How Much Car Insurance Should You Buy?
Provided By: CarInsurance.com Auto Insurance Articles
Last updated 4:16 AM Mar-14-2009
Car insurance is not very exciting. Depending on which state you live in, it could be a smaller or larger piece of your budget than your neighbors across state lines.
How much insurance should you buy? Any insurance agent worthy of their salt will tell you that you should buy as much as you can afford. While this is a good rule of thumb, it is about as useful as a stockbroker’s tip to buy low and sell high. It might be sound logic but it does not get you any closer to an educated decision. A few filters need consideration in order to make that educated decision. First, what is the state required minimum coverage where you live? Second, what does the minimum cover? Third, what other coverage is available and can you afford it? Fourthly, what are you protecting?
You can use our easy Insurance Coverage Calculator or get an auto insurance quote to see the recommended coverage levels.
What is the minimum for your state?
You can get up to date state minimum requirements by following this link and selecting your state.
The first two figures refer to Bodily Injury Liability Limits. For example, 20/40 means coverage up to $20,000 for each person injured in an accident, up to a maximum of $40,000 forth entire accident, and then you could have 20/40/10 with $10,000 worth of coverage for property damage.
What do the minimums cover?
Now that you know what your state requires, what are you actually covered for once you purchase the minimum? Using the coverage definitions that follow, find the types of coverage required and see what your state says is the accepted minimum.
Coverage Definitions
Bodily Injury Liability covers other people's bodily injuries or death for which you are responsible. It also provides for a legal defense if another party in the accident files a lawsuit against you. Claims for bodily injury may be for such things as medical bills, loss of income or pain and suffering. In the event of a serious accident, you want enough insurance to cover a judgment against you in a lawsuit, without jeopardizing your personal assets. Bodily injury liability covers injury to people, not your vehicle. Therefore, it's good idea to have the same level of coverage for all of your cars. Bodily Injury Liability does NOT cover you or other people on your policy. Coverage is limited to the terms and conditions contained in the policy.
Comprehensive covers your vehicle, and sometimes other vehicles you maybe driving for losses resulting from incidents other than collision. For example, comprehensive insurance covers damage to your car if it is stolen; or damaged by flood, fire, or animals. Pays to fix your vehicle less the deductible you choose. To keep your premiums low, select as high a deductible as you feel comfortable paying out of pocket. Coverage is limited to the terms and conditions contained in the policy.
Collision covers damage to your car when your car hits, or is hit by, another vehicle, or other object. Pays to fix your vehicle less the deductible you choose. To keep your premiums low, select as large a deductible as you feel comfortable paying out of pocket. For older cars, consider dropping this coverage, since coverage is normally limited to the cash value of your car. Coverage is limited to the terms and conditions contained in the policy.
Medical Payments covers medical expenses to you and your passengers injured in an accident. There may also be coverage if as a pedestrian a vehicle injures you. Does NOT matter who is at fault. Coverage is limited to the terms and conditions contained in the policy.
Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury covers bodily injuries to you and your passengers when the other person has no insurance or not enough insurance in a crash that is not your fault. In some states, there is also uninsured motorist coverage for damage to your vehicle. Given the large number of uninsured motorists, this is very important coverage to have, even in states with no-fault insurance. Coverage is limited to the terms and conditions contained in the policy
Personal Injury Protection covers within the specified limits, the medical, hospital and funeral expenses of the insured, others in his vehicles and pedestrians struck by him. The basic coverage for the insured's own injuries on first-party basis, without regard to fault. It is only available in certain states.
Property Damage Liability covers you if your car damages someone else's property. Usually it is their car, but it could be a fence, a house or any other property damaged in an accident. It also provides you with legal defense if another party files a lawsuit against you. It is a good idea to purchase enough of this insurance to cover the amount of damage your car might do to another vehicle or object. Coverage is limited to the terms and conditions contained in the policy.
Rental Car Reimbursement covers renting a car if your car isn't drivable or while your car is being repaired because of a covered accident.
What else is available and can you afford it?
