Moving is a lot of work. Anyone who tells you otherwise is either lying or trying to sell you a new house! With an 18 mile long to-do list and very little time to do any of it between filling out paperwork and trying to keep up with your regular life (not to mention say goodbye to everyone you're leaving behind) it's often very, very tempting to bump any non-essentials to the bottom of the list to deal with after you're done unpacking. Just be careful what you put on this list-and make sure your auto insurance isn't a part of it.
It's astonishing how many people completely forget about their auto insurance when they move, especially when they're not moving out of state (and therefore trying to deal with all the fun and excitement that go along with trying to get their tags and registration switched over). There's always something else that takes up their time, and the next thing you know you've been living in your new house for over a month and you haven't even started the process of getting your auto insurance in line.
Unfortunately, bumping back dealing with your auto insurance companies is just about the worst thing you could do in terms of your insurance coverage. Why? Garaging location, relative risk and state mandated minimum liability requirements, not necessarily in that order!
Garaging Location
If you're not familiar with the term, garaging location is the spot where your car spends most of its time when it's not out on the road driving to and from here and there. Your garaging location has a great deal to do with your auto insurance rates. There are simply some places in the U.S. where your car is more likely to be ripped off or involved in an accident than others, something that's known as RELATIVE RISK. Since your auto insurance company is going to have to be the one to cut the check to replace your car if it gets stolen or damaged beyond repair (or damaged at all, for that matter) they're going to want to make up the difference in what they're going to pay out in insurance claims by raising your auto insurance rates.
If your car isn't being garaged where it's supposed to be at the time of the accident and your auto insurance provider finds out about it, you could find yourself holding the bag on hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical and repair bills when they flat out deny your claims.
Minimum Liability Auto Insurance
If you're moving out of state there are a couple of other things you need to worry about, starting with minimum liability auto insurance coverage. Minimum liability is the absolute bare minimum in insurance you have to have before you'll be allowed out on the highways. The last thing you want to have happen is a police officer issue a ticket within days or weeks of moving into your new house because you're driving around underinsured.
If you have to get a ticket, it should at least be for something worthwhile!
