What not to insure...

[creditcardfree]

We bought our daughters new twin mattress last week that have a 10 year warrenty. The salesperson wanted to sell us mattress covers for $35 each that would cover us against stains on the mattress. If we get a stain we would call and they would come clean the mattress free of charge. If they couldn't get the stain out they would replace the mattress. So this is basically insurance on the mattress that cost $100.

We said no. We have the money to replace a $100 mattress if it gets that badly stained. We use those dust mite covers and a mattress cover one can buy at Walmart. We've never had a mattress stain, either.

What else don't you insure?

[aurielle]

Electronics. My experience has been if the dang thing breaks, it breaks immediately after the warranty or extended warranty expires. Murphy's law.

[creditcardfree]

Very good example. I heard that the reason places push these extended warranties is because they are very good profit makers for the companies.

[PRICEPLUS]

creditcardfree is exactly right. These policies are big time money makers and that is why retailers push them!

[sweeps]

Originally Posted by creditcardfree

What else don't you insure?

Don't insure your life if no one depends on your income.

[MonkeyMama]

I have never insured a car from collission that was worth less than $5k. We had plenty of money in the bank at the time to replace said cars. Now that we have a relatively new car it sucks paying collission. Bummer. But necessary of course. But I would get weird looks when I mentioned my last car was not insured for collission. My last car cost me $1k and I think 1 years premiums was more than the car value itself - you just have to think these kids of things through...

Extended warranties I avoid like the plague no matter what the product is.

[creditcardfree]

I have been offered an extended warrenty on a leather couch as well. Against tears in the material. That was even more expensive! Again, no thanks!

[tinapbeana]

i did get GAP coverage when i bought my new-to-me car 1 mo ago. it's a 2005 and has a fair amount o depreciation to do, so the GAP will cover the balance of my loan should the check from the insurance company come out to be less. the thoughts of continuing to pay a loan for a totaled car didn't sit well with me!

[abowers]

Extended warranty on my new car that we bought last fall. It's already covered for 5 years, and parts of it are covered for up to 100,000 miles. I've only put 10,200 miles on it in the past year. When the warranty is up, I'll be making more money and able to afford any problems should they arise.

[CraigThor]

Originally Posted by MonkeyMama

I have never insured a car from collission that was worth less than $5k. We had plenty of money in the bank at the time to replace said cars. Now that we have a relatively new car it sucks paying collission. Bummer. But necessary of course. But I would get weird looks when I mentioned my last car was not insured for collission. My last car cost me $1k and I think 1 years premiums was more than the car value itself - you just have to think these kids of things through...

Extended warranties I avoid like the plague no matter what the product is.

Extended warranties are bad and worthless, but auto insurance is required here by law atleast liability...

[MonkeyMama]

Originally Posted by CraigThor

Extended warranties are bad and worthless, but auto insurance is required here by law atleast liability...

Yes, and I do not recommend that people do not get auto insurance.

Collission to replace your car if the insurance cost more than the value of your car is not the brightest choice though. I am talking if you paid cash for your car as well. Insurance when you have a loan is probably a good idea if you couldn't pay it off. Since I generally pay cash for cars, worth less than a few thousand, I find collission pretty worthless - about the same as an extended warranty. Collission and comprehensive is not required by law.

[tinapbeana]

hee collision is required by law on any car that carries a lien (i.e. is financed). only makes sense, otherwise how many doofuses would we have that totaled their car and are still paying for it? oh, wait, they do that even with collision insurance b/c the car depreciates... can't win for losing, eh?

[creditcardfree]

We had a car worth $2500 without collision insurance. We were told by a body shop guy that the damage was more than it was worth. We sold it to him for about $300. A month later he called to ask if we would like to buy it back for $2500. He had fixed it. Well, we had already bought a new car. So, now I wonder, would I have been better off with collision insurance in that case? I don't know what an insurance company would have given me...but maybe more than the $300. Well, we helped out a body shop guy...he had to have made a nice profit.

So, now we have an $8000 vehicle with collision insurance. I think in this case it is worth it to us. To each his own.

