Car auto insurance, levels of cover recommended?
 

Hi everyone!

On a used car of $10k value, what sort of insurance coverage and so on should I go for?

I'm getting quotes with the following settings:


Bodily Injury Liability(BI) $15,000/$30,000
Property Damage Liability(PD) $25,000
Medical Payments(MED): None
Uninsured & Underinsured Motorist $15,000/$30,000
Comprehensive(COMP): $250 deductible
Uninsured Motorist Property Damage: None
Collision(COLL): None
Emergency Road Service(ERS): None
Rental Reimbursement(RR): None

Are these settings suitable? For the record in the UK I have 12 years NCB so I'm not expecting any at-fault collisions.

Re: Car auto insurance, levels of cover recommended?
 

Those look like state minimum limits - although many states are actually higher than that ...

My personal rule of thumb is that you want at least 10 times the state minimum for bodily injury and uninsured motorist.

I currently have $250k/$500k for bodily injury, $100k for property damage and $250k/$500k for uninsured motorist coverage.

On the other hand you could probably save a few dollars on the premium by raising the comprehensive deductible to $500 or even $1000.

Re: Car auto insurance, levels of cover recommended?
 

They're shit...but it's all about your risk management.

Though for a banger and if you have no other assets, state mins are fine, but you're getting out of banger territory and probably want to up the liability cover way up, also depending on your medical insurance and what kind of cover/deductibles you might have, you might want to consider having some.

Also if you get smacked by a uninsured driver, you're pretty much got nothing to cover you.

You can save money by upping the collision deductible to $500 or if you can afford the first $1K, to that.

Re: Car auto insurance, levels of cover recommended?
 

Yeah, but shit happens.

Now then, for third party liability (medical and property damage) ask yourself: how much money and assets do I have in the USA which are not protected from creditors and predatory lawyers? You bascially want enough insurance to protect those assets. Consider worst case: you hit someone and cripple them - they need lifetime care and they can never work again. You face a multi-million dollar lawsuit. Does your state minimum $30k liability or whatever even come close? OTOH if you're broke and have no assets, they can sue your ass off but no-one's getting anything. The more stuff you stand to lose, the more insurance you need.

Everything in this country basically comes down to medical. The cost of insuring the metal of your car is laughably cheap because the worst case losses are quantifiable ($10k in your case). Medical loses can be almost unlimited.

Something that is not well understood. Uninsured motorist cover pays your medical bills if you're injured by an uninsured motorist. But if you already have good medical insurance, you may not need it because you're basically double insured for the same injuries. It's really for those who don't have proper basic medical insurance (or who chose to go without).

Am I right in remembering in the UK it used to be normal to carry 1 million quid liability on all motor policies? Not that you really needed it in the UK with the NHS and all. But here, whatever your limits, some lawyer will find a way to get it all even on seemingly innocuous accidents. You would not believe the sumbags fraud and corruption you will find in this country.

Re: Car auto insurance, levels of cover recommended?
 

My rule of thumb is: pay the minimum premium legally possible. Perhaps I am lucky I have never had to make a claim.

Not car related, but just today I received notice from my homeowners insurance that they are reducing coverage/limits. No mention of premium reductions.

Re: Car auto insurance, levels of cover recommended?
 

LOL... are you a religious person? Because if you are you had better pray to God you stay lucky!

Re: Car auto insurance, levels of cover recommended?
 

so you carry Florida's state minimum $10k property + $10k bodily injury? Look, it's not about you making a claim, it's someone else making a claim against you. I have seen a 3mph rear end collison result in $20k medical. So if that were your fault, with your state minimum you're on the hook for $10k out of your own pocket. That's for a 3mph accident. Think about it.
And now I apologize if this offends but if I were injured by someone who is willfully underinsured - even if the state says it's legal - as soon as I get out of hospital I'm going to be more than a little mad at the other party. So keep out of my way. Just sayin'.

Re: Car auto insurance, levels of cover recommended?
 

If you don't own any assets, might be able to get away with it.

Thing is though, what happens if someone swerves out in front of you because they don't want that turn off after all, so you swerve to avoid them, then get side swiped?

You're at fault for side swiping the car because you're the one who crossed the lane line.

That's $10K just to replace their door and a busted wing and then add in whatever else that might have gotten busted, plus a car rental for a week while their car is in the shop. Plus cost of a few x-rays, scans just to see nothing is wrong with them.

It's an expensive gamble to take on nothing happening....now imagine you rear ended that car in front of you as well.

Re: Car auto insurance, levels of cover recommended?
 

Interesting, this adds about $38 to my premium, and eventually I will have medical insurance through the work scheme.

So via AIG/Travelguard I've been quoted $599 on our international driving licences for the following cover.

For the record for the same coverage at Farmers Insurance on my upcoming US licence the premium is $861.31 and at Geico 854 (PD maxed at $50k).

Do you guys think this is an acceptable level of coverage?

For info on those visiting us from Google, here's the costing breakdown for Farmers (The formatting probably hasn't carried over well, but the last figure is the cost.
And dropping the Collision to $1000 changes the $363 to $287.

Re: Car auto insurance, levels of cover recommended?
 

Is the $599 quote for your coverage for a period of one year or for six months?

Not sure if you're aware of this but most policies in the US are renewed every six months! :ohmy:

Re: Car auto insurance, levels of cover recommended?
 

Yes sorry all quotes are for 6 months, paid in a lump sum.

Re: Car auto insurance, levels of cover recommended?
 

Big mistake as others have said.

If you write off someone else's new $60k car with $10k of coverage, the insurance company writes the check for $10k and mails it to the injured party. Then they're done. That injured party then comes after you for the $50k they're out, or their insurance company comes after you if they've got under-insured motorist coverage to make up the difference.

With $100k of insurance, your insurance company has an interest in staying involved all the way through to minimize their pay-out. You don't really come into the picture at all.

Re: Car auto insurance, levels of cover recommended?
 

Looks like the consensus is I should reconsider & up my coverage.
So who is the best company these days. I had Geico for a couple of years & changed to progressive this year (around $300 per 6 months for my minimum coverage.)

Re: Car auto insurance, levels of cover recommended?
 

Best bet is to get quotes from half a dozen.

Re: Car auto insurance, levels of cover recommended?
 

Even if you up the third party and liability, it really doesn't add that much more to the premium.