car insurance for older car- what do you have? (sell, value, money)
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I drive a 1997 Toyota with 130K on it - the blue book value is about $2,500.
I am wondering if I should change some of the options on my car insurance due to this being an older car.
For those of you with cars in this age range/value range, what do you have for collision and comprehensive coverage? What is your deductible on these?
This article: How Much Auto Insurance Do You Need? - SmartMoney.com (http://www.smartmoney.com/plan/insurance/how-much-auto-insurance-do-you-need-10731/ - broken link)
says, " If the cost of your collision and comprehensive is more than 10% of your car's Blue Book value, it probably makes sense to drop these coverages and save a tidy sum."
My collision and comprehensive, for a year, is just under 10% of the blue book value of my car. My deductibles are $250/$500.
Formulae are worthless here. The question you have to ask yourself is, if my car were totaled today, would I be able to replace it without causing myself financial hardship?
If the answer is "no," keep your full coverage.
If the answer is "yes," drop the full coverage and add the premium savings to what you have saved up for a replacement car someday.
To directly answer the question, my commuter car is a 1996 caravan with 158K miles, blue book is around $2200 but here in the real world it would probably sell for half that. I've got liability only.
We carry full coverage with deductibles of $250/$50 on the "family car" (2004 Grand Caravan) because we still owe the bank a little money on it. I've hit 3 deer with it in less than 3 years causing a grand total of over $10K in damage, so the comprehensive side of the policy has certainly paid for itself. That being said, being 8 years old with 180K miles we will probably drop the full coverage when we pay it off in a few months as it will be time to start looking for the replacement anyway.
Last edited by duster1979; 08-01-2011 at 10:16 AM..
Personally, for the past 20 years, I have paid for absolutely nothing except the minimum legal liability coverage required by my state. (Well, I get the road service rider too, that is well worth having, when you drive old cars.) Then I drove like I had no insurance at all, which goes a long way toward claims avoidance.
The only damage that I've ever repaired and paid for, which would have been covered by any kind of insurance, was a hail-shattered windshield. All my cars were bought with well over 100K on them, only one of them for more than about $3,000. So I felt I could quite safely underwrite my own risk.
I have a 1994 Astrovan with 199K miles on it. I have full coverage with Ameriprise through Costco with a $500 deductible. If it was totalled, I would not be able to afford to buy another one. I paid cash for it, it's not as pretty now, and the Blue Blue value is only $500, but I've put close to $6000 in repairs in it.
Insurance is outrageous in Florida. When I had an old car, I only carried state required, which was around $50 a month at the time. It did not include comp and collision.
Agree, Florida insurance is insane. Did just the extreme minimum for years and paid too much. 1995 Astrovan conversion here in way rural Alabama, two of us, full coverage and joy, about $600/yr through traveler's.
I have a 1994 Astrovan with 199K miles on it. I have full coverage with Ameriprise through Costco with a $500 deductible. If it was totalled, I would not be able to afford to buy another one. I paid cash for it, it's not as pretty now, and the Blue Blue value is only $500, but I've put close to $6000 in repairs in it.
You do realize, don't you, that if you total it, your insurance company will write you a check for blue book value ($500) minus the deductible ($500), which is zero? Which is much, much less than even your monthly premiums for the collision insurance.
I must be dim or something but I can't seem to figure this out.
If my car is only worth roughly $3,000 +/-, I am carrying insurance to pay for the repairs should I be in a collision where the damage is less than the blue book value, correct?
Let's say I was in a collision and the damages were going to cost $5000- would my insurance company insist on totalling out the car? So at the most, I would either get them to pay for roughly $3k in repairs, or a check for $3K if the repairs were below that, minus my deductible?
Am I getting that right?
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