The Money Mustache Community
Learning, Sharing, and Teaching => Ask a Mustachian => Topic started by: scintilla on September 19, 2012, 08:54:36 AM
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Hey friends,
I am thinking about insuring my new car. A 2001 Ford Taurus with 135k miles on it. I got it cheap - $3k. Car insurance in US works differently than in my country. I would like to have your advise on insuring my car. Here are my details:
Place: California
Age: 26, Single, software engineer, I got CA license last month, but got the driving license from my home country (India) when I was 21 and driving since then. No accidents, no tickets.
I need your priceless thoughts on the following,
1. Since I have no assets in US, apart from my money in my bank which at any point of time won't be more than $30k and given I am going to stay here for another 2-3 years, do I even have to insure my car beyond the state minimum insurance? The insurance is to protect your assets like home? Correct?
2. What if I have insurance of just say 20K and the damages are worth 100k and I have no assets? What is the law/procedure? (I'm just asking :) )
3. If I my car is parked on street and someone hits me, I don't know who he was, would this scenario come under collision or comprehensive or Uninsured Motorists Property Damage? Which one out of these ?
Waiting for your valuable inputs!
Thank you!!
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Number 2 is a question best asked of an insurance agent or a lawyer. Number 3 is a question best asked of an insurance agent. Their job is to help you understand things like this.
But that said...
I suspect (in response to number 2) that wages can be garnished to pay for damages beyond what you are insured for, even if you are not a permanent resident.
As far as number 3 goes, why do you care on a $3k car? This is an obvious time to self-insure.