lowering car insurance premiums, help please

[minnieandmickeymouse]

Money is tight now, and I have been going through ALL our bills and lowering whatever we can.

I have a questions about Liability. Right now we have had on all 3 vehicles this coverage and I'm wondering if it's too high

Bodily injury 100,000/300,000
property damage 100,000

Now I did some googling,and my state requirement in vermont is
25,000/50,000
10,000

Should I lower them, even just some, maybe not as low as my state requires???? The amount I'm paying now for those higher coverage is half my insurage bill.

I already raised our collision and comp to 1,000.

Thanks for any input.

 

[wall*e2008]

I would not lower them if you have assets that you could lose. You can still be sued for $100K even though you are only insured for $25K. If they win, the insurance pays the $25K and they put a lien on your home or other assets for the other $75K. If you rent, have a beater car you might consider it. BUT.... they can still tap your income and that could be costly in the future.

Personally I would not lower the liability limit. I would raise the deductible to lower the payments. This too have ramifications, like can you get your hands on that money if an accident happens?

 

[minnieandmickeymouse]

I also see we have 100,000/300,000 for uninsured motor vehicles

should I lower that?

 

[minnieandmickeymouse]

I would not lower them if you have assets that you could lose. You can still be sued for $100K even though you are only insured for $25K. If they win, the insurance pays the $25K and they put a lien on your home or other assets for the other $75K. If you rent, have a beater car you might consider it. BUT.... they can still tap your income and that could be costly in the future.

Personally I would not lower the liability limit. I would raise the deductible to lower the payments. This too have ramifications, like can you get your hands on that money if an accident happens?

We have 2 beater vehicles,1 new minivan. We do have a home. We don't have a large income at all.

 

[lspst8]

I agree with Wall*e .... while paying for car insurance is no fun, it would be even less fun to be underinsured if something terrible happened.

 

[BriarfoxinWA]

I would not lower them if you have assets that you could lose. You can still be sued for $100K even though you are only insured for $25K. If they win, the insurance pays the $25K and they put a lien on your home or other assets for the other $75K. If you rent, have a beater car you might consider it. BUT.... they can still tap your income and that could be costly in the future.

Personally I would not lower the liability limit. I would raise the deductible to lower the payments. This too have ramifications, like can you get your hands on that money if an accident happens?

I agree. My DH was in a serious car accident -he was driving but was not at fault. It was car pool and the two passengers had very serious injuries. We were sued for $3 million by one and $1 million by the other along with the driver of the truck that was at fault. We settled out of court after 3 long years for what our insurance would cover which was $100k/$300k. So each passenger got $100k. Now we carry full coverage $300K/$500K on one vehicle and have at $1 million umbrella policy. Our other vehicles all have the $100K/$300K coverage

If you have any assets at all I wouldn't lower your limits. You might try shopping other insurance companies to see if you can get a better rate.

 

[minnieandmickeymouse]

Also, we maybe drive the truck, 300 miles are year at the most.

the car my dh drives 13 miles 5 days a week.

The minivan is driven about 10,000 miles a year.

We don't drive much.

 

[minnieandmickeymouse]

I agree. My DH was in a serious car accident -he was driving but was not at fault. It was car pool and the two passengers had very serious injuries. We were sued for $3 million by one and $1 million by the other along with the driver of the truck that was at fault. We settled out of court after 3 long years for what our insurance would cover which was $100k/$300k. So each passenger got $100k. Now we carry full coverage $300K/$500K on one vehicle and have at $1 million umbrella policy. Our other vehicles all have the $100K/$300K coverage

If you have any assets at all I wouldn't lower your limits. You might try shopping other insurance companies to see if you can get a better rate.

Wow, you can get sued if an accident isn't your fault! How???
I'm sorry to hear that happened to you and your DH, that must have been very stressfull.

 

[kydisneyfans]

I also would look around at different companies, we just lowered our policy by 40% with lower deductibles and better coverage by looking around.

