Do I Have to Keep Insurance on a Car I Don’t Drive?

Other than being required by law and simply being a smart investment to protect your vehicle, finances and yourself, there are certain times you may not need to maintain car insurance on your vehicle.

Rather than winging it and dropping your auto insurance policy on a whim, it’s worth it to do a little research before nixing your auto policy to cut costs.

Here are some scenarios when you may consider dropping your auto insurance.

This answer depends on your unique situation. If you don’t drive the car full time, but you still take it out on the odd weekend, you still need to maintain adequate coverage. As long as you drive the vehicle just once a month or every other month, you’re still legally required to have car insurance.

If you bought a new car and you’re trying to sell the old one, it’s still a wise idea to keep an auto insurance policy on the vehicle. You’ll probably let someone test drive it or drive it to the meetup spot yourself, so maintaining car insurance is a vital piece of the selling equation.

If you’re going out of the country or on an extended trip for three or more months, you may be able to call your insurance provider and have them pause coverage. But you’ll still run the risk of the car being damaged while it’s parked or, worse, being stolen while you’re gone.

In both of these instances, it’s still a good idea to have car insurance, even if you don’t drive the car or never plan to drive the car again.

If it’s a cheap car, you may want to opt for liability coverage only, but you’d still be running the risk of someone stealing your car and you having to pay to replace it or losing out on the money you would’ve made by selling it.

You don’t need insurance on a car that doesn’t run if you don’t plan on ever getting it to run. But if you plan on getting it running again, you’ll want to keep insurance on the car.

However, if you plan to junk the car in your yard, or have a tow truck pick it up at a later date, you don’t need car insurance on it since you won’t be driving it and you’re probably not worried about someone stealing it.

If it’s a classic car that doesn’t run and you plan on fixing it up, you should keep your insurance policy current on the vehicle. If you don’t have insurance on it, you run the risk of not being covered if someone steals or vandalizes it.

Even if you don’t drive a vehicle, it’s always a good idea to maintain minimum coverage on the vehicle until you sell it or get rid of it. That way you’re still covered in case you decide to take it out for a final drive or it’s stolen or vandalized.