Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with insurance and autoinsurance

I Wanna Be Protected!

fourcheesemac — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 09:52:15 -0800

Can one buy a personal auto liability policy for rental cars that replaces or supplements LDW or liability supplement coverage offered by the rental agency? I travel constantly, and rent cars 20+ times per year as a result. However, I live in New York City and do not own a car, and hence possess no personal auto policy. Prior to moving here, I owned cars and trucks for 15 years, and have an extensive and good driving record across multiple states. I am, of course, licensed to drive in New York.

My credit card (Visa) covers the collision damage liability for the rental car itself as primary insurance in this situation, so I typically decline the CDW. In any case, it wouldn't break me to pay cash to replace the economy or compact cars I usually rent. So to be clear, this is not a question about coverage for damage to the rental vehicle itself. As far as I know, credit cards do not offer liability coverage at all (and many people are misinformed about this, in my experience, including some rental agents).

In some states in which I rent, the rental agency claims not to carry any liability insurance (in Indiana, Alamo and National have told me they are exempt from state minimums and that, in essence, a renter is required to either possess an auto liability policy or buy their liability supplement). In other cases, even where there is some liability coverage (ie, for damage done to other people and property in a hypothetical accident in which I was at fault), it's pathetically low given the risks one takes by pulling out of the airport parking area. So I usually buy whatever additional liability coverage is offered by the agency (still not great -- usually a 100K-200K overall limit). Tends to run 12-15 bucks per rental day. Usually you have to persist in asking for the liability coverage alone, and not as part of a package with the CDW and veterinary coverage for the family pet and every other little ripoff option.

I would like to buy my own policy that would simply cover me in any rental car in the US to the tune of half a million to a million bucks. Does such a policy exist? I've heard about general personal liability policies, but that seems like overkill to me.

I am having a devil of a time searching for this on the net because any combination of keywords pulls up endless bitching about the CDW/LDW policies of the various rental agencies.

Even when I travel on business and supp. insurance is covered by my employer, I'd love to have a personal policy for increased protection. Like I said, it's pretty easy to imagine doing 100K worth of hurt backing into someone's outside wall, for crying out loud.

Seems like an obvious product for business travelers, no?

Can I / should I accept reimbursement for a car repair I didn't do?

Anonymous — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 07:40:56 -0800

Is it legal to accept $500 from a car insurance company, reimbursing me for a repair I'm not going to make? If it's legal, should I? Recently my car was very lightly rear-ended. Both I and the other driver are insured. There were no injuries and my car has no visible damage -- I took it to my mechanic, who I trust, who confirmed that there was no damage from the collision. The other driver's insurance company sent a photographer to take photos of my car to check its condition. The photographer reported a small nick in my bumper, and based on this, the other driver's insurance sent me a check for $500 for a new bumper. The nick is almost invisible (my wife can see it, I haven't managed to) and we have no interest in getting a new bumper. My wife thinks it might be OK to just cash the check, on the grounds that the eventual resale value of the car will be lower because it's been involved in an accident, however small. I'm concerned that it might actually be against the law to cash a check for replacing a bumper that I didn't actually replace. I see a few options:
A. Cash the check, pocket the money.
B. Cash the check, replace the undamaged bumper. (Seems like a waste of the world's resources, but maybe I should think of it as economic stimulus?)
C. Don't cash the check, keep it, and if I need to replace the bumper for some other reason in the next year (the life of the check,) cash it.
D. Cut up the check.

We don't want to do anything illegal. So: which of these four options is legal? And of the legal ones, which are ethically OK?
(Anonymous in case the right answer is "A is probably legal but I wouldn't do it if my real name were attached to the general practice in a public place.")

Must I report minor fender bender to insurance company?

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 19:39:28 -0800

In a minor fender bender. Do I have to report the accident to my insurance company? In rainy weather I slid into a car stopped at a light. It was basically a tap. Her car had a small scrape on her bumper. My car had the same, just a little paint missing.

The policeman at the scene wrote up the accident report and gave me the accident number to give my insurance agency.

