Car Insurance

tonycondon

tonycondon

Gastons CRO (Chief Dinner Reservation Officer)
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Tony
At what point do you decline comprehensive and collision coverage on your car?
 
When the car is worth less than the deductible on collision and comprehensive?

The "comprehensive" part of coverage can be useful even if the car is begging for the junkyard, as it may cover theft of contents, and usually covers glass damage when that rock flies out of the truck ahead of you.
 
When the cost of the insurance is greater than your estimation of the likely value it brings.

If your car has a replacement value of, at most, a couple of grand, you likely are better-off self-insuring for the risk. This is especially true if you are a careful driver, and are most likely to have an accident, if at all, that is the result of the "other guy."

I'd bet you're a safe driver, Tones.
 
SCCutler said:
When the cost of the insurance is greater than your estimation of the likely value it brings.

If your car has a replacement value of, at most, a couple of grand, you likely are better-off self-insuring for the risk. This is especially true if you are a careful driver, and are most likely to have an accident, if at all, that is the result of the "other guy."

I'd bet you're a safe driver, Tones.
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thats the situation im in, my car has 130K miles on it and is probably worth 2500, best case. I can save 330 bucks a year by getting rid of the comprehensive and collision. thats 50% of the premium. the deductible for each is 250, so just to break even id have to nearly total the car. every year.

im accident free since I was 17, with one well deserved speeding ticket in 2007.
 
Sounds like my truck. 240,000 miles. 2wd. MAYBE worth $1000 in scrap. When I went in to get insurance on the Jeep last year, I asked to check the 'savings' of dropping comprehensive on the truck. She said "Oh heck yeah. Comprehensive is a waste for that." Funny that she seems to have time to dig through my coverage and find areas where i need to 'upgrade', but seems to overlook the 'downgrade' possibilities until I ask about them. ;)
 
If you don't carry a bunch of expensive personal gear in your car that you'd like covered in the event of collision or theft, then dropping it makes sense. Just remember that the value of the car alone isn't the value you're buying insurance for, it's the value of the car and insured contents.
 
It's probably worth dropping at this point.

I keep comprehensive/collision on my cars, but that's because I drive in New York City (which has gotten my vehicles vandalized on more than one occasion) and both of the cars would likely cost me a decent sum of money to replace. Your car's worth less and isn't in show condition. Plus you don't live near New York City (which is where my vehicles get vandalized). For the record, it costs me about the same as it costs you to have my collision/comprehensive insurance. So, to me it's worth it.

You're probably just fine to drop it. If the car gets totaled or otherwise damaged, you'll probably just want to replace it at this point with something else.
 
tonycondon said:
thats the situation im in, my car has 130K miles on it and is probably worth 2500, best case. I can save 330 bucks a year by getting rid of the comprehensive and collision. thats 50% of the premium. the deductible for each is 250, so just to break even id have to nearly total the car. every year.

im accident free since I was 17, with one well deserved speeding ticket in 2007.
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Sounds like a candidate for dropping the comp and collision. Take a look at uninsured and underinsured coverage if you don't already have that supplementing your liability. It's really cheap, and I'd bet that there are more people driving around without insurance these days...


Trapper John
 
I looked into dropping collision on my 1996 truck... Turns out collision is only $25 of my six month policy. It's mostly liability! Not worth it to drop in this case.
 
TMetzinger said:
When the car is worth less than the deductible on collision and comprehensive?

The "comprehensive" part of coverage can be useful even if the car is begging for the junkyard, as it may cover theft of contents, and usually covers glass damage when that rock flies out of the truck ahead of you.
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Only if the cost of the windshield is more than the deductable.

For a 20-somthing like Tony he'll be paying enough.

Tony, I have liability only + umbrella on my old cars.
 
tonycondon said:
At what point do you decline comprehensive and collision coverage on your car?
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I have a couple of cars left over from my parent's residences, one in Florida and one in Michigan. Both are 1992 Mercury Sables (with around 40,000 miles!) and I quit carrying anything but liability one either since the combination of risk and value is so low I'm already ahead by self insuring for 3 years.
 
Trapper John said:
Take a look at uninsured and underinsured coverage if you don't already have that supplementing your liability. It's really cheap, and I'd bet that there are more people driving around without insurance these days...
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Agreed. I heard a horrible story while listening to Handel on the Law driving back from the airport one weekend. A lady called in and said her 22-year old son was hit by a repeat offender drunk driver and ended up with $1 Million in surgery and hospital stay bills. Musta been bad. Drunk had minimum state mandated $25,000 liability coverage to split between all the people he hit that night. She asks should she sue the drunk, but he didn't have a nickel to his name anyway.

