Comparing Discount Car Insurance Companies - Things To Know Before Getting A Quote

You are looking for an insurance policy for your car. Several companies give you proposals; all of them are based on the same information which you provided. The policies have widely varying costs and proposals. How can you wisely choose the best policy and company? Read carefully Lay the policies down side by side.

Some insurers are able to offer low rates by giving skeleton coverage. You gave the companies identical information but they may not have returned identical policies. Check the deductibles on the policies. Deductibles weigh heavily on the cost of insurance.

See if all of the policies offer uninsured driver clauses. Look closely at coverage areas. Some companies restrict their policies if you drive extensively out of state. Type of company Just as with home loan companies there are auto insurance companies that specialize in writing insurance for people with poor credit and/or poor driving records.

If you have requested a quote from this kind of company their response may automatically be considerably higher than other companies. If you don't have poor credit and/or a poor driving record immediately eliminate from your search companies that serve these markets. Investigate company records States keep records of how insurance companies respond to their customers.

Files on insurers will include their response times, their histories of paying claims, any complaints or suits filed against them as well as other important consumer information. Note and eliminate any companies which have numerous complaints against them.

Remember, having a low car insurance premium may not be worth much if you don't have the coverage you need or can't get your car insurance company to respond when you have an accident. Please get as many quotes as possible to insure that you will be paying as little as possible while getting all of the coverage that you need without paying for what you don't.

Best Car Insurance Company - How Is A Person To Choose?

How is the average insurance buyer ever going to determine which car insurance company is the best? That sounds like a nightmare instead of a shopping comparison. Insurance agencies are located in every major city and suburb in America. These agencies are either independent agents that represent several insurance companies or exclusive agents that represent one company. These are insurance companies that use the agent distribution as their method of marketing their products.

Some insurance companies have chosen to eliminate the agent and use the mail, the telephone, or the internet to sell their products. The property and casualty companies are always in a battle for market penetration. The insurance companies have to walk a fine line between new acquisitions and expense to do business. This is important information for the consumer because they are the ones making the final decision on who is winning.

The best insurance company for you may be completely different than one preferred by your next door neighbor. Time and experience have a way of guiding you to your choice of companies.

Things to Consider....

1. Insurance Agent - The car insurance agent has been the single most successful means of insurance distribution in insurance history. The neighborhood agent has ties to the community and is easily accessible. That is a great value to a great many people especially with people who want person to person advice and counsel.

2. Direct Distribution - This is the name that we will give to the insurance companies that sell you insurance with 800 telephone numbers or through the internet and mailing services. They sell direct to you and you are serviced by them through customer service call centers. The direct distributor claims to have lower rates becausethey have eliminated the agent.

Once you determine how you want to be serviced then you can begin a search for those types of insurance companies. AM Best is a rating guide that you can find in your local library that gives you the financial strength of each insurance company.

by Greg Haehl

Credit Card and Insurance

Credit card and insurance are two very important financial services in modern sociaty. In a world that is built on the basis of credit, credit cards is a part of daily life for most ordinary people. Insurance, on the other hand, is something to protect you from uncertainty which may happen unexpectedly to anybody. The idea of insuring the future is now accepted by more and more people. Insurance and credit cards go hand in hand in many ways. Coverage for certain insurance policies are sometimes provided as benefit by credit cards issuers at no extra charge.

For example, Chase i-card provides the following insurance coverage:

· $500,000 Worldwide Automatic Travel Accident Insurance coverage

· Purchase Protection - an insurance program that covers purchases against damage or theft for 90 days from purchase date Auto insurance and travel insurance are usually such benefit for cardholders. For an additional premium, insurance protection plans are also available for cardholders to protect an outstanding balance on the cards. Usually, the insurance policy will cover the following:

· Critical Illnes Protection: For a primary or spousal cardholder under 65 years of age and were to be diagnosed with certain critical illnesses, such as Cancer, Heart Attack or Stroke, the insurance policy would pay in full the balance owing on the insured account up to a maximum.

· Disablitily Protection: For primary cardholders under 65 years of age who become temporarily disabled as a direct result of an illness or accident, this insurance policy will make the minimum monthly payments with certain limitation.

· Accidental Death Protection: For primary or spousal cardholders over 65 years of age and were to lose their life as a direct result of an accident, the full outstanding balance (to a maximum limitation) will be paid in full by the insurance plan.

· Job Loss Protection: For a primary cardholder under 65 years of age and he or she becomes involuntarily unemployed, the insurance policy will cover the minimum monthly payments based on the balance to a certain limitation until the cardholder is working again, or until your balance is reduced to zero.

