Top 10 Car Insurance Terms

Benefit: Amount payable to a claimant, assignee, or beneficiary when the insured suffers a loss.

Claim: A demand by a person or business that is seeking to recover for a loss.

Deductible: Amounts that must be paid by the insured before the insurer will pay benefits.

Grace Period: There is often no grace period for auto insurance; if the payment has not been received and cashed by the insurer, the policyholder is likely uninsured.

Indemnity: A predetermined benefit amount paid for a loss.

Liability Insurance: Involves the cause of damage to property and bodily injury incurred as a result of negligence by another party.

No-fault Insurance: In this system an insurance company will pay medical expenses and lost wages caused by an accident, regardless of who was at fault.

Premium: Regular payments that a policyholder makes to own an insurance policy.

Totaling: When damage to a vehicle is so extensive that the cost to repair the vehicle exceeds the vehicles value.

Underwriting: Evaluates the likelihood an insured event will occur, determines its likely cost and develops an appropriate premium for the coverage.

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Top Ten Safety Tips for Cheap Auto Insurance Rates

Driving safely is one of the best ways to get discount car insurance. Here are the Top 10 Tips for lowering your care insurance payments.

1. Seat Belts: Worn and worn correctly are still the best way to protect motorists in the even of an accident.

2. No Distractions: Kids, backseat drivers, the radio, DVD player, phones, etc; turn that noise down and concentrate on the road.

3. Breakdown Lanes are for Breakdowns: The shoulder of the road is a dangerous spot; use it only when you must and don’t linger.

4. Maintenance: Check the tires and the engine regularly to avoid breakdowns and accidents.

5. Steer with Both Hands: It’s not cool looking or comfortable, but using both hands to steer, positioned at 10 and 2, is safest.

6. Awake at the Wheel: Over-tired drivers cause serious accidents; if you’re too tire to drive, don’t.

7. Stay Off the Phone: There are few things more distracting to a driver; it’s even illegal in some areas.

8. Bad Weather Driving: Learn the skills necessary to drive in poor weather and use caution when doing so.

9. Don’t Tailgate: Not only is it rude, it’s dangerous not to have enough stopping room.

10. Take Care at Intersections: Look both ways and be aware that other driver’s might not be.

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Should I Buy Rental Car Insurance?

Rental Car companies are usually fairly eager to sell their customers insurance for rental vehicles. This isn’t always necessarily to your benefit, however if you do purchase rental car insurance, a regular automobile insurance policy that extends comprehensive and collision coverage to rental cars in any state or country is most likely the better deal. It is also possible to purchase a non-owner insurance policy that provides the same type of coverage for those who don't own a car and must rent them on a regular basis.

Many major credit card companies claim to insure their cardholders automatically when they rent a car. This may be true, but you should take a magnifying glass to the old fine print, or otherwise get written verification before you assume you have full coverage.

Certain cards only offer coverage if you rent your car from participating agencies, limit the time that coverage is available, and/or provide coverage for certain models of cars.

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Car Insurance, Totaled Vehicles and You

So you been in a bad one and hopefully walked away whole, but your vehicle is no longer road-worthy. But is it “Totaled”? How does the automobile insurance company decide if the remains are a totaled vehicle?

It’s this simple; if the cost of repairing the vehicle exceeds its value, the insurance company will declare your car totaled. Under normal circumstances you will then receive a cash settlement.

The downside of this arrangement is that even minor damages might be enough to total an old or cheap car, yet major damages might not total a more expensive model of vehicle.

So how much money can you expect to receive for your totaled vehicle? That depends on the policy, but generally the insurance company has an obligation to make sure you’re left in roughly the same financial state you were in previous to the accident. Basically you can expect a check for the cash value of the vehicle (minus any deductible on your auto insurance policy).

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Insurance for Your 1st Car

When you’re buying your 1st car you have to sift through many insurance companies to find a good one. Shopping around is essential to saving time and money. Looking for online car insurance quotes to compare multiple companies and rates at once is one of the most effective ways to do this, so you’re already on the right track.

By comparing premiums offered by various companies you can find the highest customer-service standards and financial stability. You want to find companies with the ability to pay your claim promptly if you're involved in an accident. It’s advisable to cross-reference resources in state insurance bureaus and consumer reference guides when researching insurance companies.

You should search for discount car insurance quotes, since you qualify for benefits depending on your situation. Auto Insurance discounts include multi-car and/or multi-driver discounts, multiple policy discounts for those purchasing auto insurance coverage through the same insurer that covers their homeowners or renters insurance and discounts for those with safe driving records.

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Help for Confused Car Insurance Seekers in Automotive Land: Part I

There are many myths and misnomers in the Auto Insurance quotes world. It can be pretty overwhelming for confused insurance seekers. For starters, there’s a lot of confusing Auto Insurance terminology. It might be helpful to separate the factual wheat from the factoid chaff.

No-fault Insurance, for example, means that the insurance company pays for any accidental damage no matter who's at fault, not than no one actually is at fault. Similarly, Car Towing Insurance doesn’t pay when your car gets towed, from, say a handicapped spot; it’s for breakdowns and emergencies only. And finally, Personal insurance does not, in fact, cover your person, enabling you to drive insured in any vehicle; instead it covers your own car and other vehicle you specifically extend your auto insurance coverage to. In the same vein, if you use your own car for business purposes you need extend your personal car insurance to cover its business use too.

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