With only a little paint missing, the damage is below my deductible, so if/when I get it fixed it will be on my own. Do I still have to report this to my insurance agency? Sorry for the question; first accident.

Should I report my stolen car stereo to the insurance company?

agentmunroe — Sun, 10 May 2009 10:35:32 -0800

My car stereo just got stolen - while my car was in my driveway. Should I report it to my insurance company? So I came outside not 10 minutes ago to find the passenger-side window of my '02 Chevy Prizm smashed in, and my 3-year-old mediocre Alpine head unit stolen. It was the cheapest one at the time that had an auxiliary in (I think $199 new, not that I have the receipt handy to prove it), and I was starting to look at replacing it anyway with one that had better iPod integration and HD radio, so I'm not particularly worried about the stereo cost itself - although it would be nice to have it replaced.

What I'm not sure about is - should I handle this out-of-pocket, or report it to State Farm to see what they'll do? While it would be great to have the repairs paid for, we have three other cars under our policy; I don't know if it works this way, but I'd be worried we'd be classified as a higher risk and have our rates raised. If any rates get raised, I'd rather just pay for it myself.

As a bit of background, we live in a mediocre to bad part of town - we haven't had any home theft lately, but did have a car stolen a few years ago that we reported and was eventually returned.

I don't yet have the insurance paperwork in front of me (going to dig those up next), but our plan with State Farm is fairly comprehensive... it's covered a windshield replacement due to a crack, and all of the rental/repair costs from when I was in a not-at-fault accident about six months ago and had some collision damage taken care of.

Side question - if I don't report it, is it even worth filing a police report? And am I allowed to drive it without the window for now (NYS)?

Thanks for any thoughts.

How should I handle changing car insurance policies for a short term move?

pilibeen — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 13:04:52 -0800

I'm moving out of state - from PA to NY - for a short-term job (roughly a year). Can I have a PA car insurance policy? I've heard NY and NJ auto insurance policies are ridiculously expensive.

Since I'll still have a PA license, and a permanent PA address (my parents), can I just keep PA auto insurance? My current policy is about to renew, and I've been shopping around and finding some great quotes for PA.

So would this be entirely legal? If not, is it risky?

Old car crashed + next car purchased + insurance office closed for the weekend = magical amnesty?

Acari — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 23:24:12 -0800

Canadian Auto Insurance Question: Nebulous limbo time between vehicles edition. "Everybody Knows" that there is a 14 day grace period to get your papers sorted out. Is there? The precise situation is that one vehicle has just been totalled by a young lady who had insurance under her father's policy [last car in a highway pileup; she says she's okay; she's going to the doctor just in case] and she is now setting up a new policy with the same insurance company for an 18-year-old used car she has just purchased.
Almost everyone that I've spoken to says that putting her old plates on this car and keeping the bill of sale with her will be okay for up to 2 weeks while insurance and registration are negotiated.

This doesn't match well with my impression of insurance companies.

I've already heard enough of "you'll be fine", and I've heard a couple of people say that it's crazy to go for a millisecond without documented everything, but I want to know what the law says.
Can anyone help me look this up?

I ask not because it's urgent right now [it isn't], but because it is the friday before a long weekend and if I *needed* an answer I know I couldn't ask the insurance company until tuesday.

To further complicate the issue, this vehicle has just had a safety inspection [vehicles over 15 years old need this inspection to be insured here] which identified worn brake pads + rotors. The parts have been ordered and I will have them replaced by tomorrow. Does the legality of things change based on this inspection if the vehicle is not insured either way?
And because this is the long weekend, the insurance currently on the vehicle won't be removed until tuesday anyway. Does that count for anything? Or against anything?

And if this mythic 14 day grace period doesn't exist, why is it such a popular answer?

What's the least amount of coverage I need to drive a rental car legally?

nikkorizz — Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:08:10 -0800

What's the least amount of insurance coverage I need to drive a rental car legally? Presently, I have no auto insurance and would like to rent a car without getting suckered into paying for coverage that I don't need simple because the sales agent recommends it. Cheap and legal are the keywords here. I have no insurance. Furthermore, I'm under 25(but over 21). I don't have a car and I don't have auto insurance. I live in the U.S., particularly in the western Pennsylvania area, but I will be driving to Ohio during this rental car trip.

