When it comes to car insurance, there are certain things we all know.  If you get in an accident, full coverage means that after you pay your deductible, your insurance company will pay the rest for repairs or for replacement of your car.

If someone gets hurt, liability insurance pays that.

However, there are several things that are often covered on your auto insurance policy that you might not know – here are my top 7 (these assume you have full coverage):

1) Pet Injuries

Even I was a little surprised to learn this one.  Pet injuries are common in even minor accidents because Rover typically isn’t strapped in by the seat belt like you.  Your insurance will typically cover the vet bills up to a certain amount, $600 seems to be common, which in the animal health world is usually enough to patch Rover up and make him good as new.

2) Friends

Imagine this – your uninsured friend borrows your car to go pick up a pizza and instead of picking up the pizza like he’s supposed to, he runs it into a light pole instead.

Now what?  Fortunately, as long as you’re insured, since it’s your car, you’re covered even if they aren’t.

3) Lockouts and Flat Tires – Roadside Emergencies

A lot of vehicles make it downright hard to lock yourself out of your car these days… that doesn’t mean you can’t do it, though.  Heck, I did this about two weeks ago with the engine running (and it didn’t have an auto unlock feature).

If you have roadside assistance on your car insurance policy, this will be covered, as will flat tires or even if you manage to run out gas on the highway.

It pays to ask here.  Sometimes it’s built right into your full coverage policy, but others will have it as an inexpensive add on.

And it’s not just auto insurance companies like State Farm, Progressive, Geico, American Family, and Allstate that offer it – even my cell phone provider (Verizon) has an “emergency roadside assistance” option I can add to my monthly plan.

4) Windshield Replacement

This isn’t covered by all insurers, but many do.  If you get a crack on your windshield, it’s not as safe as it was because it’s structural integrity has been compromised (that’s a fancy way of saying it’ll break easier if it hits anything else).

Some policies will cover it without any out of pocket costs to you – others will cover it if you pay a small deductible (smaller than your actual deductible).  However, if you have a chipped or cracked windshield, it never hurts to ask your insurance company if they’re willing to foot the bill.

5) Meteor Strikes

Okay, you’re vehicle probably isn’t going to get hit by a meteor, or even blown up by terrorists, but if it did, you’d be covered… usually on the comprehensive portion of your policy.

The comprehsnsive policy also covers you if you hit a deer or other large animal that damages your car.  If you have full coverage, you have comprehensive coverage, if you have liability only, you don’t.

6) Sales Tax On A Replacement Vehicle

Here’s the list of states that require your insurer to pay for the sales tax on your new or used replacment car: Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and Wisconsin

Even if you’re not in one of those states, ask anyway.  Most insurers will pay it if you ask.

7) Car Rental Insurance

If you rent a car, the rental agency is going to offer you an expensive daily insurance policy.  It’s a major money maker for them.  However, if you have full coverage on your vehicles, you might already be covered or it’s very cheap to add to your policy – far cheaper than the insurance offered through rental agencies like Enterprise and Hertz.  Take the couple minutes to call up your insurance agent and ask, it might save you a hundred dollars or more.

In the world of auto insurance, you’ve got options… plenty of them.  There are dozens of providers, and many more who do specialty coverage.

Today I’m going to break down the difference in full coverage and liability only insurance.

Liability Coverage

Each state has their own minimum guidelines for liability coverage that is required before you can legally drive your car.

It’s broken into three numbers, typically expressed like this:

25/50/25

The first part covers injuries and medical payments.  It’s the amount that your insurance company will pay for injuries sustained by a single individual.  In the example above (I used Nebraska’s minimum requirements), that means you need to have at least $25,000 in coverage to pay for any injuries to one person caused by you if you’re found to be at fault in an accident.

The second number refers to the maximum amount that your insurance company will pay for all injuries in an accident.

The third number is to cover property damage (the other persons car, for example).

Using the numbers above that means $25,000 of bodily injury coverage per victim, $50,000 of bodily injury coverage per accident and $25,000 of property damage coverage per accident.

Remember that the legal minimum is just that, the very least required by law.  In most cases you’re going to want more than that, a lot more.

Let me explain.

Let’s say you’re in an accident with a Porsche 911 Turbo with two people in the car and there are injuries and you’re only covered by the legal minimums.

Let’s say both people are injuries the first person only has minor injuries and their injuries are total $2,000.  The other person is more seriously injured and has $100,000 in bodily injuries.

The insurance company will cover all injuries of the first person since it’s covered by your $25,000 per person.

The second person, however, has $75,000 in injuries your insurance company won’t cover.

Let’s also say the car is totaled… I’ve got some bad news for you, you just wrecked a $125,000 car and you only have $25,000 in coverage for property damage.

You’re now on the hook for $175,000 ($75,000 from injuries sustained to person 2 and $100,000 for property damage).

That example might be a little bit extreme, but a good percentage of cars, like a Ford Explorer, on the road cost more than $25,000 to replace.  Keep in mind medical costs are typically the biggest cost in a serious accident so make sure you set those well above the legal minimums.

Full Coverage

Now let’s talk about “full coverage” car insurance.   Full coverage actually refers to a combination of three policies: collision, comprehensive, and liability.

Legally, you’re only required to have liability insurance.  However, if you have a loan on your car, then you’re required to have full coverage.  It’ll be written into the terms of your loan.

Collision covers just what it sounds like.  It covers damages to your car in the event of an accident where you’re at fault.  If you only have liability coverage, the other person’s car is covered by the property damage portion of the policy (provided you have sufficient coverage), but your car isn’t covered at all.

