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when should you drop collision/comprehensive/theft coverage on your car ins policy?

B

BlahBlahYouToo

Lifer
my car is probably worth $12k and i pay about $1k a year for insurance (comp, collision, liability).
my neighborhood is safe and i'm a pretty good defensive driver.
 
Whenever you do not want to pay for it. If you were to get into an accident today, could you get up, do what you need to do to the car and be on your way without financial burden (that means get rid of it or fix it)? If no, are you willing to take the risk?
 
Gibson486 said:
Whenever you do not want to pay for it. If you were to get into an accident today, could you get up, do what you need to do to the car and be on your way without financial burden (that means get rid of it or fix it)? If no, are you willing to take the risk?
Click to expand...

that's the tough question.
if it were to get stolen today, i could replace it no problem but who wants to take a hit like that, even if you could afford it?
maybe i should raise my deductibles?

if i drop comp/collision and i get into an accident where it's the other party's fault, will my insurance get involved (e.g. helping me chase the other ins co to pay up), or is it all up to me at that point?
 
You also have to remember that if you are involved in an accident, and you did absolutely nothing wrong... Way too often, you won't be absolved of all fault.
 
BlahBlahYouToo said:
that's the tough question.
if it were to get stolen today, i could replace it no problem but who wants to take a hit like that, even if you could afford it?
maybe i should raise my deductibles?

if i drop comp/collision and i get into an accident where it's the other party's fault, will my insurance get involved (e.g. helping me chase the other ins co to pay up), or is it all up to me at that point?
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Your insurance will only cover for services you pay for. That means if you get into an accident and it's not your fault, but you do not have collision, you are SOL. It will be up to you to do the talking.
 
Gibson486 said:
Your insurance will only cover for services you pay for. That means if you get into an accident and it's not your fault, but you do not have collision, you are SOL. It will be up to you to do the talking.
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What? If you get in an accident that is not your fault, and don't have collision it doesn't matter. The other person's insurance pays for the damage to your car
 
MrMatt said:
What? If you get in an accident that is not your fault, and don't have collision it doesn't matter. The other person's insurance pays for the damage to your car
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But your insurance company will not talk to the other. You have to talk to them and make sure they do not pull stunts like you are 10% at fault.
 
Gibson486 said:
But your insurance company will not talk to the other. You have to talk to them and make sure they do not pull stunts like you are 10% at fault.
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This I think would be the risk: Dealing with another insurance company is a pain in the ass. Plus they're not there to find 'the truth' just to do what saves them money and if screwing you is part of that process I don't think they'll care.

A lot of times it seems that unless it's SUPER clear cut with witnesses and there's no possible way you did anything wrong - there's a significant chance you will be found partially at fault (even if you're not at all). And during this time I think you'd be doing all the talking with the other company.


To be honest: I don't know when it would be worth it. I imagine if your car value tanked significantly. Mine is worth 5k KBB but I don't want to have to replace it out of pocket/Deal with other parties in the event of an accident so I keep it in place for now.
 
sure you can, but think about it... your car is your life, you drive it to work every day... its not only our neighborhood, its your work, Gregory store, gas station... can be stolen anywhere, and then you are a safe driver but not all drivers around you are safe, there is an accident in US every XX second, and most of them are not the driver's fault. Can you afford to loose $12,000 in this economy?? who will it effect you? you life? your family? your vacation plan? $500 is a small price to pay for your peace of mind.

/Insurance_fear_mongering
 
Gibson486 said:
But your insurance company will not talk to the other. You have to talk to them and make sure they do not pull stunts like you are 10% at fault.
Click to expand...

I dunno, maybe it's just me, but it's always been incredibly easy dealing with them. I've honestly been in about 11 small accidents in the 13 years I've been driving, and I've only been at fault even 50% in one of them. Granted it's mostly been me stopped at a red light, getting rear-ended by someone, but still. Every time I've called my insurance company they've asked if I want them to deal with the other person's insurance company, or would I like to do it myself. I usually do it myself, and the other company has always been pleasant.
 
Don't forget there are stupid states like Michigan that are no fault states. This means if you get into an accident in that state, your insurance covers you, their insurance covers them.

Even if you were 100% not at fault. A guy I know was sitting at a red light. A driver rear ended him, broke his legs and totaled his car. Because he was in Michigan his insurance had to cover his total costs, and the idiot who hit him didn't have to do a thing.
 
DesiPower said:
sure you can, but think about it... your car is your life, you drive it to work every day... its not only our neighborhood, its your work, Gregory store, gas station... can be stolen anywhere, and then you are a safe driver but not all drivers around you are safe, there is an accident in US every XX second, and most of them are not the driver's fault. Can you afford to loose $12,000 in this economy?? who will it effect you? you life? your family? your vacation plan? $500 is a small price to pay for your peace of mind.

/Insurance_fear_mongering
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if you're driving a pos beater the car is probably worth 3-5k with a 1k deductible.

//edit failure to read

if your car is worth 12k I wouldn't drop it. Mine's worth 3 (MAYBE) so the reasoning above made sense.
 
I have kept my old work truck, worth maybe 2k, for hauling stuff from time to time, less than 2000 miles a year, so yeah, we've dropped that coverage on it. But for the rest of our cars no way, not even on the wife's old Corolla. A mere dent can cost you hundreds!! You may think you are a good driver, and you live in a safe neighborhood but stuff happens. Example; my neighbor backed into my parked truck years ago, she paid me for the damage, but I never bothered getting it fixed, for when I'm hauling a load of manure, I have no shame. As for you OP, I would advise you keep the coverage, even if you had other cars or could easily write off a 12k loss.
Just my 2 sense, RUNZ
 
sourceninja said:
Don't forget there are stupid states like Michigan that are no fault states. This means if you get into an accident in that state, your insurance covers you, their insurance covers them.

Even if you were 100% not at fault. A guy I know was sitting at a red light. A driver rear ended him, broke his legs and totaled his car. Because he was in Michigan his insurance had to cover his total costs, and the idiot who hit him didn't have to do a thing.
Click to expand...

However, it does protect you against people that illegally have no insurance.
 
Gibson486 said:
MrMatt said:
What? If you get in an accident that is not your fault, and don't have collision it doesn't matter. The other person's insurance pays for the damage to your car
Click to expand...

But your insurance company will not talk to the other. You have to talk to them and make sure they do not pull stunts like you are 10% at fault.
Click to expand...

Wife and myself were in an accident last January.

Driver of the other vehicle was 100% at fault according to witnesses and the reconstruction of the accident.

However, her insurance company stalled for 1 month trying to deflect/place some blame on us.

We had full coverage on our '08 SUV w/ a 1K deductible.
Our insurance company paid everything but the 1K immediately.
They could not pay the 1K until the fault was settled.

As others have stated, insurance is to cover what you can not afford to pay for yourself.

However, the other insurance has agreed to pay damages on my wife up to their policy limits. Have a lawyer may have helped here. Waiting for final paperwork to be exchanged between companies.
 
I just dropped Full Coverage on my 97 Accord and it has 240,000mi.
I calculated it out to be about $150/year extra to carry full coverage.

To me, it was worth $150/year to know I could get a replacement car if I totalled it.

I just recently dropped it because I figured they would only give me $1000 or so, because it is so old.
 
I dropped it on my wife's care. A 98 Ford Taurus that we paid 2 grand for. I figure its not worth much more than that, so if its totaled, we'll basically have to look for another car anyways. I live in CA and just have the minimum that is required by state.
 
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