Had a similar experience myself—thought roadside was just another upsell until I blew a tire on the freeway at midnight. Changing a tire in pitch darkness with cars zooming past is not something I'd recommend. After that, I did some math and realized the peace of mind alone was worth the extra few bucks a month. Curious though, anyone found other insurance add-ons that actually ended up saving money long-term?
I used to skip rental car coverage thinking it was pointless until a fender-bender put our family SUV in the shop for two weeks. We ended up paying out-of-pocket for a rental, and it wasn't cheap. After crunching numbers, realized rental reimbursement would've cost less than half of what we spent. It's one of those things you don't think about until you're stuck without a vehicle, especially with kids and errands piling up...lesson learned the hard way.
"It's one of those things you don't think about until you're stuck without a vehicle, especially with kids and errands piling up...lesson learned the hard way."
Yeah, I totally get where you're coming from on this. I used to skip rental coverage too, thinking it was just another way for insurance companies to squeeze a few extra bucks out of us. But then my brother had a similar experience—his sedan got rear-ended, nothing serious thankfully, but still needed repairs. He ended up borrowing my car for over a week because rental costs were crazy high. It made me realize that being budget-conscious isn't always about cutting every corner; sometimes it's smarter to pay a little upfront and avoid bigger expenses later.
Now I treat rental reimbursement like an affordable safety net—hoping I'll never need it, but glad it's there just in case. Definitely agree it's one of those "live and learn" situations...
