Are you dreading the day when you have to add your teen to your car insurance policy? You have probably already heard nightmare stories from friends whose young driver car insurance resulted in a 50-100% increase in the family's overall premiums. Ouch!
Many car insurance companies consider drivers under the age of 25 to be at much higher risk for vehicle-related accidents. And if you've driven by your local high school parking at 3:00 lately, you probably know too well the driving habits of young drivers. Yet, there are a few things you can do to help your teen become a safer and cheaper-to-insure young driver. The following five ideas will have a positive impact on your young driver car insurance rates:
1. Keep that driving record clean. Even one DUI infraction can multiply a young driver's car insurance premium by a factor of ten. And that's not just for one year. The increased annual premium is likely to stay in effect for three years, costing literally thousands of extra dollars in increased insurance premiums.
2. Keep those grades up. Some car insurance companies offer lower rates to young drivers who qualify as full-time high school or college students and maintain at least a 3.0 grade average. It doesn't hurt to ask about it when you're shopping for car insurance quotes!
3. Consider an accredited driver safety course for your young driver. Some insurance companies sponsor them locally, or check online with the National Safety Council. Your young driver might qualify for a car insurance discount, and is likely to become a safer driver in the process. A double win.
4. Consider a safer car. By avoiding sport cars, expensive cars, and SUV's your young driver may save up to 50% on car insurance premiums. Consider a newer model car with airbags as a cheaper, and safer, alternative for your teen.
5. Stuff the car with safety features. To keep your teen safe, and save on car insurance premiums, consider adding side-airbags, automatic seat belts, and anti-lock brakes to your young driver's vehicle.
By considering these five factors that affect young driver car insurance, you can make those teen years a little less expensive and a lot more enjoyable.
When you're ready to start shopping for young driver car insurance, consider getting multiple quotes from the online service recommended below. They provide at least five free quotes from major insurers.
Thứ Hai, 4 tháng 7, 2011
Young Driver Car Insurance - 5 Ways to Make It Affordable
How to Know How Much Auto Insurance You Should Carry
How much automobile insurance should you carry? The answer is easy: as much as you can afford. The primary reason to buy automobile insurance, both liability and uninsured motorist (UM) coverage, is to protect yourself and your assets. Your insurance company will never pay more in damages, to you or to a person you negligently injure, than the dollar amount of the coverage you paid for, no matter how high a verdict there may be either against you or for you. Sound complicated? Let's look at two hypothetical examples regarding liability and underinsurance coverage.
Liability Coverage
If you pay a policy premium for $25,000/50,000 in auto liability insurance coverage[1], this is what could happen if you negligently cause injury to another person in an auto accident and the injured person sues you. With significant injuries and damages, a jury might award the injured person $75,000 (a hypothetical figure). Under these facts, your insurance company would pay the injured plaintiff only $25,000 on your behalf, the amount of coverage you bought[2]. As a result, you could be held liable for payment of the remaining $50,000 yourself! This is a harsh result, I am sure you would agree.
What would happen if you had purchased a larger $100,000/$300,000 policy? Your insurance company would ordinarily pay the injured person the entire judgment amount of $75,000. Consequently, you would not be obligated to pay any part of the judgment yourself. To sum it up, the more insurance coverage you buy the less likely it is that you will ever be called upon to pay any part of a legal judgment against you.
Underinsurance Coverage (UIM)
Your purchase of high insurance limits can also help you or your family members when one or more of you are injured through the fault of another driver. This might occur if you and/or relatives who live with you sustain serious injuries in a motor vehicle accident, and the negligent driver who caused the accident has less insurance coverage than you do.
How does this work? As an example, let's say the negligent driver has purchased a $25,000/$50,000 auto liability insurance policy, and you have a policy that provides $100,000/$300,000 in UM coverage. Your injuries are serious. Your medical bills and lost wages are substantial. In your lawsuit against the negligent driver, a jury awards you $100,000 in damages. The defendant driver's insurance will pay you only $25,000, the maximum amount of liability coverage the defendant bought which can be paid to one person with respect to one accident. However, you can look to your own UM coverage to see if there is underinsurance coverage (UIM) available to you. Given the above facts, your insurance company would pay you $75,000 in underinsurance coverage.
How do you arrive at the $75,000 figure? It happens this way. Under Virginia law, if there is UM coverage available to you in an amount greater than the defendant's liability coverage, you will have underinsurance coverage. If not, there will be no underinsurance for you[3]. The availability of underinsurance coverage depends on a comparison between a specific defendant's liability coverage and the UM policy or policies which provide you coverage. With regard to the above example, your own insurance company would pay you $75,000 because that is the amount by which your own UM motorist coverage exceeds the defendant's liability coverage of $25,000. By adding your $75,000 in underinsurance coverage to the defendant's $25,000 liability limits, the $100,000 judgment against you would be paid in full.
