Honestly, temporary insurance felt more like paying extra for convenience than actual savings. For windshield issues, I found standalone glass coverage through my regular insurer cheaper overall... might be worth checking out.
"Honestly, temporary insurance felt more like paying extra for convenience than actual savings."
Yeah, that's been my experience too. When I looked into temporary coverage, the math just didn't add up. If you're only needing it for something specific like windshield repairs, standalone glass coverage usually makes more sense financially. But what about other minor issues—like dents or scratches? Anyone found a cost-effective alternative for those, or is it better to just bite the bullet and pay out-of-pocket?
I went through something similar last year. My wife accidentally scraped the side of our car against a concrete pillar in a parking garage—nothing major, just cosmetic damage. I briefly considered temporary insurance, but like you said,
Ended up getting a quote from a local body shop, and honestly, paying out-of-pocket hurt a bit upfront, but it was still cheaper than the temporary coverage would've been. Plus, no hassle with paperwork or claims..."the math just didn't add up."
I had a similar debate myself a while back when my son started driving. I initially thought temporary insurance might be a good idea—just to cover that nerve-wracking first month or two—but after crunching numbers, it felt like I'd be paying extra for peace of mind rather than actual coverage.
Honestly, the thing that bugged me most was the fine print. I'm always skeptical of short-term policies because they often have sneaky exclusions or higher deductibles hidden away. In the end, I just decided to bite the bullet and stick with our standard policy, figuring that if something minor did happen (and it did—he backed into our mailbox 🙄), paying out-of-pocket was still cheaper and simpler.
I guess temporary insurance could make sense in very specific scenarios, but for everyday minor scrapes and bumps, it seems more hassle than it's worth. Glad you got your car sorted without too much headache though.
Totally agree about the fine print—it's like insurance companies hire ninjas to sneak exclusions into those policies. Temporary coverage can be handy if you're borrowing a friend's car for a weekend road trip or something, but for new drivers? Usually not worth it. Plus, as you found out with the mailbox incident (been there, done that...), minor stuff is often cheaper to handle yourself anyway. Glad it worked out okay!
