How Much Auto Insurance?

I know most of us here are running around in 10 and 20 year old cars that in the eyes of most people aren't worth a whole lot of cash, so that means no comp or collision coverage for the car. But when it comes down to the other details do you go for the state minimum or cover yourself a bit more? I'm feeling a little older and more responsible now and its time to renew on my 94' GSR and 98' Z/28 neither worth a ton to anyone else, but I still want to be safe in case an accident does happen.

Pennsylvania calls for a minimum of 15/30/5 - Bodily injury per person/per accident / and property.

I've taken all our vehicles to state-minimum, though I do carry comp & collision on the Miata(only $20 more/year), Accent and Fit. I also insure my trailer since it's only $20/year. The van and Corolla are liability-only.

I also feel mandatory insurance is one of the banes of our society, but I'm not about to become patio fodder.

A few million worth of third party liability. You never know when the daughter of a lawyer is going to run out in front of you.

Collision is peanuts.

I carry $300,000 in liability. Some of my cars are on collectors policies. Once a car is worth less than +/- $5,000 its often times not worth the extra expense of collision.

petegossett wrote: I've taken all our vehicles to state-minimum... I also feel mandatory insurance is one of the banes of our society...

One could argue that people who get into an accident and don't carry adequate insurance and do not have enough independent wealth to back it up are one of the banes of our society.

Like the D-Bag that ran head on into my friends mother. Fortunately the injuries were relatively minor but some mild bleeding on the brain have brought the medical bills alone to over $70k and climbing. Out of work for about 3 months plus time off for Dr. appointments. Its OK because he had state minimums of $25k to cover it all.

Sure she has $100,000 of uninsured/underinsured coverage but the way things are looking that might end up exhausted as well.

Being older with a paid-off house and cars I carry as much liability as the insurance company has.

3m umbrella on top of the standard 300k liability policy and UM. You are protecting yourself and your assets so get as much as you can afford. As noted above, medical bills are frequently 100k or more from relatively simple injuries; much higher for a long term issue and the standard valuation standard by most attorneys is 3x the meds. One area overlooked is property damage since a tractor trailer and most every new car nowadays is valued more than 25k.

I'm told that there's a commonly-accepted standard that you should have as much liability coverage as you have assets that could be taken in a court judgement. Since court judgements can be months or years after an accident, but the insurance limit will be the one in effect on the day of that accident, that means you want to look forward a couple years, project out your net worth on that day, and cover that much.

I know someone who got hit by a red light runner driving a brand-new BMW 5-series with the state minimum coverage level. My friend collected from his own policy and let his insurance company collect the rest from the at-fault driver, which they succeeded in doing (enough so that my friend got his deductible back). That had to suck for the BMW driver -- don't let it be you.

I work on the insurance liability defense side, so I see the actual results of people who have both good and bad coverage. If you have low limits, and hit someone who gets angry about it and has a average lawyer, you hopefully don't have any assets to go after. If you have nothing of value really, then don't worry as much about it, but if you own a home, etc, you should have enough to protect those assets.

I have equity in a house, cars, and in the bank. I have $300k CSL for my cars, $500k liability homeowners, which is enough in 99.99% of situations, and for the other .01%, it is probably enough to satisfy the plaintiff enough that they go away.

I've seen people get in some real tough times from not having enough coverage. All it takes is one look away, and you plow into the back of a Benz which then hits a Bentley, and you now have $100k+ in property damage, plus potential injuries. If you have state minimum $5k in coverage, there is a good chance their insurance carrier will come after you for the balance.

The minimum that you should have, if you have any assets, is 100/300 injury, 100k property damage, and UM/UIM limits that match your liability injury limits.

I wouldn't leave the house with only 300k worth of liability. Seriously.

your state may vary but in florida, its very hard to enforce a judgement over insurance amounts, so like 70% of drivers carry no or statutory minimum insurance. a lady hit me with 25000 in coverage, my medical bills were 100k for a rotator cuff, fortunately my health insurance paid. so bottom line i increased my uninsured motorist, which required i increase my liability dollar for dollar. but i pay it so i can have uninsured protection. ymmv

I carry 100/300/100 + comp on all three, and collision on the Integra

Watch the med pay most are only 5k. A trip to er will eat that quick. I carry 100k on that for a few dollars more.

For the most part, state minimums for me. I carried a bit higher than minimum in CA given the fact that I might hit some entitled, plastic-faced lawyer who decides to sue because she ruined her fresh manicure on the airbag of her Ferarri.

Believe it or not, that is basically how my agent described it. Quadrupling my liability only added a couple bucks so I did it.

