I made this mistake when buying car insurance and almost lost my job

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It’s a mistake you don’t want to repeat.

Key Point

• Years ago I bought cheap car insurance for a car that was just as cheap.
• Downplaying the press allowed me to find myself in a world of upheaval and deterioration.

It was my first foray into serious driving when I moved to the suburbs as a young adult. Sure, I had a license that I got in my late teens. However, I grew up in a big city until I was about 25, and a driver’s license wasn’t something I actually used.

During that time, I needed to buy a car as I was moving to the suburbs. And my goal was to buy the cheapest possible as a starter vehicle of sorts.

My second mistake was trying to minimize my car coverage in an attempt to save money on my auto insurance premium. And then it came back to bite me.

A failure worth repeating

My first car seemed safe enough to drive, despite obvious flaws such as a moonroof that didn’t close enough that I had to wear a poncho every time it rained. But when I encountered a minor fender bender with few dents on other cars while my car was in complete disrepair, I quickly realized what a bad shape my car really was. discovered.

A very minor accident caused not only both of the car’s airbags to deploy, but also basically caused the car to implode. I drove my expensive tow truck to the auto shop and got some news new drivers didn’t want to hear. “Your car is a total loss.”

That was frustrating enough on its own. But what made things worse was that my car insurance didn’t cover the cost of renting a car.

During that time, I lived in a suburb where rental cars were hard to come by. That was also the case when I tried to rent it for a few weeks at the time. Some places with readily available cars wanted to charge me a lot of money, to the point where I would have spent more to get the job than I actually earned.

I was so upset with the situation that I almost considered quitting my job. Instead, her husband helped me by taking me to work every day while I took the time to buy a new car.

But it wasn’t a great solution. My work didn’t start until 9am, but her husband had to show up at 8am for a meeting. Our offices were 30 minutes away from each other, so he had to drop me off at 7:30 am. So I basically had to stand outside in the cold for 30 minutes a day for days in a row until I could find a replacement car and finalize the carpool arrangement.

lesson learned

You might be tempted to save money on both used car and auto insurance, but you get what you pay for in the end. Take-out? Be careful when buying auto insurance. Certain benefits, such as car rental availability and refunds, can have a significant impact when stuck in traffic.