With a quick call to Hertz, and some other car rental companies, I have determined that I can drive a rental without personal auto insurance as long as I purchase *their*coverage.

But exactly how much insurance do I need? I'm pretty sure that rental companies will sell me every type of coverage they can, but all that can't be necessary to keep me legal, can it?

On the renter's website I see options for Damage Waiver, Personal Accident Insurance / Personal Effects Coverage, Supplemental Liability Protection. After some research on 3rd party sites, it seems like Liability Protection is all I need. Is that right?

As a side note, I heard over the grapevine that credit cards also offer some coverage. Should I also consider this?

Should we repair unclaimed damage before an inspection?

Anonymous — Thu, 29 May 2008 13:18:22 -0800

Ontario car insurance. My wife and I have insurance through PC financial. Over the last year, our cars have been damaged, but we haven't filed a claim. Now, they've requested an inspection of our cars. Is this just to ensure they don't pay for preexisting damage in the event of future claims, or can we expect them to get mad/raise rates for this? My wife's car was damaged when I was a blind idiot in a parking lot. I did about $800-1000 damage to my wife's car which we haven't gotten fixed, and about $900 in damage to a nice lady's car. We paid her cash (the quote to repair the damage came much lower than we were anticipating), and had her sign an agreement/receipt for the cash and that she had no further claims against us. 5+ months later and we haven't heard further from her. Neither party reported this to the police. This is a newer, but low sticker price car.

Someone tried unsuccessfully to break into my car. In the process of this, both door handles were popped partially out of the car. I had an estimate of $300 to fix. It's a mid-age low sticker price car. We had reported this to the police. We were told that there was a series of successful auto thefts in our area that night, to consider ourselves lucky that they failed with my car, and that they were unlikely to catch the culprits. This occured 6-12 months ago.

We have just enough money in savings to get these fixed if we need to. But we're alright with the unsightliness and would rather have the money for future emergencies that don't involve cosmetic damage to possessions.

Should we get the cars fixed ASAP and then bring them in for the inspection? Should we have notified the insurance company of damage to the cars that we weren't making claims for and then bring the cars in? Should we just bring the cars in and let them make notes and then go our merry way? Should we start budgeting for a rate increase?

How long can I drive a car before turning it over to the insurance company?

tss — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 12:07:15 -0800

Someone hit my car. Their insurance company wants to total it. How long can I drive it before they take it away? I hope you'll bear with me. This will take some explaining:

Here in Pennsylvania, my '97 Nissan Sentra was fender-bent by a nice person who left a note under my wipers. As an older vehicle, the Nissan's repair costs are higher than its value... by a little bit. I had the car checked and it's mechanically sound, safe, and even capable of passing an ordinary PA state inspection. However, the insurance company wants to declare it a total loss and take it off my hands.

I could buy it back from the insurance company after they pay me for it, but then the car would be considered a "reconstructed vehicle". Here in PA that means a special, expensive, rigorous inspection designed to keep hucksters from selling totaled lemons to grannies. Passing that one could be hard for any ten year old car, I gather.

On the phone with the insurance company I've noticed that the representatives have been, well, coy about putting a date on when I have to decide what to do with my vehicle. I've been warned that waiting too long and building up mileage on the car will lower its value and hence diminish the eventual insurance payout. Which brought the question:

Me: So, ah, hypothetically speaking, what happens if I drive it around for, say, two years and then make up my mind?

Rep: I don't like to deal in hypotheticals...

She went on to say that the claim would be closed and reopened, and then repeated her warning about the car's value dropping with more mileage. But she didn't fit a deadline. Does this mean that, basically, I can drive my car around until I was planning to get rid of it anyway, and assuming I don't have an accident, the insurance company is obliged to buy it when I'm done with it for what it would be worth without the big dent? Here are the questions I need help with:

First, see question above. Then, assuming the answer is yes,

Is it ethical? Some thoughts about who's involved: the insurance company would be paying me anyway---now they can hold onto the money longer and invest it, then pay me less money in the end. The company might also choose not to raise the rates of the at-fault party until the payment---good for the at-fault party now, but perhaps an unexpected surprise later on. I'm owed money for my loss, but if my plans haven't really changed, how much of a loss is it? (Trade-in value, I suppose...)

