Old car insurance covers many different types of vehicles; some need special coverage and others don’t really need any at all.

Different older cars need different old car insurance.

To start off, let me state the obvious. If you are looking for information about your brand new car or truck, you are in the wrong post. Now, if you have something like a 1959 Buick Invicta this post about old car insurance is for you.

Old cars come in all sorts of different conditions. Some are restored to better-than-new condition and others would look prettier as a flower bed than they do sitting in your driveway. Other old cars fall in-between the two categories and are just there. How your car falls into one of these categories will determine what type of old car insurance you need.

Old Car Insurance for Classics

Classic cars actually have a special old car insurance of their own. In these special old car insurance policies, the value is determined differently. This is due to the age and that some of these cars have been modified or restored to conditions that are better than when they were new. Most old car insurance policies for classic cars are on a stated value. A stated value is when the insurance company and the owner of the vehicle agree on the value of that particular vehicle.

There are also restrictions placed by the insurance company as to the use and the storage of the vehicle by the owner. If the owner does not comply they no longer qualify for this special category of old car insurance. They will instead have to get insurance coverage for their classic car under a normal car insurance policy which may not protect their car as well as the special classic old car insurance.

Old Car Insurance for Junkers

Junkers are cars that are being kept out of the junkyard but the strength of the bungee cord holding them together. There is not much value to them and if they were to ever be in a car accident they would most likely be a total loss.

For these types of cars, old car insurance that has comprehensive and collision coverage is a waste of money. Now you still have to keep the liability portion of the old car insurance so don’t drop that. But, you will be paying out more in premium for the comprehensive and collision coverage than the insurance company will ever pay out for your vehicle. Just take the money you save from not having those two coverages on your old car insurance and put it in the bank. Then if anything happens to the car you can pay for it yourself.

Old Car Insurance for In-Betweens

Old car insurance for those cars that are not classics, but aren’t junkers yet either depends on you and your financial situation. If your older model car is in good shape and is still retaining a good value, you may want to consider keeping comprehensive and collision coverage on it. There is no reason to go without this coverage if it will benefit you in the event of an accident.

However, keep in mind that your car insurance company is only going to pay out so much on your old car insurance. If the amount that you are paying exceeds the amount that they would pay out if your vehicle was a total loss, drop the comprehensive and collision coverage from your old car insurance. Just like with the junker, put that money in a bank account. Only use this money when you need to pay for damage to your old car or need to buy a new car.

There is just no reason to keep handing the insurance company money for old car insurance if you would be better off financially with paying for any damages yourself.

Filing a comprehensive coverage claim for a deer accident can happen any time during the year, but the odds of one happening increase in the fall.

Fall brings cooler weather, beautiful colors and a spike your odds of having a deer accident.

This topic may feel more like a community service message than an insurance topic. However, all drivers need to be alert for a peak accident season coming up within the next month that you will need insurance coverage for.

Is it the drunk driving season? Well-yes, but we will cover that one in a different post.

The peak accident season that I am talking about right now is deer accident season. The higher number of deer on the roads this time of year increases your chance that you will end up having to file a claim for a deer accident.

Why the Peak in Deer Accidents?

For deer (and other animals) the fall holds two critical seasons for them. First, it is hunting season. But, contrary to popular belief, hunting season is not the reason for the increase in deer accidents. During hunting season deer still stay very close to their normal habitat. Also there is little hunting done close to the main roads to cause a deer to be spooked by a hunter and dart out into traffic.

Second, November is the mating month for deer. Now this is the main reason behind the increase in car vs. deer accidents. During mating season, deer venture off to find a mate. They leave their normal habitat and whether alone or with the herd they are going to be crossing roads to find that mate. Naturally, the more deer out on the roads the higher chance of a deer accident.

The roaming behavior during this time of year, in addition to more and more humans living in what is deer habitat, brings us together. Throw in a vehicle and an animal that spooks easily and you have the perfect conditions for a car/deer accident.

Why Comprehensive Coverage and Not Collision Coverage for Deer Accidents?

If you think about a deer accident, technically a collision has occurred. But, no matter if it is you hitting them or even them hitting you (yes, these animals have been known to run into vehicles), any animal hit actually falls under your comprehensive coverage. It doesn’t matter if the animal is alive when you hit them or dead it is all the same.

