Entries Tagged 'Auto insurance' ↓

Go back fifty years, America was very different. This was a country in which our lawmakers could confidently pass financial responsibility laws, knowing we would all accept the need. As the economy began its steady expansion after the end of the World War II, therer was the explosion in the number of vehicles on our roads. With technology still developing, suspension systems and brakes were primitive, so there were a rising number of accidents. States decided to mandate every driver to carry a minimum amount of insurance. Back then, almost all states were at-fault, i.e. they relied on the courts to apply the law of tort. Any driver found negligent would be responsible for paying the cost of all repairs and medical treatment. Since not everyone carried such large sums in their bank accounts, everyone carried liability insurance. That way there would always be some money available to pay whoever you injured by your bad driving. Even though some states have changed to no-fault insurance, the reasoning stays the same. Even though you are insuring yourself, it’s still better to have the money from the insurer than be forced to go even further into debt to pay for your own treatment and vehicle repairs.

In other countries where similar laws apply, there are provisions to increase the minimum amounts in line with inflation. That way, there’s always enough money to pay for most, if not all, the repairs and treatment. Put another way, lawmakers who thought the law a good idea, thought it an equally good idea to keep the value up-to-date. But not in our country. Our lawmakers made their laws in fixed amounts. The result is rather alarming. If you take $1 in 1960, it would take $7 in today’s currency for the same buying power. Now think about a mandatory minimum of $15,000 for medical expenses set in 1960. That should be $105,000 today and, even that amount would struggle to pay for anything more than routine treatment for relatively minor injuries. Yet when lawmakers debate increasing the mandatory minimums today, no one talk about even doubling the old values. The brave representatives talk carefully about ten or twenty percent increases, and duck for cover when the howls of outrage come from their electors. Continue reading →

There are many different ways you can go with in order to lower your insurance rates when insuring a car. And the best part of it that you may combine different options in order to gain even better savings than going with just a single saving method. So if you want to have lower rates, here are some things you can ask your insurer about:

- See if the company can offer you with a discount for having different types of insurance products from them. Many insurance providers offer different forms of insurance at once, such as life, health, homeowners and auto. So if you happen to have any of their products and insure your car with them as well, you can opt for a really good discount. And the more products you have from the same company, the larger your discount will be. So it’s sometimes better to have different more expensive policies with the same provider than having cheaper deals from different companies.

- In case the car lists a student as a driver, and he or she has good grades then the insurance can be cheaper than with other groups of drivers. That is while the student maintains an average of B and higher. When the grades drop, so does the discount (and the rates go up). Besides, you will be required to present the grades report at each annual renewal of the policy. But it still pays off to be a good student and do the paperwork, since the discount turns out to be pretty sweet with most insurance providers.

- Ask if there are any discounts for being a safe driver with a clean record. This especially pays off if you don’t have any accidents and traffic violations in your driver’s history.

- In case you are a senior citizen and hadn’t any traffic violations or accidents during the last couple of years, you can opt for a special discount, too. Continue reading →