Question About Auto Insurance Coverages

[haha]

A while back a thread touched on getting rid of expensive but uneeded auto coverage. I looked at my coverages, but I am basically clueless about what they mean. Here are my coverages and premiums, on an annual basis.

I figure everything other that the liability is potentially on the chopping block. What should go, what should stay? What are the considerations that bear on this?

PROPERTY DAMAGE and bodily injury liability -Each Occ. $362.20

PIP $10,000 $64.10

Underinsured Motorists

Bodily Injury $500,000 (each Person $500,000) $137.90

Property Damage $50,000 (Each Accident) $21.70

Comp Act.Cash Value, (less $1000 ded) $51.00

Collision Actual Cash Value, (less $1000 ded) $271.70

Ha

[Texas Proud]

I would get rid of PIP... not a lot of money and it costs are high...


What is the value of the vehicle? Is this a 6mth or 12mth policy?

Do you have another form of transportation if your car is totaled? I do, but if I did not I would pay for rental coverage as it is only a few $$$s...

What about towing? We pay for that and it has helped when my wife got stuck in a state park... towed her about 25 miles and we did not have to pay... cheap coverage...

[jazz4cash]

If your cars are older and you don't owe money on them, I would get rid of comp and collision.

[haha]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texas Proud I would get rid of PIP... not a lot of money and it costs are high... What is the value of the vehicle? Is this a 6mth or 12mth policy? Do you have another form of transportation if your car is totaled? I do, but if I did not I would pay for rental coverage as it is only a few $$$s... What about towing? We pay for that and it has helped when my wife got stuck in a state park... towed her about 25 miles and we did not have to pay... cheap coverage...

Trade in val $11,000
Sugg retail $14,400

Don't need another car, at least not quickly.
Have towing

12 month policy.

Ha

[MasterBlaster]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jazz4cash If your cars are older and you don't owe money on them, I would get rid of comp and collision.

Just so you know what you are getting yourself into...

When you drop comp and collision you are on your own to collect from bad-faith insurers who are all too common as well as all of the people without insurance.

[Texas Proud]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterBlaster Just so you know what you are getting yourself into... When you drop comp and collision you are on your own to collect from bad-faith insurers who are all too common as well as all of the people without insurance.

I also do not think you can get uninsured/undersinsured without it either... maybe someone knows for sure...


But, you insure over $13,000 of cost to you for a bit over $300 per year... not bad IMO...


And if you can not get uninsured and someone hits you... to bad... you lose.. my sister got hit by someone who did not have insurance... the car was insured, but she was specifically exempt from the policy but drove anyhow... do you want to take that chance?

[MasterBlaster]

We had a very bad experience with my wife's car.

The other party was absolutely at fault and sited at the scene. However since we didn't have comp and collision the other party's insurance company felt like this was their license to jack us around and not pay anything.

The whole thing took a year and untold agravation to resolve

[Gotadimple]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha A while back a thread touched on getting rid of expensive but uneeded auto coverage. I looked at my coverages, but I am basically clueless about what they mean. Here are my coverages and premiums, on an annual basis. I figure everything other that the liability is potentially on the chopping block. What should go, what should stay? What are the considerations that bear on this? PROPERTY DAMAGE and bodily injury liability -Each Occ. $362.20 PIP $10,000 $64.10 Underinsured Motorists Bodily Injury $500,000 (each Person $500,000) $137.90 Property Damage $50,000 (Each Accident) $21.70 Comp Act.Cash Value, (less $1000 ded) $51.00 Collision Actual Cash Value, (less $1000 ded) $271.70 Ha

Ha,
In another lifetime, it wasn't health insurance but property and casualty insurance.

Liability is required in the state of WA. Same for Uninsured motorist. So at a minimum, you need those two coverages if you really want to cut expenses.

PIP will pay for medical coverage if you are injured but it is a limited amount of medical (primary to medicare tho'). Where else can you get up to $10,000 in medical coverage (hospital or primary care) for no deductible and no co-pay for $64 a year?

I'd keep the physical damage coverage (Comp and Collision) as another poster noted your car's current value is worth continuing to insure. You should consider dropping Comp/Collision when the value of the car gets so low that you'd consider replacing it if you got in an accident. For now $1000 comp deductible covers about half the cost of a new windshield, so it's still worth it.

-- Rita

[haha]

Clever analysis Rita, thank you.

Ha

[Gotadimple]

Quote:

Originally Posted by haha Clever analysis Rita, thank you. Ha

I duz my best

[Martha]

I would consider getting rid of the PIP as you have health insurance. It is really just insuring against the deductible. It only covers your own medical expenses up to the dollar amount mentioned, regardless of fault.

[jazz4cash]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MasterBlaster Just so you know what you are getting yourself into... When you drop comp and collision you are on your own to collect from bad-faith insurers who are all too common as well as all of the people without insurance.

I guess I've been lucky. Only one incident and the claim was paid promptly. Other driver insisted on filing a claim.

I don't have a lot of confidence that my insurer would aggresively pursue another insurer anyway.

I've seen bad faith insurance situations and having comp and collision did not seem to help much....bad faith is bad faith

My cars aren't worth much....and I have five of them!

[jazz4cash]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texas Proud I also do not think you can get uninsured/undersinsured without it either... maybe someone knows for sure... But, you insure over $13,000 of cost to you for a bit over $300 per year... not bad IMO... And if you can not get uninsured and someone hits you... to bad... you lose.. my sister got hit by someone who did not have insurance... the car was insured, but she was specifically exempt from the policy but drove anyhow... do you want to take that chance?

I do have un/underinsured coverage (without comp and collision) and PIP. Requirements vary from state to state, I guess.

I also consider my employer's personal accident optional coverages in determining my overall needs.

If any of my cars were worth 13k, I'd probably make another decision. Insurance is expensive where i live and I have several young drivers.

[scrabbler1]

I worked for an insurance company trade group for 23 years until 2 years ago. I specialized in personal auto insurance.

What state do you live in? Most states which allow PIP to be sold have it as a mandatory coverage, but a few don't require it. UM/UIM is not usually a mandatory coverage(s) although most people buy it anyway. Sometimes, those coverages are offered on a combined basis but some states allow them to be sold separately.

With UM/UIM, you can buy limits lower than what you have bought for BI Liability. You could easily reduce your UM/UIM limits to $200k or $250k and still provide yourself with plenty of coverage. Furthermore, UIM (not UM) varies by state in terms of how it applies in case you are hurt by an underinsured driver.

Your car seems to be worth too much to consider getting rid of Comp or Collision yet. You already have a pretty high deductible so I would not suggest increasing it further.

You could also lower your BI Liability limit which has to be at least $500k because your UM/UIM limit is $500k. If you felt comfortable with $250k or $300k which is still a lot of coverage then you would save some $$.