Did you come across a coverage and think, "I need that but it isn't required by state law" when you were reviewing the coverage definitions? Chances are you did. Can your budget afford the additional expense of these protections? Alternatively, maybe more to the point can you afford NOT to have these additional protections? At CarInsurance.com it is easy to get multiple quotes all with a click of your mouse. Moreover, during the quoting process, it is simple to add or remove coverage to see how additional coverage will affect your budget.
You can learn more about Insurance Coverages by following this link.
What are you protecting?
What assets need to be protected from being plucked away if you cause injury or damage? A) Your car itself. If this is a significant asset, or at least the bank you owe money to thinks so, then you will need comprehensive and collision. B) Your net worth. Do you have an enormous net worth to protect. If so, either take it out of your name and put it into a trust or buy all the insurance you can. If you have little or nothing to protect, then you can get by with less and still be financially responsible.
However, after you determine how much protection to get, always ask how much more it is for the next level higher. Very often, you can get significantly more coverage for very little cost.
Car insurance is not flashy. There is no "wow" factor and the opposite gender is not going to be impressed by the size of your policy. Nevertheless, not having enough can be the difference between financial stability and financial ruin. For what its worth, CarInsurance.com finds financial stability incredibly appealing.
Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes. It should not be interpreted as a recommendation to buy or sell any insurance product, or to provide financial or legal advice. This information is provided for information purposes only.
Articles written by CarInsurance.com have a copyright and cannot be reproduced or republished in any way or form without the written consent from CarInsurance.com. You may use our RSS feed with an active link to our site.
Source: http://www.carinsurance.com/Articles/content1.aspx
Monday, November 8, 2010
Which Cars Keep Your Insurance Rates Affordable
Which Cars Keep Your Insurance Rates Affordable
Provided By: CarInsurance.com Auto Insurance Articles
Last updated 1:56 AM Feb-18-2009
Do you consider the cost of insurance before you buy your dream car? You should. The Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) analyzes the cost to insurance companies from theft, collision, and injury claims as they relate to cars. They look at the color of the cars, how many doors they have, and even break them down type.
The Highway Loss Data Institute is a nonprofit public service organization. It is closely associated with and funded through the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which is wholly supported by auto insurers. HLDI gathers, processes, and publishes data on the ways losses vary among different kinds of vehicles.
Four door cars have a 93% less chance of having a claim related to theft than their sibling 2-Door cars. Buy a Buick LeSabre and have relatively no chance of a theft loss. Compare that to the convertible Chevrolet Corvette that has over 5 times the average theft rate. You may have known that. However, did you know that the Toyota Celica has a 67% higher chance of theft than the Toyota Camry?
One of the factors that come into play with insurance claims is the cost of repairing a vehicle and the safety features a vehicle has that can keep down the bodily injury claims. To find out which cars are considered “Top Safety Picks” you can check with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
The IIHS top safety picks category recognizes vehicles that do the best job of protecting people in front, side, and rear crashes based on good ratings in Institute tests. Winners also have to have electronic stability control (ESC), which research shows significantly reduces crash risk. Crash tests like the ones conducted by the IIHS have driven major improvements in the designs of all kinds and sizes of passenger vehicles and thus making cars safer for motorists.
The IIHS’s list of top picks for safety performance is something to check out when going to buy a car so that you can see not only if your car is rated in crash tests but what kind of damages are done to give you an idea of insurance. Each year the IIHS releases their information which is available to the public. As a motorist searching for the right car to keep insurance costs down, keep in mind that the more damage that is done is a crash, low impact to high, the likelihood insurance rates will be higher since the insurer knows it will cost more to repair that vehicle.
You may be surprised at some of the results. For example, the Porsche 911 has a 67% less chance for injury claims than the norm. Go figure. The Mitsubishi Lancer has almost double the injury claim rate over the norm.
