Insurance -vs- deductible ... what did you go with ?

[Alex007]

Hi ! First post here, been reading for a few weeks, you guys seem to have a very nice community, I'm happy to join you

I just got my new Fit yesterday, a nice metallic blue 2009 DX with AC. Nothing too fancy, GF and I needed a reliable car to take us to work everyday. My old beater (2000 Kia Sephia, almost at 200'000 km) was about to die, so after LOTS of reading, we bought a Fit. So far we LOVE it, it is just plain awesome.

Now, this is my first "brand new" car, the previous one was bought used so I took very basic insurance and didn't really care if I got dents or anything. But now that the Fit is brand new, I'm wondering what people usually do with their insurance, especially about deductible.

Basically, I have four choices:

- High deductible (500$). This lowers my monthly cost, but also restrains me from making reclamations. Basically any repair under 500$ is fully paid by me. In a way this is good since my insurance will not go up because I made reclamations, but also sucks because paying 500$ ON TOP of my monthly bill would suck if I do get any kind of damage.

- Medium deductible (250$). This costs only 10$ more per month than the 500$ deductible. This is what I currently have. This seems the best of both world, small damages are paid in full by me, anything bigger and I share the bill with the insurer.

But after reading a lot, some people seem to recommend going even lower, since this is a new car and I'd like to keep it in perfect shape ...

- Low deductible (~100$). I don't have a quote for this yet ... but I expect it will cost much more than 10-20$ to go that low. Also, my insurance has a good chance of going up when I renew if I do make a few reclamations.

- NO deductible (0$). I expect this will cost a lot, on top of having my insurance go up since I stick them with the full bill everything I make a reclamation.

So .... what did you go with, and why ? Also, if you can tell, how much does this cost you ?

[Alex007]

Originally Posted by Alex007

Hi ! First post here, been reading for a few weeks, Also, if you can tell, how much does this cost you ?

Forgot to say what I pay ...

I have 1 million $ in "social responsibility" damages to others, and the rest is pretty basic, with a 250$ deductible. Costs me about 140$ / month.

Should go lower than that soon since 5 years ago I rear-ended a car in traffic and cause 3K$ damages to my Kia (and less than 500$ to the other car). In a year that claim will be cleared from my file and I'll get a better price.

[Super Mario]

I work for Wawanesa Insurance here in San Diego (the only Wawanesa in the U.S.) so I get a nice discount on my insurance. You should look into Wawanesa, especially since you're in Canada. They're a good company and from what I've seen has the best prices on coverage. They'll only insure you if you have a clean record though.

I'd say buy whatever you feel comfortable with. If you've never been in an accident and you view yourself as a safe driver then $500 would be good. If you can afford the extra $10 - $20 per month for a lower deductible then that would be great, but that adds up to an extra +-$200/year. It would be worth it if you're accident prone or if you have bad luck (whether your fault or not).

My Bodily Injury is $100K/300K
Property Damage $100K
Comprehensive is $100 deductible (because I feel like my car is more susceptible to vandalism/theft than an accident).
Collision is $500 deductible because I have never been in an accident and I feel like I'm a safe driver.

With my discount I'm paying $63/month.

[Malice101]

I run with a $500.00 deductible...a minor fender bender these days is easily over that number. Paying a few bucks more per month for a $250.00 is a waste of money IMO...

[Watsoff]

$250 deduct = ~ $2 more per month (for me at least), so I'll pay it...too many sh*t drivers in GA. The bell curve is narrow, so $100 deduct meant $100+ extra per month.

...I guess it pays to have clean rec, house+another car, and old balls.

[kenchan]

i think both of my Fits are 500 deductible. ive yet to pay anything out of pocket for accidents. plus minor damages i can fix myself including dings and dents.

really depends on your driving habits, location, etc. if i was in a higher theft/vandalism area i would do 100 deductible mainly for the comprehensive coverage.

[SportMTNavi]

I have $50 deductible on comprehensive. $500 on collision. Comprehensive takes care of the glass, busted condenser, hitting a deer, etc. It's very cheap to get a low deductible on comprehensive. Almost no premium difference.



This is my back yard. Sooner or later you hit one. Why spend more than $50?

Cheers

[ruffytdog]

I go with high deductible. Mainly because anything that requires going to the body shop seem to require a minimum of $1k.

Dings and windshields doesn't happen too often and are not too expensive. Although, some insurance companies cover windshields.

[hoss10]

At least up here in Ontario Can. You would never file a claim for a small repair because you insurance would go up. So why in the world would you have anything less then a 1000.00 deductable?
I also don't have collision if I own the car (don't have payments). I know it's a gamble but I feel that if own it I can take the hit if something happens to it.