Is it legal? This I can't answer... perhaps there's a statute of limitations? But the claim is already filed... it's just on hold. (YANAL, I know...)

What was my Toyota worth?

fish tick — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 19:25:55 -0800

How can I find the replacement value of a Canadian Toyota Echo? Mine's toast, and I don't want to get screwed by the insurance company. My 2002 Echo hit a patch of ice and rolled into a ditch, wrecking the windshield and crunching doors and roof. I'm sure the insurance company will consider it totalled, but my experience with insurance companies is not nice, and I expect the worst. I've found a few American sites, but is there a Canadian resource somewhere that can give me a good idea of the actual worth of my car?

Does being a dependent on someone else's tax filings make them liable for your actions?

jbb7 — Fri, 09 Feb 2007 21:55:26 -0800

Legal liability and auto insurance questions (fun!): Is there any reason I should purchase more than the minimum insurance coverage in my state (California)? Does being a dependent on my parents' tax filings make them liable for damages in court if I, say, caused an automobile accident? The situation is like this: They have car insurance back in our home state, but I want to get a cheap policy for a cheap car where I'm living in CA. I got a Geico quote with the minimum legal coverage on everything, and my mom says I can't get that, since they would be personally liable for any damages I cause should they exceed what the insurance covers.

The reason she gave was that since I am a dependent on their tax forms, they are legally liable for my actions. (Even though I am 18 and not living at, or anywhere near, home.) Is this true?

Bonus question: Since they claim me as a dependent, I can't take the standard tax deduction on my decent-sized income. This makes my tax bills quite high as a percentage of my total income. They do not financially support me beyond extending their health insurance to me, which they say is only allowed by the insurance provider because they are claiming me as a dependent. Is this generally the way that parents of people 18 through 22 do it? (I am working this year but will be attending college for 4 years after that, during which I plan to have decent income.) I don't think my parents are trying to rip me off, I just think they don't really have time to figure out all of this and so they just stick with the status quo.

And where do I get the lambs?

schroedinger — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 08:43:28 -0800

Auto Insurance: What? I'm going to be buying my first car. I have no idea how to start looking for auto insurance. I live in Maryland. The car's going to be a borderline junker (used car, bought for no more than $2,000-$3,000) and I'm a college student, so whatever coverage I get will be the bare minimum.

How do I go about finding the lowest insurance? I know car types influence their decision. Sports cars are right out, red cars are supposedly bad, Hondas are easily stolen, older cars get more expensive quotes. You can improve your insurance by modifying your car so it's harder to steal. Then you have to pick the best deal from a company--GEICO or Allstate? Random mom 'n' pop operation (do these exist)? How do I balance cost of insurance versus cost of car versus cost of modifications to maximize cost-benefit? How many pure-white lambs should I sacrifice to the insurance gods to get a good deal, and is it OK for me to wear a loincloth to the midnight ceremonies or do I really have to be stark naked?

Missing my ride

xo — Thu, 20 Jul 2006 15:06:58 -0800

My non-pimped ride (1993 sedan, BB value: $825) was just totaled in an accident with a commercial truck (the truck driver's fault, and he was cited). Are there any ways to get the adjuster to value the car more highly than $825 so that I have any chance of replacing it? This car cost me $2K three years ago and nothing more than oil changes since, and has been completely reliable... to me, its value was like a new car, since I never had to do anything to it and it always ran. $825 would not get me anything comparable.

Also, I haven't rented a replacement car, but I would like to if I could be more sure they'd pay for it. Are they likely to pay, considering that at $60+tax a day, in 10 days I'd have exceeded the value of my car just in rentals? My car insurance policy has a $1K deductible and no car rentals, and I haven't heard back yet from the truck's insurance claims people.