Auto Insurance

[bowtieguy]

what level of coverage do you guys and gals have? i'm looking to cut costs so...

i presently have as follows:
bodily injury...$25k/50k
property damage...$50k
uninsured $50k

i could save $200/year on 2 vehicles by editing my coverage to 10k/20k, $10k, $10k respectively. thoughts?

[theholycow]

Do you own your home? Check to see if your homeowner's insurance has requirements for how much auto insurance to carry.

Also check your state law. I think the usual state laws requiring insurance require 25/50k coverage.

In my opinion it would be irresponsible to cut your liability coverage too much. What about getting rid of uninsured motorist? In RI you can, you just have to sign a waiver.

[GasSavers_Erik]

I carry the maximum ($100K/$300K) just because everyone can make a mistake while driving (even me). I'd hate to cause an accident with injury and know that the other person would be left with big medical bills after my insurance money was exhausted.

The uninsured/underinsured coverage would be OK to get rid of IF you have excellent health insurance- otherwise, you could be bankrupted after a hit and run sends you to the hospital for a week with a serious injury.

It is my understanding that the uninsured/underinsured coverage can be stacked together if you own several vehicles with that coverage.

[FrugalFloyd]

What HC said. Don't go cheap on insurance. If you own a home, you should at least double your state minimum coverage. If you're at fault in a serious injury or death case, your liability could easily cost you your home.

I got into a minor dent accident. Thought nothing of it. Then my insurance company told me I was being sued for $100,000 because the other driver had a brain tumor that was supposedly aggravated by the accident. My insurance company came up with medical records showing the tumor was pre-existing, and a type that isn't worsened by impacts. They still settled for over $10,000, figuring that was safer than going to trial.

[GasSavers_GasUser]

Yeah,I wouldn't cut your Liability limits. What you could think about is to get single limits instead of the antiquated split limits you are referring to. You would need to talk to an Agent in your State to see what is available and the cost.You could get quotes from your Ins. Agent for different limits.


If your car is paid off and no bank involved, you could drop both comp and coll but you would have to think real hard on that because you would have to be able to replace the car if something happened so this is not a good option unless you just have a real beater. If you have a car worth anything as you do then this is not a good idea.

Dave

[vxdude]

i say your best bet is to shop around at different companies

[Ford Man]

I'm carrying 50/100/300 liability coverage. Even at that I've considered raising it. With the cost of cars/trucks now some pretty common cars when new are near the 50K in property damage I have (God forbid if I was involved in an at fault accident that totalled a new 18 wheeler) and 100K for an individual or 300K per accident could easily be eat up by medical cost coverage in a matter of days.

As for the uninsured/underinsured coverage this is protection for you and is pretty low cost. I think it cost me about $7. per car per six month billing cycle. My son was recently involved in an accident in one of my cars, even though liability insurance is a state requirement in KY the person he was involved with didn't have liability insurance. There was nearly $3K damage to my car and thought I was going to have to use my uninsured coverage which has a $100. deductable, but still much better than being out $3K. As it worked out I got the other driver charged with failure to maintain liability insurance as required by law and the judge ordered them to pay restitution through the court plus the fine for no insurance is $500-$1K on the first offence and $1K-$2500 and 1 year suspension of your drivers license for a second offence. I'm having to receive the damages in payments through the court instead of getting all the money up front so I can get my car repaired, but they have to appear in court every month and show the judge a receipt where they have made a payment until the damages are paid in full. My personal opinion is that the small amount of increase in premiums for higher coverage limits is far better than possibly facing a law suit and losing my home and everything I've accumulated through hard work, because my insurance limits have been exhausted. The difference in the cost of what's required by law and the coverage I have is probably less than $25. every six months per car. I'm not even sure what is required by law now, but I think it's 25/50/100 in KY.

Shopping around is an option, but I've found if you've been with a company for several years and have a good driving record you usually won't beat the price you are getting by changing to a new company. I've priced insurance several times with different companies over the years and I suspect it's because I would be new customer and have to prove myself to them, but I've never found I could save money by changing companies even after getting quotes from companies that claim they can save the average driver money that's insured with the company I'm with.

I think there are probably areas in almost everyones lifestyle that could save them as much money as cutting insurance coverage and keep them from putting everything they own at risk.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by Erik

I carry the maximum ($100K/$300K) just because everyone can make a mistake while driving (even me).

When I lived with my parents I was required by their umbrella policy to be insured for 250/500k. Can you imagine, a 17 year old male with 250/500, I was paying more for insurance than most people paid for a brand new car (and not a low-cost model either!). I'm glad I had a good job.

It is my understanding that the uninsured/underinsured coverage can be stacked together if you own several vehicles with that coverage.

What do you mean by "stacked together"? My uninsured/underinsured coverage is per policy, not per vehicle, if that's what you mean. All my vehicles are in one policy.

Originally Posted by GasUser

Yeah,I wouldn't cut your Liability limits. What you could think about is to get single limits instead of the antiquated split limits you are referring to.

What does that mean?

If your car is paid off and no bank involved, you could drop both comp and coll but you would have to think real hard on that because you would have to be able to replace the car

I don't think he has comp/collision now.

BTW I have a $2000 deductible on my collision, it's just so that if I totally wreck a vehicle at my own fault (won't happen) I can still buy a beater. OTOH I have $0 deductible on comp so I can get windshields...

Originally Posted by Ford Man

Shopping around is an option, but I've found if you've been with a company for several years and have a good driving record you usually won't beat the price you are getting by changing to a new company. I've priced insurance several times with different companies over the years and I suspect it's because I would be new customer and have to prove myself to them, but I've never found I could save money by changing companies even after getting quotes from companies that claim they can save the average driver money that's insured with the company I'm with.

I used to hang around for years waiting to see if my rates would go down for being a loyal customer but they never did. Maybe 3-5 years isn't long enough, but if I can save $150/month right now why should I pay it for 3-5 years, just for a vaporware hope of saving the same money later?

I gave up and now go with the lowest bidder, checking once a year. I never have to make claims...since 1997 I've had claims when I was rear-ended, had a not-at-fault accident where I managed to avoid destroying a minivan but bumped a Saturn, and had one windshield claim. I used to get lots of speeding tickets but not anymore.

[GasSavers_Erik]

Originally Posted by theholycow

What do you mean by "stacked together"? My uninsured/underinsured coverage is per policy, not per vehicle, if that's what you mean. All my vehicles are in one policy.

In some states, each vehicle has a separate policy (especially motorcycles and cars). If you are hit while driving one vehicle and are seriously injured, and the person who was at fault had insufficient coverage, after their coverage is exhausted, then the underinsured coverage from policy of the vehicle you were driving kicks in. Once that is exhausted, then any other vehicles you own with separate policies will have their underinsured coverage kick in.

Even if you are a good driver and make no mistakes, you can still technically end up at fault in an accident. For example, if someone rear ends you hard at a stop light and that causes your car to roll forward and rear end the car in front of you, you are considered responsible for the damage to the vehicle in front of you (this happened to a friend of mine). I assume the same rules hold true for any other chain reaction type accident.

[theholycow]

I'd be interested in a discussion of situations like that. I always leave lots of space in front of me while stopped in a line of traffic for that reason (also gives me clearance for an escape route) and I probably have a few other habits for avoiding fault in other people's crashes, but I'd certainly like to develop more.