[canbonbon]

I have a 2002 ML 500 about which I post here from time to time. The car runs fine and I use it for my daily commute. I pay about $100 per year in collision and $30 per year in Comprehensive (which includes non deductible glass coverage). So ignoring the comprehensive (because of the glass coverage), I am debating if I should continue to pay $100 for collision coverage. The reason is KBB value of the car is actually quite low and after $500 deductible, it is like nothing (see below).

So I was wondering what strategies other folks employ to insure their old cars? Any suggestions would be welcome. $100 per year is nothing, but the bigger question is if I do get into some sort of collision, the expense of repair would surely be greater than $2000. Wouldn't the company just total my car and hand me a check of $1500? Now I will be out of car and would have to figure out a way to be able to buy another Mercedes for $1500. So looking for suggestions how to minimize this risk.

Thanks

 

[ps2cho]

I believe you have it backwards. Collision is required, comprehensive is not if the title is free and clear. At those prices, it makes sense to keep it fully covered in the event of a hit and run as those won't be covered and you won't get a dime if it's liability only.

Also they would cut you closer to 4-5k if it was totaled. For the most part they don't lowball you that bad.

 

[canbonbon]

Thank you. Yes I do plan to keep it regardless because $100 per year is nothing for insuring a car. I was just concerned about how much will they pay considering the net value of the car is so low. Which is really what I don't understand. Why is the value so less? How is KBB making that determination? Forget the car, can you even buy an engine for that price? It drives great, looks great and has a lot of power. So not sure why such a low ball price on KBB? Not sure what they consider in coming up with the price. Because I have owned it from day one, I understand that its value is much higher. But clearly, looks like the used car market must have crashed pretty badly here in the north east.

I also double checked, Gieco allows me to drop either collision or comprehensive. So not sure why you mean by required. I can drop any or both if I want.

 

[Mike's ML]

Liability is required in all the states I know of.
Collision and Comprehensive is not.

Mike

[EDIT] Collision and Comprehensive may be required by finance company if financed)

 

[Noodles]

Mike will be moving on to the Final Jeopardy round.

Good insurance will pay retail not trade in value in the event of a total loss collision. So the $1500 could go up another $1000.

 

[mattml430]

We can do an agreed value here. I have mine insured for an agreed value of 11k.
My full comprehensive is just under a $1000 a year.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Hirnbeiss]

This is pretty much what all the insurance experts say:

Do I need comprehensive and collision insurance? | CarInsurance.com

 

[cmitch]

Insurance companies do not have your best interests in mind. While they happily take your premium payments, watch them wiggle and squirm when it's time to pay. Yes, they lowball you and quite badly. My experience is they try to get out with an initial offer of about 65% of the car's value. They tried to get me to take $6200 for my S430 4 matic that was worth well over $9000 at time of loss. An independent appraiser came in and said it was worth $10,400 due to what he perceived as a 9 out of 10 in condition. To this day, I have been unable to find a similar car in like condition as the one I had. It seems they're all ragged out. I miss that car.

 

[ps2cho]

Insurance companies do not have your best interests in mind. While they happily take your premium payments, watch them wiggle and squirm when it's time to pay. Yes, they lowball you and quite badly. My experience is they try to get out with an initial offer of about 65% of the car's value. They tried to get me to take $6200 for my S430 4 matic that was worth well over $9000 at time of loss. An independent appraiser came in and said it was worth $10,400 due to what he perceived as a 9 out of 10 in condition. To this day, I have been unable to find a similar car in like condition as the one I had. It seems they're all ragged out. I miss that car.

in my experience it was the opposite, but what it seems like is that if they cannot find many comp's, they simply have no idea how to value the car correctly.

We got cut $6600 for our totaled 2002 CLK320 /w 149k in decent condition. KBB was $4500 at the time. I think we did pretty good.

 

[canbonbon]

Bringing back an old thread. So someone actually hit my car in the parking lot (while it was parked) and did some damage to its rear. The bumper and the lights broke. My insurance company (whose mascot is the talking lizard) sent me to an adjuster cum body shop. He said they might total the car (even though its the other guys' company that would be paying for it). The expense for repairs could be around $3K which (after my deductible) could be higher than the value of the car. Currently KBB shows $900-$1500 for trade in and around $3K-$3500 for a private party sale. He has submitted the paperwork but claims that is what the *other* insurance company might decide to do. We are currently waiting.

So I have a question. If the car is totaled and they give me just $3.5K for it. Should I just take the money, buy a new bumper off of Ebay (and lights) get it repaired and bring back my totaled car to life? Would that work? Or am I required to give the car to them once they total it. I called a local body shop and they say it could cost me like $1500 to repair the damage. I am also trying to submit their quote to the insurance company and see if that works (hopefully it might).

It just sucks when the have these arbitrary values on cars that run just fine. The value of the car is much higher in my opinion.

 

[rumb]

show the insurance company these that are selling for close to $5k.

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/inven...L+500&modelChanged=false&filtersModified=true


you can buy the car back from the insurance company for a small amount if they total it, but they will change the title to "rebuilt" or something like that. some people care about that , others dont.

 

[lincolnshibuya]

This happened to my 97 taurus before, somebody parked beside me swiping the left side of the car and destroying the side mirror. The dent wasn't bad it created a very long scratch from the trunk to the front fender, it also damaged the parking lights. The fair value of the car was $1,900 (insurance paid me) and the fix was $2500 (really high and a scam in the insurance/body repair industry) so it was totaled. I bought the car back for $95 and fixed the side mirrors and parking lights and re-painted the scratch, it was almost the same as it was before, 3 years later I sold it for $1200 (buyer doesn't care of the accident since it's all cosmetic)

I also bought a 2008 Mazda 3 from a guy with liability only coverage and was involved in an accident with a guy with no insurance. The guy who rear-ended him paid the car so that he'll not get into trouble, no police and no insurance involved so the title ended up clean (no vehicle history reported either) He sold it really cheap to me and I fixed the rear-end and I sold it again to my friend..





https://www.facebook.com/diyml320/

 

[seb345]

I find there are a lot of options for insurance. It's important to pay for comprehensive. It's funny to see how people think that it's not useful but in reality it is. I recently got a new car for my son and we were looking for a new insurance since he is moving to another state so he wants something new and independent. We were looking online for different providers and recently we came across this awesome website (you can check it here: https://www.cheapautoinsurance.com/) that gave us some really good quotes and since he is under 25 he gets really good discounts so I feel like it's a good bargin.

 

[khomer2]

hey guys just joined. I recently bought a Mazda 3 from 2009 and also has some liability coverage since the previous owners had a few accidents in the past.

seb,
wrong website, wrong forum......

 

[seb345]

seb,
wrong website, wrong forum......

Sorry that's my wife's car. I drive a 2008 CLK 350 Coupe

 

[khomer2]

Sorry that's my wife's car. I drive a 2008 CLK 350 Coupe

Please update your user CP
click on your icon----> click on Account Settings---->goto Account Details----> add vehicle details----> add your make model YEAR ----> click save

Your still in the wrong forum....
----->C209/A209 CLK-Class