Thinking that All Damages Will Be Covered

Cars can be damaged in ways that happen other than through a car collision. In order to have coverage for the repairs needed after these events take place, people need to purchase optional coverage. For example, in the event that the vehicle has water damage due to a flood, the policyholder’s collision coverage wouldn’t pay for the repairs. What would pay for these repairs is comprehensive coverage but if the policyholder didn’t purchase it, he will have to pay for his own repairs.

The Belief that a Rental Car Will Be Included in the Coverage

Collision coverage and comprehensive coverage doesn’t pay for a rental car. This, too, is optional coverage that policyholders have to specify they want when they purchase their auto insurance. Rental Reimbursement Coverage will pay for the rental car while the owner’s car is being repaired.

Believing that an Accident Isn’t Their Fault

Each insurance company has to perform a thorough investigation to determine who caused a collision. It can take a long time because each insurance company wants to ensure that they come to the correct conclusion. Doing this successfully means that they need to spend ample time interviewing everyone who witnessed the accident. In this time, people can begin to believe that they aren’t the ones who have been given the blame, and can be surprised when they find out months later that they actually were the ones responsible for the accident.

The Belief that the Policyholder Isn’t Liable When the Car Is Loaned to a Friend

A policyholder can loan his car to his friend for the day. This friend proceeds to cause an accident. The injured party’s insurance company contacts the policyholder’s insurance company, not the friend’s, for payment through his liability coverage. The policyholders often believe that they aren’t liable if a friend causes the accident, but the insurance policy covers the vehicle and not the people who drive it. Therefore, the car’s insurance policy is the one responsible for payment.

The Belief that They Will Receive the Full Purchase Price for a Totaled Vehicle

When insurance companies decide that a vehicle is a total loss, they are only obligated to reimburse the policyholder the market value of the car at the time of the crash. People often believe that they are entitled to the amount of money they paid to buy the car but over time, the vehicle’s value depreciated and it is worth much less than the original price. The insurance company is only required to offer the policyholder the fair market value of the vehicle.

Miles Walker writes about car insurance quotes over at CarinsuranceComparison.Org. His latest article looked at the best Washington car insurance.

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.

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.