once a vehicle is paid off, how much insurance do you keep on it, and what do you eliminate?

My car is paid for and out of warranty but I still buy full coverage. The car still has a high value in todays market so I feel it's well worth it and justified.

Jim

of course paid off or not doesn't matter a hoot for liability coverage.
I personally choose to keep replacement value coverage on every vehicle for physical damage, but if you can absorb that loss without stress then you can assess the risk reward.

I always keep full collision and comprehensive on every vehicle.

When I had a 10yr old, 190k "winter beater" that was worth ~$5k, I even kept full coverage on it. Since it was an extra car, the 6mo premium cost was almost a moot point. At least I wouldn't be out a $5k car if something happened.

quote:

Originally posted by Jimbo54:
My car is paid for and out of warranty but I still buy full coverage. The car still has a high value in todays market so I feel it's well worth it and justified.

Jim

Same here

quote:

Originally posted by nhtagmember:
once a vehicle is paid off, how much insurance do you keep on it, and what do you eliminate?

Full coverage -- just consider increasing the deductible if you are looking to save some money. I use a $1k as a deductible.

You always see the self-proclaimed "personal financial experts" pushing this idea.

My opinion, if dropping your comprehensive is that significant of a savings to you that you are contemplating this, then you probably need to keep it because you could not afford to replace or repair your vehicle without it.

The only risk you are reducing for the insurance company is the cost of repairing or replacing you old clunker. For the insurance company, that's a tiny (and finite) risk in the big scheme of things and they price it accordingly.

Liability.
Uninsured motorist.
Roadside assistance.
Nothing else.

Consult Kelley Blue Book to see if full coverage is even worth the cost. Remember the amount of your deductible.

When it comes to liability insurance, you want to have way more than the legal requirement! I have a million dollar umbrella policy, and I'm considering doubling that.

quote:

Originally posted by synthplayer:
Consult Kelley Blue Book to see if full coverage is even worth the cost. Remember the amount of your deductible.

When it comes to liability insurance, you want to have way more than the legal requirement! I have a million dollar umbrella policy, and I'm considering doubling that.

I do as well. I can't remember what coverage I have with just liability but with our litigious society I think an extra million in coverage is justified.

Jim

The only new car I ever bought was a 2000 Durango. In 2015 or so at roughly 190,000 I dropped full coverage. 1 year later at 198,000 miles I slid on some ice and totaled it. I lost on that gamble. Was probably only worth $5k or so, but it still hurt to sell it for salvage.

Not really an apples to apples kind of question, certain folks in certain places will have vastly different costs that folks in others don't forget.

My vehicles are paid for but I keep full coverage. Too many idiots on the road with no or, under-insured coverage.

I paid off a car a few years back and did the math and it just didn’t make any sense to drop collision and some of the other stuff to save a few bucks.

seriously it depends on your plan. I have agreed value coverage. I pick the number I get the price. If I didn't and we are going to haggle over market value, it makes no sense on an older vehicle. you will ultimately get squat.

Also something to consider is if your state is a No-Fault insurance state. This is how it works in Michigan, your state may have some differences.

One example of the other guys insurance paying for damages is if your car was hit while parked and nobody sitting behind the wheel it is considered an unoccupied vehicle under our No-Fault. But if someone is sitting behind the wheel it is considered an occupied vehicle and each vehicle’s insurer is then liable for damages to their own insured.

The other example, we have what is called Mini-Tort. If you for example are at fault and hit my car I can claim from your insurance company a maximum amount of $1000, basically either a deductible repayment or repairs to my vehicle if I do not have collision coverage. A thousand bucks doesn’t go too far for repairs or replacement of a totaled vehicle.

It works, well kind of, this assumes that the at fault driver has insurance, that is a whole other topic especially around our urban areas, many estimates that less than half of those drivers have any insurance at all despite that being mandatory here.

So at least in Michigan it’s a big gamble to go without some form of collision coverage. There are three different levels of collision coverage available and many different deductible levels also.

I’ve never dropped full coverage in my life of a vehicle I am driving. I do drop collision on my S2000 while it’s parked for the winter.

Full coverage as long as I own it.

I keep full coverage on mine. It's still worth ~$19k.

The small savings in insurance cost isn't worth the potential large outlay if I were to drop comprehensive and then damage/total the car. It would take over a decade to break even, even considering depreciation.

I'm wavering on this one. In the past I've always dropped full coverage in favor of just liability and uninsured motorist, once the loan is paid off. My last new vehicle purchase though was a `97 F-250 and for whatever reason I kept the full coverage on it for the entire 20 years that I drove it. Then I loaned it to a friend and she totaled it. State Farm gave me a bigger settlement than I had figured it was still worth. I'm tempted to call them up and see if they can tell me how much I paid in extra premiums over those 14 or so years after it was paid off, but I'm guessing either they don't want to or they just don't have that information anymore. It would be interesting to see if I paid more in premiums than I ultimately got for it.

The beater I'm driving now, I bought for cash with the settlement money from the F-250, and I'm only carrying the required coverage on it.