Storing Your Car During Deployment: What Military Members Need to Know about Insurance

Military life sometimes means storing your car during deployment. Storing a car can help protect it during a deployment, TDY or overseas move. When that happens, insurance is still important. It may be tempting to cancel your coverage to cut costs, but that can create expensive problems later. 

Most states and lenders expect you to keep at least some level of insurance on a registered or financed vehicle. While you might not need coverage for driving (like liability or collision), you probably still need protection from theft, weather, or vandalism—especially if the car is going to sit for months.

Before canceling or reducing your policy, make sure you understand:

• State insurance requirements
• Lender or lease obligations
• Your financial risk if something happens to the vehicle

Your Deployment Insurance Checklist

Check Your Loan/Lease Requirements

First, if you don’t own your car outright, you want to check your loan or lease requirements. Most lenders require you to keep both collision and comprehensive coverage for the life of your loan or lease. Dropping coverage without checking might violate your contract. 

It’s possible this will cause the lender to add costly “force-placed” coverage to your contract. This insurance is purchased by the lender and is typically much more expensive than insurance you would get yourself. Plus, it typically protects only the lender’s interest in the vehicle, not your interests.

Check Insurance Laws

Then, you need to check with the insurance laws where the vehicle is registered, and possibly also where it is insured. Every state has its own insurance laws. Some require liability coverage as long as the vehicle is registered, even if it isn’t being used. Others may allow you to suspend liability coverage. It’s possible you might need to prove that the car is in storage.

Don’t forget that your current auto insurance likely covers you for vehicles you use elsewhere in the U.S. This might include borrowing a friend’s car if you’re TDY near their home, driving a rental car while on R&R during deployment, or using a family member’s vehicle if you have to come home on emergency leave. You’ll want to maintain this protection if there’s any possible chance you’ll drive a non-government vehicle during your deployment.

Lastly, consider that an insurance lapse can raise your future rates and cause registration or renewal problems. Additionally, if the wrong coverage is selected, you could pay more than you need to, or not be covered if something happens to the vehicle during your deployment.

Reducing Costs While The Car Is Stored

By now, you’ve probably realized that you need to keep some level of coverage on your vehicle, even when it’s in storage. Thankfully, there are several things you can do to decrease the cost of coverage while your vehicle is in storage.

To do this, you’ll need to understand what type of coverage protects you against what type of risk:

• Comprehensive Coverage: Protects your vehicle from theft, vandalism, fire, flood, hail, and falling objects. These risks still exist even if your car is parked in a garage or base storage lot.
• Liability Coverage: Protects you for damage to people and objects from the car being driven. If your car truly isn’t driven at all, you may not have much liability risk unless someone drives it without your knowledge or it rolls into something. But if you are having a friend store it, driving it now and then, you may need this coverage.
• Collision Coverage: Helps pay to repair or replace your car if it is damaged in a crash, regardless of who is at fault.
• Extra Coverage: Helps protect you for things like rental cars and roadside assistance.

Contact Your Insurer

You can start by checking with your insurance company to see if they offer any discounts for stored vehicles.  

“If you’re deploying and putting your vehicle in storage, notify your insurer before you leave,” Brookie Lutz, USAA Advice Director, told The Military Wallet (TMW) in an interview. “Many insurers, including USAA, offer reduced premiums for stored vehicles while still protecting against risks like theft, vandalism or weather damage. Maintaining comprehensive coverage can help protect your vehicle while it’s not being driven.”

Reduce Coverage Levels

Then, you can reduce or drop the coverage that you don’t need. In most cases, you can drop extra coverage for rental cars and roadside assistance without taking on any additional risk. You may want to do this anyway, as many credit cards offer rental car insurance as a perk (collision, but not liability). 

If your car is stored, you can decrease your average mileage listed on the policy. Most companies have minimum mileage limits, but they may be able to waive those minimums if the car is stored. 

You may be comfortable reducing or removing collision coverage for the time the vehicle is stored. And, depending on the rest of your financial situation, you may consider raising the deductible on your policy while the car is stored, with the logic that there’s little chance that you’ll be making a claim. But don’t do this if a larger deductible is impossible for you to cover.

Some insurance companies offer military-specific storage discounts. Be sure to check those out.

A Few Other Tips

Choose a secure location to store your vehicle. A locked garage or commercial storage facility can protect your vehicle, and some companies will start the car regularly to help keep the entire system running smoothly. Outdoor lots are usually less expensive, but your car is exposed to the weather and other risks. 

“Where you store your vehicle can also matter,” Lutz said. “Storing on base, in a garage or at a secure storage facility may reduce risk and potentially lower costs.”

Be sure to review your storage agreement if you’re storing your car during deployment in an on-base facility or with a commercial company. Check included insurance coverages. If it is included, it’s usually not much, but it may allow you to decrease some of your other coverages.

If your spouse or another driver might ever use the car, even occasionally, you will certainly want to keep insurance coverage in place. Storage, deployment, or other reduced-coverage policies may assume the car stays parked – you’ll want to check before switching to this option if your car isn’t going to be unavailable for use.

Returning from Deployment

When you return home, call your insurance company to resume your regular coverage before anyone drives the vehicle again. You’ll want to review your policy to make sure that your coverage and levels make sense, especially if you return home to a new location or have had any other life changes.

Storing your car can make sense for a deployment, but think carefully about your auto insurance options. Each situation is different depending on your state, lender, storage situation, and specific deployment details. 

Before you make changes, talk with your insurance company and, if needed, your base legal office to confirm the proper steps. The right plan can protect your vehicle, meet legal requirements, and possibly save you money throughout your deployment.