Researching what car insurance you want can be a pain, but it’s not impossible to find a plan that saves you money. Did you know that there are three main kinds of car insurance? Here, I will explain the three types so you can make the best plan for your needs and not overspend.
1) Liability Insurance
Liability insurance is the basic type that everyone needs. It is actually illegal to drive without it. Liability insurance covers the costs when you are in the wrong. For example, if you rear-end another car, liability insurance pays for the damages so you don’t have to. If someone is hurt, liability insurance also covers their medical costs. Without liability insurance, you can find yourself with a hefty bill after an accident, so make sure you’re covered here first.
2) Comprehensive Insurance
Comprehensive insurance covers damage to your car which is caused without a collision. If a tree branch falls on your car, comprehensive insurance will cover that. If there’s a hail storm that shatters your windshield, I really hope you’ve got solid comprehensive coverage. Someone living in rural areas or in places with extreme weather would be wise to buy more comprehensive coverage than someone in the city. Yet, nature is everywhere. Make sure Mother Nature won’t foot you the bill with comprehensive insurance.
3) Collision Insurance
Collision insurance covers the cost of repairs to your car if you are involved in an accident. It doesn’t matter who caused the accident with this form of insurance. Let’s say that someone hits your car and you are completely blameless. Their liability insurance will cover the cost of your repairs. But, what happens if they didn’t buy enough liability insurance to cover the cost of repairing your car? No worries, that’s where your collision insurance will help you out.
If you have a car loan, you may be required to have full coverage. This means that you need all three types of insurance from above. While you may not be able to pick and choose which ones you want, you can find different plans which provide multiple levels of coverage.
So, now we know what the three types of insurance are. What do we do with this knowledge?
The first step is to maximize liability coverage. If you injure someone with your car, you can be sued for large sums of money. It is best for your insurance plan to handle the payment since it involves less stress and confusion for yourself. Raising liability insurance is less costly than you think. Even going so far as to double the coverage amount will often result in around a $5 increase in monthly premiums. It’s better to pay $5 more now and save on hundreds later.
Comprehensive and collision insurance are also important and can save you money if your car is damaged, but liability coverage is most important in terms of not having to pay large amounts without assistance.
Comprehension insurance is usually cheap to add to a plan, so I suggest having it. Especially with the frequency in which large storms have been seen in the past year, it’s smart to make sure flooding can’t drown your savings.
Collision insurance is a must, but the level needed can be personalized. If you don’t drive often, you might not need as much collision insurance as someone that commutes daily to work. Still, you don’t want to be stuck paying to fix damages that weren’t your fault in the first place.
Saving money with car insurance can seem overwhelming. I hope that this article gave you a good starting point.
Works Cited
“How Much Auto Insurance Coverage Do I Need?” National General Insurance, 2021, https://nationalgeneral.com/learning-center/insurance-basics/how_much_coverage.asp.
Nelson, Justine. How Much Car Insurance Do You Need | 4 EASY STEPS. YouTube, YouTube, 16 Apr. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFLb6WaIbNQ. Accessed 15 Nov. 2021.