"It's not worth getting casco on a used car anymore" – so the cliche goes. The reality is subtler: what decides it isn't the car's age but its value, how it's used, and how large a claim the household budget could absorb. A six-year-old car still worth a serious sum is a different case from a twenty-year-old city runabout.
- The decision rests on three factors: the car's realistic current value, how it's used, and your savings – age only matters indirectly.
- The depreciation question still applies to used cars: older parts may face a deduction – check this rule before signing.
- It's not a two-way choice: between full casco and nothing sits the middle ground of partial casco (theft + natural perils).
Value-proportionate thinking for used cars
The first question: what is the car realistically worth today, in market terms? Casco's largest possible payout sits around the market value at the time of loss (the total-loss formula), so the cover's "ceiling" drops as the value falls. As long as that ceiling is a sum that would hurt the family, casco has something at stake; once it becomes a bearable loss, it's time for an honest weigh-up: who should get casco and who shouldn't.
What needs special attention on a used car
Two casco features become more important on an older car. One is the depreciation rule: the older the vehicle, the more it matters which parts face a deduction, and by how much. The other is the deductible: on an older car, a high minimum deductible can leave most smaller claims with you – so cover is narrower in practice than on paper: deductible logic. Both are points for comparison, not reasons to rule casco out.
After the purchase: from when, and how?
When you buy a used car, casco doesn't "pass down": the seller's policy typically ends once their insurable interest ceases. It's worth timing the new casco to when you take possession – for theft cover, insurers typically also ask for a condition assessment or inspection, so cover doesn't always start on day one: after buying a used car and when cover actually starts.
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