tightasadrum
Full time employment: Posting here.
East Texas, that was a very good summary of the whole insurance picture. Thanks.
Perhaps driving a 2 to 3 ton vehicle with adequate air bag protection is a viable alternative?
I'm confused, if you have car ins.would'nt you be covered? if I had a car accident with no UIM my regular car ins. Would cover me and since I have medical coverage it would cover anything my car ins didn't.
That's true in a literal sense. However, PIP also includes coverage for essential services such as housekeeping, yard work... things you can't do as a result of the accident. It also includes medical payment coverage that can be stacked on top of MedPay.Note that I was told that PIP by including disabilty payments in Tx is not needed if you are retired, since you are not working, thus can not recover on that, so for a retired person medical payments is all that is needed.
Further regarding disability, if you have a regular disability policy, that should cover not being able to work, and if one is working one should have such a policy, because there are other accidents than motor vehicles that one can have let alone talking about sickness.
You're not missing a thing and it's commmendable you know and understand your coverages. MP is on a per person basis and is a "no fault" coverage which means the occupants of your car can collect under your MP regardless of fault. It's not limited to family members. PIP is also no-fault and on a per-person basis. I carry both MP and PIP because they are stackable.East Texas - The Med Pay coverage for my policy from USAA in FL is half the cost for the same amount of UMBI coverage. Also, the UMBI is 100,000/200,000 (for ex.) but the Med Pay is 100,000 per person. I'm assuming that means I could have 4 people in the car and possibly have a claim totally up to $400,000 against the UMBI for a single accident.
Med Pay coverage also seems more accessible than UMBI in that it is available immediately to me and my passengers instead of having to struggle with the at-fault party's insurance company until their coverage limit is exceeded.
Med Pay seems to be a much better option than the UMBI for both accessibility and cost but coverages are priced the way they are for a reason. What am I missing?
I don't know what that means. Oh, I know what you think it means. You think if you have an accident you're fully covered for all accident costs (to you and the other people) and for replacement of your car. That's not going to happen and, unfortunately, the time you finally find out it's after you have a loss.I have full coverage on my car.
This is right up there with Name Your Price.I have the coverage the state requires.
So you're carrying the minimum liability for the state just because you believe if you cause an accident, and you get sued, you have nothing to lose. Judgments can last for decades. Leins can be put on your house. Your checking and savings accounts can be grabbed. If you die and the judgment is still in place, then your estate must settle it before any distributions can be made.You can't get blood out of a turnip.
The other coverages (Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist, MedPay, PIP, Comp, and Collision) are completely optional - although you may have to sign a waiver not to have some of the coverages.Not exactly. In the relatively few states which offer PIP, that coverage is usually mandatory. Like the always optional Med Pay, there is a basic limit and (in most states) optional higher limits. PIP varies a lot by state, as some states have coverage components besides the usual Medical benefits which include wage loss, essential services, funeral benefits, and survivor benefits. Sometimes, the basic required package includes one or more of these lesser components, sometimes they do not.
Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist coverage is mandatory in some states but optional in others. Sometimes these two coverages are sold together as a combined unit, sometimes not. Sometimes, the PD component of UM (even UIM) is mandatory, sometimes optional, sometimes not available at all. Sometimes, UMPD can be sold only to those who have not bought Collision, as those coverages are somewhat similar.
Comp and Collision are always optional (unless there is a bank loan for the car), as is Med Pay.
While I agree that the state minumums (FR limits) are too low, even in some states (i.e. Alaska and Maine) which have high FRs, I do not necessarily agree that you should buy the highest limits available. BI Limits such as 100/300 and 250/500 are reasonably high enough as are PD limits of $50k. If you buy Umbrella, however, you do need to have a certain minimum limit for BI at which point the PU begins.
For Comp deductibles, you can usually buy a Full Coverage Glass no matter what deductible you have for the other causes of loss (besides Collision). I have always thought that the small extra charge for the FC Glass was worthwhile because Glass tends to be a high-frequency, low-cost loss compared to the other causes of loss.
What else are we blissfully ignorant about? (I mean in the context of vehicle/liability insurance...)
I think that's what it means, and the word "stacked" on my policy next to the $500K/$1M numbers means that it might actually be as high as $1M/$2M.You can elect to buy lower limits of UM and UIM than your BI liability limits (as long as they are at least the state's minimum FR limit, assuming UM and/or UIM are mandatory). For example, on my own car, I have 250/500 BI but have only 50/100 UM/UIM BI. This will save you some money while retaining some protection from those 2 coverages.
When you say "stacked" UM and UIM are you referring to the optional stacking of UM and UIM limits for multi-car policies? That is, if you have bought 250/500 for 2 cars you are actually buying 500/1000 for each car because the limits from one car can be added to, or "stacked," from one car onto the other one? In that case, the rate will be higher but you can drop the limits to give yourself equivalent (to BI) coverage for each car.
Comprehensive is usually much cheaper than Collision, so you might want to keep Comp on your policy longer than Collision. You are free to drop one while keeping the other, as I did with my previous car from 1999 through 2007, when I traded it for my current car. Comp provided me coverage for annoying but more likely glass losses as well as unforeseen events such as theft, fire, wind, and water. Your cars may be a bit too new and valuable to drop Collision (maybe wait another year or two) but that is a judgment call.