· Dismemberment Protection: For a primary or spousal cardholder who were to lose the sight in both eyes or lose a limb as a direct result of an accident, the insurance policy will pay the outstanding balance up to a maximum.

· Strike Protection: For a primary cardholder under 65 years of age who become unemployed due to a strike or lockout, the insurance policy will make the minimum monthly payments up to a limitation until the insured resume working or the balance is reduced to zero.

· Loss of Life Protection: This insurance policy will pay the full balance on the credit card account to a certain maximum if the primary or spousal cardholder under 65 years of age lose their life. Insurance for credit cards is a service that is getting hotter.

However, usually this service is provided by the card issuer. The cardholder is notified normally by mail along with their monthly bill or at the time when they get the cards. There are growing concerns about fraud within unsolicited credit card insurance marketing activities. Some thieves use this as a way to steal your personal confidential information.

As a rule of thumb, never give your confidential information over phone! The above information is informational only. For accurate insurance policy, please contact your card issuers or local insurance agents before you take out any insurance policy.

Car Insurance On Rentals

When it comes to car insurance, there are a couple of traps you can fall into. The contracts are complicated and extremely difficult to understand, and that's if you even have the time to read them. The fact is that most people don't read insurance contracts and there is a significant information shortage when it comes to consumers and the contents of their own insurance contracts.

One of the problems with this information gap is that it can lead to wasted money. Every time you rent a car you are asked what kind of insurance you would like. The options are generally to take none, which costs nothing, or you could cover liability insurance, which should cost about $10 per day. Then you have a variety of options to cover the rental cat itself, prices for which vary from company to company and state to state.

The full coverage option, which includes liability, passengers, and the rental car usually, comes to about $25 to $30 a day. Most people genuinely don't know what option they should be taking. Liability Liability insurance is the only insurance you are required by law to take out. All the others are optional. That's the first and most important thing to remember when you're at the rental desk, and the total price for your two-week vacation car is quickly adding up and up.

The other thing to know is that in many cases, you will be covered, to some extent by your existing car insurance. You will have to check your insurance policy to make certain, but for the vast majority of drivers,they will have liability insurance by virtue of their own car insurance, and this will carry over to the rental car. It is however, unlikely that full or comprehensive coverage will carry over from your own car insurance.

This is because comprehensive insurance is calculated based on the value of your car. Insurers don't want to be in a position where they set your policy based on your say, $15,000 vehicle, and then have to pay out when you crash a $40,000 rental. So your policy will state that only liability insurance is provided when you rent. Credit Card Cover You may still require no insurance from the rental company however.

This is because many credit card companies, including both visa and MasterCard, offer this insurance if you pay for the rental with one of their cards. This is a major benefit of using a credit card and should not be wasted. Again you should check with your credit card provider what they cover, but the bottom line is, if your own insurance covers liability, and your credit card covers the rental car, why pay a couple of hundred dollars for extra insurance when you're already covered?

If you are in doubt as to your insurance, it is wise however to take the rental company's policy, especially liability.

Shopping Online For Car Insurance

Right now there are many companies all trying to get you to buy their particular insurance plan for your car. From quacking ducks to talking lizards, there is an overabundance of advertisements, all done with the intent to get you sign up for their company.

But which one is right for you?

One of the better solutions that I found is to go online and compare the different automotive insurance policies. That way, it is easy to find one that fits your particular situation. In addition, I have found that utilizing the Internet is the best way to save money.

Before you go out and buy from the first company that offers you a car insurance policy, it is important that you understand which items are important for protecting you and your assets. As you probably know most insurance policies look the same.

So it is important to understand both the company and your unique situation. First you should decide the maximum amount that you can use to pay for your insurance. This step means a careful analysis of your budget. It is a question of how much you can afford. This leads to our second item for consideration. How much do you need to cover?

For people that have a lot of assets, it is vital that they get enough insurance to personally protect their money in case of a catastrophic accident. Many penny pinchers elect to get the lowest coverage. While it important to save money, it is equally important to prevent one accident from wiping you out.

The funny thing is that even if you do elect for lower coverage, you wind up not saving that much money. The next step is to check out the individual car insurance companies. As a result, it is vital that you get quotes from at least five different auto insurance companies. The method that I use is to go online and compare some of the top companies that show up. Here is a brief list of companies that offer top-rated car insurance:

* 21st Century Insurance * Geico * USAA * Safeco Insurance * MetLife Auto * Liberty Mutual * AllState * Unitrin Direct * eSurance * Progressive * State Farm * AIG Auto Insurance * GMAC Insurance * Nationwide * Eastwood * Amica * AAA

Once you find quotes from different companies, you should create a strategy of the various costs involved with purchasing car insurance. This includes deductibles, collision, comprehensive, and the total costs.

