Common Auto Insurance Questions for Households
There are many questions for households need to consider before purchasing auto insurance. Even with a load of information available on the net, sometimes it’s best to wise up and ask the following questions directly to your insurance agent; after all, not all agencies will do things the exact same way.
Are Minimum Limits Adequate?
While every situation is unique and every individual needs to decide the best route to take for specific situations, minimum limits do nothing more than satisfying the basic requirements. For some people who is enough, and for other people, it is important to have more coverage.
While you might think that $25,000 sounds like a lot of money, if you get into a multiple care pileup, your limit might be exhausted before you are even done with the second car. When you consider some of the car insurance states that have minimum limits as low as $15,000 as listed by Cars.com, it’s hard to truly feel the security of insurance coverage with a measly minimum limit in place.
Do I Want My Teen on My Policy?
This question comes up a lot, and the short answer is: it depends. On one hand, you could have a teen who has no experience, isn’t eligible for a good grades discounts, and drives their own brand new car. In this case, adding your team would be extremely costly.
On the other hand, your teen could wind up not having their own car, so they are only insured for liability. You could also make them take a driver’s safety course in addition to making them work harder toward a good grades discount. And if the car they do occasionally drive is used with great safety features, they’ll be much cheaper (while still expensive overall) to add to your policy.
If you want to crunch some numbers yourself without getting on the phone to talk to an agent, take advantage of sites like CoverHound, which streamline the comparing car insurance quotes process. Simply input different scenarios into their quote generator to know how you can save the most money.
Do GPS Tracking Systems Work?
In short, GPS tracking systems work well. Even though every company is coming out with their own version, and even though many are frightened about the prospect of giving up their privacy, this technology can actually wind up tracking your driving behavior and giving you a very strong discount if you prove that you practice safe driving habits. For the most part, the only things that the car systems will track is braking and accelerating behavior, length of drives, the time of day that you drive, and how often you drive. All of these things can make your rates go down, and according to Marketplace, it is already happening for many people. The point is when you get a car insurance rate you are paying what an average driver would pay. However, you just need to show that your driving would put you in a class that is better than average.
Does It Really Make Sense to Bundle?
In almost every case for this question, the answer is yes. You need to simply think about the idea of administrative costs and the amount of time it would take you to call two separate companies, write out two separate checks, file the paperwork for two separate policies, and so on. Then, when you think about the time it would take to combine that all into one task and one policy, you can see why companies encourage bundling. They can save on administrative tasks so that you can save on your overall premium payments. Everybody wins.
There are always questions to ask, and chances are good that there will be many more down the line as well. The important thing to do is to take the time and look into what you can save just by doing certain things. Insurance is a bit confusing, but you can also save a lot of money if you use the right resources.
Thanks,
Chase