Auto Insurance Tips

Your insurance policy will allow you to remove the liability insurance on a car in storage. However, if your car is registered or driven on the road, you will probably be in violation of your state’s laws.

Chances are you will need to maintain liability insurance on your car if there is a lien on it whether it is in storage or driven on the road. If the car is leased or you have a loan on it, the contract you have with your leaser or lender will probably dictate that you maintain both liability insurance and physical damage insurance on your vehicle.

If your car is unregistered and you do not have a lien on it, you should be able to remove the liability insurance protection after you put it in storage or take it off the road. Depending on where the car is garaged you may or may not be able to legally remove the liability protection from your car in storage and still keep the car registered. Laws differ in different areas.

You may want to keep physical damage coverage on the car whether or not you keep the liability protection on it. Physical damage coverage is also known as collision and comprehensive insurance.  It protects you if your car is in a fire, stolen or vandalized.

Insuring more than one car on an automobile policy will result in a lower cost than if you insure the two cars separately. A typical discount is 20%.

Other discounts that you might find on a car insurance policy include the multi-policy discount. Many companies will give you a discount if you have your homeowners condo or renters insurance with the same company.

Younger drivers may qualify for discounts by completing a driving instruction course. These courses are often offered in high schools. You can also get approved driving instruction from a private company. This discount is usually greater than the cost of the course.

Younger drivers may also qualify for good student discount. Getting good grades can help lower your car insurance bills.

A defensive driver course can help lower rates for older drivers. When a person takes a course because the court mandated it a discount won’t apply. These courses are inexpensive and can be taken online.

Other discount may be available of your car has antilock brakes. An automobile that stops faster can avoid accidents and save money for you and the insurance company.

Anti-theft devices can also help lower your car insurance bill.

When you have an active Personal Auto Policy (or PAP) auto insurance policy and purchase a new automobile, it is automatically covered, at least temporarily. This does not apply to vehicles that have a gross vehicle weight of 10,000 pounds or more.

The coverage limits for liability will be the limits you have on the vehicle with the highest limit on your policy. The same is true for personal injury protection and uninsured motorist coverage.

If the new car doesn’t replace a previously insured vehicle, you will have 14 days to notify your insurance company.

If collision or “other than collision” insurance is desired, the insurance company must be notified within 4 days if the car is not a replacement vehicle. If it replaces another vehicle, you will have 14 days.

Vehicles with a gross vehicle weight of 10,000 pounds or more will generally need to be covered by a commercial automobile policy. There may be exceptions for pickup trucks that are close to the 10,000 limit. The way the vehicle is used may be the factor that determines whether it can or cannot be insured by a personal auto policy.

As a practical matter you may need to notify your insurance company when you acquire a new automobile. You may need proof of insurance to register the vehicle. You may be able to have proof faxed or emailed to you or to your auto dealership. This can save you a trip.

Consumer Reports in the October 2010 issue has rated the car insurance companies in a way that includes more than just the price as a factor. The way companies paid claims was a big factor in the ratings in the issue.

Knowing which are the best and worst car insurance companies as rated by consumer reports can go a long way towards helping you make a good decision about car insurance coverage. By having more than just the price to go buy you can make a better decision.

What I found interesting was there were some companies that I had never heard of before ranked near the top of the list. I’ve often wondered whether there were some lesser known companies that would give me a better deal than the well know ones.

If you are shopping for car insurance, I would strongly recommend looking at this survey. The data is based on information from a lot of people. Almost 30 thousand people who had claims completed the survey. Almost 100,000 people responded in total.

Car insurance companies use several factors to determine car insurance premiums. Your age, driving history and the number of accidents in your area all go into the equation. Type(s) of car(s) you drive can also factor into the equation.

The most important factor under your control is probably your driving history. Accidents and tickets can have a real impact on the price that you are charged when you buy car insurance.

Where you live is also a factor. If you live in a congested area city, you may pay more than those who live in a nearby town. This is because there tend to be more accidents when the roads are more congested.