For each company, try to get quotes on different levels of coverage. That way,you can develop an accurate portrayal of the price for each car insurance quote.

The final step is to understand how much each company will cover. While you might save money from one particular company, they might offer little to no coverage in case you get into an accident. While you might save some cash in the short term, the long term consequences could be disastrous.

When you have done your analysis, you will have a list of companies that offer quality insurance at an affordable price. With a little effort and research, you can properly cover yourself within your budget requirements.

by Scott Patterson

Car Insurance Issues for Travelers

There are several insurance coverage issues when you drive a vehicle that you do not own especially when traveling. Here are some examples:

1. Even if you decide that your predominate means of transportation for traveling will be by either airplane, train, or bus, when you finally reach your destination you will probably want to rent a car.

2. You may know somebody who will let you drive their car temporarily while you are visiting.

3. You may want to drive to your vacation destination. You have a perfectly good drivable insured vehicle, but you may still decide to rent a car before you leave home so you do not put any additional wear and tear on your own vehicle.

4. You may be an employee who is the custodian of a vehicle you use everyday that is either owned or leased by your employer and you want to drive that car on your vacation.

5. You may be required to drive that company owned car on a business related trip within the scope of your employment.

6. Your employer will pay for you to drive a rental car while you are within the scope of your employment on a business related trip.

I cannot tell you in any case whether or not you have insurance coverage without reading your individual insurance policy with all of the conditions and exclusions to determine which insurance coverage is primary, what is supplemental or excess, and where there is no coverage at all. For example, if you are an employee on a business trip driving your employer's vehicle or a rental vehicle within the scope of your employment, worker's compensation may come into the equation also. However, I will point out some important things that you should be aware of that many people overlook and let you know what you need to ask so you can find out the correct answers from the appropriate people and also make sure that you have all of the proper documentation so there is no misunderstanding or confusion.

The best, easiest, fastest and most reliable way to determine what type of coverage you have on a non-owned or rental vehicle is to call and ask your insurance company (or agent) or ask your employer if you are driving a company vehicle. Also, call and ask your credit card company if you plan to use it to rent a vehicle. Find out if they offer some type of insurance coverage when you use their credit card to rent a vehicle and if so, specifically what type of coverage and what the limits are.

FIRST, for employees driving your employer's vehicles, not all company vehicles are insured by an insurance company with an insurance policy.

Some company vehicles are Self-Insured. Employees driving company vehicles need to know because different rules apply. Your employer should let you know this on the day they give you the keys, but if they don't you need to find out. Also, you need to know if your company insures anybody other than the employee to drive your company car and are you allowed to drive the company car outside of your state or outside of the country.

I was an Insurance Claims Adjuster for 17 years in Los Angeles. All of us adjusters as well as the appraisers and managers drove company cars. The company made it crystal clear to all of us that the only people who had permission to drive the company owned cars were the employees and their spouses. We were allowed to drive the cars for business and personal reasons including going on a vacation and we had permission to drive the cars out of the state of California if we wanted to. Employees did not have permission to allow their licensed teenage sons or daughters, nor their friends, neighbors, parents, siblings, cousins, other relatives or anybody else to drive the company vehicle.

In summary, as adjusters we had 4 basic responsibilities:

1st was to confirm or deny coverage.

2nd was to investigate the claim and determine liability, and how much liability was attributed to the claimant(s) and how much to the insured.

3rd was to determine the amount of damages including bodily injuries and property damage and

4th was to either deny the claim and prepare for litigation or attempt to negotiate and settle.

If there is no insurance coverage, then the rest is irrelevant.

The driver of a vehicle must have permission from the vehicle owner to drive a vehicle. The simplest way to illustrate this is eventhough you may have full insurance coverage on a car you own, if somebody steals your car, then the car thief gets into an accident while driving your car, (obviously without your permission) and causes bodily injuries, death and / or property damage to a claimant(s), there is no coverage for the car thief on your insurance policy.

SECOND, for people planning to rent a car, make sure that you give the names and licenses of all the people who will be driving the rental vehicle to the Rental Car Company. You are also normally suppose to let them know if you are planning to drive the rental car out of the state or out of the country. Do not assume that when you drive either your own vehicle or a rental vehicle out of the country that the insurance will automatically transfer. You may not have any insurance coverage once you drive across the boarder into another country. This is something you need to find out from your insurance company.

There may have been people tell you that your personal car insurance will automatically transfer to a rental vehicle. This is not always true. If you look on your insurance policy you may see the terms "Non-Owned Vehicle" and "Temporary Substitute Vehicle". Some insurance policies make a clear distinction between the two. Others make you read the fine print to try to understand the difference.

