Auto Insurance For Older Cars (2024)

FAQs

Is it worth having full coverage on a 10 year old car? ›

According to ValuePenguin, if your vehicle is 10 years old or older, you may be paying too much for insurance if you have comprehensive or collision coverage. The average cost of comprehensive coverage is $134 per year, and the average cost of collision insurance is $290 per year.

The only insurance you usually need is liability coverage and, in some states, personal injury protection. Full coverage is often recommended, but it becomes much less valuable financially with an older car.

The older a car gets, the harder it may be to source these parts for repair, which can also drive up the cost of car insurance for older cars. Additionally, older cars may not have as many safety features as newer cars, which might increase the cost of auto insurance and reduce available discounts.

Whether one has bought a new or used car, it is better to purchase comprehensive car insurance instead of just a third-party policy. This is because buying comprehensive insurance for an old car online provides coverage for accidental damages along with the third-party liabilities.

As your vehicle ages, its value will depreciate. At a certain point, it may no longer be worth it to maintain a full coverage insurance policy. In general, 10 years is a good time to consider switching from full coverage to just liability. However, this depends on your particular vehicle.

While the rule for older cars was to drop comprehensive coverage after six years or 100,000 miles, modern cars last longer and cost more to repair. Most experts now recommend keeping comprehensive insurance on your car if 10 percent of the car's market value minus the deductible exceeds the premium cost.

In general, auto insurance for older cars may be cheaper than insuring newer vehicles of the same make and model if the used car is cheaper to repair or replace.

Generally speaking, the newer the car the cheaper it will be to insure. Cars aged 5 years and less are cheaper to insure than cars aged between 5 and 10 years and beyond. This is because more modern cars are often cheaper to repair, and mechanics are more likely to be able to find parts.

It's usually worth dropping full coverage on an older car if its value is less than a few thousand dollars, as long as there's no loan on it. The more your car depreciates, the less you'll get from the insurance company after an accident or theft.

Why is my insurance so high for an old car? ›

Aside from general market shifts and changes in coverage, the age of your care is one of the major factors that plays into your car insurance premium for a number of reasons. For one, if you're in an accident, repair costs for an older car tend to be higher because the parts are more scarce.

Cars older than eight to 10 years will be a riskier option, depending on the driving and maintenance history, while vehicles over 15 to 20 are usually nearing the end of their service lives.

Cars over 10 years old can still be reliable. Most vehicles can last well over a decade with proper care and maintenance. In fact, the average car on U.S. roads is now 12.5 years old, according to a study from S&P Global Mobility. Furthermore, a car doesn't really stop depreciating until it hits that 10-year mark.

Do I need comprehensive insurance on an old car? If you don't have a loan or lease on your car, comprehensive insurance likely isn't required. And if the vehicle isn't worth much, it may not make financial sense to keep the coverage.

First, even though the starting price may be low for all 10-year-old vehicles, repair expenses are not the same for all models. For example, luxury vehicles like Mercedes require good money to repair than say a Toyota or Chevy sedan. Second, the possibility of repairs depends heavily on the vehicle's reliability.

You should hold on to full-coverage auto insurance until your annual premium meets or exceeds the estimated payout if your car needs to be repaired or replaced. If your car is five or six years old, the payout for replacement probably isn't worth what you pay in premiums.