Your age and gender are factors when you are younger. Age ceases to impact rated after you get into your mid twenties or so. Like age, the impact of gender ceases to matter at some point in your twenties.

Your driving history becomes a better predictor than your age or gender after you have been driving for a few years.

They type of car you drive can also make your rate go up or down. This is only the case if you have physical damage coverage on your car.

Physical damage coverage is the part of your auto insurance policy that pays you if your car is damaged. Dropping this coverage does not affect the insurance company’s obligation to pay others if you hit them. Nor does it relive the obligation of others to pay you if they damage your car.

Physical damage coverage consists of two components. One component is called “collision” coverage. The other is called “other than collision” or “comprehensive” coverage

If you do have physical damage coverage the replacement value of the car and the deductibles you have will affect your coverage. You can have different deductibles on your different cars. You can have a different deductible for your collision coverage than you have for your other than collision coverage.

Getting the lowest rate on car insurance is affected my many factors. The most important of those within your control is your driving history, but other factors such as where you live can have an impact as well.

Why does car insurance cost more for men than for women? A better question might be “why do YOUNG men pay more for car insurance than YOUNG women?”

Auto insurance rates are largely based the insurance company’s belief in your statistical probability of your having an accident and costing them money. They work up statistical probabilities based on the information that they have about you and charge you accordingly.

When you are younger and have less of a driving record, your rates will be based on the data that they have available. They know that young women are more responsible behind the wheel than young men. With fewer other factors to base their belief in whether or not a youngster will have an accident, the gender plays a large part in the calculations that they use to determine a rate for your insurance policy.

After a driver has been on the road for a few years, the driving record becomes a much better source of data to use to determine whether or not a person is a good driver than his or her gender. This is why the rates for a sixteen year old will be based largely on their gender. This is also why the rates for a thirty year old will ignore their gender and will be based largely on their driving record.

If you are a high school student who is wants to start driving, make sure that you take an approved driving course. You can probably get a good discount on your auto insurance when you pass the course. Many companies also give good student discounts, so getting good grades can help as well.

Once you have your license, be sure to always drive at a safe speed and obey all traffic regulations.

Doing these things will either lower your rates or keep them from going up. There isn’t much you can do about your gender or age, but getting a drivers’ education certificate, getting a good student discount and driving safely are within the control of a young male or female driver and can keep their rates from being higher than they need to be.

Insurance for commercial trucks is available through truckers policies and motor carriers policies. These policies are for entities that transport goods for hire and/or for transport their own goods. A Personal Auto Policy is in appropriate for motor carriers. A truckers policy or motor carrier policy should be purchased.

You can find quotes for affordable commercial truck insurance on our sister site. Since these policies are expensive, shopping your coverage on a regular basis can have a real impact on your bottom line.

The truckers policy is designed for those entities that transport property for hire. The motor carrier policy is for those who transport their own goods and those who transport property for hire.

A motor carrier according the Federal Motor Carrier Safety administration is a company that provides truck transportation. Some transport goods for hire others transport their own goods.

There are several types of motor carriers.

A Private Carrier is a company that moves their own cargo.

A For-Hire Carrier transports goods for others. They can be either contract carriers or common carriers.

A Common Carrier provides for-hire truck transportation to the general public. These companies will move goods for consumers and businesses on a parcel by parcel basis. These entities must file both cargo insurance and liability insurance coverage.

A Contract Carrier is contracted by individual carriers. They are required to file liability insurance but not cargo insurance.

A Broker arranges for the transportation of cargo that belongs to others. They do not move the cargo themselves.

Knowing how your policy covers newly acquired vehicles is important. Policies differ in this regard. You may need to contact your agent as soon as you purchase a new vehicle or it may be insured automatically.

Your policy may cover private passenger vehicles differently than trucks that transport cargo. Your coverage for physical damage coverage may be affected by this part of your policy.

