georgiaw

Ok so we bought a beater ... it's only worth about $3500 - $4000 and we've been given two insurance quotes one with everything covered and one with liability only ... which essentially means that everything but the car is covered ...

We are torn as to what to do .. we have always had fully comprehensive insurance (all covered) but as the car is not worth much we are contemplating the liability only

(we're in massachusetts)

other peoples experience of this gratefully received ..

Thanks

Georgia

md95065

Don't forget that US auto insurance policies aren't like UK ones.

There is no such thing as "unlimited liability" for example (probably because in the UK your maximum liability is likely to be the cost of whatever damage was done to other vehicles and property while in the US it truly would be limited only by the imagination of the many lawyers who would be involved).

So, that policy that covered "everything" actually covers "almost everything, up to a certain limit, after a certain deductible ...", and the one that covers "liability only" also has limits on how much it will pay out.

Anyway, for a vehicle that is worth less than $5,000 it almost certainly isn't worth having collision insurance.

However, before going ahead and getting a "liability only" policy you should check what its coverage limits are - the minimum coverage required by some states can be quite low so you might want to consider getting more than the minimum.

chartreuse

Also (and you may have already done tis) make sure to get a quote from whomever your homeowners insurance is with.

Often, they do deals like cheaper auto or a reduced deductable on the home, if you have both policies with the same company. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean it'd be the best deal...

Rete

Personally, I never carried comp or collison on a clunker. After the deductible is taken off the cost to repair (if you are at fault) you aren't going to get enough money to make it worth the cost of the additional premium. Take the additional premium that you would have spent on the comp/collison and put it in a special account and don't touch it until the car needs work and/or you are ready to buy a new one.

Pharrya

What Rete says, but as others have said, don't skip on the liabilty.

georgiaw

Thanks

We are already on a 250/500 policy for our main car as we weren't happy that the 100/300 was enough so we paid extra ... we are being quoted on an additional car to that policy ..

we're going to match that liability and not take the collision / comp on this car

really appreciate your opinions !!

tahnks guys

Georgia

Mummy in the foothills

Don't forget uninsured motorist cover. Theres a lot of them about.

BritishGuy36

I got everything except collision on my $6.6k Grand Am. I figured I'm no boy racer so the chances of me causing an accident are reasonably low.

Rete

That comes up automatically whenever we searched for a new policy. Never had to ask for it separately.

Bob

And with a high value, because we're near NH, and they don't have a requirement to have car insurance.

If you've got AAA, see what your membership gets you for towing, because it being winter and you get shunted off the road, without it, your looking at $80 call out and about that for the first few miles of towing if needed....basically one tow and your AAA membership has paid for itself for a couple years.