Auto insurance: do I really need full-coverage?

Meysha · Jul 13, 2005

Hey alecia, why don't you put the car back under your mum's name and just have you as an extra driver. Say that your mum drives it 51% of the time and you 49% of the time. That's what we did with my car. It brought the premiums down a fair bit but the excess was still at $1000 if I bunged up the car.

Spiralout, don't take into account what you've already spent on insurance. That doesn't matter. You should just think about what you are going to pay on insurance vs your ability to pay for the repairs to your car and maybe someone elses car. I dunno the laws in the US about insurance but here in Oz you have to have at least some insurance to protect other drivers.

And it's not just if your car is wrecked... do you have other insurance that covers you if you're hurt in an accident?

fadingaway1986 · Jul 13, 2005

We did look into that. However, my mum doesn't drive the car at all. So therefore, if I did have an accident and the insurance company found out that Mum wasn't driving it at all, it would void the insurance, and I would be in big trouble then. Also, the car is in my name. And it has to be in my name, because the loan is in my name. So they told us there wasn't really a way of doing it.

At the moment, I only really use my car to drive to work. Which is only about 6 mins drive. So not too much danger there. But next year I will be going to TAFE, which will be 40 mins drive, so I'll have to be really careful...

And about the insurance incase you get hurt, thats why we have CTP in Australia, thats compulsory third party - apparently that is incase you hurt someone.

Xmetal · Jul 13, 2005

Meysha said:
I dunno the laws in the US about insurance but here in Oz you have to have at least some insurance to protect other drivers.

Indeed.

Here in Aussieland it's illegal to drive a car without Compulsory Third Party Insurance - does such a thing exist in the US?

A Guy I know got caught driving his car with no CTP or Rego - $900 for each offence.

spiralout · Jul 13, 2005

Aoide said:
$200 a month sounds really expensive. I'm paying about $70 a month.

The biggest thing as ever one has said is can you afford to fix the car if something happened to it. Accidents happen whether you are a good driver or not. Consider where you are living, how far you have to drive to school, how much do you drive around the city? Once school starts do you stay on campus or do you drive around a lot. All things to think about. But I think you are best served in shopping around and getting some new insurance.

As a personal side note, I was so thankful for my insurance after Tropical Storm Allison. It paid for all of my car repairs which were $1600. That's not a lot compared to other people losing their cars and their homes, but there is no way I would have been able to pay it. So in that instance I was glad for the full insurance.

Man, $70/month! I need to shop around BADLY. My parents used to have Progressive, but they dropped us after getting in two wrecks (neither of them were our fault). They said we have a habit of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. What BS.

Anyway, once school starts I really don't do too terribly much driving, unless I start going on a lot more photo excursions (which I may). How did you guys find your current insurer? Did you call everyone? I think I heard that Progressive will give you the rates of other insurance companies, but that doesn't sound like they would be absolutely truthful... perhaps I just don't trust the insurance industry. *shrugs*

Aoide · Jul 13, 2005

I searched online and got some quotes. I used to have All State, but they raised the rates outrageously here in Texas. I certainly can't complain about they way they handled TS Allison (they did great by me), but I couldn't afford their new rates. I would call around get some quotes and choose who you feel comfortable with.

One other thing though. I believe where we live in Houston affects our rates. And I'm not sure how your age will affect rates. But call around and ask. It is worth it.

itznfb · Nov 9, 2009

Um... your car? Who gives a crap what happens to your car. That's only about 5% (random percentage i pulled from my butt) of the reason you have insurance. What if you hit someone and put them in the hospital for 3 months or kill someone. You'll wish you had full coverage then. Liability only covers a very limited amount of this before they come after your entire pay check.

PatrickHMS · Nov 9, 2009

I believe that the liability part is all that is required by law for you to have,

If you own your car outright, with no loan, the rest (comp and collision) is up to you, your choice.

If there is a loan on the car (haven't read where you specified yes or no), I am sure that the loan requires that your car be fully insured to cover their interest.

Can you afford to lose the value of the car, and to replace it, if it were totaled in an accident and not insured?

Happy (and safe) driving!

skieur · Nov 9, 2009

A few things to mention. In Canada there is an insurance hotline website that has shown that rates vary by several hundred dollars in Canada for the same car insurance with the same driving record and I assume it must be the same in the US as well. There may be a web site that covers several companies and can give you a rate several hundred dollars cheaper than at other companies. Since insurance is covered by the law in Canada and perhaps the US as well, there is little or no difference between one company and another.

The other issue which I was originally blind to, was that car insurance is not just a matter of covering a destroyed car or broken bones. Traumatic brain injury or "brain whiplash" due to a head-on collision without any external injuries can cost millions of dollars in hospital and rehab care and the prospect of the victim not being able to work for the rest of his or her life and these types of accidents are becoming more common as the roads get more congested. Latest successful car accident related law suit was in the 8 figure category.

Needless to say as the victim, future care for the rest of your life requires money. As the person responsible for the accident you would be sued for millions, because of the victim's needs and your life would be ruined in this situation if you did not have sufficient liability insurance.

skieur

clarinetJWD · Nov 10, 2009

psssst...this thread is from 2005. Spiralout hasn't even logged in in years!

I should know...we used to go shooting with each other

PatrickHMS · Nov 10, 2009

clarinetJWD said:
psssst...this thread is from 2005. Spiralout hasn't even logged in in years!

I should know...we used to go shooting with each other

Yeah, I see that now! My bad! :mrgreen:

Some idiot with no posts resurrecting and old thread. Shows up for not reading the whole thread, which i usually do, or just ignore one this long.

He must be an Insurance salesman trying to drum up business...lol

chip · Nov 10, 2009

A 10 year old Taurus in good condition is worth about $2000-$2500 today. I would definitely NOT buy collision or comprehensive coverages. I would buy the required by law liability coverage only. If your car got stolen of wrecked, it would be cheaper just to buy another used car.

PatrickHMS · Nov 10, 2009

We are still not seeing this as a 4 year-old thread, responding to it as if it was recent...lol

...but I got suckered too...

How about a Mod locking this????

farmerj · Nov 11, 2009

DEAD THREAD RESURRECTED

hope that helps

PatrickHMS · Nov 11, 2009

Farmer - OP hasn't even posted anything at all since 07/06. His original post was about his auto insurance and an old junker he owned 4 years ago.

Wonder if he still needs to know, or even if he still has same vehicle. But yeah, maybe we can help him with this.

I know the difference between an old thread and a dead one. ITZNFB resurrected it for some stupid reason, and I fell for it too.

itznfb · Nov 11, 2009

PatrickHMS said:
Farmer - OP hasn't even posted anything at all since 07/06. His original post was about his auto insurance and an old junker he owned 4 years ago.

Wonder if he still needs to know, or even if he still has same vehicle. But yeah, maybe we can help him with this.

I know the difference between an old thread and a dead one. ITZNFB resurrected it for some stupid reason, and I fell for it too.

Don't blame me. The resurrected posts were deleted.