How much do you pay for car insurance in the US? Mine is 1,200NZD per year, about 730USD
I use Geico and they give a breakdown of the cost per vehicle. My full size pickup is double the cost of my wife's mid-size SUV, which I cannot argue against.
The first dollar in any claim is always paid, the last dollar hardly ever, so the first dollar is worth more. Maximum deductible also reduces the chance you’ll involve insurance at all. Why report a $200 fix when your deductible is $1000?
Comprehensive insurance is for when you CANNOT afford to lose the car. If it would be painful but you’d survive, you probably don’t need it.
As a general rule - You should buy insurance on something when you both 1) have to have it and 2) can't afford to replace it.
Once you can afford to comfortably absorb a loss equal to the value of your car, you should consider dropping collision and comprehensive. For me that's when the car is worth less than around $5k.
I pay ~$50 per month for 5k miles per year for $500k liability coverage and uninsured/underinsured coverage.
But I also have a few million in umbrella coverage, so not sure if it’s even comparable.
Some places have insurance laws that will make people say "wait, car insurance pays for that?"
Also, most of the reason US car insurance is so expensive is due to the cost of healthcare, which is paid for in other ways in many other countries.
It looked identical when they were done, but I ended up getting a check cut for half the value of the new panel because the used one was so much cheaper.
As I was in college at the time, a free $800 made my day.
> insurance companies insisting that shitty used parts were fine
That's not up to the insurance company, because they aren't the ones sourcing the parts or doing the repairs. You go to a body shop that either works directly with the insurance company, or the company cuts you a check in the shops name for the quoted work.
It makes no sense whatsoever to put a brand new body panel on a car that's already lost 70-80% of the MSRP value to depreciation... IF the used parts are not damaged already, and the paint matches. Again, though, that's in the hands of the mechanic, not the insurance company.