Insurance. Daily Driver vs. 2nd Car?
 

So I currently drive a Honda Civic 99 Hatch and I will be receiving my BRZ in January.

Do I keep my sh*tbox as a daily driver or sell it for a couple of grand and just do the BRZ as a daily driver?

In total, it's more expensive to have both cars insured by about 20-30$/month than just the BRZ as a daily from the quotes I've gathered. Is this accurate based on your experiences? What should I do? I've never owned more than one car in the USA or more specifically North Carolina.

What you have stated is accurate. My Integra with liability only costs around $300/year to insure. Keeping this car around has been great for keeping the mileage down on the S2000, as well as for inclement weather or whenever they spray the roads with salt in anticipation of inclement weather that never arrives...b/c who wants salt on their baby?

BTW I live in Raleigh

I'm planning on doing the same thing but with my Prelude as a DD. Are you just going to have liability on the civic? or Full coverage on both?

A lot of people are keeping their old car as a way to lessen miles and certain driving conditions on their 86 (I'm one of them). However if I were in the position where insurance cost more than the the old car is worth and travel wasn't an issue I would probably only have one car.

Are you planning any future projects where the car might be on the lift for a few days? Thinking of doing autocross or SCCA days? You might want to keep your old ride as a back-up since the insurance cost is probably only 1-3 days of needing a rental car. If you keep the car, see if you are paying for rental car coverage in your policy then have them nix it, it'll save you about $60 a year on average.

I've always been one to just drive one car. Personally, I'd hate to have to drive a late 90's beater car when I'm paying $400/mo for a BRZ that is sitting in the garage, I want to fully enjoy my BRZ during it's prime years.

I have a winter car (xB) and the FR-S. While in the garage I pay fire and theft only which is $2-300/ year. When the FR-S comes out in April I just notify insc and they flip it around.

For me it is way too costly to have both going at the same time. Perhaps there is a further reduced rate for part time use only if you have 2 driven in the same months. I am listing the FR-S as pleasure driving only vs commuting but still it's expensive for a second vehicle on the road with me the only driver at the same time.

:word:

And the fact I can't afford a second car, insurance, and year long storage somewhere. :(

I live in New England. We get blizzards up here. BRZ = my DD. Can't wait for a snowstorm. I'm not making car payments to park this baby in a garage.

my stance is why have 2 cars? Just drive the brz, and when its time to upgrade down the road, you turn in ur brz and get another car.

Some of us (like me), live in snowy places so a sporty RWD car isn't the best option. Plus, I am going to want to keep the salt from the roads off the BRZ.

Just liability on the 99 civic. It's not worth it two way.

I guess it comes down to whether or not you plan to tinker/track your car and if you are worried about high mileage.

Another thought that came to mind, is that sometimes you need to drive to places that have sketchy parking situations (bar, sporting events, concerts, etc..) and you probably don't want your car to get messed up by drunk/ignorant people.

I think I just might keep my civic... still on the fence.

I still drive my 91 Firebird I have had for 18 years to work everyday. Forgot to mention it only takes 8 mins to get to work.(just turned 94k miles.)

We keep cars along time, saving the BRZ for nice weekends and summer.

I sold my 94 EG hatch and picked up the BRZ. I boughtthe EG with 65,000 miles and sold it at 103,000. I hated knowing that I was going to be putting additional miles on such a rare item, but like some stated earlier, you want to enjoy it while you have it. The EG was my daily driver for 4 years and glad to have moved on to something a lot more comfortable. I'm going to drive the BRZ until the wheels fall off.

Yep, and others of us have long commutes on rough, noisy concrete highways, which could get tiresome in one of the twins. In fact, that's largely why I opted for a TSX over the Mazdaspeed 3 for my DD a few years ago.

So, if I get one of the twins, it will have to be a second car stored in a commercial garage. (Actually a third car if you count our "family beater" Mazda 5, which is mostly my wife's.) That will be expensive and sort of a hassle, but I loved the FR-S so much that I think it would be worth it. It's a heck of a lot easier to justify when the car itself is so reasonably priced.

