Car Insurance Coverage ?'s

[KaleighMaeA]

Ok savingadvice tipsters, help me out here. I have 3 cars and I carry full coverage on all three.

Vehicle Coverages 1997 FORD CROWN VICTORIA LX 4D
2000 DODGE TRUCK DURANGO 4D 4X4
2004 LINCOLN AVIATOR 4D 4X4
Bodily Injury 100/300 100/300 100/300
Property Damage 100 100 100
Uninsured Motorist 100/300 100/300 100/300
Underinsured Motoris... 100/300 100/300 100/300
Uninsured Motorist P... Yes Yes Yes
Medical Coverage 5000 5000 5000
Comprehensive 500 500 500
Collision 500 500 500
Glass Deductible Buy... Yes Yes Yes
Towing and Road Serv... Yes Yes Yes

The glass and towing coverage is kind of a freebee they throw in there. Removing it from my policy will not make my rates decrease. Is this enough coverage? Are there things I can take off? Any advice will be greatly appreciated.

[MonkeyMama]

I can't speak to the liability insurance. Maybe someone else can answer that. (Many will recommend carrying more than the bare minimum. I presume those are bare minimums? I don't remember off the top of my head).

I'd probably drop the comprehensive/coverage on the Crown Victoria. I just googled it quickly and see it may only be worth $1000? Don't waste that money to get a potential $500 check from the insurance company. ($1000 value minus $500 deductible = $500 potential insurance benefit).

For the 2000 Dodge, probably keep it, but start thinking about dropping that insurance when you have enough money to replace the truck (or to replace it with something comparable). Simply because I don't believe in paying for insurance I don't need. With ample cash, my rule of thumb is to drop that insurance whenever my vehicle drops below a $5k value. This may seem aggressive, but if I think the vehicle is worth $5k, the insurance company no doubt thinks it is worth less. I have a $1k deductible, and by the time I get around to dropping the coverage, we are talking about very little insurance benefit. Is my thinking. That said, we have great driving records. I have friends who get into accidents every few months no matter what. I would consider "accident proneness" before dropping this coverage.

Consider raising your deductible on all the cars ($500 to $1k for comprehensive and collision), but only if you have some cash on hand. If no cash? Paying the insurance is probably better than going into debt if you total your vehicle.

[YourLifeSolution]

Buy some excellent umbrella coverage and you can lower your liability coverage. It will likely save you money when you do the math, and as an added bonus you will have umbrella coverage which is great for covering you from liabilities while not driving.

Example: you hit someone with your bike or somehow otherwise injure someone without your car or home being involved.

[walker.kenny]

I would remove collision and comprehensive from both, the ’97 Ford Crown and ’00 Durango. Once you’ve paid the deductibles on either of these, any car insurance claim you make will never get you a significant amount because of the depreciation of these cars.

[frugalgirl]

Are you trying to simply reduce your rates or are you trying to determine what coverage you need period?

Personally, I think that you should keep at least the liability coverage limits you have already if not raise them a bit. If you do that, to reduce your rates:
1) If you own a home, purchase your homeowner's and car insurance from the same carrier. You should then get a discount off both policies. We get 20%.
2) Raise your deductibles to $1000. Right now they are at $500. You'd be surprised how much extra you are paying for that $500 of extra coverage.
3) I agree with Monkey Mama about dropping Collision coverage on the '97. I'd drop it on the Durango too unless it has low mileage.
4) Shop around. Make sure you are comparing apples-to-apples. You can show other insurance companies what your current coverages are and ask them to give you a quote for the same coverage. Get quotes for changes you'd like to make. If you find a good agent, he/she will talk to you about ways to lower your premiums. You can then decide which areas you feel comfortable dropping or reducing.

Personally, we have higher liability limits plus an umbrella policy to protect our assets. You'd have to assess your risk and decide if you need to raise those or not. When we made the change to increase those limits but raise our deductible up to $1000 AND purchase the umbrella policy, we still saved about $1000/year by switching to another insurance company.