I endorse this advice as vehemently as possible. I was rear-ended by a massively reckless driver 7 years ago. My new to me car was totaled, I got a TBI that ended my professional career and essentially impoverished me for the rest of my life, as well as seriously impaired the quality of my remaining years no matter how much I try to to recover cognitive function. The other driver damaged their plastic bumper cover, tossed it to the side of the interstate and drove home to another state after the officer wrote them a ticket for reckless driving, where they promptly made their assets untouchable. My medical costs quickly exhausted their meager liability. My health insurance wouldn’t pay anything because it happened where there was liability for another-not their problem. The feds seize my tax refunds and funds every month out of my Social Security 7 years later to reimburse them for thousands of dollars for medical care and therapy that providers inappropriately billed them for.
I have since then drastically increased my coverage for under- and uninsured coverage but 100s of thousands of dollars too late. And, indeed, it only costs a few dollars a month, just do it.
Expensive car means expensive insurance, so you save more by not insuring yourself against loss.
The replacement cost of the car can’t be considered in a vacuum; it needs to be weighed against one’s finances. I have no idea about the OP’s finances, but if (hypothetically) they’ve got a basement full of cash and can buy an entire fleet of Corollas on a moment’s notice, why would they waste a dime on insurance?
They said it was a 2023. Which might have been new, but the 2025s have been on sale for about 5 months. So a 2023 was probably a low-mileage dealer car, or some sort of early lease turn in. So IMO probably not a near-zero mileage car. But low mileage is IMO quite likely.
Given what the OP has told us of their general financial situation I’d lay strong odds the car is financed. Which means the lender insists on insurance.
I’m not meaning to cast aspersions with that statement. My car is financed and my lender demands I insure it also.
Yeah, the car (secondhand) was bought for a little under $19,000. The last two accidents I had were hit-and-runs where the drivers fled the scene, but they were 3 and 7 years ago. I don’t plan on driving much but am thinking collision coverage with a high deductible is the way to go.
I think you may have stretched the conclusion a little further than the discussion warrants. It may or may not be an option for OP depending on various factors in his life about which we don’t know enough. It would certainly be an option for other people, also depending on their circumstances.
My car is a 2008 Corolla with under 21K miles. I walk everywhere I can. When someone ran into me, totaled my car, and left the scene – my uninsured motorist coverage didn’t apply. The reason: I couldn’t prove the guy who drove away didn’t have insurance.
Don’t just talk to your insurance agent. Talk to an insurance broker who writes policies with an array of insurance companies. Then check back with them every year because the rates change all the time. My broker told me that there’s no rhyme nor reason to why one company charges more or less than another each year; it’s just algorithms.
There are a few insurance companies that don’t use brokers - you’ll have to call or look those up online yourself. Geico, Progressive, Travelers, at least used to be lone wolves (and were always more expensive than the company the broker found) .
I get the impression that there are no online insurance comparison sites in the US, is that right? There are probably about a dozen of them in the UK. You enter details about the car, where you live, etc and the site pushes the data out to all the individual insurance companies and quotes come back within a minute.
I’d love to use tracker-based insurance since I do less than 1000 miles/year but it seems the tracker isn’t compatible with my car.
In the UK where car insurance is compulsory (Get caught without and they can crush your car) there are generally two kinds of insurance: Third party fire and theft, and comprehensive.
TPF&T is sometime the best choice for an old car in poor condition, but car repair is expensive and in most cases Fully Comp is the best choice. The many insurance comparison sites give the opportunity to compare all kinds of parameters such as annual mileage.
Those with vintage/cherished, rare valuable cars, can usually arrange suitable insurance through the appropriate club to which they will usually be affiliated.
There are anomalies though. I also do less than 6k pa, and found that most insures don’t care under 10k. Paradoxically, in many cases TPF&T cam be more expensive than Fully Comp because the underwriters consider that it reflects the character of the driver (note that it is the driver who is insured)
In college, I’d walk to the grocery store but had to time it for the bus going home otherwise my knuckles would be bloody from scraping on the sidewalk with the weight of the bags…& no, those old lady carts were waaay to uncool for a 20yo.
Two thoughts, I don’t know where you live but in my state you’re emission exempt if you drive < 5000 / year so look to see if there’s any potential savings to you from your state’s inspection process.
If you’re not bundling your insurance, maybe look to one of the classic car insurance companies, like Hagerty. They’re very used to dealing with low mileage cars (though there may be an exclusion for daily-drivers); don’t know if they’d be any savings or not.
I hope you checked with a lawyer. That’s definitely not the law in my state. In fact, the insurance statute requires UIM insurance to include “hit and run” situations.
Here’s typical language from a WA policy:
(2) “Underinsured motor vehicle” means a land motor vehicle or trailer of any type: …
…
(c) Which is a hit and run vehicle whose operator or owner cannot be identified and which hits or which causes an accident resulting in bodily injury or property damage without hitting:
Are you sure that’s the reason? I believe in some states UIM coverage only covers bodily injury, not vehicle damage. Which makes a lot more sense than not covering a hit and run
ETA I just checked and in NY it only covers injuries.
