"Just gotta be careful not to go too barebones, or you'll regret it later."
Yeah, learned that lesson the hard way myself. A few years back, I stripped down my coverage to save cash before a big road trip—figured I'd be fine since the car was older and I was pretty careful. Well, halfway through Arizona, a deer decided to introduce itself to my front bumper at dusk. Car was drivable, but repairs were way more than I'd bargained for. Ended up duct-taping the bumper and limping along for another thousand miles. Made for a good story, but definitely not worth the savings.
Makes me wonder though, how do you guys balance saving money with peace of mind when you're planning a long trip? Seems like there's always a trade-off somewhere...
"Made for a good story, but definitely not worth the savings."
Fair point, but honestly, comprehensive coverage isn't always the best move financially—especially if your car's older. Sometimes it's smarter to stash that extra cash into an emergency fund instead...depends on your risk tolerance I guess.
True, comprehensive isn't always the way to go, especially if your car's worth less than your phone (been there...). But liability-only can bite you too—had a buddy who learned that the hard way. It's all about finding that sweet spot.
"But liability-only can bite you too—had a buddy who learned that the hard way."
Yeah, that's the tricky part. Liability-only seems like a smart move when you're tight on cash, but you gotta be careful. One thing I'd suggest is checking the difference in premiums between liability-only and adding uninsured motorist coverage. It's usually not a huge jump, and it can really save your bacon if someone hits you without insurance (happened to me once, not fun...). Just a thought to keep in mind before going bare-minimum.
I learned this lesson the hard way too, unfortunately. Back in college, I was scraping by and figured liability-only was the obvious choice. It worked fine for a while—until one rainy night when some guy rear-ended me at a red light. Turns out he had no insurance, no license, nothing. My car wasn't totaled, but the repairs were still way more than I could afford at the time.
Honestly, before that happened, I'd never really thought about uninsured motorist coverage. Always assumed it was just another upsell from insurance companies trying to squeeze every penny out of you. But after that accident... well, let's just say I changed my tune pretty quick.
The kicker was when I finally checked how much extra uninsured motorist coverage would've cost me—it was literally less than 10 bucks a month more than what I was already paying. Felt pretty dumb realizing I'd skipped it to save pocket change each month.
Not saying everyone needs full coverage or anything (I get it—when you're young and broke, every dollar counts), but it's definitely worth at least running the numbers on uninsured motorist coverage. Sometimes the difference is surprisingly small compared to how much trouble it can save you down the road.
Anyway, just my two cents from someone who's been there and done that...
