Car insurance

[El Gringo]

I have two questions about car insurance. I currently have a 2000 Toyota Corolla that has 120,000 miles on it. Kelly Blue Book estimates a value somewhere around $3000. I drive it once every 2 months or so, mostly to leave DC to go some place inaccessible by public transport (such as nature or my parents' home 2 hours away).

1) Does anybody know of a pay-by-mile insurance company I could use in DC? I would love to use an insurance company like Metro Mile (https://www.metromile.com/) but they are only available in Washington and Oregon State. Are there any other companies out there like Metro Mile?

2) If not, what is the best type of coverage to have? in my 10 years of driving, I've never had to make a claim on my insurance. So it's hard to know whether I am overpaying for more than I need. I currently pay $221.30 per 6 months for the following:

-Bodily Injury Liability: $100,000 (per person)/$300,000 (per occurrence)
-Property Damage Liability: $100,000
-Personal Injury Protection: $50,000 (Medical), $4,000 (Funeral) $24,000 (Work loss)
-Uninsured Motorists Bodily Injury: $50,000 (per person)/ $100,000 (per occurrence)
-Uninsured Motorists - Property Damage: $25,000 ($200 deductible)
-Underinsured Motorists Bodily Injury: $50,000 (per person)/ $100,000 (per occurrence)
-Comprehensive: $250 deductible
-Collission: $1,000 deductible

Taking into consideration the value of my car and the amount of driving I do, does anybody have any opinions as to whether I am getting too much insurance? Or even better, does anyone know of an insurance company like Metro Mile that is available in DC?

[Guizmo]

I would say you probably don't need collision and comprehensive in a car that old. Your car is so old that it is just not worth it. I mean your deductibles are 1/6 and 1/3 of the cost of your car. At that point, I would drop those coverages and save the money in case you do have to replace your car.

[chasesfish]

Are you also a homeowner?

If your not and just need renters insurance (and don't care about the lousy service), Geico should be the cheapest.  Drop the comp and collision, they probably aren't charging you much for it, but there's no need to carry it on a 2000 model car.

[El Gringo]

Are you also a homeowner?

If your not and just need renters insurance

Indeed, I am a renter, and I currently do have my renters insurance through them, too!

Good to know that the comp and collision are probably unnecessary. 

[MissStache]

Do you have health insurance?  You probably can drop your PIP (personal injury protection) coverage if so.  DC has a weird law where you have to choose to use your PIP coverage OR take a bodily injury settlement from the person who caused your injury- you can't have both.  So if someone hurts you in an accident, you won't want to use your PIP coverage so you can get a settlement from them.  If you are at-fault in an accident, your health insurance would pay your medical bills anyway. The only thing that you may need to use would be work loss, but you may be able to get short-term or long-term disability from work.

However, if you are using your car so infrequently, would you be better served by using ZipCar or somesuch?

[El Gringo]

Do you have health insurance?  You probably can drop your PIP (personal injury protection) coverage if so.  DC has a weird law where you have to choose to use your PIP coverage OR take a bodily injury settlement from the person who caused your injury- you can't have both.  So if someone hurts you in an accident, you won't want to use your PIP coverage so you can get a settlement from them.  If you are at-fault in an accident, your health insurance would pay your medical bills anyway. The only thing that you may need to use would be work loss, but you may be able to get short-term or long-term disability from work.

However, if you are using your car so infrequently, would you be better served by using ZipCar or somesuch?

Interesting. That's good to know. I do have health insurance.

ZipCar and Car2Go don't seem to relevant to me, because my main trips are out of the metro area, overnight, etc. If something happened to my car where it was totaled, I probably wouldn't bother buying another car (I'd at least try it out), but since I have the car and own it fully, I've figured I might as well hang on to it for now....I've also rented it out on RelayRides a few times to try and pay for its insurance that way, but it made me too nervous that I could be held liable for something catostrophic (despite the insurance that RelayRides provides).

[the fixer]

Do you have health insurance?  You probably can drop your PIP (personal injury protection) coverage if so.  DC has a weird law where you have to choose to use your PIP coverage OR take a bodily injury settlement from the person who caused your injury- you can't have both.  So if someone hurts you in an accident, you won't want to use your PIP coverage so you can get a settlement from them.  If you are at-fault in an accident, your health insurance would pay your medical bills anyway. The only thing that you may need to use would be work loss, but you may be able to get short-term or long-term disability from work.

Be careful about dropping PIP coverage, as there are many differences between the states. I don't know how DC works, but in Maryland PIP covers you for any auto accident, regardless of fault, and regardless of whether you were even driving. So if, when I was a Maryland resident, I got hit by a car on my bike, I could make a PIP claim. Cyclists can have a hard time getting a driver found totally at fault because of anti-cyclist mentality, and assigning liability is extremely difficult because of contributory negligence. But in Maryland, if you drop PIP coverage you do so by opting out of being able to take a PIP claim by signing a waiver.

So if you do a lot of biking instead of driving, your chances of being able to use PIP are probably higher than the insurance company thinks they are. This is a rare case where insurance could actually make you money.

[El Gringo]

So if you do a lot of biking instead of driving, your chances of being able to use PIP are probably higher than the insurance company thinks they are. This is a rare case where insurance could actually make you money.

Also interesting and helpful information! Yes, I bike about 99% of my trips.