Not Using Your Car? Learn How to Cut Your Auto Insurance Rate!

Life sometimes creates unexpected changes. Are you not using your car? Ways exist to suspend car insurance temporarily when you are active U.S. military deployed overseas or have a temporary disability preventing you from driving. Low mileage car insurance, minimum liability insurance and parked car insurance policies are all possible options.

Is it legal to cancel car insurance for any amount of time? Is it possible to pause car insurance payments instead? The answer may surprise you.  State minimum car insurance coverage laws vary around the nation. Here is how to cut your auto insurance rate online when you are not using your car.

1
Reduce Your Coverage to the Minimum
1 of 5 Next

Multiple ways to reduce your auto insurance coverage to the minimum allowed by state law are available in 2021. Please keep in mind the required minimum amount of coverage varies per U.S. state. Certain minimum car insurance benefits and requirement leniencies are legally afforded to active U.S. military personnel, especially when deployed overseas for lengthy periods of time. 

What is the possibility of getting your car insurance paused for other reasons, when you are not a member of the U.S. armed forces? It is possible to cancel auto insurance whether you are in the military or not, but unexpected and expensive legal ramifications might result. Here’s the best way to accomplish this. 

Deployment overseas while serving in the U.S. military might result in one or more of your vehicles requiring storage for long periods of time, or the alternate use of long-term parking facilities. Minimum liability insurance is mandatory in almost every U.S. state but options to suspend car insurance legally exist. 

It is possible to cancel car insurance but penalties, fines and higher premium rates might be imposed when you reapply for car insurance later. 

When you suspend car insurance temporarily during your overseas deployment it is necessary to verifiably display your car is stored safely in a location where no one else is able to drive or access it at all. Collision, uninsured/underinsured (UI/UIM), MedPay and personal injury protection (PIP) insurance coverage are all easily suspended in most states. Suspending liability insurance is more challenging, however. 

Submitting an official affidavit of vehicle non-use to your state Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) helps you avoid future fines for not having insurance on your automobile as well. Special military discounts or policy leniencies might also be available through companies such as Armed Forces Insurance and other companies dedicated to providing insurance coverage to U.S. military members and veterans.

Ways to reduce coverage exist for non-military citizens as well. Full coverage is generally only required when you are financing your vehicle. Low mileage insurance discounts are offered to qualified drivers by many U.S. auto insurance companies. The Geico low mileage discount is one option for drivers who no longer have to commute to work or school. In most U.S. states PIP, (UI/UIM), MedPay and collision insurance are all optional coverages. Are you not using your car for an extended period of time? 

Money-saving options to suspend car insurance are possibly available. Are there risks to suspending your insurance? Any act-of-God event causing damage to your vehicle leaves  you stuck with paying the repair and replacement bills out-of-pocket. Reducing your coverage to comprehensive-only is one way to prevent possible financial disasters. There is also a risk of the imposition of surcharges, higher premiums and legal penalties if you do not effectively prove your car was not used the entire time your insurance was suspended.

1 of 5 Next