Auto Insurance - What You Need To Know
When you apply for an auto insurance quote, you have no idea how much information the auto insurance company already know about you, and that could affect the premium you will have to pay or even prevent you acquiring auto insurance, if you are considered a bad risk.
Your credit report doesn't directly affect your auto insurance risk score. If you have a really good credit rating, you could be rated highly, whereas a person who regularly gets behind in their account payments of their accounts and opens and closes accounts on a regular basis could struggle to get a high rating. Insurance ratings mostly move in the same direction as your credit history, but this is not always the case.
It may be a good idea to ensure that you have conducted your financial life well, before you apply for your auto insurance.
Other things that could effect acceptance of your auto insurance policy is your driving record, your previous claims history, and where you live. The state that you live in usually has a required minimum auto coverage and some states will also require that you have personal injury protection. It would be a good idea to check your state's requirements and verify how much the current minimum is, as well as any additional requirements required to place auto insurance.
Obviously if you have been in numerous previous car accidents, the auto insurance company you are applying to for auto insurance will be very interested in the facts.
The focus of the insurance company will always be on losses to themselves.
If you wanted to take a look at your own motor vehicle insurance report, you can access a copy from your state's department, and there are companies you can get your credit history from: i.e.: Truecredit or Experian.
You also need Bodily Injury Liability cover, to protect yourself for other people's bodily injuries or death for which you are responsible. This does not cover you or anyone else who may be in your car - only the person driving the other vehicle. This protects you against medical bills, loss of income and pain or suffering. If you require legal defense, you will be covered for that. It is always possible that a lawsuit can be filed against you, so make sure that you have enough auto insurance to cover your contingent expenses. This should be stated in your policy.
Complete auto insurance cover for your vehicle is called comprehensive insurance, and that will cover damage to your car if you have an accident, by flood, fire or animals or if your car is stolen. The insurance policy will pay to fix your car, less your excess attached to your policy. The excess is the deductible that you arrange to pay out of your pocket before claiming from the insurance company. In order to keep your premiums affordable, one usually selects as high a deductible as what you can afford.
If your car is quite old, you could consider lowering this coverage, because the coverage is usually limited to the value of the car.
Your spouse would usually also be insured if you have named him/her on your policy. You need to confirm this with your insurance company. If you have a boy/girlfriend and s/he uses your car and is involved in an accident, the insurance company may not pay your claim, unless s/he has been added to your auto insurance policy.
Article Source: http://www.search-raven.com
About the Author
Don't buy Auto Insurance before checking this out! Get a FREE, no-obligation Auto Insurance Quote in just minutes.
This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License, which means you may freely reprint it, in its entirety, provided you include the author's resource box along with LIVE links (without "nofollow" tags).
by: BarryFriedmann
Total views: 11
Word Count: 564
Rating: Not yet rated