[MonkeyMama]

Originally Posted by tinapbeana

hee collision is required by law on any car that carries a lien (i.e. is financed). only makes sense, otherwise how many doofuses would we have that totaled their car and are still paying for it? oh, wait, they do that even with collision insurance b/c the car depreciates... can't win for losing, eh?

well that makes sense. I am sure it is probably law here.

[MonkeyMama]

Originally Posted by creditcardfree

We had a car worth $2500 without collision insurance. We were told by a body shop guy that the damage was more than it was worth. We sold it to him for about $300. A month later he called to ask if we would like to buy it back for $2500. He had fixed it. Well, we had already bought a new car. So, now I wonder, would I have been better off with collision insurance in that case? I don't know what an insurance company would have given me...but maybe more than the $300. Well, we helped out a body shop guy...he had to have made a nice profit.

So, now we have an $8000 vehicle with collision insurance. I think in this case it is worth it to us. To each his own.

Yes, but how much would you have paid in insurance, what would your deductible be, and how much would the insurance comnpany value your car??? They tend to lowball it. These are some of the questions you ask when you consider if it is worth it.

I insured an $8k car. $5k was the point where cost was way more than benefit on our last 2 cars so I dropped it. But we had $30k cash in the bank.

Right now I have a $15k car. no matter how much is in the bank it is insured. So we pay about $500/year, benefit is way more than cost if something happens.

My point is think things through. & if you have a loan, there is nothing to think about. I forget people don't pay cash for cars.

Definitely to each his own, but I know too many people who don't even think about this stuff. I encourage people to think it through, and do what feels comfortable for you of course.

[abowers]

Insurance is not even a question. We got a new car last year. People drive like idiots around here, traffic stinks (those are two understatements), and there are a lot of expensive cars on the road here. I wouldn't go without insurance!! Besides it's required I think. It was required that we show proof of insurance before we drove the car off the lot.

[Gruntina]

Originally Posted by abowers

Insurance is not even a question. We got a new car last year. People drive like idiots around here, traffic stinks (those are two understatements), and there are a lot of expensive cars on the road here. I wouldn't go without insurance!! Besides it's required I think. It was required that we show proof of insurance before we drove the car off the lot.

It’s been a problem in my areas for people with no car insurances and non documented immigrants driving... when they hit a car and total it, the driver of the totaled car is out of luck because those who hit them had no auto insurance. But this can come out of non fault party insurance but it may raise the price of maintaining the insurance for that person.

[tabbycat31]

I know that people say not to insure electronics, but there's one electronic that I have insured. My ipod (I got it as a gift in 2005). It broke on me in early 2006, and Apple replaced it for free (had it less than a year). When I got the replacement, I bougth the warantee on it just incase something happened to that Ipod. It was a huge headache, and the peace of mind was worth $60 to me in that case. Usually I don't insure electronics though.

[GrimJack]

Originally Posted by MonkeyMama

I have never insured a car from collission that was worth less than $5k. We had plenty of money in the bank at the time to replace said cars. Now that we have a relatively new car it sucks paying collission. Bummer. But necessary of course. But I would get weird looks when I mentioned my last car was not insured for collission. My last car cost me $1k and I think 1 years premiums was more than the car value itself - you just have to think these kids of things through...

Extended warranties I avoid like the plague no matter what the product is.

I went along with this idea myself until I got into an accident; my car was totaled and the other car was damaged. The part that burned me is that as soon as the other insurance company found out I did not have comprehensive, they changed the deal from 60/40 to 90/10 my fault and my insurance took a hit. I discussed this with my agent and he said that had I kept comprehensive, it would have been a no-fault situation and my record would be clean. I now consider comprehensive insurance as including a battalion of lawyers.

[creditcardfree]

Originally Posted by GrimJack

I went along with this idea myself until I got into an accident; my car was totaled and the other car was damaged. The part that burned me is that as soon as the other insurance company found out I did not have comprehensive, they changed the deal from 60/40 to 90/10 my fault and my insurance took a hit. I discussed this with my agent and he said that had I kept comprehensive, it would have been a no-fault situation and my record would be clean. I now consider comprehensive insurance as including a battalion of lawyers.

Our car accident made me change my mind on this one too. There are other factors that one doesn't forsee in an accident. Even a hit on a $2500 vehicle can be costly.