Comprehensive and collision deductibles?

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I'm curious what you all like to keep your comprehensive and collision deductibles at on your car insurance.

I guess it depends largely on how old your car is and what it's still worth, but especially for those of you with vehicles in good shape and still worth enough, I would like to hear from you and your reasoning on the deductible picked.

If you're a very good driver with no at fault accidents, it seems like raising the collision deductible could pay off in the long run. I think comprehensive, on the other hand, is smart to keep at a slightly lower level though... Thoughts?
 
500 is standard until your car is either too old, somehow lost value such as becoming salvaged.

I have 1000 on my 2000 accord, its really there incase the car is totaled for the 3rdtime ( you heard right, the insurance called it total twice and i fixed it with less than 1500 each time).

Paint is in bad shape and tranny died last year, but everything else is perfect.
 
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I keep all my deductibles as high as I can, both on my auto and homeowner's insurance. Helps keep the premium down, and I wouldn't file a claim on a small loss anyway.
 
I think our collision deductible was $500 before we dropped it. I remember on my first car in 1972 it was $100...another measure of how much things have changed.
 
If you don't drive much, move your collision deductible up. I use $1000 because I do not drive on a daily basis to/from work. It has more than paid for itself in reduced premiums over the past few years.

Comprehensive I keep fairly low because [censored] happens. Car got vandalized a few years ago (egged), and I had a broken windshield last fall.
 
After my tires got slashed, I am dropping to $100.

I dropped it from $1000 to $500 when the difference was less than $2 for 6 months.
 
I don't carry collision or comprehensive on any of my vehicles. My personal threshold is a vehicle value of $15,000-less than that and I'll save the collision and comprehensive premiums and pay for any damage out of my vehicle savings fund.

When the day comes that I replace one of my existing vehicles I'll review the costs, and if I decide the numbers warrant including collision/comprehensive insurance I'll choose the highest deductible possible my premium allows.

I carry the maximum available medical on our policy. People are much more expensive to fix than vehicles.

It's a strategy that currently keeps our insurance costs below $1000/year for 4 vehicles.
 
Originally Posted By: Miller88
After my tires got slashed, I am dropping to $100.

I dropped it from $1000 to $500 when the difference was less than $2 for 6 months.

I had it 1000 after paying 3k cuz vandalism etc, I dropped it to 100
Premium went up 50$ per 6months
 
Here's the way I look at it:

Insurance is for budgeting purposes to cover events that you can't otherwise handle. If you have the financial resources to cover the higher deductible, do it. There is no free lunch. If you have a claim, they are going to raise your premiums to at least partially cover it anyway, so tell me again why I need insurance for small stuff. If you live paycheck to paycheck and can't save enough to cover the higher deductible, by all means you need more insurance.

If you can go seven years between accidents you come out ahead with higher deductible.

My wife had an accident and the adjuster asked "don't wish you have a lower deductible?" My answer would be "why would I want to higher $1000 higher premiums over time to save $500 when an accident happens?".
 
Insurance is betting against yourself.

I prefer to carry the absolute minimum that makes sense. I'll take the risk.

Over the last 30 years, I've spend less money on insurance, and the savings more than cover the cost of a new car today. Put another way, If my car "disappears" overnight, I'll still be financially ahead purchasing a new car tomorrow.

That money not spent on insurance was put to good use elsewhere.
 
Insurance is like a casino. They pay out a lot less than what they take in.

The likelihood of a catastrophic loss is slim but does happen.
 
Collision: $1000, Comprehensive: Zero.

I've carried a zero on comprehensive forever, when a college friend of mine went into the insurance biz made the recommendation. His advice has paid off, since those are the only claims I've ever made.

Collision claims raise your rates to a degree that I'd pay out of pocket for anything under 1K anyway--and it saves a lot on the total policy; meanwhile, the zero on comprehensive adds very little to the policy. I've made out on windshield replacements alone.

I'm going to bet a lot of folks saying "max deductible on everything" have never actually looked at the cost difference on comprehensive.

From a philosophical standpoint, I don't mind hedging against my own driving--but comprehensive is a bit more out of my control! One windshield replacement over a 25 year period and you'll probably come out ahead.
 
I keep more than enough emergency fund available to pay a deductible or any realstic damage out of pocket if need be. Knock on wood Ive not needed to use it, hope I never will.

I do keep it on newer cars, and really just arbitrarily remove it when they get older.

Id be hesitant to use it for anything short of a really major, totalling incident, because your rates will likely rise if this is used, and so it may not necessarily pay out in the end for more minor damage.

Also should look at the difference in pricing between 0, 250, 500, 1000, 2000 and 2500 (ive seen those all offered at times), and figure based upon how often you may use it, if the cost delta is better off in your pocket or paid to them. for example, if it is $25/yr difference between $500 and $2500 deductible, you may not want to go high deductible as youll never make up in premiums the cost the one time you use it and have to pay.
 
I keep my comp at $100 and collision at $500. Not sure if bright to pay for it on a 05 car with 170k miles but so much easier having insurance deal with the stuff we had.

In the last 4 years 5 insurance claims. No increase oddly. So I don't believe the hype about rates increase. One incident was my fault (abliet $400 damage).
 
Depends on the car.

Older 2 - I used to carry comp. with $0 glass deductible and $500 for everything else. I was really getting it for glass only and just decided to drop it given the premium vs. new glass cost. No collision - debated putting it on the Cobalt but it's currently a "spare" and not getting driven much.

"New" car have it set at $1000 - I suppose I should re-price the comp, though I remember the spread being more than a few dollars.
 
Originally Posted By: rjundi


In the last 4 years 5 insurance claims. No increase oddly. So I don't believe the hype about rates increase. One incident was my fault (abliet $400 damage).


While it depends on your state's laws, your overall number of claims and even your credit history, claims where you aren't at fault generally don't raise your rates. You're right, there's a lot of hype and fear mongering, and I'm sure the insurance companies like that...

In 30 years of driving, I've have 6 claims: car broken into twice, hit a deer on 2 occasions and I've broken 2 windshields. My rates either stated the same or went down (due to the car's age or my age) every single time. Paying out of pocket when I'm paying for insurance would have been silly, IMO. If I also had some tickets or at fault accidents (I haven't), or had a bad credit rating, those claims may have affected things differently. There's no "right answer"--it's situational, but claims don't always result in an increase in rates, and high deductibles on comprehensive may not make much sense.
 
$1000 collision.

$0 comprehensive - I don't want to be out of pocket for something that's not my fault.
 
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