Auto insurance companies may offer discounts for anything that decreases your chances of being injured in an accident, and thereby decreases the likelihood that you will make a claim (and the potential amount of that claim).

Factory Features vs. Aftermarket Features

When you apply for auto insurance quotes, you will be asked to supply the make, model, year, and mileage of your vehicle(s). Most cars come equipped with certain safety features, like seatbelts. Cars with more safety features are considered safer (and less expensive to insure) because even in an accident, safety features may decrease or prevent injuries. Your insurance company will automatically take into account any features that are included in the standard factory model of your car. However, if your car has additional optional safety equipment not included in the standard model, you may qualify for additional discounts on auto insurance coverage. When you buy a new car, you choose what features you want to be included, but only those considered “standard” (not optional) will automatically be considered by insurance companies. If you opted for any extra features at or after the time of purchase, you need to specify those to the insurance company in order to qualify for additional safety discounts. Read the rest of this entry »

As part of the auto insurance quote process, you’ll need to provide information about where you live. This information is used both to determine your state’s requirements for auto insurance, and to determine the risk level of your specific area of the city. Crime rates vary greatly between different parts of a city, and if you live in a high-crime area, you’ll pay more for auto insurance because the chances of your car being stolen or vandalized are much greater. Even if you don’t carry comprehensive coverage (pays for non-collision damage such as theft and vandalism), your local crime rate will factor into your insurance risk category. The biggest concern to an insurance company when you live or work in a high-crime area is where you park. If you park in a garage, you will enjoy lower rates no matter where you live or work. But, cars with anti-theft devices may qualify for discounts on auto insurance even if you live in a high-crime area and park on the street.

Car Alarms

Audible car alarms are the most basic type of anti-theft devices available. Car alarms can be triggered when someone moves too close to the vehicle, touches the vehicle, tries a door, or opens a door when the alarm is set. The simplest function of a car alarm is to draw attention to the vehicle and hopefully convince a potential car thief to give up. When car alarms were first introduced, they were considered an ample theft deterrent. Indeed, at that point, hearing a car alarm was unusual enough that it did draw the attention of anyone around, and usually encouraged thieves to move on. The biggest failing of car alarms now is that they are so common and easy to trigger unintentionally that no one much pays attention anymore. Read the rest of this entry »

Every state has minimum auto insurance requirements, both in types and amounts of coverage. The minimum state requirements are designed to assure that every driver can pay for damages and injuries he/she causes in an accident.

Liability Coverage

Every U.S. state requires drivers to carry liability coverage. Liability coverage is so called because it pays for your “liabilities,” or costs incurred by other drivers due to an accident caused by you. Liability coverage is broken into two parts, BIL and PDL.

• BIL (Bodily Injury Liability): Coverage for injuries to the other driver(s) and passengers in an accident caused by you.
• PDL (Property Damage Liability): Coverage for damage to the other car(s) and any surrounding public or private property damaged in an accident caused by you.

Liability coverage is expressed in a series of three numbers. For example, Arizona auto insurance laws require drivers to carry 15/30/10 liability coverage, which means $15,000 per person and $30,000 per accident in BIL coverage and $10,000 per accident in PDL coverage. Every state has its own required amounts of liability coverage. See this state-by-state insurance guide for more information about what is required in your state. Read the rest of this entry »

What to do After an Auto Accident

Immediately after you have an accident, your first concern should be tending to injuries and making sure everyone is in stable condition. Call the police immediately, and while you still have them on the phone, survey the scene and try to report as accurately as possible the extent of the injuries to everyone involved. If someone is seriously injured, don’t try to move them. If all injuries are very minor, everyone should move to the side of the road (don’t move the vehicles) and wait for the police.

