The Auto Insurance

Auto insurance is expensive enough when you’ve been accident and ticket free, let alone when you need high risk coverage. But fear not, if it’s high risk auto insurance you need, then we’re going to walk you through the process of shopping, buying, and keeping your rates as low as possible.

Mitigating Expense

The first step is to do everything we can to keep your rates as low as possible. If you have outstanding tickets, pay them. This will not only give you a chance to put them behind you, but will save you from further fines and penalties. This will also keep you from getting additional tickets, which can further increase your rates.

Next, if you have a luxury car or sports car, then ditch it. Getting a nice budget priced used vehicle will save you a ton of cash when you buy high risk auto insurance.

Lastly, find yourself a driver safety course approved by your state of residence, and take it. Doing this can sometimes remove points from your record, and can also entitle you for a policy discount.

Look at Alternatives

Do you really need to own a car? Is public transportation available? What about a service like Zipcar, do you have those in your area? If you can get away from owning an automobile, you might be able to save cash by instead borrowing a vehicle and getting an insurance bond, rather than maintaining high risk auto insurance.

This isn’t always ideal, but it might be something to look at until your record improves.

Shopping for High Risk Insurance

The best place to start is online, by checking rates of every auto insurer you can think of. Here is a list to get you started:

1. Geico
2. USAA
3. Progressive
4. esurance
5. State Farm
6. Nationwide
7. Allstate
8. Safe Auto

You might find that a few of these will be much more expensive, and some might not offer insurance to you at all, which is fine. The goal here is to get rates to compare, and see where you stand.

Once you have a few rates that look better than the rest, call those companies and ask them what you can do to reduce rates. Ask them about driver discounts, and see if you qualify for any. If you don’t, find out if you can in the future. The goal here is to see a) if someone will give you a trick or two to lowering your rates, and b) to see if someone might help you out and give you a discount in advance. You’d be surprised what can happen when you are polite and show a bit of humility.

Buying High Risk Auto Insurance

Once you get to this point, you should have an idea of what you’ll pay now, and what you’ll pay in the future, based on initial quotes and talks with insurance agents. When buying high risk insurance, take the best rate you can, and then consistently check every 4-6 months to see if you can find better rates. Take as many safety classes as you can, qualify for as many discounts as you can, and continue to drive safe and pay your bill on time. Eventually, you’ll get out of the hole and finally qualify for standard coverage.

When buying auto insurance, whether for a commercial or personal purpose, you’ll find that there are generally two types – full coverage auto insurance, and partial coverage insurance.

Though partial insurance coverage has its merits, and we’ll talk about a few of them, the purpose of today’s piece is to discuss full coverage in detail in order to help you decide how and where to buy it.

The Basics of Full Coverage Auto Insurance

Whereas partial coverage insurance covers only a portion of potential accidents, full coverage covers everything from nature damage to collision type accidents, which is why it’s more expensive.

As part of your full coverage policy, you’ll receive the following coverages, at a minimum:

1. Collision – An at-fault accident with another vehicle, person, or object;
2. Comprehensive – Theft, vandalism, and nature damage.

Often times, you’ll also have a few of these additions:

1. Uninsured Motorist Coverage – Covers you in the event you get hit by someone without insurance;
2. Underinsured Motorist Coverage – Covers you in the event the person at-fault had too little insurance to properly pay for damages;
3. Towing/Rental Car Reimbursement.

As you can see, full coverage auto insurance is a full package, and will ensure that no matter what happens to your car, that you and the people inside of it are covered. Though both full and partial coverage feature personal injury coverage, we won’t discuss that here, as these are mandated by state minimums.

Where to Buy Full Coverage Auto Insurance

Anytime you get an auto insurance quote, you’ll get the option to choose full or partial coverage. In other words, you can find full auto policies almost everywhere you find auto insurance being sold.

Some of the most popular places to buy full coverage auto are Geico, Progressive, State Farm, Nationwide, USAA, esurance, Safe Auto, and Allstate.

How Much is Full Coverage Auto Insurance?

This is the kicker, and why many people try to skimp out of full coverage…it’s expensive. You’ll usually pay 25%-50% more for a full coverage policy, and while it’s not always worth it, in most cases, it’s well worth the cost.

For starters, anytime you buy a new car on a loan, you’ll be forced to maintain full coverage until the car is paid in full. Failure to do so could be grounds for repossession.

When to Buy Partial Coverage Insurance

There are a few exceptions when full coverage auto doesn’t make sense. Here are a few of them:

1. When a car is not driven and kept in storage or a garage;
2. When a car is virtually worthless, and it cost more to maintain full coverage than a car is worth;
3. When a car is already damaged or has been totaled.

As you can see, it almost never makes sense to avoid full coverage auto, budget aside. If you can afford it, you should probably buy it, especially if you owe money on your loan.