Is it worth keeping a vehicle that is driven 300 miles a year when $$ is tight?

 

[GatorGal]

What is your dedcutible? Raising it from $500 to $1000 could save some.

 

[allison443]

I also see we have 100,000/300,000 for uninsured motor vehicles

should I lower that?

I wouldn't. That coverage protects you and your family if you are involved in an accident with an uninsured driver, a hit and run driver, or a driver who doesn't have enough coverage for your injuries.

 

[minnieandmickeymouse]

I also would look around at different companies, we just lowered our policy by 40% with lower deductibles and better coverage by looking around.

Is it worth keeping a vehicle that is driven 300 miles a year when $$ is tight?

We paid 3,000 cash for the truck 3 years ago. So yes, it's worth keeping, it's already paid for.

I said money is tight, we're not starving yet

 

[allison443]

I would not lower them if you have assets that you could lose. You can still be sued for $100K even though you are only insured for $25K. If they win, the insurance pays the $25K and they put a lien on your home or other assets for the other $75K. If you rent, have a beater car you might consider it. BUT.... they can still tap your income and that could be costly in the future.

Personally I would not lower the liability limit. I would raise the deductible to lower the payments. This too have ramifications, like can you get your hands on that money if an accident happens?

I agree with this post!
Also, maybe you could get rid of one vehicle? Maybe the truck if you only use it for 300 miles a year? Could you borrow or rent a truck if you only need it sporadically?
I know on my insurance policy, it lists the amount being charged as premium for each vehicle. Would it make a difference to drop the truck?
Also, like another poster said, shop around. Rates can vary among companies.
Good luck!

 

[KristaTX]

If you have a good driving record, shop around. We have great driving records, and we just switched from Allstate to AAA and saved $600 a year even with getting much higher coverage than we had. Allstate was ripping us off and not advising us well on what coverage we needed anyway.

 

[Jennabeth]

If you only paid $3000 for your truck and it's paid off and you only drive it a few miles, I would drop collission coverage on that. Most likely if you were involved in an accident with it, it would be totalled out. It's not worth it to pay for full covereage on somthing that isn't worth very much money.

 

[minnieandmickeymouse]

The truck and car are 100% paid for, there is no reason to get rid of them.

I just said money is tight, and I'm looking for ways to save a bit in the monthly bills. We're not in starving. If things were that bad, I would do whatever we had too.

I just wanted advice, since I didn't know what other people did for insurance. I just wanted to make sure we were not over paying for something we didn't need. I can see we need it! LOL. So thank you! I will not change our policy.

 

[minnieandmickeymouse]

If you only paid $3000 for your truck and it's paid off and you only drive it a few miles, I would drop collission coverage on that. Most likely if you were involved in an accident with it, it would be totalled out. It's not worth it to pay for full covereage on somthing that isn't worth very much money.

I think we will be taking collision of the car. My insurance Co. said it's worth 1,300-1,800. and if it was totalled we'd most likely only get 1,500 for it.

To us the truck is worth more to us then the car, and the insurance Co. said it's worth 3,000.

 

[KristaTX]

You might not want to change the coverage amounts, but it still might save you some if you shop around. It might not, but it's at least worth looking into. To me it is just amazing how much the same coverage varies from company to company .

 

[minnieandmickeymouse]

You might not want to change the coverage amounts, but it still might save you some if you shop around. It might not, but it's at least worth looking into. To me it is just amazing how much the same coverage varies from company to company .

ya, I will look around. I think we have some good deals on the insurance we have now, but you never know if something else will be better.

I tell ya, I couln't call up the insurance Co. yesterday to chance our collision and comp. deductable up to 1,000 because I kept thinking if do that, then I will get into an accident when I go grocery shopping that day, LOL.

 

[laurie31]

I vote for raising your deductable. It's amazing how much you can save that way.