Auto Insurance

By Dean Cecere

This article is dedicated to providing useful information regarding first-rate auto insurance quotes, as well as most other insurance needs you may have. When it comes to car insurance, some would say it is a dog-eat-dog world. It is not always easy to find an insurance policy that will provide you with a balance between the cheapest car insurance rates and expectation exceeding service. By finding this article, you have just successfully made the first step towards achieving that balance. Right here you will find extensive information on auto insurance quotes for all levels of drivers.

Auto insurance quotes are a very valuable instrument for drivers who care about benefitting from their insurance policy. Whether you are considered a high risk or low risk experienced driver, or just a beginner, the net is full of auto insurance professionals that are highly competitive in providing you with possibly the cheapest car insurance quoted rates in the business. If you are like most of us, you have a multitude of expenses that must be met, there is no reason to be paying too much hard earned money for vehicle coverage. We recommend you carry out several price comparisons, you will be amazed at differences in rates you will encounter. You may already be paying too much. If you are inerested in keeping your vehicle insurance to a minimum, there are factors that can help you determine the possibilty of cheap car insurance.

Factors which may have an effect on lowering car insurance premiums may include;

- Driving experience : The number of years driving and consistently holding an insurance policy;

- Value of the vehicle being insured, insurance will be lower on a less expensive vehicle;

- Driving Record : A clean driving record is always favorable, and the longer it is kept clean, the more you will be rewarded;
- Employment : If you use your vehicle to commute to work, the closer you reside to your work place, the better;

- Claims : The more past claims and driving offenses, the higher your premiums. Good drivers are rewarded;

- Residence : Where you reside also has an impact on insurance premiums. High crime areas are usually higher;

- Security devices : If your vehicle has a anti-theft or security device, be sure to let your insurance provider know;

- Make of car : Brands that are highly stolen may carry a heftier premium;

- and Type of Insurance : You have options when considering insurance for your vehicle. You can choose to carry minimal insurance such as liability, but your coverage will be limited. Liability insurance only usually covers damages to others involved, however it will not cover damages to your vehicle. By law, everyone needs to have liability insurance to drive. It is usually a wise choice to add collision and comprehensive insurance to your policy to protect yourself and your investment. Collision insurance will often cover your damages whether you are at fault or not in a situation where you are involved you in an accident. Comprehensive insurance covers occurrences such as fire, theft and vandalism. They can usually be added to your policy separately.

There may be other factors that will affect the premuim you can expect to pay, and there are companies that will use slightly different methods of determining the amount. Comparison shopping for insurance is a good choice, and really made simple with free online insurance quotes which are widely available.

The best thing about online auto insurance quotes is that they will take very little time to complete, and you will know almost immediately how much you can expect to pay, and all with no obligation to sign. This means you can easily shop around for the absolute cheapest car insurance rates available to you until you find one you are comfortable with. There are much too many people paying unnecessary high rates for their insurance coverage due to the fact that they are not aware of the simplicity of free or extremely uncostly auto insurance quotes. It is definately to your advantage to consult online auto insurance professionals, who are striving to bringing contentment to the public concerning insurance coverage. It is well worth the short time it takes to find out.

Dean Cecere is auuthor and owner of InsuranceCoverage-Quotes.comProviding information on a variety of insurance categories.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dean_Cecere

Posted by Orce37 at 1:38 PM | Permalink | Comments

By Mark Lyne

Me: "Good Afternoon, how can we help you today?"

Potential Client: "Yeah – hello – I have full coverage car insurance with my current company, and I would like a quote for full coverage with you to see if I can save money on my auto insurance."

Me: "Great! What coverages are you carrying with your current company?"

Potential Client: "I don’t really know, but I think it is the state minimums"

I get this exact phone call or ones similar to it in my agency at least 3 – 4 times each week.

When I receive these calls, I will usually ask what the person is trying to accomplish by getting "full coverage". So far, I have found most believe if they are carrying the "state minimum" coverages, they are fully covered. Additionally, I have found that there are two major categories people fall into when they say "full coverage" and are looking for cheap car insurance:

Category 1 – If I have an accident, any accident, I walk away without any financial consequences at all. I am totally covered no matter what happens.

Category 2 – If somebody hits me and they do not have any insurance or if they do not have enough insurance, I will be covered for any conceivable expense to myself, my passengers, or my property as a result of their mistake.

Category 1 - I want to be covered no matter what happens

In order to answer this type of request, we must first understand that car insurance works with defined policy limits – it is helpful to understand what the numbers we see mean in the policy we purchase.

For example, in Texas, the State minimum required coverage to demonstrate financial responsibility is 20/40/15. We have all seen these numbers over and over again, but you would be surprised how many people have no idea what they mean.