Where does your car fit for injury theft and collision? What about your dream car? You need to check out the latest statistics on theft for a vehicle before choosing a car to buy. There are various sources you can search to find the most common vehicles stolen. One source is the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) which has studies showing the top 10 stolen vehicles in each state. While the list of top vehicles stolen may change each year there are some vehicles we continue to see on the list and are continual favorites of thieves. These cars include the:
* Honda Accord
* Toyota Camry
* Ford F-150
* Acura Integra
* Nissan Sentra
* Toyota Corolla
* Toyota Pickups
Then the list of ones that have the most expensive theft claims include such vehicles as the:
* Cadillac Escalade
* Chevrolet Corvette Convertible
* Lincoln Navigator
Vehicles with the least expensive theft claims include some of the following and as you may notice some are older vehicles:
* Buick LeSabre
* Volvo V70 Station Wagon
* Mercury Grand Marquis 4-four
The NICB encourages everyone to follow what it calls a "layered approach" to auto theft protection by employing simple, low-cost suggestions to make vehicles less attractive to thieves. The four layers include common sense, a warning device, an immobilizing device, and a tracking device.
The Highway Loss Data Institute gives information on what vehicles have the most and least expensive claims for injury and collision claims. According to HLDI, the lowest injury claims are from large vehicles - cars, pickup trucks, and sport utility vehicles (SUVs). Small two and four door cars have the highest injury claims. Small cars also are among the highest in collision costs, along with sports cars.
Models in recent years that have had some of the most expensive claims for injuries include:
* Suzuki Esteem 4-door
* Kia Rio 4-door
* Mitsubishi Mirage 2-door
* Kia Spectra 4-doors
* Vehicle Models with some of the least expensive injury claims include:
* GMC Sierra 2500 2-wheel and 4 wheel drives
* Chevrolet Silverado
* GMC Yukon XL 1500 4-wheel
* Chevy Tahoe 2-wheel
Models that are among the least expensive for collision claims include:
* Ford Excursion 2-wheel drive
* GMC 2500
* GMC Safari 4-wheel drive
* GMC Yukon XL 1500 4-wheel drive
* Vehicles that are most expensive for collision claims include:
* Subaru Impreza WRX 4-wheel drive 4-door
* Lexus IS 300 4-door
* Porsche 911 coupe
* Acura RSX
As you can see the cars on the list for having expensive collision claims include many sporty or high performance vehicles. Insuring a high-performance car can easily cost two or three times the insurance amount for an ordinary model due to the high cost of repairs if they are damaged.
If you have the time and energy to do research on theft rates, cost of collision claims and bodily injury claims on a vehicle you can determine what the most affordable car is to insure for your needs. If you do not have this time than you can research the lists that come out each year or so from sources such as the IIHS, HLDI and NHTSA on the most and least expensive vehicles to insure where they take into account many factors such as the ones we mentioned. The lists can vary since the statistics and reporting tools they use in their research vary.
Typically when one is going to buy a car they have an idea of what type of vehicle they want - sedan, SUV, truck, sports car, etc - and one easy and efficient way to decide on the vehicle that will be affordable to you is to figure out what class of vehicle you want and then narrow done your choice to few models. You then can check the research to make sure they are not on the “worst” list for theft, claims, etc. In addition, maybe with luck they will be on the “best” lists. If not they may fall in between which is fine if the car is going to suit your needs the best.
Once your choice is narrowed down to a few vehicles to find out which is the most affordable of these vehicle to insure, just simply get online and search for auto insurance quotes on the various vehicles. Insurance companies or Insurance Marketplaces, such as CarInsurance.com, will allow you to get as many quotes as you need to determine which vehicle you thinking of purchasing is the most affordable. Once you decide on a car to buy it is easy to then just to go ahead and purchase your insurance policy online.
Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes. It should not be interpreted as a recommendation to buy or sell any insurance product, or to provide financial or legal advice. This information is provided for information purposes only.
Articles written by CarInsurance.com have a copyright and cannot be reproduced or republished in any way or form without the written consent from CarInsurance.com. You may use our RSS feed with an active link to our site.
Source: http://www.carinsurance.com/Articles/content3.aspx
Provided By: CarInsurance.com Auto Insurance Articles
Last updated 1:56 AM Feb-18-2009
Do you consider the cost of insurance before you buy your dream car? You should. The Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI) analyzes the cost to insurance companies from theft, collision, and injury claims as they relate to cars. They look at the color of the cars, how many doors they have, and even break them down type.
The Highway Loss Data Institute is a nonprofit public service organization. It is closely associated with and funded through the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which is wholly supported by auto insurers. HLDI gathers, processes, and publishes data on the ways losses vary among different kinds of vehicles.
