Car Insurance

Great idea.  So  to add on to this......

Once a vehicle is about  9 years old,  many companies will no longer offer  anything other than basic cover.  You have to go looking for  extended coverage.

AND  sticker shock -  the cost is high on older vehicles for  anything other than basic coverage.   I upgraded a vehicle  for that reason!   I loved my  Diahatsu Terios but it passed the magic line and full insurance was almost  20% of its value.

Make sure to understand your insurance!  Go to a broker who can explain it to you.   

Lennox makes a very valid point - without a valid drivers license  your insurance can  refuse to pay anything at all!   Its the same as driving drunk, driving without a license can invalidate everything. Makes you  100% at fault as well.  So be aware.

The argument continues as to how long your international license is good for.  If your "status" is illegal your license is not valid.  That's all I will say on that.

Your insurance company will insure an older car fully as I have recently found out but I have a clean track record with them with this vehicle and they are adjusting the value downwards and cover cost for full replacement, fire and theft with age.

Remember it is the vehicle that is being insured and whovever is driving it with permission.

I assume when your car reaches old age you can still get semi full and get the full third party cover but without the cover for your vehicle. At least that is what my insurance company are saying. Basic cover is not a good option for expats imo. The extra cost over and above basic using semi full is not worth saving for most expats because you get 'casa de conductor' and road recovery included.

Personally, my recommendation is go to the insurer's office and not to a broker. Most banks are offering car insurance so go direct to them first for a quote. Expats are so used to dealing with brokers but here most insurance for cars is sold direct.

A large percentage of the cost of the cover for an older car is for the full third party cover. With a depreciated value, the cost of the full fire, theft and replacement cover is actually only about 30% of the cost in my case.

I compared the cost of the proposed cover with that for my wife's newer vehicle. I am debating to go semi full with full cover for thrid party and reduced cover for my vehicle or go full again on a 10 year old vehicle.

I would never drive a car with just basic cover here. That is why I upgraded my vehicle!

Good advice, but my experience differs, thankfully.  I'm driving a 2005 truck, and my full insurance with 3rd party liability is less than 3% of the value of the truck, when purchased 2 years ago.  Given used vehicle prices now, I'm sure I'm paying less than 2% of the value of the truck.  Very reputable company and local agent, so no worries there.

PM  me the name of the company please!   I definitely want more info

Check the third party cover values.

By dropping the third party cover for death and legal costs I found the policy cost comes down - but for an expat that is not such a good idea. I am about 5% and thought of going to 3% but I would have to drop the covers for death etc to levels I would consider risky to the extend I may have to pay up in a serious accident so I prefer to stick with the cover levels recommeded.

Thoughts on rental car insurance vs own etc.

Just to clarify, my inderstanding of full third party cover isn't actually full but is for the following limits:

- third party property                                                        500,000 pesos
- injury or death for one person                                      500,000 pesos
- injury or death for more than one person                1,000,000 pesos   
- civil repsonsibility for one passenger                           500,000 pesos
- civil responsibility for more than one passenger     1,000,000 pesos
- legal cover for driver                                                      1,000,000 pesos
- personal accident driver                                                    50,000 pesos

These aren't big numbers but you can get big savings by dropping these limits. An expat is going to get 'milked' if in a serious accident.

is it worth dropping any of the above to save on policy costs ?

An update after researching car insurance renewal in person and online with my current insurer and many others.

Very few indeed will offer full insurance to cover your own vehicle loss if the vehicle is over 10 years old. From my research it is limited to BHD Mapfre and Monumental and maybe my current insurer Atlantic. But the policy premium costs are very high for my older vehicle of modest value.

Most such as Sura and Universal and a number of banks only offer the basic insurance once the vehicle is more than ten years old but you are given options.

Monumental looks interesting if you want some cover for your vehicle in case of collision, fire and theft. It is one of the most established vehicle insurance companies
in DR but pricey and reliable. But you can solicit full insurance and choose the value of your vehicle to be covered comprehensively and that allows the premium cost to come down. Essentially they give you the option to choose your semi full needs.

Here is the link for a quick quote online where you adjust the vehicle value for comprehensive cover to suit your needs.

http://www.lamonumental.com.do/

The basic third party coverage is as the post above for virtually all, and you can increase that cover.

I was able to find third party cover with Casa de Conductor and Road Recovery at 8/9k per year and add theft and it goes to 13k. Full for me with an 11 year old jipeta is between 30 and 35k.

With Monumental I can get third party, CdC, RR and 60% the vehicle value covered at 20k. Seems a decent compromise for now.

At 17 years old, the vehicle cover available becomes even more basic for most.

Any companies better than others for price and paying claims if needed?

As post #9 above, these standard third party covers are provided in both basic and full insurance policies.

The cost for this level of third party cover is about 5000 pesos annually having checked with several companies. One can increase the cover levels and that comes at small premium increases.

Casa de Conductor is advisable for all expats and is available with basic cover as is road recovery. Casa de Conductor provides better lock up facilities than a DR jail in Santiago and Santo Domingo should you be detained after an accident. It costs about 1500 pesos annually.

To summarize insurance approximate costs:

Basic as required by law third party cover                                           c 5000 pesos

Casa de Conductor                                                                                  c 1500 pesos

Road recovery                                                                                           c 1500 pesos 

                                            ---- decent Basic at c 8000 pesos annually

Fire, theft and repair/replacement loss of your vehicle                     the rest of your full premium 

----------getting full cover is very costly in DR and perhaps not surprising because of the frequency of accidents. No discounts for being a proven good driver too.

Vehicles over 10 years old will rarely get full cover because of the risk of fraudulent claims.

Banks are heavily involved in car insurance and are probably a secure option. Universal has a car division and La Monumental and Sura are established insurers for car cover. You can easily get quotes online or at a bank. Avoid the broker commissions if you can.

In full disclosure, our comprehensive insurance policy with all taxes for a loaded 2018 Honda Civic costs.....$35,000 pesos per year!  The car had $18,000 miles on it when we got the policy last July.   We put down $10,000 and then the balance is paid monthly.  From Atlantica.    [link under review]

My current policy - expires next week - is with Atlantic and I have been with them for six years without a claim. They wanted 17k to give the full cover part on damage/loss of a 400k vehicle. I guess you are paying about 27k (35k - 8k) for the full vehicle cover insurance part. Have a look at your documentation and you should find the breakdown of third party, supplements and vehicle cover. It ties in with quotes I got online. Atlantic were not the cheapest but the differences are not so great between companies.

Atlantic still pays a commission to the dealer who sold me the car many years ago which irks me. I will be changing next week.

And remember if you are not driving legally then the insurance may be worthless. 

And this is applied based on who is driving when the accident occured.  I investigated this about 4 months ago.  One if my driver's at my company was approaching expiry of his Dominican license.  To him that was no big deal.  If it expired and he had an accident the insurance could be voided.

Note: he had fines attached to his license and could not renew without paying them!

Before buying an insurance policy from some of the companies in this country, make sure you ask about the company before agreeing to buy.  I had to go to the Superintendencia de Seguros to file a complaint against Dominicana de Seguros before they honored my claim after three months of waiting with multiple excuses every week.  Upon arrival at the office, there were several other complainants for the same issue with this company.  The body shop also informed me that clients always have issues with this company when it comes to honoring the claims.  Please avoid the headaches and do your research before deciding where to purchase auto insurance policies in the country.

Well, somehow got this thread & it ahs the info I wanted. Now to find out the cost of insurance & the company. Dealing with a broker my son-in-law & wife use for his company vehicles and their own personal vehicles.