Car insurance sounds easy enough after all you only have to enter your ZIP code and compare car insurance quotes online right? Auto insurance companies would never lie to you would they?
Big Business vs. Consumers 101
The first rule of buying car insurance is never assume you have full coverage with any policy. It’s always important to understand what you are buying and NEVER expect any insurance company to tell you everything. Car insurance companies are profit machines and although many regulations exist to help create a very respectable insurance community there is still no such thing as single policy that covers everything (unless you have a private asset manager which is highly doubtful).
Car insurance polices include different types of coverage and each one has certain coverage pertaining to specific types of damage. Almost all states have minimum car insurance requirements but none of these auto insurance laws require comprehensive or collision coverage.
What is comprehensive car insurance? It’s the part of your policy which pays for damages to you and your vehicle. If you just purchase minimum state requirements then most likely you will only carry liability insurance – which is car insurance coverage for other people… not you.
Always start a car insurance comparison search by learning about the different types of car insurance and then understand how policy deductibles and auto insurance discounts work. While some drivers still compare auto insurance providers by premiums this is the last thing you should do. Comparison only works if compare policies equally – and if you unfamiliar with the different types of car insurance then how could you ever find the best policy?
You also want to pay special attention to policy limits. The mere fact of having coverage in place will never shield you from full personal liability however with high enough policy limits it is possible to prevent personal liability in most car accident scenarios. Some states such as Florida only require $10,000 in liability insurance. Let’s say for example you hit the back of a Mercedes and cause $12,000 in damage. Are you covered? Sure, up to your $10,000 limit – anything above and beyond policy limits you can be held personally liable for.
Anybody can pay monthly premiums or provide a credit card number for automatic payments but it takes some education to make the best use of your car insurance comparison search. Take a few minutes and learn about auto insurance with some of these popular topics:
- What is No-Fault Car Insurance?
- How much Car Insurance do I need?
- How do Policy Deductibles work?
- What are the types of Auto Insurance?