are the counties with more concentrated populations.  The rural counties don't have these requirements.

I don't know about other states, but it is likely that most have similar logic.

I am not aware of general road-worthiness checks, other than, cops can pull you over if they see something dangling or a light out etc.  We are of course liable if our car is unsafe and an accident happens.

[Kassia]

30 minutes ago, SKL said:

My state has 88 counties, but only 7 of them require "e-checks."  These are the counties with more concentrated populations.  The rural counties don't have these requirements.

 

I think we're in the same state and I live in a rural county and we have to do the stupid e-checks.  My son, who lives in Columbus, does not have the requirement. 

ETA - I guess it's because of our proximity to Cleveland?  We're almost an hour away, though, and closer to PA than Cleveland.

 

Edited July 19 by Kassia

[SKL]

18 minutes ago, Kassia said:

I think we're in the same state and I live in a rural county and we have to do the stupid e-checks.  My son, who lives in Columbus, does not have the requirement. 

ETA - I guess it's because of our proximity to Cleveland?  We're almost an hour away, though, and closer to PA than Cleveland.

 

The counties that have to do it, per google, are Cuyahoga, Geauga, Lake, Lorain, Medina, Portage and Summit.  Which is interesting, because it does not include some of our biggest cities, while including some with relatively sparse populations.  Not sure why.

Edited July 19 by SKL

[Laura Corin]

2 hours ago, SKL said:

 

I am not aware of general road-worthiness checks, other than, cops can pull you over if they see something dangling or a light out etc.  We are of course liable if our car is unsafe and an accident happens.

These are the UK rules. Garages often offer the checks for free but then charge for the fixes.  Fwiw our 6yo car is doing fine on the tests. 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/mot-inspection-manual-for-private-passenger-and-light-commercial-vehicles

Edited July 19 by Laura Corin

[Pawz4me]

3 hours ago, Laura Corin said:

Do the different states have roadworthiness checks on vehicles? Here it's every year by law once a vehicle is three years old. It's often hard and expensive to keep older vehicles on the road.

In North Carolina all vehicles have to pass an annual inspection.