I always carried the minimum liability and property in addition to $1,000 deductible Collision and Comprehensive. Maybe I should consider geting a higher level rather than the minimum required? I would appreciate input from other drivers. Ed
Required vs Needed Insurance?
- Thread starter Eddie
- Start date
I do not know if you own a house, or other property, but look into an Umbrella Policy with a 1 - 2 million dollar limit for more liability coverage. Also, as the upper limit of the policy goes up (say from 1 to 5 million dollars, the premium only goes up a little and not a lot.
Talk to your insurance agent for more specifics.
Talk to your insurance agent for more specifics.
In this litigious society if you own anything you dont want to loose you need to carry more than the minimum. Carry the deductible you would feel comfortable paying if you hit a deer. About 15 years ago at a stop light the woman in front of me started to move then stopped suddenly and I bumped her. Totally my fault but the bump did not even bend the license plate which took the direct hit. She sued me for whiplash and my ins co settled for something like 15k even though I had pictures of the damage and her jumping out of the car to yell at me on my dash cam. She did not own the car and there was no damage claim.
I now carry 300/300/100k and it only costs $65/yr more than the basic.
I now carry 300/300/100k and it only costs $65/yr more than the basic.
With umbrellas usually you need a higher than minimum policy as a requisite. What's minimum in FL?
Regardless its likely too little... can you afford to lose everything if something happens? I guess its risk management in life. I think ours is 250/500/100 or something like that, plus a 1 mil umbrella.
4 cars (two with comp) + house = $3500/yr
Regardless its likely too little... can you afford to lose everything if something happens? I guess its risk management in life. I think ours is 250/500/100 or something like that, plus a 1 mil umbrella.
4 cars (two with comp) + house = $3500/yr
Anymore, if you cause an accident, you can bank on being sued. Bump your coverage up to spare your savings account that hit.
I can't speak for coverage in Florida, but in many states (like Maryland, Connecticut, and Indiana), the insurance company that issues the umbrella policy requires that one have the state minimums for automotive liability insurance on cars, and then anything over that is taken care of by the umbrella policy. I just went through this a couple of years ago when we switched insurance carriers for home, auto, and umbrella coverage.
I have the max available for auto. $500 deductible. Don’t want to lose my house. Probably won’t ever afford another.
AZjeff
$50 Site Donor 2023
States are probably different but here a person found responsible for a fatality in civil court can't be sued homeless and penniless.
That said if you were responsible for injuring or killing another person is the minimum amount of coverage necessary (to save some premium money) morally okay with you?
That said if you were responsible for injuring or killing another person is the minimum amount of coverage necessary (to save some premium money) morally okay with you?
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That might be a state law. I have pretty close to the max for coverage, but for the umbrella policy they wanted it upped to the max.
As for the OP, like others said, upping your coverage a bit doesn't really cost that much more. Most accidents are in the minimum range but you never know when you might hit an expensive car. Same for comprehensive, I dropped it once then had a glass claim, cost me several hundred out of pocket but comprehensive wasn't that much more. Probably took me years to recoup any savings. That's why I do 0 deductible on glass. Then I didn't have to run around calling various junkyards for used glass and finding a shop to do it cheap. When you have coverage, you basically go to whatever shop is closest and get it all covered. Less hassle. If you're only going to save $5-10 over a $250-$300 vs $1000 deducible, then pay the extra $5-$10. Would take you 10+ years to save enough to make the high deductible worth it.
Ok just for fun, I checked my policy and lowering my deducible for comprehensive to $1000 from $300 saves me $55 a year. Basically I'd have to go 12+ years without a claim to make the savings worthwhile. Any claim in that 12 year period and you're better off with the lower deducible. Just basically boils down to how lucky do you feel over the next 12+ years. In the past, I've had my car stolen and recovered and also radios stolen. That hasn't happened in a long while but comprehensive would kick in for those and cover the repairs afterwards.
Insurance is to protect YOU if you have something to lose. These days a simple "pain and emotional suffering" lawsuit can easily cost 300k on your personal property.
I will review and increase my insurance thanks to the input. Ed Hayes
When an off duty fire fighter tried to kill my daughter by making a left turn right in front of her and turned out to only have $ 50,000 liability insurance, I learned the importance of having uninsured/underinsured coverage on my auto policies. The medical bills came to nearly $ 500,000. The worthless fire fighter was in debt to the hilt, so there was nothing to go after. That uninsured/underinsured coverage can be the most important auto insurance you have.
Depends on your own net worth.
AZjeff
$50 Site Donor 2023
Do you want to be that person?