Once everyone’s safety has been addressed and paramedics have arrived to treat injuries, there are things you must do (or not do) immediately to minimize your financial liability. First of all, don’t admit fault or apologize for the accident. Your insurance company, with the help of the police report, will make a final judgment on who is at fault for the accident, and any statements you make at the scene may be used to make the determination of fault. Secondly, if you see any witnesses, ask them to stay and talk to police. Third-party accounts may be used to help determine exactly what happened in the accident. Thirdly, you must provide your insurance information to police. In some states, the police will make a report directly to your auto insurance company, and in other states, it is up to you to contact your insurance company. The company will need to see a copy of the police report, and may also want to ask you a series of questions about the accident. If you’re not injured, you may want to take notes at the accident scene, including the location and orientation of the vehicles and the other driver’s license plate number. Read the rest of this entry »

After an auto accident, the first thing you should do is contact the police and tend to injuries. If nobody is seriously injured, make sure everyone moves safely out of the path of traffic. Even if they are blocking traffic, do not move the vehicles until the police have arrived to document the scene. The position of the vehicles after an accident will be used to help determine exactly what happened and who was at fault for the accident. If there are any witnesses in the area who saw the accident, ask them to wait and give a statement to the police.

Do not admit fault or apologize after an accident. The police will take a complete report and using that report and your statement, your insurance company will determine fault for the accident. Any statements you make (including informal apologies) may be used to determine fault, so you should be careful what you say and only offer the information requested by police.

Whose Insurance Pays for What?

No-Fault Insurance

Thirteen U.S. states currently have no-fault insurance systems by which a driver’s own insurance pays for his/her injuries regardless of who is at fault for an accident. No-fault insurance only applies to medical expenses, and even in no-fault states, whoever is at fault for the accident is responsible for all the property damages.

At-Fault Accident

If you are at fault for an accident, your liability insurance will be charged with paying for the damages to the other vehicle(s), as well as any surrounding public or private property damaged in the accident. The total amount your insurance will cover depends on the limit of the policy you purchase. Keep in mind that liability coverage is broken down into two parts:

• Bodily Injury Liability (BIL): Pays for injuries to the other driver and all passengers if you cause an accident.
• Property Damage Liability (PDL): Pays for damages to the other car and any surrounding public or private property if you cause an accident.

PDL coverage is the total amount your insurance will pay for all damages in each accident. PDL limits are always per accident, not per year. If you have more than one accident in a year, you are eligible to receive your maximum PDL benefit every time. Liability insurance only pays for damages to the other vehicle in an accident; it does not pay for damages to your own vehicle. If you are at fault for an accident, your insurance will only cover damage to your vehicle if you purchase separate collision coverage.

All states have a minimum amount of required PDL coverage. However, the minimum coverage amount is likely to be inadequate to cover damages in a major accident. Body damage to a car is particularly expensive to repair, so if the other vehicle is severely damaged beyond repair, the other driver’s insurance company may choose to “total” the vehicle, in which case your insurance will be charged the total value of the vehicle minus depreciation. Although you may think that $10,000 is more than adequate PDL coverage, the expenses in an accident can quickly max out your insurance coverage. For example, if you total a new car with a $20,000 replacement value and you only have $10,000 in coverage, you will be personally responsible for the remaining $10,000 to which the other driver is entitled.

Not-at-Fault Accident

If you are involved in an accident for which another driver is at fault, his/her liability coverage will pay for the damages to your vehicle. Again, your benefit amount is limited to the maximum of the other driver’s insurance coverage. Therefore, if the other driver’s insurance maxes out at $10,000 and your car sustains $12,000 in damage, you will not be able to collect the remaining $2,000 from the at-fault driver’s liability coverage. Although the other driver is technically responsible for the entire costs, it can be very difficult to collect this amount. You are entitled to take the other driver to court in an attempt to collect your outstanding expenses, but there is no guarantee that you will get a favorable settlement, or that the other driver will be able to cover the expenses as ordered by the court.

The best way to protect yourself from this eventuality is to purchase UMC, or Uninsured/Underinsured Motorist Coverage. UMC will not only pay for damages caused by an uninsured driver, but may also cover damages in excess of the at-fault driver’s maximum insurance payout. Several states require UMC to protect drivers from ever having to pay out of pocket for an accident caused by someone else.

