Someone posted they wanted a winter and a summer vehicle, keeping one off the road in storage on 6 month intervals. Can you really carry only fire and theft on the stored vehicle? I can see that if you did not have tags on it, but if you are in a state that you renew your registration every two years, that is quite a bit of money to get new tags every 6 months. I don't see how you can reduce your insurance premiums on the dormant car when it has tags. I would not mind doing that myself by keeping my jeep on the road only in the summer and my Suburban in the winter, reducing the mileage on them, but insurance co. and the DMV seem to make it too much of a hassle.
Yes. I live in NYS and I've done just that for the past 3 winters (as long as I have had my (2wd) truck).
I simply call my insurance agent and tell them I want to suspend the use of the vehicle. They reduce the coverage to just comprehensive (~$35). The truck is still registered, and that is legal because it
-does- have insurance coverage. I am just not allowed to drive it on the road without liability and all. When I want to use the truck again I call the agent and tell them a date and they send me a bill for the full coverage.
The key is to have an insurance policy, not to have -no- policy. In NYS it is illegal to have a registered vehicle without insurance.
It's no hassle at all with State Farm in NYS, I can tell you that much. Just a quick phone call for each change.
Here in Ontario Canada you buy plates for the vehicle that last 2 years before you have to renew. You own the plates and each vehicle you own has it's own plate.
They now allow you to park the vehicle and drop all the insurance except for fire and theft. My tenant's insurance agent called it 'parking insurance'.
In the city I live, you are not allowed to park an unplated or uninsured vehicle in the driveway. If it has no plates or valid tags, it must be in a garage, it cannot be seen by the neighbors or they can and 'will' complain.
I had the building inspector at my house 3 times when I was doing the frame up restore on my CJ7. Folks were complaining about me working on it while coming and asking for my help when they broke down.....
First trip he found a frame on wheels with the body on the lawn, 'But' that frame had a valid and insured plate on it! And it only took one person to flip the body on the frame at the end of the day to make it look pretty so he had no issues.
The last time he came I had just put a tent over it so I could continue in the fall/winter under cover. He just shook his head, looked to see I still had a plate and didn't even ask for the paperwork this time as he walked off muttering about some folks having way too much time on their hands....
Mike
86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00
88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's
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