How Much Does Auto Insurance Really Cost ?
Reader’s Question:
I am shopping for a used car in Tulsa Oklahoma, and have learned from a co-worker that it is more costly to insure a red car than other colors, is this correct?
Melanie
Tulsa, OK
No Melanie, the color of the car is not generally one of the factors that are being considered by a car insurance company in Tulsa, OK to use as a rating factor. The type of car, such as sports, sedan, minivan, etc is taken into account though and can influence or affect your insurance rates. It is a common misconception that certain colored vehicles, such as red and silver, costs more to insure but that is not so.
The myth is out there that a silver or red car costs more to insure but in all actuality car insurance companies do not consider the color, but they do look at the type of car. If it is a red sports vehicle it will likely cost more than a green family vehicle to insure but because of the powerful engine and accidents statistics relating to sports cars compare to a 4-door family sedan, and not the color.
Some other factors that insurers consider includes your age, the kind of vehicle you drive, your claims history, in some states your credit history and your driving record.
Cheap Car Insurance Liability Coverage Only
Reader question:
Okay, I got into a car accident, and I didn’t outright cause it, but if it weren’t for certain physical limitations of mine, it wouldn’t have been as bad as it was. Will I still be able to make a car insurance claim for my injuries?
Lucy
That’s a great question, Lucy.
On every subject, there is a situation that is not as clear as others. While it is easy to say who is at fault when someone rear ends another car, it is a bit more difficult to say if someone had some sort of fault if their eyesight was not in good enough shape to be able to drive in the safest way possible on the road. If you have some type of physical limitation that makes you wonder if some of the negligence in an accident may be put on you, then this might make you think as little bit.
There are many physical limitations that have an effect on driving, and one of the main ones is eyesight. This is one reason why car insurance companies often only give discounts for senior physical car insurance liability premiums if those seniors get regular exams to make sure that they are in the best shape to be driving. There comes a point when simple corrective lenses do not work. However, most people are able to wear glasses and contacts to solve this problem. Then there are other situations–perhaps someone has a leg that shakes a little bit, which caused them to put their foot on the gas and make a accident caused by someone else worse.
There is an expectation from the car insurance company that a driver who has certain limitations will take certain measures that may be necessary to lessen or get rid of the impact that their problem might have on their driving. For this reason, there might not be an excuse if someone with very bad vision goes driving without their glasses. However, there are some conditions which may slightly worsen an accident, although not causing it, which are normally not dangerous and can not be expected to be taken care of in any other way; or if someone has already accounted for their physical limitations and is driving safely.
The truth is that the final responsibility falls on the person who caused the accident. It is their responsibility to make sure that it is safe for anyone who may be driving on the road or their property, regardless of their physical limitations. If someone plows into the side of your car, then it is not your fault that you were put into that situation, because that was due to their own negligence. Therefore, in most cases, you are not at all at fault.
However, there are some instances in which the situation may become a little more murky, such as if your problem should have been taken care of before you went driving or if it contributed more significantly to the damages. In these cases, it would be wise to hire a car insurance liability claim attorney, who can help you navigate the claims system and get the negligence quotient that you deserve.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Best High Performance Car Insurance Rate
How do you save money on your high performance car insurance? By proving to your high performance car insurance company that you know what you are doing when it comes to safety. This isn’t hard to do, and it involves more than just driving within the speed limit. But having a safe car discount can often take ten to fifteen percent off of your expensive high performance car insurance premium, so there is no excuse for avoiding taking advantage of this great premium reducing chance.
It’s no secret that high performance cars are more likely to get stolen than other cars, so these types of cars require extra safet measures than others. Not only will they help you get lower car insurance comprehensive rates over all, but most car insursance companies will give you a discount if you have more safety features on your car. So what kind of safety features do you need to get low high performance car insurance comprehensive coverage rates? An alarm. There are several types of alarms, though.
- Active vs. Passive
Alarms can be divided into two main groups, being active or pasive. A passive alarm is one that has to be activated by the driver every time they leave their car. This type of alarm is more dangerous, because it is very easy to forget to activate it, especially when you have just gotten it. The other type of alarm is an active alarm. This kind of alarm is constantly active, regardless of any involvement from the driver. The type of alarm that the car insurance companies will give you a discount for is the active alarm, because they do not trust you to be able to remember to turn the passive alarm on all the time, so your car would not be considered to be constantly protected with that type.