Four door cars have a 93% less chance of having a claim related to theft than their sibling 2-Door cars. Buy a Buick LeSabre and have relatively no chance of a theft loss. Compare that to the convertible Chevrolet Corvette that has over 5 times the average theft rate. You may have known that. However, did you know that the Toyota Celica has a 67% higher chance of theft than the Toyota Camry?
One of the factors that come into play with insurance claims is the cost of repairing a vehicle and the safety features a vehicle has that can keep down the bodily injury claims. To find out which cars are considered “Top Safety Picks” you can check with the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).
The IIHS top safety picks category recognizes vehicles that do the best job of protecting people in front, side, and rear crashes based on good ratings in Institute tests. Winners also have to have electronic stability control (ESC), which research shows significantly reduces crash risk. Crash tests like the ones conducted by the IIHS have driven major improvements in the designs of all kinds and sizes of passenger vehicles and thus making cars safer for motorists.
The IIHS’s list of top picks for safety performance is something to check out when going to buy a car so that you can see not only if your car is rated in crash tests but what kind of damages are done to give you an idea of insurance. Each year the IIHS releases their information which is available to the public. As a motorist searching for the right car to keep insurance costs down, keep in mind that the more damage that is done is a crash, low impact to high, the likelihood insurance rates will be higher since the insurer knows it will cost more to repair that vehicle.
You may be surprised at some of the results. For example, the Porsche 911 has a 67% less chance for injury claims than the norm. Go figure. The Mitsubishi Lancer has almost double the injury claim rate over the norm.
Where does your car fit for injury theft and collision? What about your dream car? You need to check out the latest statistics on theft for a vehicle before choosing a car to buy. There are various sources you can search to find the most common vehicles stolen. One source is the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB) which has studies showing the top 10 stolen vehicles in each state. While the list of top vehicles stolen may change each year there are some vehicles we continue to see on the list and are continual favorites of thieves. These cars include the:
* Honda Accord
* Toyota Camry
* Ford F-150
* Acura Integra
* Nissan Sentra
* Toyota Corolla
* Toyota Pickups
Then the list of ones that have the most expensive theft claims include such vehicles as the:
* Cadillac Escalade
* Chevrolet Corvette Convertible
* Lincoln Navigator
Vehicles with the least expensive theft claims include some of the following and as you may notice some are older vehicles:
* Buick LeSabre
* Volvo V70 Station Wagon
* Mercury Grand Marquis 4-four
The NICB encourages everyone to follow what it calls a "layered approach" to auto theft protection by employing simple, low-cost suggestions to make vehicles less attractive to thieves. The four layers include common sense, a warning device, an immobilizing device, and a tracking device.
The Highway Loss Data Institute gives information on what vehicles have the most and least expensive claims for injury and collision claims. According to HLDI, the lowest injury claims are from large vehicles - cars, pickup trucks, and sport utility vehicles (SUVs). Small two and four door cars have the highest injury claims. Small cars also are among the highest in collision costs, along with sports cars.
Models in recent years that have had some of the most expensive claims for injuries include:
* Suzuki Esteem 4-door
* Kia Rio 4-door
* Mitsubishi Mirage 2-door
* Kia Spectra 4-doors
* Vehicle Models with some of the least expensive injury claims include:
* GMC Sierra 2500 2-wheel and 4 wheel drives
* Chevrolet Silverado
* GMC Yukon XL 1500 4-wheel
* Chevy Tahoe 2-wheel
Models that are among the least expensive for collision claims include:
* Ford Excursion 2-wheel drive
* GMC 2500
* GMC Safari 4-wheel drive
* GMC Yukon XL 1500 4-wheel drive
* Vehicles that are most expensive for collision claims include:
* Subaru Impreza WRX 4-wheel drive 4-door
* Lexus IS 300 4-door
* Porsche 911 coupe
* Acura RSX
As you can see the cars on the list for having expensive collision claims include many sporty or high performance vehicles. Insuring a high-performance car can easily cost two or three times the insurance amount for an ordinary model due to the high cost of repairs if they are damaged.
