You pay a substantial amount of money each month to the insurance company, and if you are like most people, you have not had an accident or made a claim in years. Yet when you do suddenly find yourself involved in a collision, you’re banking on the fact that the money you’ve been paying all these years will finally pay off. Better make sure you’ve made some good choices.

What Can Influence Your Rates
Because insurance prices are all based on statistics, prices vary significantly. Things like the driver’s age, years of driving experience, what neighborhood the car is usually parked in overnight, the make and model of the car, what kind of safety features the car has, and whether or not you have antitheft devices installed will factor into the price you’ll pay for the particular level of coverage you choose.

Before you get too far into shopping for insurance, you might want to order a copy of your driving record. In much the same way that your credit rating determines what kind of interest rate you’ll get when you are applying for financing, your driving record will influence your insurance rate.

What Coverage Do You Need?
Your state sets forth the minimum liability coverage you must maintain. But these are just the legal minimums and might not give you the coverage you need. You’ll have to decide what you want to buy beyond these minimums. Keep in mind that you are looking to find the balance between having adequate coverage and overpaying.

According to Consumer Reports, a general guideline for adequate bodily injury liability limits is $100,000 per person and $300,000 per accident, plus $100,000 for property damage. These amounts are what your insurer will pay to someone you are in an accident with. For uninsured motorist coverage, you should get the same amount as for bodily injury liability, as this covers your medical costs when someone who is not insured hits you.

Comprehensive and Collision Coverage
You can always supplement your policy with specific protections (for a higher premium, of course). For example, many motorists get comprehensive and collision coverage. Comprehensive pays out when your car is damaged or lost due to causes other than an accident, such as vandalism, theft, or weather. Collision coverage will pay to repair your own car if you hit something.

[back]