Cheapest Car Insurance Quote - 3 Steps to Avoid An Expensive Nightmare

So - you're looking for the cheapest car insurance quote you can find? That's understandable, given today's economic environment and the fact that every household has its purse-strings pulled tight. Who wouldn't want to buy the cheapest car insurance available?

But be careful. If you aren't aware of some minimum necessary insurance coverages, you could quickly find out that you are under-insured, or worse, not insured at all. That's when the cheapest car insurancequote suddenly turns into an expensive nightmare. To avoid that nightmare, consider these three steps before you jump on the cheapest insurance quote available.

1. Check with your state to make sure you are buying at least the minimum requiredliability coverage. Each state sets its own liability limits. If you're shopping for insurance from multiple sources, you're probably getting quotes from large national insurance providers. It's up to you to know the minimum liability coverage required by the state in which you live.

2. Think objectively about the amount and type of driving that you do. Minimum required coverages may not be enough -- and we're not just talking race car driving here -- if you drive neighborhood kids in the carpool every day, the minimum state-required liability insurance may not be adequate for your potential risk. Be honest with yourself about the amount of coverage you might need in a worst case scenario.

3. Remember that when another driver causes an accident, it's the responsibility of each driver's insurance company to collect from the at-fault party and their insurance provider. So it's important to have your policy with an insurance provider that is financially stable and in a position to legally pursue the at-fault party. Choosing a small, unknown or relatively new company simply because they provided the cheapest car insurance quote could result in "no insurance" at all.

The bottom line -- be smart. It's fine to shop for multiple insurance quotes, but remember that the cheapest car insurance quote isn't always the best car insurance quote. To reduce risk, and save a little time, you may want to shop for multiple quotes from one online quote provider who only has relationships with the top insurance companies.

If you're ready to start shopping for the cheapest car insurance quote, you may want to consider the online quote provider recommended below. They provide at least five free quotes and have relationships with only reputable national companies.

About The Author Barb Dearing is a writer specializing in topics that help consumers save money. She recommends the following website for free car insurance quotes: http://www.shop-car-insurance.com/8.html

Young Driver Car Insurance - 5 Ways to Make It Affordable

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 carinsurance resulted in a 50-100% increase in the family's overall premiums. Ouch!

Many car insurance companies considerdrivers 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 youngdrivers 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 carinsurance quotes!

3. Consider an accredited driver safety course for your young driver. Some insurancecompanies 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 fivefree quotes from major insurers.

About The Author Barb Dearing is a writer specializing in topics that help consumers save money. She recommends the following website for free car insurance quotes: http://www.shop-car-insurance.com/7.html

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 lostwages 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 anattorney 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 autoliability insurance limits.

About The Author Elizabeth M. Allen, of the law firm Allen, Allen, Allen & Allen, has been engaged in the practice of personal injury law for over 30 years. Allen and Allen has been protecting the rights of injured victims in Virginia for nearly a century. They can be found online at: http://www.allenandallen.com

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 sitesand see if any of them benefit you. There are some web sites out there that actually scancar insurance rates, and will give you a list of the most competitive companies out there, usually beginning with the most affordable ones.

About The Author Dennis runs Car Dealer Check a user generated Car Dealer Review website that also contains an active car forum. http://www.cardealercheck.com

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 insurancecompany 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.

About The Author Clifford F. Berman is the CEO of http://QuoteScout.com. For more information about car insurance following your move, visit them on the web athttp://www.QuoteScout.com.

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 areseveral resources that are available which are able to provide multiple quotes from different reliable providers for consumers to compare. Through sites such ashttp://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/ this can be provided free of charge and with no obligation. Ohio’s department of insuranceadvises 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’snegligence 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 aliability 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 aonline 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.

About The Author Online auto insurance can help individuals find cheap car insurance by simply visitinghttp://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/cheap/ and also provide valuable information about the Ohio state auto insurance requirements athttp://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/Ohio/ where such assistance and information is provided free of charge.

Keep your Cheap Women’s Car Insurance with Regular

We all know how cheap women’s carinsurance can be. The female of the species get a pretty fair deal when it comes toinsuring their motor vehicles.

One of the chief reasons why cheap women’s car insurance is so cheap is that statistically they are much less likely to have an accident. Hence, cheap women’s carinsurance specialists can afford to offer lower premiums to their customers as they pose less risk than their male counterparts.

However, whilst insurance is usually cheaper for women, a lot of females claim on theirinsurance needlessly due to a lack of basic motor vehicle knowledge. Not knowing how to maintain your vehicle can lead to some expensive repairs which require an insuranceclaim. Simple things like checking your oil levels and tyre pressure can save you a lot of money in the long run.

Maintaining vigilance on your vehicle’s oil supply will keep your engine running smoothly and keep all the component parts finely tuned. Most cars require a complete oil change every 3,000 miles, but it’s always wise to check your oil levels with a dipstick at least once a month. Assuming your oil is just fine can prove a very costly mistake, and if you need to replace your entire engine because there wasn’t sufficient oil lubricating the moving parts, then even cheap women’s car insurance is going to take a nasty hike in premium.

Another thing that is easy to maintain and check regularly is the condition of your tires.Tyres are ultimately going to be the deciding factor about whether you stay on the road or end up in a ditch, so checking your tyres regularly is essential in order to avoid those expensive insurance claims.

Physically inspect the tyre for bald spots and worn tread. The tread grips the car to the road, so if the tread is worn, you significantly increase your chances of losing control of your vehicle and having an accident. In the UK, the law requires a minimum of 1.6 millimetres in continuous band throughout the central three-quarters of the tread width. Your tyre tread should be much wider than 1.6 millimetres though and ideally more than 3 millimetres.

Checking your tyre pressure regularly is essential to maintaining equal wear on yourtyres. Over-inflated tyres will lead to uneven wear and worse tyre grip. Under-inflatedtyres will corner poorly in wet conditions and will increase your breaking distance. You should be checking your tyres at least once a fortnight, and preferably once a week for pressure and tyre wear.

Having a little knowledge can really help reduce your chance of having an accident and a hefty insurance claim on your hands. Some cheap women’s car insurance companies offer as much as a 15 per cent discount to women who are part of an owner’s club or car owner’s forum because enthusiasts take better care of their vehicles and hence tend to have fewer accidents.

By taking simple precautions like checking your tyres and oil regularly, you can make your cheap women’s car insurance even cheaper.

About The Author Kim has 2 years experience in the car insuranceindustry. She enjoys writing articles on various topics. http://www.uswitch.com