Now the kid must not have been on a medical policy to be facing a huge bill like that, but Handel said the way to protect against this was to crank up your uninsured and underinsured coverage to the max.

I called my agent the following Monday. Even though I actually dropped comprehensive on that call (as my car is 20 years old), I got a lower quote on much larger liability coverage.
 
$0 deductible comprehensive is not an insurance payment, it is an investment that pays off. I forget how many windshields I've gone through on my Jeep. Damn thing is a rock magnet. I'm surprised State Farm continues to allow me to have that coverage. And I've got more battle scars that are eventually going to result in yet another windshield on that thing.

Collision? $250 deductible there. So far I haven't had to shell out any of that. Other people's insurance companies have, however.
 
Ghery said:
$0 deductible comprehensive is not an insurance payment, it is an investment that pays off. I forget how many windshields I've gone through on my Jeep. Damn thing is a rock magnet. I'm surprised State Farm continues to allow me to have that coverage. And I've got more battle scars that are eventually going to result in yet another windshield on that thing.
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Is it a Wrangler? If so, it might not be rocks causing the cracks (of course, if you SEE the rock hit it.....). I have read where TJ's in particular are bad about cracking due to uneven heating from the defroster. The heat in these things works amazingly, but the air isn't spread out very well coming out of the defrost vents. This leads to uneven heating of the glass and, with expansion joints being too small, causes the windshield to stress and eventually crack.
 
CJones said:
Is it a Wrangler? If so, it might not be rocks causing the cracks (of course, if you SEE the rock hit it.....). I have read where TJ's in particular are bad about cracking due to uneven heating from the defroster. The heat in these things works amazingly, but the air isn't spread out very well coming out of the defrost vents. This leads to uneven heating of the glass and, with expansion joints being too small, causes the windshield to stress and eventually crack.
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Isn't this a feature in a Jeep?

I always wanted one -- got one -- three years later, I sold it for what I paid for it -- another guy wearing rose-colored glasses....

I have never, ever regretted selling it.
 
dmccormack said:
Isn't this a feature in a Jeep?

I always wanted one -- got one -- three years later, I sold it for what I paid for it -- another guy wearing rose-colored glasses....

I have never, ever regretted selling it.
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Sorry to hear that. I love mine! I had wanted one since I was in high school and was finally able to pay cash for one summer before last. :D There are some 'bad' Jeeps out there, though. A guy that joined our local Jeep club a few months after me ended up replacing his water pump, radiator, and recently he lost reverse in his tranny. It is for sale right now.

In fact, I'll be putting a LockRight locker in the D30 up front and possibly a 4" lift (if a crucial part arrives in time) this weekend. I'll also be swapping out the transfer case in the 1990 Grand Wagoneer that my in-laws bought last weekend. Jeeps are definitely a love-hate relationship. :)

Here's the reason for the locker:
main.php



I just needed weight on the front axle... so.......
jeep050.jpg


It didn't work, by the way.. Ended up using another Jeep to replace the people to get me out. :(
 
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CJones said:
Is it a Wrangler? If so, it might not be rocks causing the cracks (of course, if you SEE the rock hit it.....). I have read where TJ's in particular are bad about cracking due to uneven heating from the defroster. The heat in these things works amazingly, but the air isn't spread out very well coming out of the defrost vents. This leads to uneven heating of the glass and, with expansion joints being too small, causes the windshield to stress and eventually crack.
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1999 TJ (Wrangler). You nailed that one. Sometimes there's a crack (got one now, but it's low and centered behind "stuff" on the dash), but usually it's the "round" impact craters from flying rocks on the interstate. And it's the impact craters in the area swept by the wipers that get the insurance company to write checks most often for me. In the same time period we've replaced zero windshields on my wife's 1997 Grand Cherokee and its sucessor, a 2006 Commander. I've never had a vehicle go through so many windshields.
 
Ghery said:
1999 TJ (Wrangler). You nailed that one. Sometimes there's a crack (got one now, but it's low and centered behind "stuff" on the dash), but usually it's the "round" impact craters from flying rocks on the interstate. And it's the impact craters in the area swept by the wipers that get the insurance company to write checks most often for me. In the same time period we've replaced zero windshields on my wife's 1997 Grand Cherokee and its sucessor, a 2006 Commander. I've never had a vehicle go through so many windshields.
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Ahhh... Sounds like a little of both worlds.