An experienced broker can help you find the coverage for your motor carrier business. You have to get the right policy in place before an accident occurs.

The main protection from a  car insurance policy is the liability coverage. It is the liability coverage that will pay another party for their injuries. It is the liability coverage that will pay another party for damage to their personal or real property.

Bodily injury is covered by liability insurance. This term refers to physical pain, illness or any impairment of physical condition. Some courts have expanded this definition to include emotional distress even in cases where there is no actual contact with the distressed person.

Your car insurance policy’s liability insurance provisions can also pay for an injured person’s lost wages. This can add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Having adequate liability protection can reduce your chances of losing your home and other assets in a lawsuit.

Property damage is also covered by the liability provision of your auto insurance policy. This covers the loss, injury or deterioration of another person’s property.

It is important have adequate liability coverage. Your auto insurance policy and your homeowner’s insurance policy both provide liability coverage, but in some cases the coverage isn’t enough.

If you feel that the liability limits available on one or both policies is inadequate, you can apply for a Personal Excess Liability Policy. These policies are known as “PELPs” or as “umbrella policies.” An umbrella policy can provide additional liability coverage if you are successfully sued for more than the limits of your auto or homeowners policies.

Facts for teen drivers:

• Average car insurance price for teenage males is higher than for females
• Taking an approved driving course can lower your rates
• Getting better grades can lower your rate
• Accidents and tickets matter.

Girls rule with car insurance. They tend to be more level headed when driving, so their rates are lower.

(Depending on the company after about 25 or so, men and women will pay the same rate. This assumes that all other relevant factors such as the driving histories are the same.)

The more supervised time a teenager has behind the wheel, the better but only an approved driving course will get your teen a discount. Every minute of supervised instruction helps. However, to save money on your teen’s car insurance costs, be sure to also send him or her to an approved drivers ed program.

Make sure that your teen takes a drivers’ education course. You will probably save much more on your insurance than the cost of the course.

Most auto insurance companies will give a discount for drivers with good grades. Since they don’t have much or any driving history to base their rates by, they use other factors to make an educated guess about a teen driver’s thoughtfulness behind the wheel.

Accidents and tickets matter. They really matter. When an older driver gets a ticket, the insurance company might not think it is a big deal. However, with less driving history to go by the impact of a ticket isn’t “diluted” by previous good behavior.

Drive slowly, drive safely and keep your auto insurance costs down.

Driver’s education and getting better grades can help to keep the cost of insurance down for young drivers. However an accident or a ticket can zoom the rates up.

Drive smart. Doing so cannot only help you save money on your car insurance can also save a life.

Often people will be concerned about buying insurance or anything else on the Internet. We worry that the shoes won’t fit. We worry that the color will look differently in our homes as opposed to the way they look on our computer screens.

To some degree buying insurance on the Internet can have some of the same pitfalls. We worry that we are not comparing policies as well as we might if we had a face-to-face meeting with an insurance agent.

This can be a very legitimate issue with certain types of policies. However auto insurance policies have been standardized. There you may have a different state variation than I do or your policy may have some minor benefits that mine does not, but for the most part the benefits are the same.

This means that for the most part you are comparing apples to apples. (You may be comparing Macintosh apples to Granny Smith apples at times.)

This means that you can spend most of your time focusing on other differences. Whether you are buying online or off you can focus on the car insurance rates. Internet policies follow the same rules. In addition to price the service and the financial stability of the insurance carrier is important as well.

You can be sure that if you are looking at a Personal Auto Policy (most of them are) you are getting the substantially same benefits regardless of which company you purchase it from.

(Other lines of insurance have also been standardized, but not all. Homeowners insurance policies are similarly standardized. These policies are also standardized. Health insurance, disability insurance and life insurance policies have not been standardized to the same degree.)

You will still find that the average car insurance price for teenage males is higher than you want it to be, but you can shop on the Internet knowing that the policies you are looking at are much more similar than different.