I've had multiple cars for most of the last 20+ years. I have cheap insurance (discounts for multiple cars and lower rates since I put fewer miles on each) plenty of garage space, and it is very nice to have a winter beater to keep the salt and grime off my nice cars.

Working in insurance myself, most clients will usually not have to pay much more to insure two vehicles (where one is newer and the other is older with liability only) rather than just paying coverage on one vehicle only. Like someone else said, it's not bad to just keep it around as a back-up car, especially if keeping it doesn't really cost you much more beyond the tiny bit extra you spend on insurance and registration (which at this point on a 1999 Honda likely isn't much).

Being licensed in North Carolina, most insurance companies that I've used there to quote don't ask specific mileage, though they'll usually give you one of several options (i.e. pleaseure, commute less than 10 miles, commute 10 miles or more, business, artisan), though again you can clearly pick one as a pleasure vehicle.

One of my closest buddies has driven a 1997 Camry since I knew him from the college days, though sometime in 2010 he decided to buy a 3-Series convertible. We tested a few options out, and the rate to insure both vehicles was hardly different than if he insured only the BMW, so there was no drawback to it. Most people will experience something similar, unless you have a blemished driving history and/or are insuring BOTH vehicles with comprehensive/collision (unless one is just a really old car that you insist needs physical damage coverage).

As a side note, with you being in NC, definitely don't go just for the minimum requirements (30/60/25). Try to get the next step up (50/100/25 or better), since you can get UIMBI coverage (which is not available when you have only 30/60, which only allows you to get UMBI) in addition to UMBI. The difference in cost will likely be negligible but will be a good thing to have.

I purchased the BRZ due to the fact that it could be a daily driver. I wanted something fun that was still fuel efficient, affordable and could still have a bit of fun in. If it wasn't for gas, I would have kept my E90 M3 as it was about the same to insure.

Yup, speaking of that there's talk about a nor'easter coming our way early next week :)

I kept my 300k svx on the road and insured. For a 1992 SVX, the BRZ, and a 2012 Outback I'm paying just over 1k for the year on travelers.

Hey - it might snow here this year! I am not driving the BRZ in that shite again.

JOYYY!!:party0030:

I might be in the sweet spot living in Dallas Tx, driving conditions here dont vary too much so I see myself only needing one DD. But living in the city SUCKS when spending hours in traffic. So im really considering getting a small bike like the ninja 300 (never to be modded) to become my DD, since my brz in traffic is just a sad thing! Hate to leave my car sitting at home all day until I get home, but when night comes it'll wake up.

do the brz as the daily driver! once you drive it on a daily basis
you won't want to get back in the civic anyway,and it's got to be cheaper to insure the one car!

right now,it's a toss up! computers have a brain freeze! they'll know better come sunday!

While I agree to an extent that the car is meant to be driven and even more so when you are making payments on it, my work commute is 25 miles each way and in 4 month the BRZ had 6K miles and the only thing I had done with it was come to work. On top of that, in my commute the last ten miles is something similar to a swamp so it is mosquito infested and just one day of coming to work the bumper has a good amount of mosquitoes corpse's damaging the paint while the car sits in the sun in a corrosive environment close to the beach. So when I put everything on the table including maintenance cost, gas cost, time cleaning the car and the added bonus of having a car you can take anywhere and not care at all where it is parked, I bought a 2000 Camry and like it.

Now I drive the BRZ more spirited everytime I get to use it (1-3 times a week). Since getting it a month and a half ago, I've put 2700 miles on the Camry while doing 600 on the BRZ. In my situation its a good trade off.

Just depends on your finances and what you want out of the car. I drive into the city and driving my beat-up celica is so much easier. I never think twice when parking it. As well with my second car, an evo, I can spend money to modify it and feel like tires and mods will last longer and not wear out quickly from my commute. I do like having two cars though, gives me options in different situations. But the overall cost is higher.