Comprehensive coverage can also be referred to as “other-than-collision” coverage.  I’ve also seen it called the “acts of God” policy, but you’re never going to see a policy referring to anything as an “act of God”.

The comprehensive policy covers things like theft, fire, and weather related damage.  Comprehensive also kicks in if you hit a deer or other animal that causes damage to your car.  I’m not sure why an animal collision goes under comprehensive and not collision, but that’s where it goes – I think the logic is that an animal collision is less likely to be your fault than a vehicle collision.

Full Coverage Or Liability Only – When To Make The Switch

Making the decision to switch from full coverage to liability only coverage is a decision only you can reach.  However, my rule of thumb is that once your vehicle is worth less than $2,000, as long as it’s paid off, you can drop full coverage and just stick with liability.  Above that and you’ll probably want to keep full coverage on your car.

If you have ever rented a car for a short period of time, whether during a vacation, a business trip, or while your own automobile was being repaired, you have probably faced the question of whether to take out insurance at the rental agency desk when you rent the car. Paying your rental company for insurance on your rental car is necessary sometimes, but not always. In fact, much of the time rental car insurance ends up adding some fairly steep fees onto your rental even though the coverage you’re paying for may be completely redundant.

To know whether you need to write a check for the hefty chunk of change that many automobile rental companies collect for insurance coverage, all you need to do is spend a bit of time finding out exactly what kind of coverage you already have. In many cases, your regular auto insurance policy is more than sufficient to protect you financially if you do damage a rental car (if you have full coverage). Anyone who owns an automobile of their own has an insurance policy that gives them some level of coverage in case of damage to the car from an accident, theft, vandalism, or other mishap. It varies a bit from policy to policy, but most of the time this same coverage will apply to a car rented in the policy owner’s name. This means that if your car is fully insured, any rental car that you drive will probably be just as well covered as your personal automobile.

Of course, before you turn down added rental insurance at a rental car agency, make sure you have spoken to your personal insurance agent or a representative from the company that holds your policy to make absolutely sure your policy covers rental cars. If your auto insurance doesn’t cover your rental, you could be left holding a bill for tens of thousands of dollars. This kind of costly mistake can be easily avoided just by making one phone call in advance. Even if you are not planning to rent a car in the near future, it is not a bad idea to find out today whether your policy covers rental cars. That way, all the necessary information will be there for you when you need it.

Even if your regular insurance plan doesn’t adequately cover rental cars, you don’t necessarily need to pay the high insurance fees that a rental agency will probably charge. There are plenty of options to make sure your temporary wheels are covered in case of a collision or other cause of damage to the car. In fact, you can get a much better rate than a rental agent is likely to offer you even if you don’t own a car of your own. There are specific policies that insurance companies offer for customers who rent cars frequently. A non-owner auto liability insurance policy provides affordable and usually quite comprehensive protection for rental drivers who do not own cars. If you don’t have personal automobile insurance that already covers rentals, one of these can offer you the security of knowing you are fully covered without the steep prices of rental agents’ insurance packages.

Just remember that rental insurance is a major source of profit for rental agencies so they’re certainly going to make it sound like you absolutely need it even if you don’t.

Whether you find out that you need to take out a non-owner auto liability insurance policy, or whether you discover that you don’t need to pay anything above what you already do for insurance, a bit of forethought and planning can save you a lot of money at the rental desk. Your rental car may be temporary, but the savings will be permanent.

Your car insurance policy is one policy actually made up by several smaller policies that all have a part to play.  In this guide, I’ll try to demystify what each part covers (and why it’s necessary).

The phrase “car insurance” implies that what you are insuring is your car, but like with so many things, it’s a little more complicated than that.  When you purchase a comprehensive auto insurance policy, you are protecting yourself from the costs of damaging your car, but that is just one element that makes up what is called “full coverage.”

You need insurance that can cover the legal fees that may result during a lawsuit if you take another driver to court after an accident. You need insurance that can cover the cost of prescription painkillers that you may need to buy for yourself if an uninsured driver runs a light and hits your car. These and hundreds of other possible costs that have nothing to do with your actual vehicle can be covered by so-called automobile insurance. The act of buying an insurance policy for your car is an act of making sure that it is financially safe both for yourself and for anyone else who you may encounter when you are behind the wheel.

You need to protect yourself from the potential financial hardship of paying for the medical bills of anyone who you injure in an accident, and the costs of repairing any public or private property that you may damage. In addition, before you can hit the road in most states you need enough insurance that you will be able to pay for your own medical care if you are injured in a crash caused by an uninsured motorist. So far, none of these important elements of a standard car insurance policy even mention the automobile itself!

A good collision or comprehensive insurance policy will cover at least some percentage of the cost of repair to your vehicle after physical damage. However, since not every state requires that you have this kind of insurance, don’t assume that physical damage is covered by your policy unless your agent tells you so directly. Physical damage coverage (most often covered as part of your liability policy) is just one element of a good automobile insurance policy, and many people consider it optional rather than necessary. The actual cost of insuring the physical form of your vehicle is almost always dwarfed by the costs of the other kinds of insurance that you need in order to drive safely, responsibly, and legally.

Other options that you will be likely to encounter when choosing a car insurance policy include things like medical payments coverage, which will help you meet the costs of medical attention after an accident. Of course, a traditional insurance policy includes a certain level of protection against the costs of treatment, but things like co-pays are not covered by body injury liability coverage or uninsured motorist coverage. This leads many people to take out additional insurance so that they know that they will not have a larger than necessary financial burden if a hospital stay is necessary for them, for a passenger, or for somebody else harmed during a crash.