When to cancel collision on car insurance?

Fern · #1 (**permalink**) 10-03-2005, 11:07 AM

wanting to save some money by canceling the collision and comprehensive insurance on my car, but afraid i'm a bit premature in doing so.

it's a 1999 honda civic coupe, 72K miles, worth about $5700 according to edmunds.com.

how about it? Would you cancel?

terry1156 · #2 (**permalink**) 10-03-2005, 03:30 PM

How much do you have in your emergency savings? How much are you currently paying for the collision & comprehensive? What is your current deductible?

It's a taking a risk factor. Ideally, you'd want to have enough money to cover the car if it did get totalled (ie self insure), but that often isn't relaistic. Not knowing the above questions, I would probably raise the deductible as high as I could afford if there was an accident.

sweeps · #3 (**permalink**) 10-03-2005, 06:05 PM

I agree with Terry. Also keep in mind that the insurance company's idea of what your car is worth is usually less than what you think your car is worth. :-) After you factor in their replacement value minus the deductible, you're often not left with much.

If you do choose to drop full coverage, be sure to save that premium... just in case you need it. :-)

34saving · #4 (**permalink**) 10-03-2005, 06:56 PM

This varies state to state I think, but in my state at least, your collision only covers the part of the accident caused by you. The other part is paid by the other driver's liability coverage. (So, if you drop collision and you're in an accident that isn't your fault, you'll still get paid. If it's 50% your fault, you'll still get the other 50%. Even if your state is a "no-fault" state that generally applies to injuries only.)

genchan · #5 (**permalink**) 10-03-2005, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 34saving

This varies state to state I think, but in my state at least, your collision only covers the part of the accident caused by you. The other part is paid by the other driver's liability coverage. (So, if you drop collision and you're in an accident that isn't your fault, you'll still get paid. If it's 50% your fault, you'll still get the other 50%. Even if your state is a "no-fault" state that generally applies to injuries only.)

I believe that is the way it works anywhere, but it's important to remember that there are many instances when nobody is at fault. The names Katrina and Rita come to mind.

34saving · #6 (**permalink**) 10-03-2005, 08:03 PM

True, but police officers here (right or not) tend to assign fault. If you hit a tree, bridge, or legally parked car it's going to be 100% your fault. If you're cited it will be 100% your fault. Most other things will be something other than 100%. As for hurricane damage, that's comprehensive, which I would keep regardless just for the glass coverage. (Of course the fact that in my 31 years here on earth I've dealt with a flooded car, 2 hailed out cars (3 if you count the one we bought that way), a hailed out roof, and a flooded house, might bias my opinion on that!

)

Snoopy2645 · #7 (**permalink**) 10-03-2005, 09:10 PM

I have never had full coverage I have always had only liabilty I alos have a 99 my car has just over 100k I think you are the only one who can say if you feel safe cancelling it. I have always been kinda a TW so I never paid for full coverage & always had cars that were used & on the cheaper side so I felt ok not having it. I did check into 1 time when I bought a car that I paid over 5k for but the insurance was so expensive I decided against it.

Fern · #8 (**permalink**) 10-04-2005, 07:13 AM

Thanks for all the good advice. Having emergency money is not an issue. Also, i might add i'm working now in my hometown, even walk to work when i can, so i really do very little driving these days. I could cover the cost of repair if i was in an accident. My deductible is about $1,000 right now. I think i'll go ahead and cancel. Thanks for helping me make my decision!

byusteeler · #9 (**permalink**) 10-04-2005, 11:30 AM

My brother raised his deductible to save money and the very next day he had an accident. hadn't saved any money yet and cost him an additional $750 to get his car fixed. It is a hard call. If you go for many years without an accident you would come out ahead of the game. If you have an accident tomorrow you lose. We have a '89 pick-up that we only carry liability on because it just isn't worth all that much. We could replace it for about $1500. We carry full coverage on my '98 sedan because it would cost about $10000 to replace.

36Rock · #10 (**permalink**) 10-04-2005, 07:31 PM

We lowered our 86 truck to liability only (per susy orman). We never had a ticket or accidents in 20 years. Well the truck was stolen and we where out 5,000 (at the time). I would never do that again. I could afford the 5k at the time, no problem but I still would not do it again.

I'm still looking for that truck! Anyone seen it! ha! it's a 1986 broze chevy silverado!

BAGAGT1 · #11 (**permalink**) 10-04-2005, 11:18 PM

Alright, imagine you have no collision or comp on your vehicle. Now imagine you car was totalled overnight while parked outside your home, and the other driver has no insurance. What are you going to do.

If your response is: "No problem, I'll just withdraw $5K on Saturday and go car shopping", then you should have no problem cancelling your collision and comp on your vehicle.

If your response is: "Oh Sh*t! What am I going to do now!", then you should probably keep the collision and comp on your vehicle.

Hope that helps.

ScottO · #12 (**permalink**) 10-05-2005, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BAGAGT1

Alright, imagine you have no collision or comp on your vehicle. Now imagine you car was totalled overnight while parked outside your home, and the other driver has no insurance. What are you going to do.

If your response is: "No problem, I'll just withdraw $5K on Saturday and go car shopping", then you should have no problem cancelling your collision and comp on your vehicle.

If your response is: "Oh Sh*t! What am I going to do now!", then you should probably keep the collision and comp on your vehicle.

Hope that helps.

That's good advice. Insurance is different for everyone. When I was growing up my grandfather bought a brand new top of the line Cadillac every year for my grandmother and never carried collision. But even if the car was totalled he has enough on hand cash to replace it the next day. His thinking was that in the long run he would come out ahead even with the occasional wreck... and he was right. He could afford to roll the dice.

I carry collision on my cars only because it would create a hardship on my family if we did wreck one of them.

Fern · #13 (**permalink**) 10-06-2005, 10:46 AM

Update: I went ahead and cancelled both. Will save me $340 a year, which is great.
Remember, i walk to work and if i drive, it's a 1/2 mile. A little extra driving for errands and to see my SO, that's about it, so i feel pretty good about this. i have savings to cover an unanticpated crack-ups.

36Rock · #14 (**permalink**) 10-06-2005, 11:40 AM

What about the unanticpated stolen car, ours was stolen right out of my driveway in daylight! We live in nice neighborhood too!

Fern · #15 (**permalink**) 10-06-2005, 02:00 PM

I'm sorry it happened to you, but i think it's an unlikely long shot. Am going to take my chances.