[cercis]

Ima, you bring up a good point for people looking to buy a new car. If you haven't decided what kind of car you want, call your insurance agent with details of cars you like and get quotes. It's amazing how much difference there can be, even in liability only (you'd think a bigger vehicle would cost more for liability since it will clearly do much more damage should it hit another car but that doesn't necessarily hold true).

I'd drop the comp and collision and stick with liability only and then either put the savings into a savings account for car repair/replacement or use it to pay down debts so that I could qualify for another car loan later.

Tish - I can relate to the med bills. My insurance drug their feet paying a med bill and let it go to collections (but I was never notified). They then paid it. This leaves me high and dry for at least 3 more years until the collections drops off my credit report. But it didn't go on DH's report. If they hadn't paid it, or I'd been notified so that I could contest it, my credit report would actually look better because I could get it cleared, but since it's paid, it leaves me with no grounds for clearing - paying it indicates you recognize it as a valid debt.