Author Topic: What do I need in terms of minimum car insurance coverage on a beater?  (Read 783 times)

RusticBohemian

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I drive a 2005 Scion XA worth a few thousand.

I do have health insurance.

What sort of coverage should I carry to protect myself from liability? Should I carry any personal injury protection? Uninsured motorist protection?

What are the rules of thumb?

Thanks!

big_owl

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It sort of depends on your net worth too.  We have a high net worth so have a much larger umbrella policy than just regular collision payout in case somebody sues us. 

Another thing to consider.  I had my 2002 WRX with liability only.   Somebody who was clearly at fault t-boned me.  It was obvious that the other driver was at fault and that his insurance company would have to pay up to the tune of $4k to get my car fixed.  That's when I learned about contributory negligence.   It's horseshit.  Allstate just said that they thought I should have been able to swerve to avoid the collision and invoked contributory negligence.   My only option was to take them to court which obv wasn't worth it so I had to pay all out of pocket to get the repairs.   

So check to see if your state is one of those that honors contributory negligence.  If so then be prepared to either pay for everything yourself regardless of who was at fault or maybe always run a dash cam and have a lawyer as needed.   Or just accept that at some number you'll trash the car. 

patchyfacialhair

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Liability coverage, whether it's for injuries to others outside your car or damages to property (not your car), should be high enough to cover a big-ish claim. Personally, my auto policy has liability limits of: $300k per person, $500k per occurrence for bodily injury, and $100k for property damage. I also pay for an umbrella policy to provide an additional $1MM per occurrence. So I'm pretty well covered if I cause severe injuries or death to someone. That said, I can also dream up a scenario where I cause $10MM in injuries and my $1.5MM doesn't cover it. But that's an edge case. Liability doesn't matter much what car you drive. Your potential for causing an accident is basically the same.

PIP, UM, Med Pay, all that is for you and your passengers, regardless of fault in the accident. If you're satisfied with your own health coverage, and are aware of the gaps, then you can honestly pick whatever makes you comfortable here. Keep in mind that healthcare doesn't cover lost wages, etc, which may also be  something you'd want covered in an accident. But again, it's dependent on how you want to be covered. I carry $10k per person, which for my family is fine and will cover a family OOP max deductible, and I have disability insurance provided by work. I also carry $300k/500k UM, but it doesn't cost much on my policy and I'm too lazy to lower it or get rid of it.

Comprehensive/Collision covers the Scion itself, and is completely up to you, but figure out roughly what your car is worth, versus the premium the insurance company wants to charge you and go from there. At some point, the value of your car makes it not worth the coverage in most cases.

Any other coverage, just ask yourself: if something happens, do I want this covered? If yes, then ask yourself if the premium they're charging for the coverage is worth it.

GizmoTX

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Liability-only coverage exists; get enough to cover your assets in case of an accident lawsuit. Save your money by not buying any additional coverages & put it in a replacement fund. You are already covered for personal injury if you have health insurance. You don't need uninsured motorist coverage for a beater. Shop around -- some companies boost their liability cost if you drop all the other coverages. I saw this happen while helping my brother cut an insurance premium that was costing him annually what the vehicle was worth. He was buying unneeded auto coverage because it was required for an umbrella policy that he no longer needed either.

Car Jack

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You want to cover yourself really well for liability and consider spending a bit more to up that with an umbrella policy.  Let me give you an example.

DW's aunt was walking on the sidewalk.  This clown in a roofing truck backed into her, knocked her down, drove forward over her legs, didn't know he ran her over and drove back out.  She held onto the exhaust pipe as he backed into the road and took off.

In court, he's responsible for $120k medical and actual costs and $1.2M punitive.  Roofing company has no insurance on the truck.  Fly by night company.  Guy is part time roofer, full time drug dealer.  DW's aunt passed away 10 years later.  Maybe the guy had a sigh of relief.  But I watch his facebook account and the lawyer can look up if he owns anything.  If he ever has a car or house in his name, we absolutely will take it.  Forever.  So if you are unfortunate enough to cause someone injury and they're willing to wait and take everything you own and garnish wages and wait some more and repo your car out of nowhere, carrying a few million in liability insurance will seem pretty cheap.

LightStache

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It sort of depends on your net worth too.  We have a high net worth so have a much larger umbrella policy than just regular collision payout in case somebody sues us. 

Another thing to consider.  I had my 2002 WRX with liability only.   Somebody who was clearly at fault t-boned me.  It was obvious that the other driver was at fault and that his insurance company would have to pay up to the tune of $4k to get my car fixed.  That's when I learned about contributory negligence.   It's horseshit.  Allstate just said that they thought I should have been able to swerve to avoid the collision and invoked contributory negligence.   My only option was to take them to court which obv wasn't worth it so I had to pay all out of pocket to get the repairs.   

So check to see if your state is one of those that honors contributory negligence.  If so then be prepared to either pay for everything yourself regardless of who was at fault or maybe always run a dash cam and have a lawyer as needed.   Or just accept that at some number you'll trash the car.

I probably would have taken them to small claims court for $4K. They'd probably just settle with you before the appearance date.

Askel

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I find that there's an almost perfectly inverse relationship between the cost of insurance and how much you don't need it. 

Young stupid me with a 1000cc motorcycle financed to the hilt: $$$$$$$$$$$$

Older wiser me with a paid for 10 year old toyota pickup: $

Collision and Comprehensive is maybe $200 extra a year for me.  Sure, my payout on a 10 year old truck will probably be an applebee's gift card, but MI is still a no fault state with lots of kamikaze deer so paying it might be a break-even proposition.   


BlueMR2

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Allstate just said that they thought I should have been able to swerve to avoid the collision and invoked contributory negligence.   My only option was to take them to court which obv wasn't worth it so I had to pay all out of pocket to get the repairs.   

Good point, I forget about that, but a relative of mine was sitting at a red light in FL and got rear ended.  They were found 25% responsible simply because they decided to go out that day and happened to be at that light...

 

Wow, a phone plan for fifteen bucks!