Auto Insurance for an inactive car of my college bound kid

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jlm411
Posts: 22
Joined: Thu Sep 08, 2016 5:05 pm

Auto Insurance for an inactive car of my college bound kid

Post by jlm411 »

My daughter has gone to college as a freshman. She is not allowed to have a car on the campus during freshman year. We have parked her car in the garage until next summer. Car (2017-Toyota Corolla) value is about $13K. My insurance company will just drop collision coverage for the inactive car. Insurance company still requires me to carry Bodily Injury/Uninsured motorist/Property damage and comprehensive parts of the insurance. This will cost me $550 in insurance for the car.

My question is: Should we just drop the coverage altogether for this car? We have 3 other cars so if daughter comes home for a short break she will have a vehicle to drive. Car will be parked inside the garage until next summer and if something terrible happens to car then we can afford to replace it.

I have 2 options:
Option 1: Pay $550 to insure garage parked car.
Option 2: Save $550 and remove the insurance on this car.

What would you do? Thanks for your advice.
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JoMoney
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Joined: Tue Jul 23, 2013 5:31 am

Re: Auto Insurance for an inactive car of my college bound kid

Post by JoMoney »

jlm411 wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 6:38 am... Car will be parked inside the garage until next summer and if something terrible happens to car then we can afford to replace it...
Sounds like not only a very very low-risk situation, but a risk you can handle without a major financial impact. Not something I would insure.
Plenty of room for people to disagree about how they feel about the risk, but I don't have comprehensive coverage on the 2017 Hyundai I use as a daily driver :wink:
I'm somewhat curious if homeowners insurance would cover a car stolen from inside a garage, I expect they have explicit exclusions for vehicles, but I don't know.
"To achieve satisfactory investment results is easier than most people realize; to achieve superior results is harder than it looks." - Benjamin Graham
ctfish
Posts: 81
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2013 6:52 pm

Re: Auto Insurance for an inactive car of my college bound kid

Post by ctfish »

Watch out for a gap on insurance causing you to lose the plate. Fishy situation with the DMV.
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JoMoney
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Re: Auto Insurance for an inactive car of my college bound kid

Post by JoMoney »

^ I imagine the vehicle is still on the owners policy for liability coverage, you're just dropping the collision/comprehensive... is that correct?
"To achieve satisfactory investment results is easier than most people realize; to achieve superior results is harder than it looks." - Benjamin Graham
chemocean
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Joined: Mon Dec 19, 2016 8:45 pm

Re: Auto Insurance for an inactive car of my college bound kid

Post by chemocean »

My insurance company requires documentation showing sale of vehicle to drop insurance. Dropping insurance and changing car's status to low mileage (<1000 mi/yr) should decrease cost while maintaining adequate liability coverage and flexibility.
user5027
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Joined: Sat Jun 16, 2012 8:54 pm

Re: Auto Insurance for an inactive car of my college bound kid

Post by user5027 »

I always think of the possible outcomes. Someone breaks into or enters your open garage, takes the car (they found the key or hotwire, can they still do that?), drives away on a joyride and is involved in a fatal accident or one involving an injury to a high paid lawyer driving an exotic car.

I'd like to have insurance.
cshell2
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Re: Auto Insurance for an inactive car of my college bound kid

Post by cshell2 »

My insurance company gave a pretty substantial discount on insurance for my college student that was at school more than 100 miles away and didn't take his car. He can still drive it when he's home over breaks and the summer without changing the status of "student away". Meanwhile, I drive it a lot now that he's gone because it gets much better mileage than my van. :wink:
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dodecahedron
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Re: Auto Insurance for an inactive car of my college bound kid

Post by dodecahedron »

jlm411 wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 6:38 am My daughter has gone to college as a freshman. She is not allowed to have a car on the campus during freshman year. We have parked her car in the garage until next summer. Car (2017-Toyota Corolla) value is about $13K. My insurance company will just drop collision coverage for the inactive car. Insurance company still requires me to carry Bodily Injury/Uninsured motorist/Property damage and comprehensive parts of the insurance. This will cost me $550 in insurance for the car.

My question is: Should we just drop the coverage altogether for this car? We have 3 other cars so if daughter comes home for a short break she will have a vehicle to drive. Car will be parked inside the garage until next summer and if something terrible happens to car then we can afford to replace it.

I have 2 options:
Option 1: Pay $550 to insure garage parked car.
Option 2: Save $550 and remove the insurance on this car.

What would you do? Thanks for your advice.
I don't know about your state, but in my state the DMV will suspend my registration AND my driver's license if I drop liability insurance on a car registered in my name. There are expensive civil penalties to be paid during the lapse. (Turning in my license plates before discontinuing liability is the only way to avoid problems with DMV.)

https://dmv.ny.gov/insurance/insurance-lapses
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quantAndHold
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Location: West Coast

Re: Auto Insurance for an inactive car of my college bound kid

Post by quantAndHold »

Have you thought of just selling the car, and buying another one when you need it? Sitting for a year isn’t good for the car, and used car prices are pretty good right now.
realclemsongrad
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Joined: Sat May 16, 2020 4:37 pm

Re: Auto Insurance for an inactive car of my college bound kid

Post by realclemsongrad »

jlm411 wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 6:38 am My daughter has gone to college as a freshman. She is not allowed to have a car on the campus during freshman year. We have parked her car in the garage until next summer. Car (2017-Toyota Corolla) value is about $13K. My insurance company will just drop collision coverage for the inactive car. Insurance company still requires me to carry Bodily Injury/Uninsured motorist/Property damage and comprehensive parts of the insurance. This will cost me $550 in insurance for the car.

My question is: Should we just drop the coverage altogether for this car? We have 3 other cars so if daughter comes home for a short break she will have a vehicle to drive. Car will be parked inside the garage until next summer and if something terrible happens to car then we can afford to replace it.

I have 2 options:
Option 1: Pay $550 to insure garage parked car.
Option 2: Save $550 and remove the insurance on this car.

What would you do? Thanks for your advice.
We went with option 1 but Safeco gave us student away discount. We felt it was much easier as they can drive it when they are here for holidays. I really don't want to keep adding and removing it.

With all the discounts it was about $500 to keep the coverage.
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Harry Livermore
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Re: Auto Insurance for an inactive car of my college bound kid

Post by Harry Livermore »

cshell2 wrote: Fri Sep 17, 2021 11:51 am
My insurance company gave a pretty substantial discount on insurance for my college student that was at school more than 100 miles away and didn't take his car. He can still drive it when he's home over breaks and the summer without changing the status of "student away". Meanwhile, I drive it a lot now that he's gone because it gets much better mileage than my van. :wink:
Same.
Cheers
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