- Whistles, mechanical, and disablers.
Beyond that, there are three more subgroups of car alarms, and the first one is the most common that comes on most cars. It’s the alarm that just makes your lights flash and makes noise. Then there are the mechanical ones, which make it to where the thief would not be able to drive by doing things such as freezing the wheel up. Finally, there are the disabling ones. This will make it to where the thief cannot even start the car by disabling the ignition. Of all of these, the one that your high performance car insurance company will give you a discount for is the third.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Woman Car Insurance – Do Females Really Get Lower Rates?
Reader question:
Why is a woman car insurance coverage much cheaper than that of a man?
Allen
It is only for a certain period of time, Allen.
There is a period in a young person’s life when driving is new and risk is high, among both genders. I can tell you from experience driving with male and female friends who are young and only have had their driver’s license for a few years, that none of them are bastions of driving talent. I can also say that between me and my husband, we’re both insurance and probably should be forced to travel on bicycles for the safety of humanity. Okay, don’t get scared; I’m kidding. However we, as well as many others, are in that age group under twenty five where car insurance companies decide that you need to be charged so much more because of the high risk factor. Funny thing is, his half of the premium is more than mine.
The reason that men end up paying more than the woman car insurance premium, typically, is because not only do they fall into the young high risk car insurance policy holders group, but the group of young males is high risk as well. This is called big numbers rating, which means that the insurance company is determining how much you pay based on the rate that people in your demographic make car insurance claims. While most car insurance companies glean this information from their own data and are won’t to have different results when it comes to things such as more expensive vehicles and areas, the under twenty five male is pretty much a global pariah of the insurance biz. That doesn’t mean you won’t be able to find good car insurance coverage like a woman car insurance buyer would. It just means that it will cost about two hundred percent more than it would if you were female.
You might be wondering why you are getting punished for a claim you never made. Yes, it is true that even if you have a record for driving and motor vehicle insurance claims that is squeaky clean, you will still end up pying more into the system based on the group that you are a part of, even if that squeaky clean record does take some of the edge off of it. The reason for this is that the car insurance companies aren’t the police. They can’t charge you after you’re guilty because if they did then they would go out of business instantly. The amount that you would receive in the event of a bad accident and a claim is often a lot more than the amount that you pay into the system with your car insurance premium. The car insurance company that you are with needs to cover that difference.
So what you end up getting is a system in which people are separated into different groups, and all are throwing their money into a big pool. The pool needs to equal the same amount of money, but not everybody can give as much as everybody else because you can’t penalize someone who only drives five hundred miles a year for the claims of someone who has three DUI charges. So, the people who have fewer risk factors end up throwing less into the pool than those who have more risk factors, and anybody can retrieve money from the pool, so long as their car insurance claim is approved. That’s how the system works.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
High Risk Car Insurance Companies – Which Ones Are Best?
Reader question:
Where do I find a high risk motor car insurance company? And what do I do if I can’t?
Miriam
That’s an excellent question, Miriam.
The first thing that I would do in your situation is try to get in tough with your state department of insurance. The first thing you might want to do is ask how popular the assigned risk pool for your state is. The answer for that right there might give you an idea of what your chances are of finding a high risk motor car insurance company that will accept you. If the assigned risk program has a lot of people in it, then it might be tough for you to get a policy without it. However, if the pickings are pretty slim among the assigned risk policy holders, then you probably have a fighting chance. Knowing that, it’s time to move to a different part of the department of insurance’s website.
Some of the DoI’s websites are more helpful than others. Oregon has an excellent one, whereas the one where I am from (Texas) is ridiculous. What most do have, though, is a list of insurance companies that are licensed by the state. If the website for your state does not have one of these, then you should call up the department and find out where you can get one. Never get a policy or so much as a sandwich from a car insurance company not on this list.
Some of the names on the list might clue you in that they could be of some service, such as those that indicate that they serve high risk customers. Keep track of these so that you can get quotes from them later. I would also suggest that you give a glance at the Progressive website, or even just get some instant car insurance quotes from a more general site and compare your Progressive quote to other quotes. Progressive is one of the big time motor car insurance companies that is well known for taking care of high risk drivers. If they operate in your state, definitely check them out.
