Car Insurance Opinions

[coffeegrl]

Hi everyone! It's been awhile since I've done more than just lurk and read, but I would like some opinions. My current car is a 2005 Ford Taurus SE, ~104,500 miles, some minor body damage, mainly on the rear bumper. It's not noticeable from a distance, but you can see cracks where (maybe?) somebody bumped my car and left the scene or didn't realize they hit it. It's nothing that's ever bothered me enough to get it fixed. The check engine light is on but no mechanic has ever been able to figure out why, so it stays on and runs fine. 

I drive my car mainly to work and back, ~7 miles round trip, 5 days/week, then probably another ~10 miles on the weekends for errands, going out with friends, and church. Usually about 8 times per year, I visit my mom, which is ~150 miles round trip, and 3-4 times a year, I travel to St. Louis and back for an event or day trip, which, from where I live, is ~200 miles round trip. 

I have given all that back information to ask my question about my car insurance. The Kelly Blue Book value on this car is ~$3,000, and that's probably being generous when you get down to it, especially if I traded it in instead of selling to a private 3rd party. I'm not wanting to get rid of this car right now. It still safely gets me from Point A to Point B and I don't care about having the newest, latest, greatest, fanciest car in the neighborhood. It is that time of year however, where I start looking at my finances, seeing progress and setbacks and where I can cut expenses.

With my car 10 years old, over 100,000 miles, and not really driven long distances, would it make sense to drop my collision and comprehensive coverage? It would save me about $240/year. Thoughts?

[Deleted]

Oct 22, 2014 14:26:00 GMT -5 coffeegrl said:

Hi everyone! It's been awhile since I've done more than just lurk and read, but I would like some opinions. My current car is a 2005 Ford Taurus SE, ~104,500 miles, some minor body damage, mainly on the rear bumper. It's not noticeable from a distance, but you can see cracks where (maybe?) somebody bumped my car and left the scene or didn't realize they hit it. It's nothing that's ever bothered me enough to get it fixed. The check engine light is on but no mechanic has ever been able to figure out why, so it stays on and runs fine. 

I drive my car mainly to work and back, ~7 miles round trip, 5 days/week, then probably another ~10 miles on the weekends for errands, going out with friends, and church. Usually about 8 times per year, I visit my mom, which is ~150 miles round trip, and 3-4 times a year, I travel to St. Louis and back for an event or day trip, which, from where I live, is ~200 miles round trip. 

I have given all that back information to ask my question about my car insurance. The Kelly Blue Book value on this car is ~$3,000, and that's probably being generous when you get down to it, especially if I traded it in instead of selling to a private 3rd party. I'm not wanting to get rid of this car right now. It still safely gets me from Point A to Point B and I don't care about having the newest, latest, greatest, fanciest car in the neighborhood. It is that time of year however, where I start looking at my finances, seeing progress and setbacks and where I can cut expenses.

With my car 10 years old, over 100,000 miles, and not really driven long distances, would it make sense to drop my collision and comprehensive coverage? It would save me about $240/year. Thoughts?

I would drop collision but not comprehensive.  One windshield replacement more than pays for itself.

[justme]

1) Can you afford to replace the car if it got totaled tomorrow in an accident/tree falling on it?

2) They use a different calculation than KBB for totaled vehicles. From my experience it was close to what KBB valued what I would pay to buy my car at a dealership. FWIW my 1998 Sentra was totaled in Dec 2010 it probably had around 120k miles? I honestly forget but I know it was a bit over 100k. I got 2841 and that was after they took out my 250 deductible, so it was worth 3091. Just looked over it again, I also got the state sales tax for the car added in. So they're giving you the replacement cost for that car. 

[Deleted]

Oct 22, 2014 14:37:06 GMT -5 justme said:

1) Can you afford to replace the car if it got totaled tomorrow in an accident/tree falling on it?

2) They use a different calculation than KBB for totaled vehicles. From my experience it was close to what KBB valued what I would pay to buy my car at a dealership. FWIW my 1998 Sentra was totaled in Dec 2010 it probably had around 120k miles? I honestly forget but I know it was a bit over 100k. I got 2841 and that was after they took out my 250 deductible, so it was worth 3091. Just looked over it again, I also got the state sales tax for the car added in. So they're giving you the replacement cost for that car. 

they give you the retail price of the same car/similar condition in your area...it could be less than KBB, especially if there is mechanical issues (CEL).

[justme]

Oct 22, 2014 14:43:39 GMT -5 @singlemominmd said:

Oct 22, 2014 14:37:06 GMT -5 justme said:

1) Can you afford to replace the car if it got totaled tomorrow in an accident/tree falling on it?

2) They use a different calculation than KBB for totaled vehicles. From my experience it was close to what KBB valued what I would pay to buy my car at a dealership. FWIW my 1998 Sentra was totaled in Dec 2010 it probably had around 120k miles? I honestly forget but I know it was a bit over 100k. I got 2841 and that was after they took out my 250 deductible, so it was worth 3091. Just looked over it again, I also got the state sales tax for the car added in. So they're giving you the replacement cost for that car. 

they give you the retail price of the same car/similar condition in your area...it could be less than KBB, especially if there is mechanical issues (CEL).

I've honestly only every had one car totaled. They did a quick look at the body damage and came back in less than 15 minutes saying it was totaled and asking if I had my title. I drove home to get it, in my totaled car  , and was back in under 30 minutes and he was already printing out my check. I saw them looking at it, so besides driving it into the garage they didn't do any other mechanical checks on it. It was strictly, quarter panel, headlight, bumper, hood, and the grate in front were damaged, more than the car is worth. A brief look inside, but that was checking my mileage and that was it. Maybe for bigger checks they check more?

BTW - mine was more than KBB. I was expecting to get 2k or less. I took that check and ran before they changed their minds! 

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

It is hard to know what insurance companies will do.

Last winter, a tree fell on TD's 12 year old Subaru that has 160k miles.  Book value on the car is about $6500, repairs cost the insurance company a shade under $6000.  Both of us were sure the car would get totaled out when we got the estimate.  Not sure why they didn't, but not arguing with them as it is still in excellent shape, both the body and engine.  Interior is not in great shape, but that is just cosmetic.

[TheOtherMe]

Years ago, my car got crunched in a rear end collision.  It had a lot of miles on it and I was the car in the middle so the car had a lot of damage.  The car was several years old.  By the time they paid for a rental car for over a month (because of delays with parts) and the repairs, they should have totaled the car.