If you have the time and energy to do research on theft rates, cost of collision claims and bodily injury claims on a vehicle you can determine what the most affordable car is to insure for your needs. If you do not have this time than you can research the lists that come out each year or so from sources such as the IIHS, HLDI and NHTSA on the most and least expensive vehicles to insure where they take into account many factors such as the ones we mentioned. The lists can vary since the statistics and reporting tools they use in their research vary.
Typically when one is going to buy a car they have an idea of what type of vehicle they want - sedan, SUV, truck, sports car, etc - and one easy and efficient way to decide on the vehicle that will be affordable to you is to figure out what class of vehicle you want and then narrow done your choice to few models. You then can check the research to make sure they are not on the “worst” list for theft, claims, etc. In addition, maybe with luck they will be on the “best” lists. If not they may fall in between which is fine if the car is going to suit your needs the best.
Once your choice is narrowed down to a few vehicles to find out which is the most affordable of these vehicle to insure, just simply get online and search for auto insurance quotes on the various vehicles. Insurance companies or Insurance Marketplaces, such as CarInsurance.com, will allow you to get as many quotes as you need to determine which vehicle you thinking of purchasing is the most affordable. Once you decide on a car to buy it is easy to then just to go ahead and purchase your insurance policy online.
Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes. It should not be interpreted as a recommendation to buy or sell any insurance product, or to provide financial or legal advice. This information is provided for information purposes only.
Articles written by CarInsurance.com have a copyright and cannot be reproduced or republished in any way or form without the written consent from CarInsurance.com. You may use our RSS feed with an active link to our site.
Source: http://www.carinsurance.com/Articles/content3.aspx
Sunday, November 7, 2010
Factors That Affect Your Car Insurance Premium
Factors That Affect Your Car Insurance Premium
Provided By: CarInsurance.com Auto Insurance Articles
Last updated 12:49 AM Sep-30-2008
Many factors affect the premium you will pay for auto insurance. Each is a statistically based risk for a specific population. The higher the risk associated with a person, the more he or she is likely to pay for coverage. We have elaborated on some of the risk factors below, but there are numerous others, including driver's gender, miles driven per year, purpose for using the vehicle (commuting to work, using for work, leisure only), etc.
* Age
Statistically, drivers under the age of 25 are at greater risk of being in an accident than those over age 25. Drivers between the ages of 50 and 65 generally have the safest records.
* Gender
Women are statistically safer drivers, but that trend is changing as more female drivers get on the road.
* Marital Status
A married person will pay less than a single person with an identical driving record.
You can think about these factors and determine what you can do to change them in your situation. You may be able to save on insurance based upon these decisions:
* Geography
Where you live makes a difference. Folks living in areas with little or no traffic are likely to spend less on insurance than those living in congested cities or suburbs because areas with a lot of traffic tend to see more accidents. Some neighborhoods also have a higher rate of vehicle thefts, which can result in a higher premium.
* Driving Violations
Having an accident or moving violations on your record (speeding tickets, DWI, reckless driving, etc.) put you at a higher risk for accidents and will likely mean a higher premium. Some insurance companies will penalize you for your record for as many as five years from when the incident occurred. However, keep in mind, as your record improves, your premium will get lower.
* Vehicle Type
A cheap car will cost less to insure than that status symbol SUV sitting on 24" rims.
* Accident Claims
A driving record that is clean and free of accidents will hold far better for you than lots of tickets and/or accidents.
* Credit Rating
Many insurance companies view having a poor, or even no credit history as suggestive of higher risk and thus, charge you a higher premium. Monitor your credit rating free to see if you can get a better score. A better credit score will save on insurance premiums.
* Occupation
Insurers have statistically found a correlation between your occupation and risk. For instance, a newspaper delivery person is most likely a higher risk than the personal banker sitting at their desk all day.
* Education
A higher education can save on your premiums.
* Driving distance to work
* Miles driven each year
* Years of driving experience
* Business use of the vehicle
* Whether or not you currently have auto insurance and how high are your limits
* Theft protection devices (often results in discounts)
* Multiple cars and drivers (another opportunity for discounts)
What can I do right now to make sure I have the lowest premium?
Shop around and compare quotes from different insurers. CarInsurance.com puts many insurance companies on one site so you can compare them in one place. Carriers base their premiums on their claims experiences, which naturally differ. One company may see your area as a higher risk than others may. Another may charge more because of your occupation. Shopping at http://www.carinsurance.com makes it easier because you can quickly see multiple companies and their rates for your particular situation. Where do I go for quotes?