Remember to always ask your insurance company if there is anything that is not clear and you do not understand. Insurance policies of different carriers are written differently. But in general, usually what it means is when your vehicle is not drivable or is not safe to drive, out of service, broken down, in a repair or body shop, in for servicing or maintenance and you rent a vehicle as a temporary substitute to replace your own insured vehicle for a limited time, that is normally when coverage will transfer from your vehicle to the rental. You still have to ask if your insurance requires you to rent the vehicle from a Public Automobile Rental Agency or if you will be covered and can be reimbursed for renting a vehicle from a friend. Depending on how your policy is written, it may transfer the full policy limits or coverage may be reduced down to the state's minimum liability requirements. Something else very important to find out is if only liability coverage transfers or if collision and comprehensive damage also transfers.

So on the other hand, that means coverage may not transfer if you rent a vehicle while you are on vacation and there is nothing wrong with your own insured vehicle which is in perfectly good drivable condition just sitting in your driveway at home, or your spouse and kids are driving it at home while you are driving a rental car either on a personal or business trip. Do you really think your insurance company will be covering two vehicles for the price of one? Ask them and find out.

If your own insured vehicle is in good safe drivable condition and you are planning to rent a car while you are traveling, call and ask your major credit card company first because you have a better chance of getting good news from them about rental car insurance coverage while you are on vacation or traveling on a business trip. If you use your credit card to pay for your rental car, there are some major credit card companies that will provide some type of insurance coverage when you rent a car. In any case, always call your own insurance company and ask them what type of coverage, if any do they provide when you rent a car and under what circumstances and conditions it is transferred so there is no misunderstanding.

THIRD, if you are visiting friends or relatives while traveling and they give you permission to drive their vehicle, what you still need to find out is whether the same coverage limits transfer to a driver other than the named insured or does the coverage get reduced down to the state's minimum liability coverage requirements if for example, a friend of the insured is the driver.

Do not be intimidated by the long list of exclusions under the Medical Payments Coverage. Commonly known as Med Pay, it applies to injuries sustained by the occupants of an insured vehicle which includes the insured driver and all passengers regardless of liability. It only pays for "Special Damages" like medical and dental bills but it does not pay for "General Damages" like pain and suffering. You may be covered for Med Pay even if you are a driver or a passenger in a qualified non-owned vehicle.

So this is definitely something you need to find out from both your own insurance company and the insurance company of the vehicle you are in. Maybe one could be primary while the other is supplemental or excess. Just be aware that there are rules limiting and rules against duplication of coverage. Med Pay could be worth several thousands of dollars toward your medical expenses.

Now do you want to know the inside scoop behind the secret walls of an insurance claims office? No matter how much you may think that you do not have coverage for something, always ask. Especially in unique unusual circumstances I have personally witnessed fierce arguments between adjusters, supervisors and managers over whether or not to confirm or to deny coverage. Think about it, if you put a defense attorney and a claimant attorney in the same room with the same case or 2 different United States Supreme Court Judges in the same room with the same case, you could get 2 totally different opinions. That is why you should always ask and take action before the statute of limitations runs because you might financially benefit from somebody's mistake.

by Stephanie Gibbs

Types of Long Term Care Insurance

Regardless of what some people might think, medical insurance will not cover the expenses and services that long term care insurance covers.

There are three types of long term care insurance. The first plan is the skilled nursing care. It has to be ordered by a physician and the patient must be able to fully recover form his or her illness or injuries. It involves a treatment plan, skilled therapy with a licensed therapist and nursing care.

Intermediate nursing care is another type of long term care insurance. Likes skilled nursing care it must be ordered by a physician and the patient must be able to recover from their illness or injury. Unlike skilled nursing care, Intermediate nursing care is not provided on a daily basis. It depends on what treatment and therapy plan tht the doctor has ordered. It is basically a prescribed as needed to get well plan.

The custodial nursing care plan is the full coverage plan of long term care insurance. Custodial care includes daily nursing care and nursing assistance walking, eating, bathing and other hygiene
matters, and also includes colostomy and catheter use, as well.

Custodial care can be an in home care plan, an assisted living care plan or a nursing home plan. It can range from a few hours per week to 24 hours per day. The intention is that the patient will not be able to recover from their injuries or illnesses.

Studies how that 40% of the people who receive any type of long term care services are under the age of 65. Studies also show that there is a 50% chance that a person will need some type of long term care service after the age 65.

Long term care insurance is right for many people, but if you are in the position that you can pay for your care with assets then long term care insurance might not be the best idea.

by Tim Gorman