However, there would be a different result if there was just one policy available that provided you only $25,000/$50,000 in UM coverage. Under the described facts, your insurance carrier would pay you nothing because your UM insurance coverage of $25,000/$50,000 does not exceed the defendant's own $25,000/$50,000 liability limits. Yes, you can pursue the defendant driver personally through collection proceedings after trial. However, the average defendant has few assets and collecting on a judgment can be a long, expensive, and often futile endeavor. In the end, it is always better to carry high liability/UM insurance limits yourself and ensure that you and your own family are protected in the event one or more of you sustains severe injuries caused by the negligence of a driver with low automobile insurance coverage limits[4].
Footnotes
1. Auto insurance limits of $25,000/$50,000 constitute the minimum amount of auto liability and uninsured motorist coverage you can buy in Virginia. Each state determines its own auto insurance minimum limits; therefore, minimum limits differ from state to state as do laws related to auto insurance. The facts in this article are based on Virginia law only. If you live in another state, you will want to learn about the applicable insurance laws in your own state.
2. When you see a figure like $25,000/$50,000 in relation to an auto policy, it means the limits are "split", that is, one injured person can recover a maximum of $25,000 under the policy while $50,000 is the most coverage the insurance company will pay out to all injured persons regardless of the number of people injured in the same accident or how badly they may be injured.
3. In Virginia, you may be entitled to undersinsured motorist coverage under more than one policy, and these policies can sometimes be "stacked" to give you more coverage. Va. Code § 38.2-2206. This is a complex area of law, and it is wise to consult an attorney to explore whether there is underinsurance in your case.
4. In Virginia, you cannot buy UM coverage in an amount that is higher than your auto liability insurance limits.
Your Move, Your Car Insurance and You
Part of the beauty of living in a country that has fifty states rather than just one is the fact that you're free to move from place to place without having to spend hours (and dollars) convincing some government bigwigs to give you permission to do it. If you want to pack your bags and move from New York to San Francisco all you have to do is look for an apartment. You cut off your electric, turn on your California phone number…and make some changes in your car insurance.
Car insurance, like many other things, is regulated by state rather than federal government. That means that the regulations that dictate how much, how little and what kind of coverage you're required to have are going to change dramatically as you travel from the east coast to the west-and if you're not ready for it you may find yourself underinsured when the time comes.
The first thing you should do when you hop state lines (after you find your plates and cups, of course, is find out what the mandatory state limits are for minimum coverage. Your mandatory minimum coverage (also known as minimum liability coverage) is the amount of money your insurance company will pay out if you're involved in an accident and will look something like this:
25/50/25
(25,000/50,000/25,000)
The first number represents the bodily injury liability maximum coverage for a single person injured in an accident; for example, if you were driving and hit a car holding a driver and no passengers that would be the amount your car insurance provider would pay to cover their medical bills and any recuperative therapy. The second number stands for bodily injury liability for two or more people; in other words, any passengers in their car (or yours) injured as a result of the accident. In the example above (which is the actual minimum insurance requirement guideline for the state of Alabama) the insurance company will pay up to $50,000 in medical bills.
The third number shows how much your insurance company will pay for any property damaged-other vehicles, guard rails, street signs, street lights (yes, it's actually happened-something other than a tractor-trailer successfully sent a street light crashing to the ground after an accident), gas station windows or anything else that happened to get in the way.
These liability minimums are going to change from state to state, meaning you'd be wise to find out what your new state minimums are before contacting your insurer. Your old policy limits might not be up to par for your new home, and while most agents will be able to advise you on what changes you need to make to your policies every once in a while a new agent will slip through the cracks and sell you a policy that doesn't meet state standards. Unfortunately, that's still going to be considered your fault-even if you asked.
The good news is, there are plenty of resources available on the web that will help you find your state's guidelines. Once you have those numbers in hand you'll officially be ready to become a resident of Monkey's Eyebrow, Arizona-or anyplace else you want to call home.
How to Choose Car Insurance
Everyone with a license and is a solid person realizes that an insurance policy is a requirement, and also recommended by law. A lot of insurance companies advertise on TV. What should you know when choosing an insurance company? Out of all the ads you've seen on TV, has one particular company caught your attention? If one has, phone them and talk to one of their agents. Inquire if they have an insurance plan more particular to your needs. Be sure to have all information you will need. Once you gain the quote from the agent, say thank you for your time and information but you are still awaiting quotes from a couple of other companies.
When choosing car insurance you shouldn't;t be in a hurry, inquire around some and don't jump at the first proposal they give you. Keep in mind that all insurance companies are competing, and all want your business so no quick snap decision! One of those agencies just might surprise you and give you a decreased rate compared to your leading quote.
Another formula of choosing a car insurance company is to take a gander through your local telephone book. Many decent insurance companies publish in the yellow pages providing names and addresses to those agencies. These agencies could help favor you if stationed handy to home, making for a friendlier customer relationship with your agent.
