"Oh wow!" Claire shouted. "Did you hit that deer?"
"I missed it by a mile," Sharon replied.
"Didn’t feel like it. The car moved."
"That’s just your imagination."
Claire looked in her side mirror for the deer. It staggered into the woods. She glanced over at Sharon. "So, how’s you auto insurance?"
Sharon pulled a face. "As little as I can get."
"You do know there are laws requiring a certain amount of coverage, right?"
"Liability only, and I have that, and full coverage if you owe anyone. This is paid off, so, it’s liability only."
Claire blinked and her eyes grew wide. "Are you kidding? Your car has to be worth thous ands!"
"Yeah, it has retained its value pretty well. But I’m a careful driver; I don’t need anything else."
Claire looked again in the mirror. "Well, if something happens, will you be able to replace it? Do you have the down-payment money saved up?"
"I told you; I’m fine. I’m a really good driver."
"You just hit a deer. Can you pay for the damage?"
"I did not hit that deer. The car is fine."
Sharon turned on her signal to pull into Claire’s driveway and slowed down. Suddenly, the vehicle behind her slid to a stop nearly hitting her as she turned.
"Hey, what was that about?" Sharon shouted at him when she got out of her car. "Weren’t you watching the road?"
"You didn’t signal. How was I supposed to know what you’re doing?"
"I did too. You just weren’t paying attention."
Claire cleared her throat, pulled Sharon out of the street, apologized to the man, and asked if he was alright.
"What was that about?" Sharon asked her after the man left. "I did signal."
Claire pointed to the back of Sharon’s car. "You probably did, but he didn’t see it. The tail light is broken and that back fender is crunched pretty badly."
Sharon stared at her damaged car. An antler was stuck in the hole where the tail light should have been.
"That looks expensive," Claire said. "So, you have a couple gr and to pay for it somewhere?"
" I’ll bet it’s a lot higher than that," Sharon replied with a cringe. "Maybe I can hit up my dad for it."
"Or, you can get a loan to pay for it once you have an estimate and then you will have to have full coverage insurance."
Sharon just glared at her.
Don’t be Sharon. Yes, if your vehicle is worth very little, as in, it cost more for full coverage than it is worth, then you should only have liability, but when it is worth enough that it would be hard to replace or repair it after an accident, you really should have full coverage.
Drivers with a good driving record qualify for discounts. If you have more than one vehicle on the same policy, you also qualify for discounts. Call your insurance agent and see how many ways they can find to save you money. It doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg, but does give peace of mind.