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Lower insurance for garaged car during winter?

RearAdmiral

RearAdmiral

Platinum Member
So now that the Viper is about put away for the winter, I thought about lowering my insurance costs for it while it just sits there. Does anyone else do this? If I raise my collision deductible and lower my coverage limits I could save roughly 50% off the monthly premium. I don't anticipate running over many children / mailboxes in the winter.

At least until I put the snow chains on it. jk.

I might want to keep my comprehensive deductible low in case of robbery and the like. Anything I am missing from doing this?
 
You have a very good relationship with your car insurance agent if you can pull that off. If you are successful try to ask what Chris Rock stated once about insurance.... 'Insurance is money set aside for just in case sht happens, With all the money we pay for insurance when it's over shouldn't we get that money back?'
 
I do this every Winter when we head south. One car remains up north in our garage.

I wouldn't be surprised to find that some insurance companies won't do it, but that may mean it's time to start shopping around. You only need to have insurance that satisfies the laws in your state and your lender if any. Anything beyond that is your choice.
 
razel said:
You have a very good relationship with your car insurance agent if you can pull that off. If you are successful try to ask what Chris Rock stated once about insurance.... 'Insurance is money set aside for just in case sht happens, With all the money we pay for insurance when it's over shouldn't we get that money back?'
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It seems trivial to do. I hit a few buttons on the car insurance site to change my coverage. Then I change it back when I'm ready to take the car back out.
 
In canada I insure my car for 7 months of road usage. The I put 5 months of storage insurance on it. Costs $11 a month for $1000 deductable, fire theft and comprehensive.
 
just call your agent, drop collision and liability. keep comp. basically just tell them it isn't being driven and to drop your coverage accordingly.

don't mess with your deductibles and whatever other nonsense you posted. my "storage" coverage drops my premium by ~80%. like squeetard stated, it costs around 10/month over the winters months, though my deductible remains at $500 just like any other time of the year
 
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boomerang said:
I do this every Winter when we head south. One car remains up north in our garage.

I wouldn't be surprised to find that some insurance companies won't do it, but that may mean it's time to start shopping around. You only need to have insurance that satisfies the laws in your state and your lender if any. Anything beyond that is your choice.
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if he has a lien on the car it can be more troublesome if the lender finds out. you may just have to sign a document saying it is not being driven (removed from use)
 
RearAdmiral said:
It seems trivial to do. I hit a few buttons on the car insurance site to change my coverage. Then I change it back when I'm ready to take the car back out.
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Sounds like you have USAA. I have been doing the same thing on my Vette for years now.
 
Zivic said:
just call your agent, drop collision and liability. keep comp. basically just tell them it isn't being driven and to drop your coverage accordingly.

don't mess with your deductibles and whatever other nonsense you posted. my "storage" coverage drops my premium by ~80%. like squeetard stated, it costs around 10/month over the winters months, though my deductible remains at $500 just like any other time of the year
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I'll have to give this a shot. Thanks.

Vetterin said:
Sounds like you have USAA. I have been doing the same thing on my Vette for years now.
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I have nationwide.
 
Zivic said:
if he has a lien on the car it can be more troublesome if the lender finds out. you may just have to sign a document saying it is not being driven (removed from use)
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My cars are leased. The savings for me is not that great because I can only remove the coverage that pertains to it being driven. Still, it's a savings. Every dollar I can take out of their hands makes me smile.
 
boomerang said:
My cars are leased. The savings for me is not that great because I can only remove the coverage that pertains to it being driven. Still, it's a savings. Every dollar I can take out of their hands makes me smile.
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I still save around 50% if I can just reduce my coverages so that'll be great!

jaha2000 said:
If your making payments your lender will not be cool with this FYI..
I do this with out Trans Am every year.
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I'm asking my lender right now. At this point I'll assume I can just reduce coverage. I will check and see whatever is okay with them.
 
In Germany, if the car has a seasonal reg, you automatically only pay insurance for the months the car is actually on the road - and no fancy calculations either, just a simple division.
 
jaha2000 said:
If your making payments your lender will not be cool with this FYI..
I do this with out Trans Am every year.
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if you don't drive the car, you don't need collision coverage. you keep comp on it so if the building falls down on it, it floods, car burns up, gets stolen it's still covered. the lender should be fine with it as long as they know it's not being driven - might require a document signed that states it is being pulled from use.

I did it for two seasons with a note still being paid on my car. it was never an issue. I know of a close friend that each year it was an issue as he got a letter from his lender when he dropped collision coverage. nothing he couldn't sort out with a phone call
 
boomerang said:
My cars are leased. The savings for me is not that great because I can only remove the coverage that pertains to it being driven. Still, it's a savings. Every dollar I can take out of their hands makes me smile.
Click to expand...

if you drop down to comp, it should wipe out 70%+ of your insurance cost. if you are leasing, why store it? that's the whole point of a lease
 
Zivic said:
if you drop down to comp, it should wipe out 70%+ of your insurance cost. if you are leasing, why store it? that's the whole point of a lease
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I can see why my comment might raise the question you posed. Dropping coverage for four months of the year does not yield a lot of savings. Plus comprehensive coverage is not the same as collision coverage.

Why store a lease? Why drive two cars 1500 miles to Florida when we can get by with one car for four months would be the answer.

The point of a lease is not to store it? I guess I'd need an explanation for that.
 
Buddy has a F430 insured with State Farm. In the winter he switches it to some storage rider. Just have to switch it back as soon as it moves.
 
RearAdmiral said:
So now that the Viper is about put away for the winter, I thought about lowering my insurance costs for it while it just sits there. Does anyone else do this? If I raise my collision deductible and lower my coverage limits I could save roughly 50% off the monthly premium. I don't anticipate running over many children / mailboxes in the winter.

At least until I put the snow chains on it. jk.

I might want to keep my comprehensive deductible low in case of robbery and the like. Anything I am missing from doing this?
Click to expand...

The smart thing to do is have no collision coverage, do mileage reporting and just go with $0 comprehensive deductible. You can change this stuff when you know you'll start driving the vehicle again. Anybody who drives less than 500 miles a year should only be paying like $100 or so every 6 months especially if there is no collision coverage. Comprehensive coverage is pretty cheap unless you're in a shit area.
 
I drop my Camaro to comp only during the winter while it remains parked. No sense in paying for liability and collision when neither can happen to it with it just sitting there. Comp will handle any of the worst case scenarios that could happen.

I own the car however so I can do that. Not sure if you could do that with a lease or if you had a loan.
 
tortillasoup said:
The smart thing to do is have no collision coverage, do mileage reporting and just go with $0 comprehensive deductible. You can change this stuff when you know you'll start driving the vehicle again. Anybody who drives less than 500 miles a year should only be paying like $100 or so every 6 months especially if there is no collision coverage. Comprehensive coverage is pretty cheap unless you're in a shit area.
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I'm not sure if Nationwide can go with the suggestions here or not. I need to get in touch with them to see if they do things such as the mentioned mileage reporting or storage riders and such.
 
SparkyJJO said:
I drop my Camaro to comp only during the winter while it remains parked. No sense in paying for liability and collision when neither can happen to it with it just sitting there. Comp will handle any of the worst case scenarios that could happen.

I own the car however so I can do that. Not sure if you could do that with a lease or if you had a loan.
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Do some states not require liability? Since I am in PA I might have to turn in plates or something silly if I drop liability.
 
My 7 has been in a comp policy solidly for the last five years. From time to time I put liability on as it also covers rentals when I'm in town. And it's stupidly cheap.
 
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