One stop can take care of it all. Go to www.carinsurance.com where you can receive multiple quotes, pick the best price, and then purchase. Get covered immediately on-line or over the phone. It REALLY is the easiest way to purchase car insurance. Enter your zip code above.
Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes. It should not be interpreted as a recommendation to buy or sell any insurance product, or to provide financial or legal advice. This information is provided for information purposes only.
Articles written by CarInsurance.com have a copyright and cannot be reproduced or republished in any way or form without the written consent from CarInsurance.com. You may use our RSS feed with an active link to our site.
Source: http://www.carinsurance.com/Articles/content6.aspx
Provided By: CarInsurance.com Auto Insurance Articles
Last updated 12:49 AM Sep-30-2008
Many factors affect the premium you will pay for auto insurance. Each is a statistically based risk for a specific population. The higher the risk associated with a person, the more he or she is likely to pay for coverage. We have elaborated on some of the risk factors below, but there are numerous others, including driver's gender, miles driven per year, purpose for using the vehicle (commuting to work, using for work, leisure only), etc.
* Age
Statistically, drivers under the age of 25 are at greater risk of being in an accident than those over age 25. Drivers between the ages of 50 and 65 generally have the safest records.
* Gender
Women are statistically safer drivers, but that trend is changing as more female drivers get on the road.
* Marital Status
A married person will pay less than a single person with an identical driving record.
You can think about these factors and determine what you can do to change them in your situation. You may be able to save on insurance based upon these decisions:
* Geography
Where you live makes a difference. Folks living in areas with little or no traffic are likely to spend less on insurance than those living in congested cities or suburbs because areas with a lot of traffic tend to see more accidents. Some neighborhoods also have a higher rate of vehicle thefts, which can result in a higher premium.
* Driving Violations
Having an accident or moving violations on your record (speeding tickets, DWI, reckless driving, etc.) put you at a higher risk for accidents and will likely mean a higher premium. Some insurance companies will penalize you for your record for as many as five years from when the incident occurred. However, keep in mind, as your record improves, your premium will get lower.
* Vehicle Type
A cheap car will cost less to insure than that status symbol SUV sitting on 24" rims.
* Accident Claims
A driving record that is clean and free of accidents will hold far better for you than lots of tickets and/or accidents.
* Credit Rating
Many insurance companies view having a poor, or even no credit history as suggestive of higher risk and thus, charge you a higher premium. Monitor your credit rating free to see if you can get a better score. A better credit score will save on insurance premiums.
* Occupation
Insurers have statistically found a correlation between your occupation and risk. For instance, a newspaper delivery person is most likely a higher risk than the personal banker sitting at their desk all day.
* Education
A higher education can save on your premiums.
* Driving distance to work
* Miles driven each year
* Years of driving experience
* Business use of the vehicle
* Whether or not you currently have auto insurance and how high are your limits
* Theft protection devices (often results in discounts)
* Multiple cars and drivers (another opportunity for discounts)
What can I do right now to make sure I have the lowest premium?
Shop around and compare quotes from different insurers. CarInsurance.com puts many insurance companies on one site so you can compare them in one place. Carriers base their premiums on their claims experiences, which naturally differ. One company may see your area as a higher risk than others may. Another may charge more because of your occupation. Shopping at http://www.carinsurance.com makes it easier because you can quickly see multiple companies and their rates for your particular situation. Where do I go for quotes?
One stop can take care of it all. Go to www.carinsurance.com where you can receive multiple quotes, pick the best price, and then purchase. Get covered immediately on-line or over the phone. It REALLY is the easiest way to purchase car insurance. Enter your zip code above.
Disclaimer: This article is for information purposes. It should not be interpreted as a recommendation to buy or sell any insurance product, or to provide financial or legal advice. This information is provided for information purposes only.
Articles written by CarInsurance.com have a copyright and cannot be reproduced or republished in any way or form without the written consent from CarInsurance.com. You may use our RSS feed with an active link to our site.
Source: http://www.carinsurance.com/Articles/content6.aspx
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