Comprehensive car insurance certainly seems to be a necessary evil. And it appears that each year the cost becomes greater.  For many of us, to keep the costs down, we take the basic package and pray that nothing happens to make us rue the decision.

Of course, it also pays to check that you have the best price for the insurance and are not over-paying unnecessarily. I often ask for and receive quotes for all my insurances. Like you, I don’t want to be paying any more than I must.

In years gone by, many insurance companies offered windscreen insurance with their policies. With the enormous cost of windscreens for the new model cars that are available today, they have removed this option.

Almost three years ago, I purchased a new car and it was suggested that perhaps I should add windscreen insurance on to my policy. After a little investigation I discovered that a replacement windscreen would cost me around fifteen hundred dollars. I would also need to pay extra for installation.

It seemed like a no-brainer to pay an extra seventy dollars for some insurance.   

Well thank goodness I did, because over the recent holiday period we went out of town on a family picnic. Being an extremely hot day, I parked below a Norfolk Island Pine tree for some shade. A little time later we heard a loud bang from the direction of the car, but on realising it was a falling pinecone didn’t bother to investigate further.

It wasn’t until somebody was heading to the restrooms that I was alerted that the pinecone had hit my car and my windscreen had sustained some damage. A lot of damage, to be exact.

A call to my insurance company and they immediately arranged for it to be replaced at a local windscreen repair place. They also gave me some advice about driving home with such vast damage.

Thank goodness I had taken the extra cover. I am very grateful for that little piece of advice. My savings would have been hit rather hard, if I had to pay for the replacement myself.

I would certainly pay a little more for piece of mind. Would you?

©   Carmel McCartin – Budget Bitch

And don’t forget – (The views expressed in this blog are the personal opinions of the author. Don’t rely on them to make financial decisions; you have to make up your own mind. If you don’t like the content – then either stop reading or send me an email)