This is actually good news for you as comprehensive coverage claims have less impact on your insurance premium. Also your comprehensive coverage deductible is usually lower than your collision coverage deductible.

On the other side, if you were to swerve to miss a deer and you ran into a guardrail or a tree; this would fall under your collision coverage.

Lowering Deductible For Deer Accident Season

With the increased chance of having a deer accident during this time of year, you may want to consider lowering your comprehensive coverage deductible during this time. Yes, this will create a small increase in your comprehensive coverage premium. However, the increase will be smaller than what you would end up paying out for your comprehensive coverage deductible if you were to have a deer accident.

It would also be a good idea to add this coverage to your insurance if you don’t already have it. It is better to have the comprehensive coverage and not need it, rather than need it for a deer accident and not have it.

When all things are considered 21st Century shows that insurance companies are the same, except when it comes to insurance premium.

Summary

Commercial opens with a light blue car under the name of GEICO and a similar red car under the name of 21^st Century.  A man in a white jumper with the red 21^st Century logo on it and also wear a red hard hat with the same logo walks out on screen.

Announcer: How to choose the right car insurance made easy.  Start with two identical cars. One, covered by a leading insurance provider (man indicates to the car under the GEICO name), the other coverage by 21^st Century Insurance. Both cars have the same coverage, same low deductibles and……..

Man in the white jump suit takes a sledge hammer out of what looked like a musical instrument case.

Announcer: ….. oh, boy!

The man uses the sledgehammer to hit the front door of each car.

Announcer: The same door dings. Since both cars are covered (Screen shows the words “A Few Days Later”) both cars get the same repairs.  Here’s the difference, customers who switch over to 21^st Century save an average of 480 dollars every year.

Man pulls out a sign in the shape of a big red arrow pointing to the red car that says, “21^st SAVES $480”.

Announcer: If you’re switching from Progressive or Allstate, 21^st Century saves you even more.

Man switches sign to other hand and it changes from an arrow to a rectangle and says, “21^st SAVES $528”.

Announcer: why would anyone pay more for the same insurance? Why wouldn’t you pick up the phone today and compare for yourself? Call 21^st Century at 888-get-2121 (catchy number), 888-get-2121 or visit 21^st.com; 21^st Century auto insurance, the same great coverage for less.

Screen moves to an all red screen with the 21^st Century logo and motto.

Point of the Commercial

Although this is just another “were cheaper than the competition” commercial this one uses visual actions to bring the point home. 21^st Century shows us that all things can be the same from one insurance policy to the other as far as coverages and claims procedures. The only difference is, as they point out, that the price of their insurance is cheaper than the other guys.

What They Want you to Do

21^st Century would like you to give them a call for what your premium would be with them as compared to what you are paying now. They do a nice bit of advertising here to enforce you to call them also.

One, they show you their phone number. This enhances your visual memory of their phone number. Two, they point blank tell you to call them instead of leaving it up to you to figure out to call or not. Three, they tell you the phone number. Telling you the phone number enforces the visual memory of their number with an audio of the phone number. The fact that it is a “catchy number” also helps to enforce the audio memory.

My Opinion

I like this one. It could be because of that secret inner desire we all have to take a sledge hammer to a car (don’t tell me that if you were given a sledge hammer and told you could dent a car without consequence that you wouldn’t). It could also be because 21^st Century found a new, interesting way to tell us that they are cheaper than the competition. Honestly, it’s probably a mix of both.

Giving this one a thumbs up.

New technology is coming that will make driving safer and your car insurance premium cheaper.

New radar based safety systems will decrease the chance of bumper car driving on the roads.

What is the future going to hold in store for us as drivers? 

With the advances in technology being applied to our vehicles, how much longer will it be before all we have to do is type in our destination and the vehicle will drive us there? While driverless cars are not a reality quite yet, thanks to steps in technology our cars are starting to prevent us from being able to have an accident.  If you couldn’t have an accident think about what that would do to your car insurance premium.

What New Safety Features Could Affect Your Car Insurance Premium?

Side curtain airbags, anti-lock brakes and tracking systems are all safety features that you can find in most new cars today and have a direct affect on our car insurance premium. But, none of them compare to what is waiting just around the corner for us as far as new safety features for our vehicles.

Using radar technology, engineers have started to create safety systems in cars that alert us when danger of an accident is present. They can also take control and actually decelerate our vehicle to avoid rear ending someone. 

