I have a 2009 Civic with 210,000 miles. If it got totaled, I would be able to buy a new car without being paid for it by insurance.
What are the downsides to dropping comprehensive and collision coverage for this car? If I get into an accident where I am not at fault, would my insurance still cover me until the at fault party insurance starts paying?
I have 250k/500k bodily injury liability, 100k property damage liability, PIP primary 250k, uninsured and underinsured coverage. This policy is in New Jersey.
Do I need comprehensive and collision for an old car?
byu/AW5542 inInsurance
Posted by AW5542
7 Comments
Without collision, your carrier will not pay for damage to your car even if you are not at fault. You would have to wait for the at-fault driver’s insurer to accept liability and pay, which can take time. Dropping comprehensive also means no coverage for theft, vandalism, fire, flood, falling objects, or animal strikes. PIP and UM/UIM still cover injuries, not your car. On a 2009 Civic with 210k miles, anything beyond minor cosmetic damage will likely be a total loss anyway, so many people choose to self-insure the vehicle.
No, if you drop comp and collision your insurance isn’t paying you a dime for your damages until the at fault party’s insurance pays because if you remove comp and collision you’re literally not paying them to cover your damages.
In your situation I would drop collision. I might keep comprehensive for windshield claims depending on the cost to keep it.
Your injury coverages are nice. Just depends on if you want anything for your car in the event of an accident
Here’s the thing, without you attaching the price tag we can’t really tell whether it makes sense.
A lot of times the liability insurance is most of the cost, so adding comp and collision is not a big add
But you are correct, in general, if you pay more than 1/10 of the value of your car per year in insurance, and comp and collision is a large amount of that cost, you’re probably not going to get a good payback.
Keep in mind however comprehensive means that if somebody hits your car and totals it in the parking lot and doesn’t leave their name, you’re out of the car. But if you’re okay with that gamble which is not an awfully bad gamble, then yes, go to liability only
Running a value on your car assuming EX-L trim which is one of the higher trims, your car is worth $2500. Look at how much you’re paying for your collision and comp coverage and decide for yourself if that cost is worth it to protect $2500. (Note: this is based on KBB which is not always accurate, so take the valuation with a grain of salt)
I did have an older car catch fire in the engine compartment. Received the full value which was a $1k more than I paid for it.