I gave my last car to my sister and I change her oil in exchange for taking the car on snowy days. Best of both worlds ^_^

Same here: Use the 2011 Mazda CX-7 (a crossover) for daily driving and hauling stuff from the big box hardware stores. Also for long distance vacations depending upon how much 'stuff' we have to take with us. (Don't forget the dog). So 'Daily Driver' is not an issue for the BRZ (FORGET the dog) although I realize not everybody has 1+ or two+ cars in the family.

I kept my truck when I got my car, but I can't really go without without the truck anyway. I was paying 600/year for full coverage on the truck, now 800 for liability on the truck and full on the car. 200/year is pocket change compared to the car payment. The car has spoiled me though, it's so much more comfortable and better to drive than the truck, but with the weather starting now, it will probably be a while before the roads are clear, clean, and dry again.

I'm regretting selling my old car. Keep it. I'm going to end up having to buy a used honda or something for the winter months come next year.

Yeah, but you're in PA. If you lived in NC and it snows like a day a year if at all, would you have a winter beater?

I'm buying a BRZ exclusively for DD duty. I have a truck for the few snowy days we get (if current trends continue, anyway).

It's fairly inexpensive, small, easy to park and maneuver in traffic, gets good fuel economy, and it's fun. Just about perfect.

I guess it also depends on how many miles / wear n tear you want on the BRZ?

Before I got mine I had the mindset of "Well, I'm going to use this as my DD and keep it as nice as humanly possible."

For me, it has now changed. I want to keep this car for life and be like the 60 year olds who drive their old vettes when I'm that age with my BRZ. Keep in mind, I'm young and this is my first car and it just so happens to be a (right now) rare and mildly expensive sports car. I hate parking it in an unknown area and worse driving it in the heavy rain (which I've been doing all week).

My plans are to have a used honda for all year round insurance and insure the BRZ during the summer / fall months and drive it on nice days, limiting the wear and mileage on the car.

Hope that makes sense. I started to ramble on.

Also, how much are you going to get for the honda? Is it really worth it in the long run? Get some quotes from some insurance agencies to see how much both would cost year round or having the BRZ only insured half a year?

I realize "expensive" is totally in the eye of the beholder, but statistically speaking, the BRZ...isn't. As of May, anyhow, the average selling price of a new car was a little over $30K:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/moneybui...-of-a-new-car/

I can't think of a single example of a "sports car" that costs less than a BRZ/FR-S, either. The Miata is more or less the same, depending upon trim level.

^ I was thinking the same thing.

I'm 25. I understand where you are coming from, but for me $31K (that's how much mine was) is expensive. Considering I was going to get a base Impreza, which is roughly $14K less than my BRZ :eyebulge:. Growing up we had boring base model cars/vans so the BRZ, to me, is an expensive car.

Still, the average is $30K?! I think that is crazy...aren't we in a recession?

A recession doesn't necessarily change the MSRP of new cars though. But take into account things like inflation and all of that over the course of the last couple of decades. Fifteen years ago, the E-Class started at around $30k, now it starts at no less than $51k. Naturally the price of the average new vehicle will also go north.

dogs are good luck to a traveler! ohhh! wait,no sunroof! (additional ventilation!)
well! as the asians say! it's "suuuup" to you!

You'll get no argument here. The first car I was old enough to remember my family buying was $3000, and it was a stripper (a Chevelle). That's about $15K in today's money. No way you could get the modern analogue (a Malibu, if such a thing came in two-door) for that.

My dad told me he almost bought a new Corvette in '65, but thought that $5000 was just too much to spend on a car. That's about $35K today, or roughly $10K less than it takes to get into a base 'vette.

It's true, of course, that there's a helluva lot more to cars these days, but OTOH I'm pretty sure real average wages are lower.

But times have changed. It's somewhat easier for people to afford more expensive cars these days since interest rates aren't nearly as high as they were a couple decades ago, when paying in cash saved you a ton of money. I remember my mom saying that the 1980 BMW 320i that we had when I was a kid had an APR of somewhere between 15-20%, which was supposedly the norm at the time. Even if you don't have a promotional APR, getting a $30,000 car nowadays and financing the whole amount over five years will get you paying another $4-5k in interest, while in the '80s you may have been paying an additional $10-15k in interest. Pretty big difference.