Most people approach buying auto and home insurance with great trepidation. After years of dealing with customers, I understand that apprehension; most consumers don’t buy insurance all of the time, and when you don’t do something very often it’s easy to get overwhelmed by the confusing terms and unfamiliar coverage that you are offered when you shop for insurance.
So today I am going to unconfuse you. Today is auto insurance, we will deal with home insurance next time.
All policies start with “Liability” coverage. This is your liability to others; if you are in an accident and at fault, this coverage will pay for the bodily injury and property damage of the people you ran into while you were texting, or eating, or whatever you were doing instead of driving. This coverage is generally denoted with three numbers, as follows;
30/60/25
The first two numbers represent the Bodily Injury coverage “Per Person/Per Accident”
The third number is the property damage coverage to others – the damage you can do to their property.
The higher these three numbers, the less you have to worry about. I keep mine high so I can do just about as much damage as I please.
Next, we generally have “Uninsured/Underinsured” coverage. This is split like liability, but it covers you and your passengers in the event of an accident with someone who either doesn’t have insurance – or more likely, doesn’t have enough. Higher is good on this, too.
After that we have PIP – or Personal Injury Protection. Read more about that here.
After PIP we come to your deductibles. These are generally between $100 and $1000. You actually have two types of deductibles; comprehensive and collision. Your comprehensive deductible covers anything other than collision, and collision coverage is pretty self explanatory. The deductible represents the amount of the claim that you must pay for before they repair or replace your vehicle. Lots of people advise higher deductibles, and if you can pay a higher deductible without it putting you out on the street, then save some money up front. However, look at all of your pricing options before you choose a high deductible, because it might not save as much as you think.
Finally, you have towing and rental reimbursement. Most companies now offer “roadside assistance” as part of their towing coverage, so be sure and ask about that. I also recommend paying a couple of extra dollars for higher rental reimbursement coverage, to make sure you don’t end up in a rollerskate if you have an accident.
Whew. Not too much fun today, but I’d rate this as one of our more helpful blogs. Now take this knowledge I have given you and take on the world – you could call someone else and shop, or you could just call us. I’d prefer the second option. 214-253-0570.