The criteria I preach to my kids is that retain collision and comprehensive at some level until you can afford to go out and buy an exact replacement car with cash the day after the accident. If you don’t have that kind of savings, then retaining collision and comprehensive makes sense. There is a point of diminishing returns on older cars, but I would be keeping the insurance for this 2007, and find savings elsewhere in my budget.
I assume you have shopped around (internet, several insurance companies/agents, including independents), to make sure the $999 is the best deal.
Stop it! Get the comprehensive and forget all the other junk. The chances of a situation requiring the use of you comp. is far greater than your car being stolen. Get an alarm sticker and put it on your window. That will be just as useful as buying an actual alarm.
Common Sense: You;re right about having all insurance .
Right now my insurance premium would be 2000$ per year if I get everything including
comprehensive and collision. Thats a lot for a student like me. I had comprehensive on for the first week. I have taken it off now, after getting the steering wheel lock. I shall get the Ravelco installed too; thus keeping it more safe from theft.
Trees etc cannot be controlled, so I shall take the risk of that on my own. I know that hurricane season in Houston is over and winter is near.
After some practise with this car on Houston roads, I shall also negotiate the collision premium down wards to a sum of total 100$ a month, or get rid of it and only keep liability. right now its around 150$ a month.
Your excessive research failed with respect to insurance costs. I think a $2000 car for the first time buyer/licensee is a much more prudent to keep ownership costs down.
I remember around your age likely that liability was only $250/year for my car however full coverage was approaching $1900 on VW Jetta GLI. I risked it on my $4000 car and went with liability only.
Sounds to me like you should have got an old beater (with a drivetrain in decent shape) and only liability insurance.
Then fiddle with the appearance of that.
I think the most effective anti-theft device you have on your car is it’s transmission.
I think it was posted here that someone done a study on car thieves and most of them couldn’t even figure out how to start a manual tranny car, let alone steal it.
I looked up the Viper car lock, at best it would slow me down for 30 seconds, maybe, it?ll slow me down even less if you don?t put it on every time you park the car.
If I wanted your car you couldn?t stop me or most of the people on this board from taking it, alarm or not, think about this, I want your car, I pull up with a tow truck and take your car, alarm blaring I drive down the street. Nobody will give it a second look, unless I?m really unlucky it?ll take you 15 minutes or more to even notice the car is gone, another 15 minutes to inform the police and Lo-jack. Of course I might be lucky and you?ll find out from the bystanders it was towed, so the police probably won?t be looking that hard for the car and you might not give Lo-jack a call for a few days while you try to find out who towed it.
In less than an hour I?ll drop what?s left of your car off someplace where it?ll be found, minus the engine, transmission, seats, doors, tires, rims, Ipod, gps, radio, air bags, etc. Since it wasn?t a collision and since you don?t have comprehensive insurance you get an empty shell.
Or I might just bust open the window and pop the glove box and take whatever I can find, again without comprehensive you get the fun of cleaning up and mess and paying for the damage.
I would have bought older cheaper car, you can find a fairly nice car for under $4,000 then I would have carried liability and not worried about the rest of the stuff.
Without Comprehensive Coverage You Would Be Better Off, Regardless Of Anti-Theft Gimmicks, To Take All Valuables Out Of The Car And Leave All Car Doors Unlocked.
This is not the best or most convenient arrangement, but it is necessary beacuse of the lack of proper insurance coverage. Doing so should minimize your loss in the event the “bad guys” come calling.
Even considering the “poor student” concept, I still recommend carrying comprehensive insurance.
CSA
Houston Rice, Some People Trying To Help Are Confused. I Am A Little, But Tell Me If This Is Correct . . .
. . . You were going to purchase a “reliable” car. Since your budget allowed only for a “beater car” priced car, you had intended all along to buy a reliable car, albeit not necessarily a real beauty. You were going to carry just minimal insurance because of your limited budget.
Then the unexpected happened. You found a car only 3 model years old, low on miles, some factory warranty left, and not what one would consider a “beater car” at all.
Now, what to do? The car is too nice to let it be trashed or stolen. The comprehensive coverage makes the car too expensive to operate.
Please tell if this is actually the dilemma you are working with.
I’d still find a way to get more money and purchase insurance.
Can you tell what you actually paid for the car? That would help people to understand.
Thanks CSA. i shall look into getting comprehensive put back on.
5K. I just do not want to spend too much on insurance i dont need. from ur answers it seems like i do.
As I said, I stay in a reasonably safe neighbourhood, and I have a number of things going that should help me save the chance of the car getting broken into. I just want to save that extra 40$ month. From ALL the arguments, it seems like comprehensive is something to get, especially for a newish car in Houston, which has a high rate of urban car crime.
CSA. You are right about getting comprehensive. I shall look into it asap.
Having said that:
Houston—poor winters–snowed last year for one day.
Deer–Texas—dry–less vegetation–less animals.
Flood–cyclones–DRIVE to higher ground/safer areas is IMPERATIVE for me. top priority for me. Thus I shall take care.
I believe if I take care of school and career well, all this nonsense shall not be an issue at all.
Now if only those girls that have captured my mind shall get out of the way…
I still say the most valuable theft deterrent you have is the transmission itself. Tinting the windows, putting an alarm in plain sight is almost like telling someone you have valuable stuff inside(even if you don’t)
The type of driving you describe , 24 is good. The only thing that will improve it is a lighter foot and leaving more room in front of you so you don’t have to brake as often or as hard.Heat generated by the brakes is from energy spent by burning fuel and you have to burn more fuel to replace it.