Now, if all else fails, you just go back to step one. The assigned risk pool. This alternative is a little costly, especially with the high car insurance prices in many areas, but considering that car insurance is require by law, many people don’t have much of an option. I do want to stress that before you consider this, check out all of your options. Look online, get rate quotes from plenty of websites, ask friends. Assigned risk pools are the last resort, and expensive, so you don’t want to join one unless you absolutely have to.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
How Do I Prove To My Car Insurance Company I am Not At Fault For The Accident
Reader question:
How do I get car insurance accident proof that it was the other person’s fault, and not my own?
Jackie
Thanks for asking, Jackie.
What many people do not realize is that there is no set algorithm for determining who is at fault when it comes to car insurance accident claims. It is mostly based on common sense, and the decision goes to whoever’s argument and evidence shows that they are correct and not culpable for the accident. You don’t need mathematical logic to win a controversial car insurance claim. The only thing that you are required to know are the laws of driving, and how that affected your car accident and how the other driver ignored these same laws. Many car insurance claims, even those in which both of the drivers are shirking responsibility and blaming the other, can be won with a simple argument pointing out the obvious. It isn’t that hard to know what to say, but some people might need help knowing how to say it, which is where you would hire a car insurance accident claims lawyer.
The biggest factor in a person winning a disputed negligence case for a car insurance accident claim is that, even if the insurance company does not believe that they are right, it may think that it is possible that someone else will think they are, and so they rush to end the whole situation and get the claim taken care of. Car insurance companies mostly exist to help their own customers, and while come are extremely helpful with car insurance claims when the claim maker is not a customer of that company, I’d say that most try to obstruct and give you the lowest balled figures, which your own car insurance company probably does too, but to a lesser extent. When a reasonable argument is made for who was negligent in a certain car insurance claim case, and the insurance company realizes that their own position will probably not hold up in court if a lawsuit is filed, they will probably go ahead and approve the claim. So you don’t need hard cold facts. You just have to be convincing.
I find that the best way to send proof for your case is through letters to the adjuster instead of over the phone, or through emails, if the car insurance company allows that particular means of communication when dealing with claims. This might be because I like to communicate more in writing than over the phone, but it could hold true for many other people too, I think. The reason for this is that you can get all of your ideas down on paper without being interrupted, you can attach any information that the adjuster wouldn’t otherwise be able to see over the phone, and, most important of all, you can edit. The editing is a big one, considering that saying something stupid over the phone when you’re having to act partially on impulse could get you into a lot of trouble with your claim. At least when you write a letter of evidence to your adjuster, you would never get caught saying something like,
“While I was backing up at the stop light, he hit me in the rear!”
While I would suggest admitting negligence in a case where you caused someone to hit you from behind, I hope you can see the point I’m trying to get across. If you feel, though, that you can’t succeed either in the form of the letter or over the phone in proving the negligence of the other driver, then you should hire a car accident lawyer. An attorney would be able to navigate the system and also knows what claims adjusters want in order to prove cases.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Can I Get a Car Insurance Discount For Being a Safe Driver?
Reader question:
I have a very good driving record, but my car insurance rates could still stand to go down a little bit. Is there something that I could do to make this happen?
Joel
Glad you asked, Joel.
I’m going to concentrate on the fact that you mentioned that you have a good driving record, which automatically will give you points with any car insurance company. Being safe is the car insurance company’s favorite quality in a customer, and it goes far beyond just staying under the speed limit. The more you do to keep yourself safe while on and off the road, the cheaper your car insurance rates will be. Whether this shows through in actual car insurance discount safety rates or in lower rates due to no claim history, you’re doing good either way.
Here are some tips.
- Anti lock disc brakes come with most new cars, although some are still behind on this issue. These are among the favorite safety features of the car insurance companies, because they prevent many accidents by making it easier to brake in dangerous conditions. Anti lock disc brakes can get you better car insurance rates.
- Anti theft devices are good for your comprehensive car insurance coverage rates. Most companies require that you get an active immobilizer, so that your car cannot be started if it is broken into.
- Another of th favorite safety features for collision rates is the air bag. There are a thousand different types of air bags and the more, the better.
- Daytime running lights are a relatively new entry to the situation, and they make it easier for cars to see each other during the day and while it is raining. These are low beam lights that stay on all the time, and have their own special discounts with many companies.
- Buckle up, like all of the signs say. That sounds too simple, but it really can help keep your car insurance rates down.
