What do you want the most — the cheapest auto insurance quote or the most adequate coverage for you? This may look like an odd question but it isn’t.

Because the law so demands, you must have this policy if you want to drive. But what if you know that you really won’t gain from this policy? In such a case I’ll advise that you buy the minimum demanded by law.

This may sound wrong to most people but let me show you a case and ways to do this without running into big trouble…

If yours is just an old car (NOT a classic), then you only need enough insurance to get by. This is because you’ll NOT get any meaningful reimbursement even if you have comprehensive and collision coverage.

To determine what you get as reimbursement when you file a claim, there’s a convention that is used to determine your vehicle’s value at the time (Kelley’s Blue Book Value). Experience has shown that once your car is old, it doesn’t have much value. This means very little or NO reimbursement irrespective of how much your coverage is.

If you want to take the most financially sound decision, then you’ll do well to drop collision and comprehensive coverage once your car becomes old — Then it doesn’t do you any good.

Now someone may argue that you also need to protect yourself properly from liability claims. Yes, you need to. But there’s a better way to do it…

Get an umbrella policy. This will give you far more coverage from liability claims per premium dollar spent than the most extensive of auto insurance policies. Furthermore, an umbrella insurance policy will typically bankroll fully even the craziest of lawsuits and all you’d have to pay are very affordable premiums.

For just less than $300 you can easily get $1 million coverage with an umbrella policy. Try that for your auto insurance liability coverage and see if you won’t have to pay a lot more.

Furthermore, your umbrella policy will give you coverage from all liablity claims including your home and business unless otherwise stated expressly.

That said, you must still get at least the minimum required by law. And since you just want to keep the law, look for the cheapest offers. That way, you’ll only pay for what you need — Staying law abiding. Just make sure you do NOT need to file claims for your vehicle before going with this option.

To cut down your cost on auto insurance, you’ll do well to get and compare quotes from five or more reputable quotes sites. This exercise will take just about five minutes per site. However, it could save you hundreds in premium dollars.