How to suspend car insurance when I am out of state?

Submitted by r2d2cyborg t3_10pc2pf in personalfinance

Hi, I often travel outside the US, let's say 2 year for 3 months, and continue to pay car insurance. I asked Geico, they don't allow to suspend insurance, only thing I can do is to decrease coverage, but I still need to pay $$.

Any suggestion what I can do with it to minimize my expenses? Does it make sense to cancel and renew insurance each time, or it will cost even more, because when I renew a car insurance, I will get a higher rate?

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Thanks in advance!

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shadracko t1_j6jiv1w wrote

You'll need to look into state laws, which differ.

BUT, typically you must legally insure any car that is registered, even if you're away and can't drive it. So it's probably not legal to cancel and re-buy when you return. Some states allow some version of "non-operation" status, but that typically requires non-operation for a year, not just a few months.

Realistically, there isn't much you can do here. Some insurers give discounts for low average miles driven. Maybe look into that?

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84740296169 t1_j6jigyn wrote

You probably still want the comprehensive and collision. If this is just 3 months every 2 years though probably not hard to cancel the policy and find a new one when you’re back.

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fu_ben t1_j6jms32 wrote

Typically any lapse in insurance will cause a rate hike.

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phil-l t1_j6jkige wrote

Also: The rules of the state the car is registered in come into play. For example, in my state, you can completely drop insurance on a car - only if you cancel the car's registration and surrender the license places. The challenge: When you re-register the car, you'd have to (again!) pay sales tax based on the car's value at that time. This is why it rarely makes sense to drop insurance on a car in my state.

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cabalcleric t1_j6jkjr5 wrote

I can’t speak for other states but I can’t imagine it being too different. In PA, you are legally required to carry liability coverage on any car that is registered. You can reduce the coverage to the minimum amount of liability coverage and drop all other coverage (comprehensive, collision, etc).

If you are financing the car then the financier may require you to keep comprehensive and collision coverage in case something happens to the car while you’re away.

When I travelled, I would drop liability to the lowest level and keep comprehensive coverage in case anything happened while it was parked. It usually came in less that $50 a month.

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kveggie1 t1_j6jl56i wrote

Hmm. So what if your car catches fire? Gets broken into? Get stolen and someone takes it on a joy ride? Some one hits it at night and takes off......

Really you want to drop insurance?

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r2d2cyborg OP t1_j6jm0no wrote

My car is not insured from these cases. I have only liability insurance.

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Interesting-Dish8894 t1_j6jsrpr wrote

Just cancel or go to an insurance company that will work with suspending

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Retire_date_may_22 t1_j6ldyf4 wrote

Some states let you buy insurance by mile. Depends on where you live. Check out metromile.com

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