Most of all, though, keep doing what you’re doing. The best way to stay in a preferred class of customers is to keep a constant good driving record so that eventually, if you do mess up, you might not even have to suffer the consequences due to your history.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Who Has The Cheapest Georgia Car Insurance Rates?
Since 1990, Georgia car insurance has been among the cheapest of in the entire country, and the residents of that state have enjoyed their relatively low premiums, especially after the rapid rate doubling of the eighties. In 1989, they had finally gotten fed up with the rising rates and had called for reform. The insurance commissioner of the time got replaced with a different one, who was given the power to decide when car insurance companies could or could not raise their rates. And then the rates just dropped.
Now, some folks in Georgia are wondering if those good times have come to an end. A part time insurance agent, part time state representative has proposed another reform to the state’s insurance law which will actually reform it back to where it was before, with the commissioner not having the power to approve car insurance rate raises before the companies get to make them. The companies will be able to raise rates on their own.
The representative and his supporters say that this proposal will do well for Georgia’s economy. They say it will make car insurance companies more competitive, and will probably end up pushing the rates even lower. And, they say, if all else fails, the commissioner may not be able to approve rate increases, but he can still veto them after the fact.
However, opponents say that the rates would not go down if this proposal went forward. Everyone with a car has to have car insurance in Georgia, so these companies would be able to charge whatever they felt like because the customers don’t really have a choice. They say that the companies are only looking for a reason to get to raise the prices, and the way things are going now are just fine.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Can I Get a Car Insurance Discount For Buying a New Car?
Reader question:
Can you get new car insurance discounts for certain types of cars?
Jasmine
Sure you can.
If you have a brand new car that is getting a title for the very first time since it is fresh out of the factory, then there are a lot of car insurance companies who will provide you with a car insurance discount in this instance. That’s good news for anybody getting new cars, because the expenses are already huge. Newer cars have higher rates for car insurance premiums, and so this makes it easier to handle the higher threshold of coverage for a new vehicle.
Here are some types of cars that receive discounts for their class of cars.
- Cars that are economic. You can get a new car insurance discount for an economic car, especially on your collision coverage rate, because the parts are easier and cheaper to come by and the labor is cheaper for these kinds of cars. Another great thing about them is that they are often less expensive for you to maintain, so you win on all sides.
- Discount for utility vehicles. Several different car insurance companies offer car insurance discounts for certain types of pickup trucks. Call your car insurance company and ask if they do this, and for what kinds.
- Safety ratings. Cars go through safety crash tests that determine how they will hold up in the case of several different types of accidents, both concerning the car itself and the people inside of it. Cars who perform better get better safety ratings as well as better car insurance rates.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
New Student Car Insurance Discounts
Filed under: Auto insurance help, Student Car Insurance
Reader question:
When I turned 16 and got my first car, I also got added to the car insurance policy that my parent’s had. Now I’m leaving state to go to school elsewhere, so I’ll be getting my own new student car insurance. I know it will be more expensive, but how do I make it cheaper?
Sharon
It’s easy, Sharon.
First I want to remind you of the option to just not get a new student car insurance policy at all. If you are going to school in a different state, most car insurance companies will give a huge discount or not charge for you at all while your name is still on the policy, so if you leave your car at home you could end up paying nothing for car insurance and still be covered when you use it during visits home. This may not sound reasonable, but consider that if you are moving to a college town, not only will you live on campus but you will probably be able to get places where you need to go by taking public transportation.
If that isn’t what you want to do, or if your college town doesn’t have a good bus system, then here are some ways to get it done.
- Raise your deductible. This is the most basic cheap car insurance rates advice. The higher your deductible, the lower your premium. Just make sure that you can afford the higher deductible.
- Lower your standards. Pick a car that has some grey hairs and wrinkles, but is still safe. Older cars are cheaper to insure, and you also won’t need as much insurance. In the same vein, consider not getting that great stereo and those rims.
- Is your car worth less than your premium? Then you should only get the minimum state required car insurance coverage.
- Take a class in defensive driving.
- Maintain your credit report. It’s time that you are starting out in life and getting your credit going, so be careful now or you’ll have problems in the future.
- Look around for your car insurance company. Get instant online rate quotes and compare, compare, compare.
- Join an organization that helps you get discounted car insurance rates.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
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