Each number is in thousands and is the maximum coverage you would receive – so 20 means up to $20,000, 40 means up to $40,000, and 15 means up to $15,000. The first number is per person per accident bodily injury number in thousands. The second number is the total bodily injury per accident and the last number is the amount of property damage covered.

Our agency, through the insurance company I am appointed with offers the following levels of bodily injury liability auto coverages for non-commercial personal auto:

20/40
25/50
50/100
100/200
100/300
250/500
500/500

And the following property damage liability auto limits:

15
20
25
40
50
100

Keeping these numbers in mind – Let’s say you are carrying the Texas state minimums of 20/40/15 and that you cause an accident with $10,000 in bodily injury and $18,000 of property damage to a vehicle.

Based on your coverages, your insurance company would pay all of the bodily injury and up to $15,000 for the property damage, you would be responsible for $3,000.

Did you have full coverage?

Let’s take it to the next level with a bad accident (but definitely not the worst) – You cause an accident involving 3 other vehicles besides your own, and there are 2 people in each vehicle. We will use the same numbers as above.

6 people x $10,000 = $60,000

3 vehicles x $18,000 = $54,000

Again, if you are carrying the same coverages as listed above, 4 of the 6 people would be covered by your state minimum policy because everybody was under the $20,000 per person limit, but you maxed out your per accident bodily injury at $40,000, so you would need to take care of $20,000 of bodily injury on your own.

Next, your property damage coverage would pay for $15,000 leaving the remaining $39,000 to you. The total bill to you would be $59,000.

Did you have full coverage?

In order for you to be covered for this accident, as stated – if there is no continued litigation or lawsuits, you would need to be carrying a minimum of a 50/100/100 policy. However, if there was continued litigation or if somebody had died as a result of the accident, you might find yourself needing even more coverage than the 500/500/100 policy would provide.

Bottom line – Depending on the severity of the accident, Full Coverage under Category #1 is Fantasy.

In my next article we will discuss Category #2 – Uninsured / Underinsured Motorist Full Coverage – Fact or Fantasy?

If you are looking for more money saving tips and advice regarding car, home, life, & health insurance, visit Mark's site http://www.QuoteMyAuto.org.

Mark Lyne is a licensed Property & Casualty / Life & Health agent in Texas and has partnered with InsureMe and 2Insure4Less to provide clients with competitive quotes in order to leverage their hard earned insurance dollar as much as possible regardless of which State the client resides in.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_Lyne

Posted by Orce37 at 9:24 AM | Permalink | Comments

By A. Chris Tijerina

You were on the phone, got distracted and before you knew it traffic had stopped, giving you no room to stop and you rear end the girl in front of you. Or, let's say you're driving along and a deer jumps out and rams into the side of your door.

Now, let's say you need to file and claim and get your car fixed. But, are your rates going to go up?

In the first case, more than likely they will depending on how much your insurance company pays out to fix both cars and medical bills if anyone was injured.

But, in the second example, since this will be a comprehensive claim your rates should not see an increase at your renewal. Unless you have a long history of hitting deer then the people from PETA will be out to get you. Or if you file a lot of small glass damage claims then your rates could be affected or you may have to pay a higher deductible for comprehensive in which case small glass damage will be less than your deductible and you will pay out of pocket.

Part 2: How long does an accident stay on my record?

Ok, so back to the example where you rear ended someone. We have already established that you are going to see your insurance rates go up. Now, we need to find out how long and how much will they go up.

State insurance boards usually allow insurance companies to charge for a accident for 3 years from the day they started charging for it. Not from the time you got into the accident. You got in the accident in December and your policy runs from October to April. Your rates won't be affected until April of the next year and the surcharge will drop off 3 years from that April.

How much will your rates go up? Are they trying to get back the money they paid out for my claim? You can usually expect a rate increase of between 20-40% on average per six months. They could go up even more if you lose some discounts you were getting, such as a claim free discount.

The increase is not a recoupment of the monies paid out by your insurance company. It is designed to charge you a premium based on the risk, or chance, that you will get into another accident in the next 3 years. You are a higher risk to the insurance company and they are able to charge you for the higher risk you present to them.

If it was based on how much the insurance company paid out then you wouldn't be able to afford it if you totaled out your 2004 Nissan Maxima at $25,000 and you had to pay that back within the 3 year surcharge period. Makes sense? Good, now get off the cell phone!



A. Chris Tijerina has over 3 years of experience in the auto insurance industry and has seen many different people deal with auto insurance related problems. http://www.insurance-for-cars.com answers many of the questions facing drivers today.




Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=A._Chris_Tijerina

Posted by Orce37 at 9:51 PM | Permalink | Comments