Anyone who goes the extra mile for formal driver training may be eligible for auto insurance discounts. It has been shown that drivers who seek formal driver’s education are safer drivers who have fewer accidents.

Driver’s Ed Discounts for Teens

Many parents choose to teach their own teens to drive. There are a lot of reasons why this is not a good idea. Firstly, parents and teens often have ongoing personal conflicts arising from teenagers’ struggles for identity and desire to be more independent of from their parents. Secondly, parents tend to pass on both their positive and negative driving habits to teens. Thirdly, no matter how good parents are at driving, teaching driving requires a separate skill set and an ability to explain the reasoning behind the various rules. A skill you may consider unimportant may end up saving your teen’s life, and in that case you’ll be glad you sent your teen to formal driver’s ed classes. Driver’s education teaches new drivers not only the rules of the road, but techniques for avoiding accidents and how to handle accidents responsibly when they do happen. Most insurance companies offer discounted auto insurance for young drivers who pass a driver’s education course.

Many high schools offer optional driver’s ed training at little or no cost to parents. There are a number of independent companies also offering driver training at reasonable rates. The cost of classes will be offset by your savings on insurance and hopefully by your teen’s safe driving habits from the beginning. See driversed.com for more information about driving education in your state. Read the rest of this entry »

Driving Your Own Car

If you drive your own car on vacation, your coverage will follow you anywhere. Standard auto insurance does not stipulate a limited geographical driving area. Also, even though each state has its own specific auto insurance requirements, you are only bound by the requirements of the state in which your car is registered. You should, however, take into account that drivers in your destination state (and every state along the way) are only required to carry whatever coverage their state requires. It is worth looking into the state auto insurance requirements for whatever states you’ll be driving through, to get an idea of what insurance the other driver will have if you are in an accident. If you are travelling to a state like Florida that has very low minimum liability insurance requirements, you may want to purchase extra coverage to protect yourself in case you are involved in an accident while away from home.

Even though your state-required insurance coverage may specify the maximum benefit amounts required in the state where you registered your car, your coverage will automatically adjust to the local minimum amounts when you travel out of state. This means that even if you carry only $20,000 in liability insurance for your home state, but you travel to a state that requires $35,000 in liability coverage, if you have an accident your insurance will offer you up to $35,000 in liability benefits. Read the rest of this entry »

Auto insurance is required for all drivers in the U.S., and depending on your driving history and location it can be very expensive. Auto insurance companies have a complicated system of calculating your insurance premiums based on a series of risk factors, including your driving record (accidents and violations), your age, gender, neighborhood crime rate, the value of your vehicle, and other factors. Once your basic premium rate has been calculated, you can lower your premiums by applying for auto insurance discounts.

Each insurance company has its own list of available discounts, including the safe driver discount (no accidents or violations for at least 1 year) and the multiple vehicle discount (for insuring multiple vehicles on the same policy). Some of the discounts are in place for obvious reasons, and are awarded to drivers who demonstrate a lowered risk level for the insurance company. In other words, anything that indicates a lower probability of an accident can earn you lower insurance rates. However, some discounts have nothing to do with risk level or driving history, and these are the ones you might not even realize you can qualify for.

Military Discount

Many companies offer auto insurance discounts for drivers currently or formerly enlisted in the armed services. The discount was first proposed by the USAA (United Services Automobile Association), together with Geico insurance company, to help troops returning from active duty to find affordable auto insurance coverage. Many troops who travel out of state or out of the country for military service choose to cancel their auto insurance coverage while they’re away in order to save money, but upon returning home they must immediately purchase auto insurance coverage before they are permitted to drive. Read the rest of this entry »

The Difference between “Quotes” and “Rates”

It is easy to apply for online health insurance quotes through leadinginsurancequotes.com. We offer our instant no-obligation rate quote service as a way to help consumers narrow their search for affordable health insurance coverage. However, the quotes you receive through any website are not the same as the actual rates for your insurance. When you apply for quotes, the only information you need to provide is your age, gender, tobacco use, and student status. A quote is the average cost for insuring someone in your general age group who is in relatively good health. However, much more than this simple information is taken into account when an insurance company calculates your actual rates. Your insurance rate is the exact cost of your monthly premiums when all of your risk factors are considered.