The radar can tell us when we need to brake harder to avoid hitting someone and it can tell us if there is someone in our blind spot to save us from changing lanes or turning into another car that we didn’t see.  It will be like having our very own NASCAR spotter to help us with those things that we don’t see.

Thanks to smaller car radar systems that can be installed in cars for cheaper than they used to, we are most likely going to be seeing more cars with these types of safety systems on the market here in the United States soon(insurance headlines).

Decrease in Insurance Claims

Per the National Safety Council there are over 2.5 million collisions each year from people rear ending another car. These statistics make rear end accidents the most common type of accidents in the nation and results in increased car insurance premium for the drivers that cause them.

If this new radar safety device in your vehicle prevents you from being able to rear end a person, the insurance claims reported each year are going to come down drastically. There will also be a decrease in sideswiping accidents with having the vehicle able to alert you to someone in your blind spot.

For you, this means a cheaper car insurance premium if your vehicle can prevent you from having an accident because of a decreased chance of accident surcharges being added to your policy.  It can also mean a cheaper car insurance premium for everyone due to decreased rear end accidents from hit-and-run drivers.  The cost of a hit-and-run driver increases the car insurance premium for everyone in a company, if the driver is never caught, so that the insurance company can still make a profit.  The car insurance premium of coverages like uninsured/underinsured motorist coverages are directly affected by the number of hit-and-run drivers in an area and could go down if this radar system actually did decrease those numbers.

Potential Car Insurance Premium Discounts

A technology such as this that would make driving safer by preventing accidents is sure to have some sort of car insurance premium discount associated with it.  However, exactly how they are going to discount the car insurance premium on these cars is what we are going to have to wait and see.  Are companies going to make it as a listed discount along with ABS where in some cases you have to remind your agent that you have them because they don’t put the car insurance premium discount on your policy?

Or are the base rates for the car insurance premium on these vehicles just going to be cheaper? I guess we will just have to wait and find out until they are allowed to be sold in the United States.

A new car insurance program being introduced only charges drivers car insurance premium for the amount of driving they actually do.

With the PAYD program, your insurance company will keep track of your mileage for you.

Would you drive less if your insurance company paid you to? This is the idea behind the pay-as-you-drive (PAYD) program. Your car insurance premium is based on the number of miles that you drive. While it is similar to discounts that are already offered by most insurance companies, the new car insurance premium discount that is being introduced  is more mile detailed.

Pay-as-You-Drive

With the PAYD programs you only pay the car insurance premium for the amount of miles that you drive (hence the name). To participate in this program you have to allow your insurance company to track you either through a device that you plug into your car or through information gathered by your agent as far as your odometer reading.

When you first start your policy you will guestimate how many miles you drive in a year and then your car insurance premium is based on that. If it is more than what you guessed, they will move you into a non-PAYD program. If your mileage is less, some of the insurance companies will refund you the portion of your car insurance premium that you technically didn’t use under this program.

What’s in it for the insurance companies? Simply, the less you use your car, the less chance you have of getting into a car accident that they have to pay out on.

(At this time California is the only state to have approved the insurance regulation on this type of insurance program)

Current Mileage Programs

You might be asking yourself what is the difference between this mileage use program and the one that you already have with your insurance company? The PAYD programs take the mileage estimates and use by 500 mile increments (minimum miles of 5,000).  Your insurance company looks at whether you are driving more or less than a certain number of miles each year, usually 7,500.

So if you tell them that you don’t drive a certain vehicle very much they will place you in the under 7,500 category.  If you commute 45 miles each way to work, they will put you in the above 7,500 mile category.

The other difference is that they don’t track your mileage, if you go over the 7,500 they would never know.  At the same time if you go under the 7,500 I wouldn’t hold my breath for a car insurance premium refund.

Benefits of the Program

Per Dave Jones, the California Insurance Commissioner, the PAYD programs are good for both the environment and also to reduce road congestion. The idea behind this is that if you are getting money back or cheaper car insurance premiums for not driving, you won’t drive.  If this program could be extended further to other states and drivers, the decrease of drivers on the road would have an impact in a number of ways.

One, less drivers on the road means a decreased chance of a car accident. Two, less car exhaust is always good for the environment. Three, less drivers on the road does also mean less traffic to have to fight through.