Online Auto Insurance Basics
If you are a US motorist, the human conscience dictates that you carry auto insurance policy as this takes care of you during an accident and the ones affected by it. Furthermore, most US states compel its motorists to carry insurance policy before they can drive around.
So what are the different policies offered on the market today. The first type of insurance is \"liability insurance\". Now, there are two types of this insurance: 1. bodily injury and 2. property damage. The average limit required by most states would be 25/30/25.
What this means is that the insurance carrier would pay up to $25,000 for bodily injury per person, $30,000 per accident, and $25,000 for any property damage that has occurred per accident. So, if your current policy does not carry those minimum amounts you should talk to an agent and see what can be done to correct it. You need to assess your situation and lifestyle and decide what is best for you. As mentioned before, almost all US states require its motorists to carry liability insurance. New Hampshire and Wisconsin are not part of those states which hold minimum requirements.
The next form of insurance is \\\"collision\\\". Collision coverage would cover not only your vehicle and any personal property that you have damaged but also damage to the other vehicles involved in the accident.
If your car gets vandalized, flooded or catches fire, comprehensive insurance will cover you. Comprehensive insurance kicks in when the damage to your car is not caused by collision.
Now, there are motorists out there who will drive around without auto insurance coverage. If you get in an accident with one, your uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance will rush in and cover you. Uninsured/underinsured policy takes care of you when the other driver does not have insurance or has insufficient coverage.
Then there's PIP or personal injury protection. PIP covers medical bills and other expenses, such as wage loss and funeral expenses, caused by the accident. This will cover you whether or not the accident is your fault or not. PIP is now required in 16 states.
Now, we get to "no-fault" auto insurance. Its name has confused a lot of motorists over the years. Under this system, the auto insurance company will pay for the damages you incur because of the accident. In a no fault insurance system, each driver in an accident pays for his or her own damages. There is no need to find who is at fault under this insurance program. Because of this program's nature, people thought that this would minimize the number of lawsuits caused by road accidents. This was not the case as statistics showed that accident rates and costs went higher, so did insurance premiums.
Because of this, no-fault laws have been repealed in some states that had enacted the said program. These states were Nevada, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Colorado, Florida and DC. The rest of the states that had the "no-fault" law still have them. NJ and PA now allow their drivers to choose between a no-fault and a regular auto insurance policy. The effect of this option on premium levels in these states has not been conclusive, so far.
Getting Cheaper Premiums
For us average consumer, premiums rates can be hard to decipher. Somehow, it defies reason. Auto insurance companies seem to have a weird way of computing your insurance premium and increasing them. If you were in a car accident, your insurance premium will increase even if you were not the one at fault. It does not matter to them where you caused the accident. The accident goes against you just because you got yourself in the position to be a part of an accident.
It's an uphill climb, so it seems. We need to work hard and come with factors that can lead our auto insurance companies to give us discounts or, at least, reasonable premiums. There several factors to consider if we are going to affect the way our insurance companies come up with our insurance premiums. The first factor they consider is age. Females get lower rates than male.
If you're a male driver and you're 25 years old or younger, you might want to ride a bike! Not much can be done to lower your rates, you are in a very high category, sorry! They'll check your vehicle location, where you park your vehicle at night. Drivers in urban states get higher rates than the ones living in rural areas. For example NC and CA drivers pay out higher annual insurance premiums. If you've filed a claim or multiple claims in the past five years, this will greatly increase your annual premiums. If you have been ticketed for speeding or other moving traffic violations, your rates will increase as well.
Your vehicle plays a major role in factoring rates too. Vehicles that tend to be expensive to repair, luxury priced vehicles, and high performance cars will cost more to insure. There are cars that are known to be targets of auto theft like the Toyota Camry and Honda Accord. If you own one of these vehicles or have a vehicle that is on this "hot list", you will pay more money in insurance. Off road vehicles, modified vehicles and large SUVs will also cause your premium to rise above other vehicles.
