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This is sort of off-topic, but does anyone know how Zipcar affect your insurance record, since you don't have an individual insurance policy? If you use Zipcar

This is sort of off-topic, but does anyone know how Zipcar affect your insurance record, since you don't have an individual insurance policy? If you use Zipcar exclusively for a couple years, then stop and go back to a private vehicle and private insurance, do insurance companies consider you "continuously insured" or are you going to get hit for having a break in your insurance record? (I've tried to ask this question of Zipcar representatives in the past, and no one has been able to give me an answer. Their FAQ on insurance doesn't help either: http://www.zipcar.com/how/faqs/one-faq?faq_number=28 http://www.zipcar.com/how/faqs/one-faq?faq_number=28)

dotBen 16y ago
I asked a similar question about building up a no-claims bonus for using ZipCar. The short answer is no, it's technically ZipCar that is insured and so from a personal capacity you have no car insurance if you only use ZipCars and don't run your own car (and personal insurance). I'm not clear why that is a problem - you just loose your no claims bonus but surely that's reasonable?
- kscaldef 16y ago
  I'm not clear why that is a problem - you just loose your no claims bonus but surely that's reasonable? Typically your rates are higher if you haven't been continuously insured over the past N years, where N is something in the range of 5-10.
- gamble 16y ago
  > you just loose your no claims bonus but surely that's reasonable? Unfortunately not. In my experience, the slightest break in insurance coverage is an excuse to push you into the highest-risk pool. It's completely ridiculous. Perhaps the policy made sense before every piece of information relevant to insurance was tracked by computers, but now it seems like something that only exists to punish people who want to go car-free for awhile.
  - dotBen 16y ago
    I see. I've only held a license in the US for 2.5 years so that's probably why I pay $200/month for insurance!
  - cperciva 16y ago
    That policy probably exists to stop people from lying about their accident history. It's really hard for an insurance company to distinguish between "I didn't have car insurance in 2002" and "I had car insurance in 2002 and got into a major accident I don't want you to know about".
    - gamble 16y ago
      I would be surprised if the insurance companies had to depend on the honesty of their customers to know whether they'd be in collisions. Financial companies don't depend on my honesty to know if I've taken out a loan. They must share information about claims.
      - cperciva 16y ago
        If you tell them that you had insurance with company X, you can be sure that they'll phone company X and ask for your claims history. But there's far too many insurance companies around for them to phone everybody.
gcheong 16y ago
That's a good question. I think instead of asking Zipcar it might be better to ask an insurance company.

dotBen 16y ago

I asked a similar question about building up a no-claims bonus for using ZipCar. The short answer is no, it's technically ZipCar that is insured and so from a personal capacity you have no car insurance if you only use ZipCars and don't run your own car (and personal insurance). I'm not clear why that is a problem - you just loose your no claims bonus but surely that's reasonable?

kscaldef 16y ago
I'm not clear why that is a problem - you just loose your no claims bonus but surely that's reasonable? Typically your rates are higher if you haven't been continuously insured over the past N years, where N is something in the range of 5-10.
gamble 16y ago
> you just loose your no claims bonus but surely that's reasonable? Unfortunately not. In my experience, the slightest break in insurance coverage is an excuse to push you into the highest-risk pool. It's completely ridiculous. Perhaps the policy made sense before every piece of information relevant to insurance was tracked by computers, but now it seems like something that only exists to punish people who want to go car-free for awhile.
- dotBen 16y ago
  I see. I've only held a license in the US for 2.5 years so that's probably why I pay $200/month for insurance!
- cperciva 16y ago
  That policy probably exists to stop people from lying about their accident history. It's really hard for an insurance company to distinguish between "I didn't have car insurance in 2002" and "I had car insurance in 2002 and got into a major accident I don't want you to know about".
  - gamble 16y ago
    I would be surprised if the insurance companies had to depend on the honesty of their customers to know whether they'd be in collisions. Financial companies don't depend on my honesty to know if I've taken out a loan. They must share information about claims.
    - cperciva 16y ago
      If you tell them that you had insurance with company X, you can be sure that they'll phone company X and ask for your claims history. But there's far too many insurance companies around for them to phone everybody.

gcheong 16y ago

That's a good question. I think instead of asking Zipcar it might be better to ask an insurance company.