A few insurance questions for those storing their RX7s during winter...
 

For the first time (in a province with private auto insurance) my wife and I are in a position to store one of our 1st gens during the winter months and drive an expendable winter beater instead.

This brings up a few questions about insurance, particularly some of the rumours of sleaze and corruption that insurance companies may try to pull simply because they can:

1. If we have 3 or 4 cars registered in our name but only have 2 of them fully insured at any given time, will the insurance company raise our rates to "compensate for the (perceived) lost revenue"? This sounds ludicrous but I've heard some insane horror stories of this type of negative billing. One thing is for certain, at least in this province: If you as a driver decide to take a year off from driving and then re-insure your car the bastards will increase your rates to make up for the lost revenue from the previous year--- even though you had no tickets or at-fault claims(!)

2. Will insurance companies still let you cover your stored car for "comprehensive-only" to protect against fire, vandalism and theft while stored?

3. Is there a penalty for insuring a vehicle for a 6-month term rather than a full year and if so, how much percentage-wise?

4. What percentage of discounts are typically available if you have two cars per person fully insured year-round rather than only one?

We just got the wife's new (to her) 1st gen safety-inspected and repaired and are about to go to the insurance broker to get the insurance policy put into place. Any help here much appreciated.

Thanks,

B&T.

Why not ask you insurance company?

When I store mine for the winter, I take "liability" off my insurance, and put "fire, flood and theft" on.

What this means is that my car isn't legal for the road, but is fine for storage.

I just call my insurance company and say "I'm taking the car off the road for the winter. Switch me to fire, flood and theft, and take liability off".

This drops my insurance payment under twenty bucks a month.

When I put it on the road, I go back up to fifty bucks, because liability costs more.

Jon

Actually, I'm waiting for their reply to my e-mail. But while I'm waiting I'd like to find out what everyone else is doing and paying so that I know what my options are in the event that my broker tries to tell me that I have none.

Thanks, Jon. When they take liability off do they give you a full refund (or at least apply it to your winter beater's premium), or do they ass-rape you by service charges and/or giving you only a small fraction of what should be the remainer of your unused liability premium? I'm assuming that your monthlys are payments on a premium already negotiated rather than a true "pay-as-you-go" set-up and therefore not open-ended?

At least one co-worker has told me that insurance companies "don't like to insure for storage only."

Which insurance company are you using?

My insurance company is good for this kind of thing. During the summer, I have full insurance on only my 7. During the winter, I will only keep fire and theft on the 7, and full on my Jeep. What ever you do, don't fully take the insurance off. In Ontario anyway, if you take all insurance off your vehicle, you have to get it re-certified.

I store my car, and my insurance company let me keep "indidental" on it. Fire, flood, etc.

My girlfriend has her car stored in her garage. She's checked twice now with her HOME insurance company, and they tell her that the car is covered under the home policy while it's in there, just as any other personal possession would be.

as with most others have mentioned, i just keep fire, flood, etc. damage coverage, but not what i usually have to be able to drive on the road.

if you are storing the car at home, as johnnyg mentioned it's probably a better idea to go with your home insurance. you will get more coverage for cheaper, although i don't know how it works in relation to your auto insurance. taking insurance off the car means you have to pay again to put it back on...at least i think that's how it works.

Thanks for all the info, guys. I've taken care of it and my broker dispelled all of my suspicions. However, not only is keeping the fire/theft/vandalism coverage active during storage a good idea, if you don't do this (at least in Alberta) the insurance company will insist on a safety inspection when the car comes out of storage.

Since storage coverage costs $12 per month (about the same as a safety inspection if no safety issues are found) it's a no-brainer to simply keep the comprehensive coverage while stored.

There is one thing that insurers do to us that makes my blood boil though:

Say you want to take a hiatus from driving for a year. (I know, it doesn't make any sense to me either). You've been a faithful customer to your insuruer for over ten years and have no accidents or tickets. Because of this your rate is about as low as it gets.

But if you take a year off, when you eventually re-insure you'll find that your rates have jumped--- even though you have a clean record! I guess the insurance companies will do anything to recoup what they lost during your absence, and they will do it--- because they can. It's definitely time for some new laws but knowing how easily bought most politicians (of all stripes) are I'm not holding my breath.