Now that I'm in PA, I'm state minimum liability. In this state after an accident, people are more likely to argue that it was their own fault than to start laying blame on the other. Not kidding. I once lightly rear-ended a school bus full of children in PA and the bus driver actually said, "I'm sorry, I stopped really fast, its my fault."

Having said that, I still carry comp and collision on my wife's car because A) she has a nicer car, and B) she likes to hit stuff.

If I hit something with my 99 van, I can go get a bumper and a fender from the junkyard and bolt it on for $100. If she crunches the front of her unibody Scion, I need the expertise of a body shop.

Not mentioned before but Pa has a tort option. From what I know now (the hard way) go w/ the full tort option, it'll cost about 10-15% more / year but to me is well worth it. It's all about medical expenses and right to sue not sheet metal.

A high deductible is the easiest and best way to save money on insurance. Huge difference there. Use the money saved to increase your overall coverage instead.

I keep comp on any car remotely worth a new windshield or pulling the core support back out after a deer strike. Even my Yugo has comp.

curtis73 wrote: Now that I'm in PA, I'm state minimum liability.

Insanity, unless you have no assets. I now work for a company that specializes in minimum PD coverages. Most are mouth breathers with POS cars and own nothing, so even if they get sued for more you can't get blood from a stone. But really, if you own anything of value you can kiss it goodbye in any kind of decent liability incident. Your insurance company only has to write a check for $5000 and walk away. However, if the person you hit uses their collision coverage, their insurance WILL go after you for every penny they pay out.

And it's not just Mercedes or Bentleys. I had a kid swerve to miss a car that pulled out in front of him, spun through two yards and tore the entire front wall out of a ranch house. I'm sure if he didn't have the $50k it took to fix that he's still paying through wage garnishment.

Don't screw with this. Seriously. The maximum liability you can afford, every time. Comp/Collision is peanuts in comparison.

Sonic wrote: I work on the insurance liability defense side, so I see the actual results of people who have both good and bad coverage. If you have low limits, and hit someone who gets angry about it and has a average lawyer, you hopefully don't have any assets to go after. If you have nothing of value really, then don't worry as much about it, but if you own a home, etc, you should have enough to protect those assets. I have equity in a house, cars, and in the bank. I have $300k CSL for my cars, $500k liability homeowners, which is enough in 99.99% of situations, and for the other .01%, it is probably enough to satisfy the plaintiff enough that they go away. I've seen people get in some real tough times from not having enough coverage. All it takes is one look away, and you plow into the back of a Benz which then hits a Bentley, and you now have $100k+ in property damage, plus potential injuries. If you have state minimum $5k in coverage, there is a good chance their insurance carrier will come after you for the balance. The minimum that you should have, if you have any assets, is 100/300 injury, 100k property damage, and UM/UIM limits that match your liability injury limits.

This. Work in the same business...for a competitor company to Sonic (a few miles away at that). He hit it exactly.

curtis73, I'd definitely disagree that people are more likely to argue that it was their own fault in PA. Quite the opposite actually. Other thing to remember is that it's not the drivers' decision who was at fault. The insurance company makes that decision. In your case with the bus, if anyone on the bus had made a claim, your insurance would have paid...regardless of what the bus driver said.

Yes, PA does have what's called a "tort option". In exchange for giving up the right to sue for a broken fingernail, you get a lower premium. Some other states have similar options (NJ for example). That's a personal decision, but your decision for your policy has no bearing whatsoever on the right of someone else to sue you.

My work requires me to care 300000 liability across the board. The closest my ins. co. offered was 500k across the board.

I have no idea what I have... I should probably figure that out...

Minimum on all vehicles ($500k here), combined with great driving skills (they're not totally useless).

All third-party-only, I'll look into something more on the 'rolla later with the amount of cash sunk into it...but I'll probably leave it as it is.

I just bumped mine to 100/300/100 and removed collision from the Civic.

I don't have collision on either car since they are worthless but my mother talked me into getting higher liability and a 3m. umbrella policy. I totalled my car, spent four weeks in the hospital and three months out of work. Aside for some odds and ends that weren't worth submitting I paid for none of my treatment or therepy out of pocket. the nice lady from to insurance company even called every week to ask how I was doing and make sure I wasn't having any trouble with my claim.

ddavidv wrote:

curtis73 wrote: Now that I'm in PA, I'm state minimum liability.

Insanity, unless you have no assets.

Well... I used to have no assets, but now I have a house. That is wise advice and I will look into it.

Thanks for the input guys, bumped up my coverage to 100/300/100.