I have to move to Singapore because of my visa and I will return to the US after one year. I own a Mazda 3 and it is under finance. I reside in Los Angeles and since I will not be using my car, I plan to ship it to Washington state to keep it at my brother's place. He won't be using it but he has agreed to keep my car until I return. My car is on finance and I am trying to make an informed decision about the minimal insurance policy I should maintain as I want to keep my car. I called the Mazda finance and they informed me that I should have the insurance policy that covers the "loss of damage for the full value of the vehicle" (in their exact words). I don't want to keep paying a lot of money for insurance while I don't use the car. Has anyone ever been in this situation? I am seeking help to understand how I should proceed in this situation?
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I called up progressive insurance and they said they don't have any storage mode. However, they said that having only comprehensive coverage is the same as "storage mode". Since my vehicle is on finance, would DMV agree to that as I read that different states have different policies in place? Does anyone know what are the requirements California state has for minimal insurance?
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Can I cancel the vehicle registration and later cancel my insurance? From what the Mazda finance has told me, I don't think this is possible but I would like to hear this sub's opinion?
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Would selling my car make more sense? I dont want to go this route but I would like to know if that is indeed a reasonable thing to do to avoid all this hassle. My vehicle has already depreciated in value by $9000.
Thanks in advance. I look forward to listening to this sub's insights.
Minimal Insurance Policy to keep when moving out of the US for an year
byu/Interesting_Prompt97 inInsurance
Posted by Interesting_Prompt97
2 Comments
You don’t own the car, Mazda does because you financed through them, and they can (are) require you to carry comprehensive and collision because the car is the loan collateral. You can try increasing the deductibles so the monthly cost is less, otherwise selling the car and getting a nonowner policy to continue your concurrent coverage might be the cheapest route.
Not sure if carriers offer a storage policy with comp/coll but as long as that’s all your lender requires, you can relinquish the CA plates which nullifies the need for liability by the DMV, and find a carrier product in WA that offers comprehensive and collision by itself. Comprehensive alone isn’t enough as there’s a 99.9% chance your lender requires both comp and coll.
Start by getting quotes in WA or find a WA agent, since you’ll be storing this vehicle in WA. Let them know it’s a storage policy that requires not only comprehensive but collision as well. Don’t cancel your CA policy until you issue another policy, or you may end up with force-placed coverage which won’t be fun.
Makes way more financial sense to just get rid of it though. I also don’t know how titling/registration (or lack thereof) is handled for a vehicle with a lien so wondering how that would work.