geico.
 

geico sent me my new insurance cards for the car insurance that i would/should/could renew starting january 1st.
i work (by bike) about 5 minutes away from my house. co-workers COULD pick me up and bring me home if i needed to. there is a massive mall (pvd place) 1 minute from my work and numerous grocery stores.
this all should be reason enough to not renew the damn thing that costs me $170 a month.
the only thing keeping me from not renewing it is the fact that my family lives out in northen mass.
how often do i see them anyway?
er... not going to get into that.

am i wasting massive amounts of money insuring and gassing my car?
probably, but i have never not had a car.

i'm on the fence, somebody push me off.

One hundred seventy dollars a month? That's almost twice what I pay for a full year! Do you have a new car or just a bad driving record?

i moved to ri from ma, where i paid less about $600 a year for insurance.

in ri, there is no merit system (insurance steps), so the first 6 months i had my car insured it was $1200.
then i removed everything i could while keeping it legal. it's assinine. i own my car. it's a 99 ford taurus, not some crazy ferrari or anything.
i had a perfect driving record in ma, moved here and it all went down the tubes.

here, if you don't have a car alarm they automatically load on $250 to your insurance.

this is why i am frustrated and thinking i need to get out of the car trap.

Since it is almost the end of the year, look back and count how many times you drove out of town, and how long you stayed, during the past year. Then call a car rental place and find out how much they would charge you to rent a car to go that distance and stay for that long. Multiply that cost per out-of-town trip, times the number of trips you took last year.

Then multiply your monthly insurance premium by 12. Compare to the above total.

Depending on your personal circumstances, it might pay to put the monthly insurance premium into a savings account dedicated to car rental, and use that account to rent a car as needed.

Remember those other features of car ownership, like unexpected repair bills. If you can get by without owning one and renting as needed, maintenance is someone else's problem.

If you hold on to the car but don't insure it, you may be royally screwed if you try to re-insure it at a later date. My insurance agency ( from whom I have renter's insurance ) told me there would be no penalty for not having auto insurance as long as I don't actually own a car. I don't plan on testing that assertion any time in the near future.

Excellent post... you beat me to it :)

Also factor in the fact that the rental will most likely be a newer model and you can choose to rent the most fuel efficient model in their fleet.

You may try selecting liability-only insuranse, plus select pleasure as the primary usage, and select lowest possible mileage.

When you are running your numbers don't forget to factor in annual expenses like taxes and tags in addition to the insurance. I know in NC it costs a minimum of about $100 a month just for property taxes and tags. I lived in one apartment complex where you actually got charged if you had more than vehicle, motorcycles were the exception.

Aaron:)

that's a smashing idea about the rental.
i could rent a car for a day and pay such a tiny amount compared to what my car would cost to keep on the road.
as far as the not having insurance on the car, as long as i cancel the registration and turn in my plates, it's like nothing ever happened. after i do that, i'm just going to call geico and simply say:
"I don't have a car. I do not need you're insurance. Thank you."
and leave out my desire to tell them that they are soaking me unnecessarily.

They'll probably call you a caveman for not having a car. :lol:

+1:roflmao:

I would sell the car you have and bank the bucks towards rentals or something like ZipCar my son is a grad student and it works great for him. I realize they are not wide spread in some areas to take the advice where ya got it:D

Aaron:)

I have never had a ticket in my entire life, never even been pulled over, never been in any kind of accident or car related fine of any kind, i have perfect credit, and had a bad junky beater car. My insurance, after TONS of shopping around, and getting an awesome cheap deal was 300$/month for liability only. Every other male my age (early 20s) I knew was in the same boat (only much worse since they all had tickets on their record).

I parked my car in my parents garage and let them use it, and decided I would go car-free. I thought i would probably need to re-borrow my car quite often when I needed to. so far, its been 2 years, and ive never had to use my car a single time. I really should sell that thing.

$2,040 per year will pay for a lot of weekend car rentals. I bet you'll be happier without the car, as well as wealthier.

Probably neither. That's just what auto insurance costs in the US. Most of that expense is to cover injuries to yourself or another person. With no national health insurance in this country, auto insurance will have to pay the entire amount for injuries in an auto accident. That can be millions of dollars.

Helpful advice. Now why don't you go on the vegetarian forum and tell them where they can buy cheap bologna?
;)