At what point do you drop full coverage on your car?

[Anonymous 1]

I'm trying to lower our car insurance bill. We since added our 16yo DD and it sky rocketed (which I get) but it's now up to $4000 a year for full coverage on 3 cars and 4 drivers. Myself, DH, DS 22 and DD 16. We have 3 cars a 2017 Ford Explorer, 2020 Ford F150, and my 2023 Blazer. We do not have any car loans so that's not an issue. DS 22 drives the explorer and is away at school and will stay there after he graduates next month. I'm thinking of dropping that to just liability. Thoughts? Also DD 16 is away at school and barely drives and has no car there so I'm going to call today to see if that matters. $4000 a year is crazy right? USAA is who we have.

[sarah824]

We pay about the same for 3 cars and 3 drivers through State Farm. One of our drivers is 16 as well. We carry full coverage on all of them because if something were to happen we want to make sure we can replace our cars.

DS19 is on his own policy due to a couple of accidents and just carries liability. He is with Geico.

Insurance is SO expensive, but it is one area I am not willing to cut corners. I saw how well we were covered when DS had his accidents and I would hate to not have that peace of mind in case something happened. JMHO

[mrsjules79]

I would only drop full coverage if you could afford to buy another car if one of yours gets totaled. Even paid off, those are way to new for me to consider dropping full coverage.

[PoplarGrove]

I'm trying to lower our car insurance bill. We since added our 16yo DD and it sky rocketed (which I get) but it's now up to $4000 a year for full coverage on 3 cars and 4 drivers. Myself, DH, DS 22 and DD 16. We have 3 cars a 2017 Ford Explorer, 2020 Ford F150, and my 2023 Blazer. We do not have any car loans so that's not an issue. DS 22 drives the explorer and is away at school and will stay there after he graduates next month. I'm thinking of dropping that to just liability. Thoughts? Also DD 16 is away at school and barely drives and has no car there so I'm going to call today to see if that matters. $4000 a year is crazy right? USAA is who we have.

I'm in Canada and pay 900 a year for one car (2003 toyota Camry) with just me on it and no collision. $4000 for 3 cars and 4 drivers with collision sounds pretty good, lol. When I inquired about adding a new driver I was quoted an extra $300 a MONTH for her.

[Anonymous 1]

Thanks so much for your insight. I guess I am just wondering at what point is full coverage not worth it? The explorer is now 6 1/2 years old. About 60,000 miles. How much realistically would they give if it's totaled? Say they give $5000. The money I save by dropping it and could save instead could pay towards a new car on the slim chance that were to happen, kwim? We are going to make DS get his own policy after he graduates the police academy in May so maybe I should just keep it until then. Ugh. I'm just trying to lower this bill.

We pay about the same for 3 cars and 3 drivers through State Farm. One of our drivers is 16 as well. We carry full coverage on all of them because if something were to happen we want to make sure we can replace our cars.

DS19 is on his own policy due to a couple of accidents and just carries liability. He is with Geico.

Insurance is SO expensive, but it is one area I am not willing to cut corners. I saw how well we were covered when DS had his accidents and I would hate to not have that peace of mind in case something happened. JMHO

[Anonymous 1]

Oh I would only drop the one car. The 2017 Explorer. But I get what you are saying. The car is still in really good condition too.

I would only drop full coverage if you could afford to buy another car if one of yours gets totaled. Even paid off, those are way to new for me to consider dropping full coverage.

[Anonymous 1]

Hmm maybe it's not that bad then. IDK. Does anyone know if having a driver (16DD) on there but she doesn't really drive because she lives away at school gets any kind of discount at all?

[Anonymous 2]

Hmm with vehicles as new as that I would keep full coverage. My mils car got totaled with full coverage, she had recently paid it off and debated dropping down when it happened. We were honestly surprised at how much insurance gave her bc it was older. I don’t remember how old at the time bc this was like 6 years ago. But it convinced me to keep full coverage on both our vehicles. We paying $240 a month for a 2010 and 2017, 2 adult drivers only.

[sarah824]

Thanks so much for your insight. I guess I am just wondering at what point is full coverage not worth it? The explorer is now 6 1/2 years old. About 60,000 miles. How much realistically would they give if it's totaled? Say they give $5000. The money I save by dropping it and could save instead could pay towards a new car on the slim chance that were to happen, kwim? We are going to make DS get his own policy after he graduates the police academy in May so maybe I should just keep it until then. Ugh. I'm just trying to lower this bill.

We pay about the same for 3 cars and 3 drivers through State Farm. One of our drivers is 16 as well. We carry full coverage on all of them because if something were to happen we want to make sure we can replace our cars.

DS19 is on his own policy due to a couple of accidents and just carries liability. He is with Geico.

Insurance is SO expensive, but it is one area I am not willing to cut corners. I saw how well we were covered when DS had his accidents and I would hate to not have that peace of mind in case something happened. JMHO

I had a 2015 Explorer that DS totaled in November of last year. It had about 120,000 miles and we got $16,500 for it.

We also had a 2007 Dodge Ram that was totaled and we got $18,600 for that one. It had well over 200,000 miles on it.

I am sure it depends on your area and insurance, but we could not have replaced either vehicle as easily if we didn't get the insurance payout.

[Anonymous 1]

Thanks so much for your insight. I guess I am just wondering at what point is full coverage not worth it? The explorer is now 6 1/2 years old. About 60,000 miles. How much realistically would they give if it's totaled? Say they give $5000. The money I save by dropping it and could save instead could pay towards a new car on the slim chance that were to happen, kwim? We are going to make DS get his own policy after he graduates the police academy in May so maybe I should just keep it until then. Ugh. I'm just trying to lower this bill.

We pay about the same for 3 cars and 3 drivers through State Farm. One of our drivers is 16 as well. We carry full coverage on all of them because if something were to happen we want to make sure we can replace our cars.

DS19 is on his own policy due to a couple of accidents and just carries liability. He is with Geico.

Insurance is SO expensive, but it is one area I am not willing to cut corners. I saw how well we were covered when DS had his accidents and I would hate to not have that peace of mind in case something happened. JMHO

I had a 2015 Explorer that DS totaled in November of last year. It had about 120,000 miles and we got $16,500 for it.

We also had a 2007 Dodge Ram that was totaled and we got $18,600 for that one. It had well over 200,000 miles on it.

I am sure it depends on your area and insurance, but we could not have replaced either vehicle as easily if we didn't get the insurance payout.

Oh my gosh that is a lot they paid out. I'm glad I made this post. I'll be keeping the full coverage. Thanks for your help.