Insurance: Beater Edition

The luster of USAA is wearing off in regards to insuring some of my beaters. In the unfortunate event of an accident, I don't see them paying out much on my sub $3k vehicles.

Most of these cars cover ~2-3k miles a year. What sayth the hive? Are there other good alternatives?

Other than your liability why bother carrying insurance on a sub $3K car?

Regardless of the company, it probably doesn't make sense to have collision or comprehensive coverage on something worth that little. Things under $3k I only carry insurance for 'other people' - Liability, medical, under/uninsured, etc. If it suffers a catastrophe or a crash deemed my fault...oh well, I shouldn't have let that happen.

Edit: I went to get a quote for comparison and Progressive is now asking if vehicles have modified suspension and if they are they are ineligible for insurance. I wonder how this plays out in cases like my Mazda3 that has lowering springs on it from the previous owner. I only know this because I worked on the car and noticed them. Does Joe Average end up in a lawsuit for not declaring the modification? Geez.

Even when I only had cheap cars I still kept collision and comp coverage on one car, as then you have collision and comp through your own coverage for rental cars. Otherwise, if you can handle having the total financial loss of one of something bad happens, then save yourself the money

I'm a big fan of USAA, but their auto insurance was pretty expensive when we had it. USAA re-rated CT years ago, and we dropped them and moved to Amica. The cost differential was large at the time, I remember Amica being 20-30% less for the same coverage. My wife and I had just turned 30, had no tickets/accidents in the prior 10 years, etc, so it was strange for USAA to hike our rates as much as they did, but I guess it was based on their experience in the area.

In general, once it's sub $3k I tend to drop collision. My thinking is that:

1. They likely wouldn't value the car correctly
2. By the time the deductible is factored in, there probably wouldn't be much left to pay out
3. I'll save the money by not paying premiums, and if something happens, I can use that money to offset the cost of repairs

One thought is that if someone else hits you, you're stuck waiting and going through the other party's insurance. We had a situation where someone hit us (their fault) and things went to arbitration. Had we not gone through our own insurance, we wouldn't have been made whole for almost a year after the accident, and would have had the hassle of coordinating with the other insurance companies (which Amica did on our behalf).

RedGT wrote: Edit: I went to get a quote for comparison and Progressive is now asking if vehicles have modified suspension and if they are they are ineligible for insurance. I wonder how this plays out in cases like my Mazda3 that has lowering springs on it from the previous owner. I only know this because I worked on the car and noticed them. Does Joe Average end up in a lawsuit for not declaring the modification? Geez.

E36 M3, really?!?! Hope that's not retroactive, my Jeep is through Regressive and it's got a lift. Actually, come to think of it, my Camaro was lowered and they still paid out on that. Regardless, I'll be switching it soon anyways.

Just wonder who ruined that for everyone. Was it the stance bros or the brodozers?

In reply to Furious_E:

In reply to The0retical:

Good point

In reply to Strike_Zero:

I should check my policy about the suspension but I've been really happy with Erie. Wife and I have full coverage on the X-Terra and MS3 with our homeowners insurance. I paid $1160 for the year with them up front. The Vibe has liability only (it's like 180 dollars for the year).

Of course I haven't had to use it yet.

When I had beaters, I often left just comprehensive coverage on them. The cost was something like $30 for 6 months, so if I ever hit a deer or the car burned down, I had coverage. Otherwise, just liability.

I don't carry comprehensive on anything. The total loss of any of them wouldn't be a problem financially or convenience wise. There are enough spares in the yard to drive something else.

AAA, of all places, through what seems to be their own insurance company, has come back with awesome rates. Saved me $400/year on the liability for my miata and p71. Both cheap beaters, both sub 5k miles per year, and with way higher limits than progressive or anyone else were offering in package form.

On something a little newer, they're $300 a year cheaper for full comprehensive coverage on the 13 Elantra than it was combined with my homeowners insurance.

You might give State Farm a call for rates. We jumped to them about 5 years ago because their rates were much better than USAA. Doubly true when you take the multi policy discounts for cars, boats, and home.

Looks like I have some research to complete.

I have the full coverage cars insured through USAA, but for the beaters they are not even competitive. The liability only stuff and the Transit are insured with State Farm, though I am currently shopping options as well.