Non-owner insurance

[streetsmarts]

Remember me- It’s me Jeannie – Just been off the forum, but still riding.

Hey, anyone have non-owner car insurance? I’m thinking I should get some; i ride my bike, and metro, etc. a lot – but sometimes I rent a car. Got ride of mine 3+ years ago.

Anyone have a recommendation – for who to call? My renters insurance (Amica) -is a great company, been with them for years, including when I owned a car. They don’t do non-owner insurance. They suggested Progressive. Progressive’s site says i Have to contact an individual agent.

suggestions?

[LhasaCM]

Since there are a lot of factors at play, my recommendation would be to get a few quotes and then do some math to see what makes sense for you.

Since not every insurance company offers such a policy, https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/insurance/non-owner-car-insurance-where-to-buy-and-what-it-covers has a helpful list of companies that generally do.

When we got rid of our car ~3 years ago, we looked into retaining non-owner car insurance (we’re with State Farm), and after getting a quote, decided that it wasn’t worth the expense for us.

From a pure dollars standpoint: the cost of having the non-owner policy based on the one quote we got from our current insurance agent was quite a bit more than what we would expect to pay in exercising the insurance option with the expected number of car rentals for a given year and taking into account the coverage provided by the credit card company, especially with the prevalence/usage of “some insurance included” options like (at the time) Car2Go or (still around) Free2Move.

From a risk standpoint: another benefit of a non-owner’s policy is that the coverage can help even when you’re not in a car, in case you’re hit by someone without any/enough liability coverage. However, since we had gotten a bicycle policy through Velosurance, we have that sort of coverage through it. (Whether to get a bicycle policy is another complicated question that also should take into account what sort of coverage you get by virtue of your renter’s/homeowner’s policy, if it’d be worth claiming given the deductible, and/or if a policy rider on top of that would make more sense, and of course what other coverage you have.)

If we rented a car more often or had different risk tolerances or didn’t have the bike policy, our decision may have been quite different.

[secstate]

My recollection when I ran the numbers was that I’d need to rent a lot to make it worthwhile. I’ve settled on Allianz for collision coverage by the day (in theory, collision should be covered by my credit card company but I don’t trust them to pay up) and just go with the supplemental liability offered by the companies at rental time.

[streetsmarts]

thanks.

Yes, the company who holds my renters insurance policy does *not* do non-owners policies, and referred me to another company.

My dad used to explain this to me- and i’ve talked with others who have some knowledge about insurance things: One thing to keep in mind is (my dad’s idea) what if you’re driving and somehow cause an accident that seriously injures the head of a family of 5. If you don’t have enough coverage, if you have any assets (other than the house you live in , your retirement accounts, etc) , you may lose some assets if you’re found liable and don’t have enough insurance. That’s another reason my dad recommended an umbrella policy – it usually adds on to homeowners and car policies – if you had them with the same company and had max limits for them– and for about an extra $100 a year (in the past) you could get $1M in coverage to add to your homeowners or car ins.

On the other hand, someone pointed out to me that she was concerned about something else- what if someone causes an accident you’re involved in, and you need , for ex. , round-the-clock care for the rest of your life. If you have higher limits , covering the other driver as under-insured , that could help pay for your care, even if that person has no or low limit insurance.

As i think of it, it’s gambling. You may not ever have an accident, but if you do, it could be bad.

I’ll make some calls.

[secstate]

All good points, though my read of the liability coverage from rental car companies is that it covers these scenarios — e.g., the coverage from Hertz is $1 million, and includes under-insured coverage.

That said, if you find that non-owners insurance makes sense for you, please post what you’ve learned about the advantages of it and which company you went with.

Edit: Also, I realize that some options like car sharing services may provide more limited coverage than the big rental car companies.

[streetsmarts]

oh that’s good to know – thanks! Yes, i often rent from car sharing companies, and I think their limits -even if buying extra coverage – are smaller. Will check! if I do go with a non-owner policy, i’ll post here.

[Steve O]

@LhasaCM 210967 wrote:

However, since we had gotten a bicycle policy through Velosurance, …

This is very useful to know. I’m checking out their website now.

For informational purposes related to insurance, I had this experience not long ago:

When my bike was stolen in LA in November, it was covered through my renter’s insurance (State Farm). I have a $1000 deductible. I estimated the total replacement value of the bike and all the crap attached to it (I had a difficult time valuing the priceless mrhappy_onabike) at about $2300. They depreciated by about 1/2, so I got a $600+ check right away. When I buy a new bike, I can claim the rest of the $1300.
I found State Farm to be relatively easy to work with, and they unquestionably accepted all my estimates of value (I did not inflate these; I’m an honest guy. I did, though, think of everything: rack, fenders, u-lock, generator hub & wheel build, multi-tool, lights, tires, Brooks saddle, etc.).

When it comes to loss like theft or crash damage–generally cars–insurance companies are used to dealing with 5-digit claims. I think small claims like this they want to resolve as quickly as possible and move on, making the process pretty quick and easy.

[Smitty2k1]

I looked into non owners auto insurance when I didn’t have a car. I had just been using my credit card (Chase Sapphire) to cover insurance when I rented a car but learned that it only covered collision, not liability, which is required by law most places. One exception to this is Free2Move/Car2Go, those services provided liability insurance as part of your rental cost. I ended up deciding that the ~$20/day the rental car companies charged a the rental counter would be less expensive to me in the long run based on the frequency I was renting cars.

Adding to Steve’s point about state farm and bike insurance – I’ve found them to be great and way cheaper than similar bike specific insurances. I have my condo policy and auto policy with them. With the string of bike thefts in my area recently I checked with my agent to see what was covered with my bikes. I was surprised to learn about my $1000 deductable, like Steve has. My agent offered me a $500 deductable for only $15/year extra! No brainer there.

State Farm also mentioned that if anything happened to my bikes anywhere it would be covered – stolen out of my garage, car, work parking, public, trailside, etc. Or if it is on my car and I get rear ended. Still covered. I’ve been a life long state farm customer and the few times I’ve needed the insurance they have been great. Full disclaimer, my hometown is State Farms world headquarters and basically the only reason my hometown still exists

That’s my 2 cents
Smitty

Sent from my SM-G991U using Tapatalk

[LhasaCM]

All good points underscoring why math would be involved! FWIW – our State Farm homeowner’s policy deductible is what our agent said was a fairly standard 0.5% of the replacement value of our (town)house, which for us, is around the value of our most expensive bike (more reason why for us the separate policy made more sense than relying on our existing coverage).

[sarahybillington]

This has got my head spinning and not in a good way. I have a homeowner’s insurance policy for the house I rent out, but maybe I don’t have any policy/coverage for my stuff in the place I live at for almost free. Whew- thank goodness the car I barely drive is covered, but not for additional drivers- ACK! I need to make a phone call.

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