Collision insurance in expensive state
 

My current insurance is nearly 740 for the year here in expensive NJ. The car is 3 weeks in my possession. Dropping collision would take it down to mid 500s. I think it's crazy to spend nearly 8% of the car's value on insurance if I don't have to. Am I crazy for wanting to carry the risk of fixing my car on my dime should I cause an at fault accident? Not looking for legal advice just wanted to check what everyone else is covering on these old(ER) cars.

What are the limits for the comprehensive for that price? I was paying $1300/yr on mine for comp/collision (100/300/100) with one of the two big "direct" insurers (only car on that policy), but dropped that to $360/yr by putting it on a collector policy with my 911 (both garaged, not driven much).

Highest limits. Covered by my umbrella too. I drove it too much for collector policy. Just feels odd paying $100 less than I pay for my $53k BMW.

Just changed carriers and they directly quoted without collision. I asked why and they said age. I countered with ... it is still worth $10k give or take... I put collision back on. An extra $200-$250/year.
My reasoning: it wouldn't take much to get over deductible and the 250/yr though I suspect they would total at a very under valued price

I hate paying insurance
Now they want me to put a driving behavior tracker in it as well

I added the 98 a few months ago. The 12 Edge Sport is the only other vehicle on the policy. The Boxster has 100/300 coverage. Designated it primary driver rated at 24,000 miles a year. Cost me $264 a year.

$700 sounds high. Did I mis something? Do you have any other vehicles on that policy?

I'm in New Jersey, for starters. And yes I have 2 other cars and a home policy as well.

You will think it is expensive until you use it. We had a parts delivery truck back into a parked customer's car, total accident damage came in at just over $9,000 for both vehicles; $238 to fix the truck, the rest to fix the Boxster......

Do you have an insurance broker, or did you source your own policy? I've been using the same outfit, out of Thousand Oaks, for almost 2 decades. They contact me once a year if they've found me a less expensive policy.

Tried AAA, once. Once.

Do you receive a good driver discount? Multiple vehicle discount? Multiple policy discount? Any other discounts to which you might be entitled? You might be leaving money on the table.

That doesn't seem too bad. My 986 and 924S are both around $650/yr. Dropping collision would save me about $200/year each. That's something, but it's not like its crazy expensive either.

I've found pretty good rates in NJ with High Point, Liberty Mutual and now Travelers over the years. Last time I switched I found out that insurers can look at your credit rating and if it's good they will reduce your rate. I learned that when I switched from Liberty Mutual to Travelers. Liberty Mutual wasn't using my credit rating and I was paying a lot more. When I found out about it from Travelers, Liberty re-quoted me based on my good credit but still couldn't match Travelers so I switched.

You can also select the limitation on lawsuit or Tort Threshold option in NJ which could significantly reduce your premiums. That is something you should discuss with a competent insurance broker or other professional advisor before just doing.

What is your deductible? Could you afford to total your car? What is your record? Is collision necessary for uninsured motorist coverage?

Rates vary wildly by state. I went from the Washington DC area driving 12k a year daily to and from work 15 miles in dense traffic to rural NC retired 8k pleasure only and my rates went up by 50%. I expected them to go down. But rural accidents are really really expensive and the number of uninsured is much higher.

That's about what I was paying in NJ for my 04s. That was with NJM.

You could rack up 5k in a fender bender real quick on these cars.

Try adding three boys under 25 to your policy...no accidents and still $3.3K/6months for 5 cars, only one of which is newer than 2005.

Unless you can "self-insure" the car (i.e., afford to replace the car on your own dime), you really need collision insurance.

This is especially important in regards to an uninsured or under-insursured loss. My first Boxster was totaled by an under-insured driver (who had only the minimum $15K liability coverage). She caused over $20K in physical damage which maxed out here insurance so there was nothing left to pay my claim so my collision insurance covered my car.