I’m currently with my mother, and we’re paying around $900 / year on our premium for 2 vehicles for the 2 of us with 21st century. I’m a 22 year old male; I have been driving for 6 years; I drive an ‘05 Hyundai Elantra. Would it be cheaper for me to shop around for my own insurance? She believes that I don’t need as much insurance as she does because I do not own property. If so, what kind of insurance should I be looking for? I would greatly appreciate the help!

Illinois does give you the option of UMPD; you may also reject it. In many states (incl MD, DC, VA, and NJ – the states I am most familiar with), UMPD is a required coverage.

So, I guess I’ll amend my earlier comment to be clearer: Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Bodily Injury coverage will not cover your vehicle. If you are required to/can opt to have Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Property Damage, that coverage will cover your vehicle.

I live in Wisconsin. In my state, it is illegal for the insurance company to offer any form of uninsured/underinsured coverage for property damage. In the state I lived before that, Illinois, it was not covered there either.

The un/underinsured coverage is only good for non-property expenses.

Second, I’m commenting because you’ve offered bad information.

Your car is considered property. The way UI/UM PD coverage works varies from state. Some states have a limit for your own vehicle, some states will cover the full value (up to limit on policy). Most states have a deductible. Some states cover damaged property inside the vehicle (this is rarer).

Things get even trickier when it’s a hit-and-run. In some states, you’ve got to have a disinterested witness. In others, you can claim it with no problem. In still others, good luck.

Bottom line: Everyone should read their own policies and talk to an agent to be clear on exactly what a policy covers.

I don’t have a nice thick book in front of me of traffic stats, but from my own personal experience, 50% of all my accidents (1/2) have involved me being not at fault and the other driver not being insured.

I can’t speak to your location or to North Carolina, but here in Houston, TX, I believe the number of uninsured drivers is significant. The advertising for low-cost/state minimum auto insurance (insurers such as Safeco, Fred Loya, Safe Auto, etc.) on billboard, radio, and TV is quite high compared with other locations I have lived (Iowa, Illinois). By my logic, if there weren’t a market of currently uninsured drivers, then this advertising wouldn’t be needed.

Also taking into account that a majority of drivers in Houston are poor drivers (in less than two years living here, I’ve had one driver run a stop sign to t-bone my car and had two near-rear ends from drivers not seeing me brake), the equation quickly goes from “very improbable” to “not likely, but possible”.

Uninsured motorists coverage- probability that you’re in an accident* probability that the accident is not you’re fault* probability that the other driver is uninsured= very improbable. The cost of such an accident uninsured? Well, you have health insurance, so the only damages you’d incur would be to your car…why would you have 100k of that? And besides, you’d sue anyways to collect.

“We could save money on our premiums if we went lower, but we’d then be responsible for anything over our coverage limit.” Yes precisely. The expected costs you’d incur over your coverage limit are far less than the marginal cost of your increased insurance premiums over your lifetime. It’s rational then to drive with the minimum legal coverage. Of course we’re a risk-averse bunch….

However, something that is very interesting is that my insurance rates of owning 2 cars is LESS than owning 1 car. Why? Because one of the cars is a sports car with very high rates and the cost of having insurance on a 2nd car and making the 2nd car my primary one (instead of the sports car) more than makes up for the difference.

In short, owning a car is expensive in a number of ways. The most direct way to limit those expenses is to not own one.

@Seth, you did get something out of the money you paid. A promise that if you hit someone or someone hit you, the insurance company would pay. Just because you didn’t have an accident, didn’t mean you didn’t waste your money. You would be singing a differnt song if you had been involved in an accident. Laws may vary by state, but generally if you have to register a vehicle (such as a motorcycle) you generally have to have insurance.

@Laura, if someone breaks into your car and damages it or steals it, that would fall under Comprehensive (Other Than Collision) coverage, not Collision. It’s not something you have to have, but it’s generally not that expensive. You did the right thing in comparing apples to apples, many times people don’t and end up with lower coverage than they had before.

Uninsured Motorist Coverage does not cover any of your property.

I was involved in an accident (no fault of mine) and the driver that hit me (100% at fault) did not have insurance. None of my personal property that was damaged (within the car) was covered. The car I was driving was totaled. The car was covered, but not by the uninsured motorist coverage but by the collision coverage instead. Hence, if collision coverage was not on the policy, the car would not have been covered by uninsured motorist coverage.

After an interesting insurance incident I’ve decided that those companies don’t have my best interests in mind. All money I had been spending on insurance had been a waste.

There are other modes of transportation that do not legally require insurance.

Depending on your local laws, these may include:

Motorcycle, ATV, Mini Truck, Moped, Bicycle, Bus, etc.