Advice On Securing Discount Auto Insurance
posted on 03/11/2009
Understanding how the coverage works:
Automobile insurance is comprised of six to nine basic coverages. Bodily injury liability pays on your behalf for damage you do to other people when you hit them with your car. Property Damage liability pays on your behalf for damage you do to other people's property. Personal Injury Protection helps pay your medical bills in the event that you or a member of your household is injured in an accident. Comprehensive Coverage protects your vehicle against the perils of Theft, Vandalism, Acts of God, and Glass Breakage. Collision Coverage protects your vehicle in the event that you hit someone else, or someone else hits you, but does not have the coverage on their policy to fix or replace your vehicle.
Uninsured Motorists coverage works in one of two ways, depending on which state you live in. Uninsured Motorists Bodily Injury pays you for the excess medical bills that the person who hit you is unable to pay because they either don't have enough coverage on their own policy to cover your injuries or they drove away from the accident. Uninsured Motorists Property Damage, which is not available in all states, pays you for the damage to your vehicle for the same reasons listed above.
Understanding your needs:
Depending on what kind of vehicle you have, whether its new or used, whether or not you are financing or leasing your vehicle, there are many different coverage options available to you.
If you have a newer vehicle, you will probably want to protect that vehicle against the perils of Collision with other vehicles and also for Vandalism, Theft, Acts of God, and Glass Breakage. Your state will probably require you to carry Bodily Injury Liability, Property Damage Liability, and Personal Injury Protection. If you add Collision and Comprehensive coverage to that, it looks like full coverage.
But what happens if your car is undriveable after a loss? If you want the company to rent a car for you, you will want to add Rental Reimbursement to your policy. If you want the carrier to tow your vehicle to a repair shop after the loss, you will also want to add Towing.
Understanding your options:
There are probably six or seven hundred insurance carriers in the United States right now. Finding the right coverage under the right carrier for the right price can be very frustrating if you don't know where to start. You don't want to call all six hundred companies and you don't want to waste your time getting lowball quotes either. What do you do?
1) Find an agent near you for each of the six to eight companies with the best reputations.
Progressive, Geico, Allstate, State Farm, Farm Bureau, Mercury, Nationwide, Travelers.
2) Call the agent and explain your situation, ie, just bought a new car, etc....
3) Have the agent's run the quote with your information all the way to final price, and then give that price to you in writing either via fax or email.
Understanding how Insurance Rating works:
There are about three hundred different rating criteria that determine what your price is going to be. What territory you live in, your age, gender, marital status, driving history, credit history, loss history, what year, kind, model of vehicle you have.
Another important rating point is prior insurance. This is a big one because many companies have rigid underwriting guidelines that cause your price to go up if it has been more than thirty days since you last had insurance on your vehicle.
If you have never had insurance on a vehicle before, or have been listed on someone else's policy as a driver, you may expect your rates to be slightly higher the first six months due to a no prior insurance surcharge. Often, this surcharge is lifted after six months of continuous coverage with no lapse.
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