Car insurance agencies also have internet sites and advice all over the internet. Almost anybody now has access to a computer. Look up some insurance agencies' web sites and see if any of them benefit you. There are some web sites out there that actually scan car insurance rates, and will give you a list of the most competitive companies out there, usually beginning with the most affordable ones.
Cheap Car Insurance in Ohio Online
Comparing automobile coverage and rates on the internet is considered by many to be the best approach to finding cheap car insurance in Ohio. Finding cheaper costs for policies online for residents of OH is especially advantageous because there are several resources that are available which are able to provide multiple quotes from different reliable providers for consumers to compare. Through sites such as http://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/ this can be provided free of charge and with no obligation. Ohio’s department of insurance advises consumers to obtain multiple quotations before actually making a purchase. This is because it enables the consumer with the ability to make a comparison of prices and eliminate those which seem to be unreasonable and choose from a more competitive market.
Before comparing rates for premiums, the consumer should understand the type of policy that is required by their particular state. Every state requires drivers to have a guaranteed way to pay for injuries or damages that may result from the driver’s negligence or the negligence of anyone else, operating the motor vehicle that the insured owns. Although this is mandatory by every states laws, the minimum liability limits vary. Liability coverage pays on one’s behalf, when one is at fault of causing injuries or death and/or damages of property, to another party. There are two types of coverage under a liability policy. Bodily Injury (BI) being the first, and Property Damage (PD). The minimum limits one must carry at all times in Ohio are as follows:
Liability limits required in OH:
Bodily Injury Liability (BI): Pays for injury or death to others when the driver of one’s car is at fault in an accident, with the following limits:
$ 12,500 for injuries for any one person's injuries, and;
$ 25,000 for all persons injured in the accident.
Property Damage Liability (PD): This coverage pays for damage to other person’s car by one’s car, with the following limit:
$ 7,500 for property damage liability.
Though these are the absolute minimums, it always wise to consider more extensive protection if it can be afforded in one’s budget. Individuals who have higher end vehicles and/or are financing their vehicle should definitely consider the collision protection option. This will help pay for repairs to the insured’s automobile in the event that it hits another vehicle, crashes into something or turns over. It pays regardless of who causes the accident. Whereas, comprehensive coverage pays for losses that result from incidents that are not collisions, such as theft, fire, vandalism, hail, falling objects or hitting an animal.
Therefore, one’s should first analyze risks and accordingly plan to purchase a policy that will benefit them and their needs. This is simply due to the fact that one does not need to pay for options that will not benefit them nor should they overlook an option that will be valuable to their situation. Once the needed protection is decided, one should find a online auto insurance website that provide information and facilitates it’s visitors with the ability to get several quotes from different providers, which helps when comparing prices. These websites will also help their visitors understand other important factors which should be taken into consideration and finally choosing a cheap car insurance provider in Ohio. By understanding what one needs, they should be able to find the right policy at an affordable price. This can all be accomplished through resources available online without having to leave the house or negotiating with agents.
Chủ Nhật, 3 tháng 7, 2011
Avail the Best Winter Sports Travel Insurance
Ski Insurance should be bought before leaving from your home. It is recommended to make a thorough market research and then choose a product that fits all your requirements. Apart from this, the selection of insurance company also plays an important role. It is always better to rely on a well recognized company which is operating on national or international level. Strictly avoid buying any type of insurance product from a local insurer. Don’t fall prey of their marketing gimmicks. This may land you in serious trouble as there are great chances of fraud. So, it is wise to make a thorough research before making an investment in buying insurance.
Travel Guard offers you the most comprehensive winter sports insurance to all their clients. Being a reputed and trusted insurance company, they offer complete solution tailored according to your specific needs and requirements. Even if you’re unsure about the level of coverage you require, you can personally contact them and ask for their assistance. The professionals are always ready to help you choose the best product meeting all your preferences. The best part is that their travel insurance plans start from very low prices. Now you no longer need to spend huge money on buying sports cover. They offer you excellent packages along with additional coverage for more than 100 sports. Additionally, they offer you emergency contact number and non-emergency helpline.
While buying winter sports travel insurance, it is very important to assess your risk and calculate required coverage. For this, you need to disclose true and authentic information otherwise you may not get appropriate insurance coverage. Whatever is the situation, it is wise to enter correct details while applying for an insurance policy. Once you receive insurance policy, make sure to read the documents properly before entering in to a contract.
Thứ Sáu, 1 tháng 7, 2011
Business Travel Insurance
Although there are numerous companies offering business travel insurance plans but Travel Guard is one such company which offers best coverage at minimum prices. You no longer need to worry about anything as they will offer you the best possible travel insurance depending upon your needs and requirements and budget. They also offer you complete assistance. With Travel Guard Travel Insurance, you will feel safe wherever you go. The best part is that wherever you are, you can purchase insurance right from the comfort of your home or office. Simply visit their website and submit your requirements. Immediately you can access all available options. The best part is that all their policies are backed with n emergency phone number and helpline.
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