I don't know enough to tell you what is high or not, but I do know that I shop my insurance rates every year through my Hub International broker. However, I've been with Citizens for my auto and home insurance for the last few years as they have consistently been the best deal for comparable coverage through other providers.
About eight years ago prior to knowing much about insurance rates at all, I was paying around $1,400 every six months for my 2001 Dodge Ram 4x4. I quickly got sick of that and shopped around and cut my cost in half by switching from Progressive to AAA. Then, a couple years or so later I shopped around and found Citizens through Hub International. I'm down to around $100 a month for my 2006 Dodge Ram 4x4 now. Five years newer vehicle and still a lower cost.
The amount of variance between insurance companies is amazing to me.
Ah, come on, my rattlesnake wrestling friend to the south.... you must be carrying only the minimum liability limits (and probably just BI/PD) in addition to having a great credit score, defensive driving, and no claims. Right?I pay $97 a year on my 1995 Dodge Ram 4X4 with Progressive. Whats your credit score?
Living 30 miles from the Mexican border, requires a zillion dollar UIM limit. And like East Texas a Med-i-vac subscription, for those pesky rattlesnake bites.
Ah, come on, my rattlesnake wrestling friend to the south.... you must be carrying only the minimum liability limits (and probably just BI/PD) in addition to having a great credit score, defensive driving, and no claims. Right?
On a side note since the credit score topic has now surfaced - the nice thing about USAA - although they're probably not advertising it - is your credit score no longer counts against you if it's crummy and you're a 20+ year member. (I think it's 20 years.....) And I do like getting that check every year.
It looks like you're able to enjoy another benefit of living in the boonies by having pretty affordable insurance premiums. It probably didn't cost you but just few extra dollars to go from state minumums to your coverage level. Good for you. I bet if you price 300/500 it's only a couple of dollars more......I have 100/300 liability, 100/300 UIM is $6 a year. Heck the Dodge only has 125K and is 17 YO, sits in the barn and has 10 bags of trash in it to go to the transfer station Wednesday.
And like East Texas a Med-i-vac subscription, for those pesky rattlesnake bites.
Rattlesnakes or drug runners
I think when our daughter leaves our insurance policy (when she's graduated/commissioned in May 2014 and gets her own USAA policy) we'd drop us geezer's UM/UIM as low as we could get away with. We just don't see the point of getting a pile of money for being injured ourselves if we're covered by Tricare, by personal assets, by pension, and (now that we're in our 50s) presumably by injury-limited longevity.You can elect to buy lower limits of UM and UIM than your BI liability limits (as long as they are at least the state's minimum FR limit, assuming UM and/or UIM are mandatory). For example, on my own car, I have 250/500 BI but have only 50/100 UM/UIM BI. This will save you some money while retaining some protection from those 2 coverages.
When you say "stacked" UM and UIM are you referring to the optional stacking of UM and UIM limits for multi-car policies? That is, if you have bought 250/500 for 2 cars you are actually buying 500/1000 for each car because the limits from one car can be added to, or "stacked," from one car onto the other one? In that case, the rate will be higher but you can drop the limits to give yourself equivalent (to BI) coverage for each car.
UM BI: $500K/$1M stacked is $12.57/month. $1M/$1M non-stacked is only $10.83/month. So hypothetically we'd want to go with the cheaper premium since it results in the same coverage. But is that really the same coverage? ISTM that "$500K/$1M stacked" is the equivalent of "$1M/$2M" per car. So of course it would cost more.Coverage Limit Stacking option: Stacked option means the coverage limit is multiplied by the number of cars you have insured on the policy to increase the total amount of coverage available. Non-stacked option means the maximum coverage available is the limit on that particular vehicle.
We just bought the 2005 Prius for $17K a couple months ago, and the 2006 is probably worth about the same (the 2005 has a fancier CD player). At those prices we'd rather self-insure because we'd happily drive them with body damage. The premium savings pays for the windshields or headlights or mufflers and I wouldn't care about crumpled plastic. We've driven cars with collision damage before and we don't care about "pretty" as long as the car is safe.Comprehensive is usually much cheaper than Collision, so you might want to keep Comp on your policy longer than Collision. You are free to drop one while keeping the other, as I did with my previous car from 1999 through 2007, when I traded it for my current car. Comp provided me coverage for annoying but more likely glass losses as well as unforeseen events such as theft, fire, wind, and water. Your cars may be a bit too new and valuable to drop Collision (maybe wait another year or two) but that is a judgment call.
Interesting. MedPay coverage maxes out at $100K for $1.54/month. We don't currently carry the coverage because we feel that we're adequately covered by Tricare, pensions, & assets. Of course MedPay covers dental work and we don't have any dental insurance. This may be as much dental insurance as we'd ever be interested in having, and the price isn't bad-- $20/year.Nords, logon to USAA, go to the area where you can change auto coverages, and see if you can get $100k MedPay - and the premium. Wander back this way when you have the answer (I'm assuming you do not currently have that limit in MedPay).
ETA: Nords, just out of curiousity, see what the difference is in premium for you to go from your current Bodily Injury coverage to $1mil while you're on the website.
Scrabbler - not every state allows stacking UM/UIM and I have no idea if Hawaii is one of those states.