More insurance questions

[jodi]

I was about to change my insurance provider when I decided to give Liberty Mutual one more call to see if they would discount the rate any if I paid in full. They won't, but the representative did go over my quote with me and changed a few things to match the quote I got from One Beacon - and they got within a $20 match (good enough for me to avoid the hassle of switching). I didn't realize that One Beacon had changed so many things in my quote. But now I am wondering how much coverage I really need. Can anyone give any advice on the following?
- Liability - currently have $300,000, no split. I could change to 100/300k split liability (still not entirely sure what this means, but the representative said is was better not to have the split)
- Raising my comprehensive deductilble from $200 to $500
- Getting rid of rental car coverage (currently have this on one car but not the other - not sure why)
The above three changes would save $86 per year. I'm wondering if it's worth it or not...I think it only saves $30 or $40 to raise the deductible, which means one accident would cost an additional $300 (ten years worth of savings!). Any advice on what to keep and what to get rid of?
Thanks!

[34saving]

As for rental car . . .do you have the cash to rent or a friend to borrow from/ride with? If so, then it's probably not needed.

I think the split in liability is the number of people. 100/300 is $100,000 per person/$300,000 per accident. So, no split would be better, but whether or not it matters to you really depends on your situation. (Not to oversimplify, but are you worth suing?)

Remember comprehensive isn't about accidents, it's about hail, flood, stuff like that. If your car got hailed out would you actually get it fixed or would you just take the settlement? If you'd just keep the settlement then it's just $300 more in your pocket. Another way to look at the deductable question is that you're talking about spending $30-$40 year to protect/insure $300. Does that seem like a good deal to you? If so, then keep the lower deductable.

Hope this helps

[dwallyfam]

One Beacon may have changed the quote because either they don't do that particular thing as a company or because of the age of the vehicle they don't allow it.

[jodi]

34 - Thanks for putting it so simply!! That really helped. There are three cars and four adults in our household, and I only work 3 days per week. When you put it like that, I really would not need a rental.
Still undecided on the liability. I think I might go with the higher deductible though - maybe just on my car, not DH's. His is only a year old, so we probably would get it repaired if something happened.

dwallyfam - I don't know if that's the case because I have had One Beacon in the past - I'm sure they offer higher deductibles, rental coverage, and higher liability. I don't know if I misrepresented my coverage when I spoke to them, or they just quoted me a absolute lowest they could to get my business...they were a good company and I never had any problems with them, but I really like that Liberty Mutual can deduct automatically from my paycheck.

[kristinecfp]

Regarding raising your deductible from $200 to $500. Turning in a claim for under $500 probably isn't a good idea anyway - many insurance companies would raise your rates - so I would say raising your deductible is a good way to save $$ on your premiums.

Re: liability, if you hit someone and cause them to incur medical bills in excess of $100,000 (unfortunately it happens), they could sue you if you don't have enough insurance to cover their medical bills. Since we live in a sue-happy society, I would be more comfortable paying the extra premium to get the higher liability coverage.

Just my 2 cents...
Kristine