Don’t forget to add the car insurance back on before you hit the road again.

Don’t forget to add car insurance back to your stored vehicle

With the weather getting nicer it’s time to bring back out those beautiful summer vehicles that you stored for the winter.  But, before you get too excited and take that vehicle for its first drive of the season you need to make a call to your insurance company or insurance agent. You don’t want to be enjoying your drive and have to deal with a no insurance ticket if you end up getting pulled over.

Adding Car Insurance for a Stored Classic or Antique Vehicle

If you have a classic or antique vehicle, you already know that your car insurance is not quite the same as everyone else’s. Your comprehensive and collision coverages are based on a stated amount and not an industry averaged cash value. So each year that you bring your vehicle out of storage and put car insurance back on it, it would be a good idea to update the stated value of the vehicle. You may have made improvements to the vehicle over the winter while it was in storage, your vehicle may have aged enough that it changed from classic to antique or your vehicle may have decreased in value for some reason while in storage.

Regardless of the reason, you want to review the stated value of your vehicle when you go to put insurance back on it.  If you don’t have an updated amount, you will be paying too much for the insurance or won’t get enough from the insurance company if you total your prized vehicle.

Adding Car Insurance Back for a Stored Regular Vehicle

If you have a regular vehicle that you put in storage over the winter months for whatever reason, simply call your insurance company or agent and tell them you need to put insurance back on that vehicle. It’s easiest if you stick with the same coverage that you have on your other vehicles, but if you have to call your insurance agent or insurance company anyways, it would be a good time to review what coverage you have on your vehicles. Take off or decrease coverages you don’t really need or add coverages that you think would make life easier if something were to happen.

Also, don’t forget to contact your state to re-register your vehicle (if you unregistered it when it went into storage) at the same time you get your car insurance put back on your normally stored vehicle.

Q: We will be traveling to canada this year going to lake louise. we will be driving a rental car and need to know if our usaa policy will cover us on this trip or will we need additional insurance.

A: Most likely your USAA policy will not cover your rental car in Canada.  You need to contact USAA about this and find out how far beyond the Canadian border they do cover. They may be able to offer your a special Canada coverage or you may just have to purchase the rental car insurance from the place you are renting the car from.

Q: – DUE TO ILLNESSES I THOUGHT MY EFT PAYMENT WAS CANCELLED BY CARETAKER BUT IT WAS NOT I DID NOT KNOW THE EFT PAYMENTS WERE NOT CANCELLED ON A SITTING CAR UNUSED CAR UNREGISTERED SITTING CAR ….HADNT BEEN DRIVEN IN YEARS ….ITS MY MOTHERS CAR SITTING IN YARD.
ALSO HAD LICENSE SUSPENDED DURING THIS TIME – SO WAS INSURANCE PREMIUMS NON EARNED BY CARRIER – CAN I GET REFUND IF CAR WAS NOT ON ROAD ETC PLEASE ADVISE ..DO I NEED TO GET LAWYER NOW THAT I FOUND OUT INSURANCE WAS NOT CANCELLED BY CARETAKER ON NON-WORKING CAR? NON-DRIVING REGISTERED CAR THANKS

A: It is unlikely that you will be able to get your premiums back as the insurance company will tell you that it was your responsibility to verify that your insurance payments were cancelled and to cancel your insurance policy if you no longer needed the insurance. I know that you were sick, but the company is going to tell you that they still provided coverage for that vehicle and that if it was in an accident or damaged at the time they would have had a responsibility to cover it.

However, with all that being said the rules and regulations are different in each state and there may be a law that allows you to get your money back if you can prove that you did not have your license at the time and that the vehicle was not registered.. The best way to find out is to contact your insurance company.

Q: I have multiple cars, that the wife & i 90 percent of the time normally drive together. We have insurance through farm bureau & have to insure each car, truck or motor home separately. Is there a type of insurance that i don’t have to keep putting my vehicles in storage, so depending on the weather we would be able to drive which ever car we want?

A: Actually this is the first time I have ever heard of someone having to put their vehicles on separate car insurance policies. The motor home I can understand as it is a recreational vehicle, but not the cars. You may want to shop around with other insurance companies that allow you to keep all your vehicles on one policy.

In regards to the storage issue, in most cases by listing your vehicle as being in storage it saves on having to pay for insurance coverage that you don’t need at the time you are not driving the vehicle. If you want to be able to just jump in your vehicle and go whenever you please and not have to call your insurance company to put coverage back on your vehicle. the only option is to keep the insurance coverage on that vehicle at all times.

Q: Please change my car insurance agent from Agent X to Agent Y.

A: Unfortunately, this is not something we can do for you here at Car Insurance Guidebook. Car Insurance Guidebook is here to provide you with car insurance advice, the experiences that other drivers like yourself have had with specific car insurance companies and to help you find an insurance policy with an agent or insurance company.

If you are staying with the same insurance company and just want to switch agencies, simply contact the agent you want to change to and they will take care of all of that for you. If you have insurance with a completely new insurance agent and company, your new agent can help you with a letter of cancellation to send to your old car insurance agent.