What Determines Rates

Underwriting is the process by which an insurance company examines your entire medical questionnaire (which includes information about your immediate family’s medical status, as well as your own past conditions and treatments) to determine your overall risk category. Your risk category is calculated based on your history (each type and severity of condition factors in differently), combined with the average risk level of your gender and age group. Once an insurance company has assigned you to a risk category, you can quickly obtain exact rates for each type of plan within that company. Read the rest of this entry »

Not only is it now possible to compare insurance rates online, but you can buy your policy online without ever having to spend time on the phone with an agent. An educated consumer can save money on a health insurance policy just for buying online. Even if you purchase a policy online, that doesn’t prevent you from communicating with your insurance company by phone if you have questions or concerns. The biggest concern to consumers looking to purchase health insurance online is knowing your options and choosing the right policy with the right company.

Provide Personal Information

The first step in buying health insurance online is to perform rate quote searches. When you use the instant rate quote service on LIQ, we search our hundreds of partner companies to help you narrow your search to the companies that can offer you the best deals. The rate quote process is very easy and takes less than 10 minutes to complete.

Here’s what we’ll need to know to start finding your health insurance rates:

• Age
• Gender
• Tobacco Use
• Student Status

Once you’ve provided this basic information, you will need to choose a type of coverage. (For more information about the types of health insurance, see the article Individual Health Insurance.) Then, you’ll get instant quotes from whichever of our partner companies can offer you the best rates. After you’ve chosen a company, you will be asked to provide more extensive information about your health, medical history, family medical history, and lifestyle in order to determine your exact insurance rate. Even after you’ve applied with a company and filled out the necessary paperwork for underwriting, you are under no obligation to choose that company. If you wish, you can apply to multiple companies and see which company offers the best rate after underwriting.

Compare Rate Quotes

The instant quotes you’ll receive online do not take into account your detailed medical history, which will ultimately be used to determine your actual insurance premiums. Quotes offer you a great starting point by indicating which companies offer the lowest rates on average for your gender and age group, assuming good health. If you’ve had major health complications, or if your family has a long history of chronic diseases, your actual rates will be much higher than quoted.

Ask About Discounts

Most health insurance companies offer a series of discounts for people who are less likely to make claims. For example, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield offers a “healthy living” discount for nonsmokers who exercise regularly and demonstrate other healthy lifestyle choices. There may be other discounts available to you, but you will have to specify when you apply for coverage that you also wish to apply for discounts. Ask your company about its discount programs and whether you may qualify for one or more premium discounts.

Research Your Company

It is usually a bad idea to pick your cheapest insurance option without at least doing some research. The main areas you will want to concentrate on are: claims handling, financial stability, and quality of care. There are lots of online resources where you can see what other consumers had to say about your company. Make sure your company has a good record of customer satisfaction, including the ease of the claims process. Financial stability is another issue because especially in recent times, many large companies have succumbed to the economic downturn, gone out of business, and left thousands of customers in the lurch. Look for a company that’s been around for at least a few decades and demonstrated an ability to fulfill claims in a timely manner.

A great way to measure a company’s customer service is to try it out yourself. Call the company and ask questions. You may want to ask general insurance questions, like what types of policies are offered, or specific questions, like exactly how the claims process works and the average lag time between a claim and a payment. Not only should you pay attention to the answers your company offers, but also the attitude and helpfulness of the customer service representative. Also, pay attention to how long it takes you to talk to a real person, and how difficult it is to navigate the phone system. If your company has long wait times and rude phone operators, it’s better to find this out now than when you need to make your first claim.

Many companies now offer a wealth of online resources to help consumers better understand the health insurance industry, the types of coverage, and the cost structure of insurance policies. Although you may find a lot of information online about your company, if there’s anything you don’t understand, it is always a good idea to call the company and see how long it takes (and how difficult it is) to find the answers to all your questions.