I have an 'crater-less' crack in the pax side of my 03 TJ right now. I'm putting off replacing it until I won't be using defrost for a while. :)
 
CJones said:
Jeeps are definitely a love-hate relationship. :)
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No doubt.

I had a quarter-ton assigned to me a few times as a new LT. It's different when you're not paying for maintenance and there is always a winch a radio call away.

HMVWW is too wide for rocky, serious woods work (though its climbing ability is awesome).

I kinda got spoiled by the off road capabilities of the M1A1 tank ....
 
dmccormack said:
I kinda got spoiled by the off road capabilities of the M1A1 tank ....
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LOL. I was talking to my brother-in-law who is stationed in Iraq right now. I was talking about Jeep stuff with him and he said "When I get back, I'm gonna trick out a Striker and go riding with you guys." I said "You win."
 
Ghery said:
$0 deductible comprehensive is not an insurance payment, it is an investment that pays off. I forget how many windshields I've gone through on my Jeep. Damn thing is a rock magnet. I'm surprised State Farm continues to allow me to have that coverage. And I've got more battle scars that are eventually going to result in yet another windshield on that thing.
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Florida requires insurers to cover windshields. I've had several replaced for free over the years. And on one occasion, we'd moved to Tennessee, same insurance company and same policy, and it was not covered.
 
I deal with this stuff daily. As noted above, do not skimp on the Uninsured/Underinsured coverages. They will protect you if the schmo that hits you is uninsured or doesn't have enough insurance to cover your damages.

Also, go for high limits on the "medical payments" (or "Personal Injury Protection" in some states). That will help take care of the medical bills for you and your passengers (and may also cover you if you're in someone else's vehicle) during the weeks or months (sometimes years) that the liability and/or UIM claims are being sorted out. You might have to pay back the med pay or PIP when you recover damages from the responsible party, but at least your bills will have been paid in the meantime. Even if you have group health insurance at work, the med pay or PIP on your auto policy often provides better coverage for injuries from an auto accident. Group health insurers are getting very aggressive about demanding full reimbursement to them after a settlement, even if it leaves you with nothing. Basically they force you to do the dirty work for them, for nothing.

The UM/UIM and med pay/PIP coverages are cheap considering how valuable they can be when you need them.

Collision/comprehensive coverage is different; the risk you're taking by dropping it is no greater than the value of your car.
 
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dmccormack said:
HMVWW is too wide for rocky, serious woods work (though its climbing ability is awesome).
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According to Tom Clancy, if there's a place you can't get to with a HMMWV, you didn't want it anyway.

I can't imagine a CJ/TJ as a daily driver in the frozen North, though. Yow.
 
dmccormack said:
Yeah... Tom Clancy's spent LOTS of time in the field...

(not)
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Actually, he was quoting someone in the military in one of his factual books, I think on the armored cavalry. I just went looking and couldn't find my copy, unfortunately.
 
jmaynard said:
Actually, he was quoting someone in the military in one of his factual books, I think on the armored cavalry. I just went looking and couldn't find my copy, unfortunately.
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That book came out when I was a platoon Leader in an Armored Cav unit.

I was only able to read the first couple of chapters before I put it down for good.

TC spins a great yarn, but he's a bit too gullible.
 
dmccormack said:
TC spins a great yarn, but he's a bit too gullible.
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And whenever I watch a lot of fiction movies or read fiction books I would feel similarly from being an engineer. Example quote (a line from the movie "Wanted", where Morgan Freeman is explaining that you can, in fact, make bullets go around a cow or Angelina Jolie to hit a target straight behind her/it):

"If nobody told you bullets went in a straight line, why would you think they did?"

My response: "The laws of physics!"

It was still a fun movie, so I took it for what it was, and enjoyed it. It would be hard to enjoy most movies if I nit-picked at everything that was blatantly wrong, so I just ignore them and take the them for what they are: fiction. :)
 
Ah, the "laws" of physics are just theories that have proven remarkably consistent over time. They're invented by the human mind. Useful stuff, no argument, but they just show you which outcome is most probable.

Mathematics and science describe and predict. They never prove. Like "money", they're a shared myth that is useful.:yinyang:
 
TMetzinger said:
Ah, the "laws" of physics are just theories that have proven remarkably consistent over time. They're invented by the human mind. Useful stuff, no argument, but they just show you which outcome is most probable.

Mathematics and science describe and predict. They never prove. Like "money", they're a shared myth that is useful.:yinyang:
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It is far too early to be this philosophical. ;)
 
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