Auto insurance company information
Reader question:
Is my car insurance company allowed to require information about those who live with me?
Emmanuel
They sure can, Emmanuel.
The auto insurance company is getting more and more personal all the time. They might try to find out things about you that you would think was none of their business and had nothing to do with your auto insurance policy and your driving skills. Such things can include your credit report, your age, your marital status, and so on. These things, even if they seem to have little or nothing to do with how you drive your car, are expected information from an auto insurance company and often serve as huge factors to what your rates will be.
As your auto insurance company, they have every right to find out who in your house has a driver’s license. The reason for this is that the people who live with you are automatically covered under your car insurance policy without even being named, as members of your household. As a matter of fact, this isn’t even much of a choice with them, considering that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration mandates that they ask this question. You can choose not to tell them, but if they find out you’ll most likely be sent packing, and if a member of your household gets into an accident and you try to file a claim, you’ll have to expect some hefty lawyer fees. It is always possible to keep silent on these sorts of things, but the consequences of misrepresentation are often much worse than the possible rate increases that come with the list of who might and might not be operating your vehicle.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Motor vehicle insurance coverage sans license
Reader question:
If you don’t have a driver’s license, can you buy a car and get it covered by motor vehicle insurance?
Gregory
You definitely can.
It’s a lot harder to find a company that will do this for you, so you will have to do considerably more in the area of shopping around. A good place to start out is where you are right now, online. Get out a good search engine and look around for car insurance companies without a driver’s license. Try getting a free auto insurance quote, and then looking into the companies that give you the best quotes. There are many that will even allow you to buy your motor vehicle insurance policy online, and often offer better discounts if you do this as an incentive.
However, there is one thing that you can’t do while you don’t have a driver’s license, and that is actually drive the car. The insurance would be pretty much useless to you unless the claim filed was for comprehensive coverage. The reason or this is that any other kind of claim would mean that you were driving it, and your car insurance coverage doesn’t cover you driving illegally like that.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
No fault car insurance laws
Reader question:
Which U.S. states have no fault car insurance laws?
Abigail
That’s a really good question, Abigail.
No fault car insurance laws have done a lot to lower car insurance rates in several parts of the country, although they have also had the more negative effect of bringing up the rate of car insurance fraud, especially in states like New York. They are notable in that they keep the injuries in the family, in a way, by required personal injury protection. In a no fault car insurance state, you are covered by your own car insurance company instead of the other driver’s car insurance company, even if the other driver is the one who actually caused the accident.
Of the fifty states in the U.S., twelve of them have no fault car insurance laws, as does Puerto Rico. New Hampshire has no insurance laws, and the remaining thirty seven have differing limits and laws. In these no fault states, one of the things that keeps the price down is the limit on being able to sue the at fault driver. These are controlled by either dollar limits, for when the damage goes over a certain amount, or a verbal limit, for when the damage is that of a predetermined nature. States who go by a verbal limit include New York, Pensylvania, Florida, New Jersey, and Michigan. Then there are Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Dakota and Utah; these states operate on the dollar limit. Of these states, three of them (New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky) give policy holders the option to reject the right to sue entirely for even lower rates. Colorado used to be among the no fault states, but has since changed back to regular at fault laws.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
PIP car insurance coverage
Reader question:
How does health insurance relate to PIP car insurance coverage in an at fault state?
Melanie
Great question, Melanie.
PIP car insurance coverage, or personal injury protection, is the kind of coverage with your insurance policy that takes care of the injuries of the at fault driver. For the driver who is not at fault, this is usually taken care of by the liability of the at fault driver or, failing that, their own under insured/uninsured motorist coverage.
Whenever you get into a car accident and are injured in the process, and you seek medical care, there will be no question about the time of your car insurance coverage. Even if you do possess PIP car insurance coverage, the health care providers have nothing to do this. They take care of your wounds and then send the check to the place that the check should in most cases go: your health insurance provider. Now, if you don’t have a health insurance plan, then they do the next best thing and send the check to you yourself. Note that this doesn’t mean that you have to pay it yourself.
Once your health insurance company gets the bill, they will send you some questions to fill out. It will request information on things such as the location and circumstances of the collision, the name of the police officer who filed the accident report, and, most importantly, whether your car insurance company provides you with personal injury protection coverage.
If you check yes for the last question, then the health insurance company gets a Notice of Subrogation and sends it off to your car insurance company. If you don’t have that insurance, and you aren’t the at fault driver, then they will send the notice to the other driver’s car insurance company. Also, if you have a lawyer, then your lawyer will get a notice as well.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Vehicle insurance coverage for delivery
Reader question:
I’m going to be delivering cars to people for a living. What kind of vehicle insurance coverage do I need for this?
Brody
Excellent question, Brody.
As I’ve mentioned previously, the car insurance policy is on the vehicle, not the driver. This means that if the car that you are delivering has its own auto insurance policy, then you are covered, considering you would be a driver who has permission to drive that car. However, considering that you are doing this as your job, I would not want to take that chance for granted. It is possible that if you got into a car accident while you were delivering one of these cars, then the company or person who owned the vehicle would try to pin the damages on you. That’s why it might be a good idea to get your own vehicle insurance coverage for the delivery.
In this case, you would want to get a commercial liability insurance coverage. Most companies offer this, although some specialize. If you are getting this sort of insurance coverage, consider adding comprehensive and collision for extra protection.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Carpooling car insurance discount
Some people prefer to spend their commute either in the silence of their own vehicle or immersed in the music from their radio, which covers up their cracking singing voice. However, one thing these people are missing is the possibility of a car insurance discount that could save them a bit of money if they were only willing to sacrifice a bit of alone time. In line with car insurance companies desire for their policy holders to drive less and more safely, the use of other means of travel than your own car covered by your policy could not only get you a unique discount, but could get you some collateral discount as well.
Quite a few car insurance companies on the market are now offering a special discount for people who choose to use public transportation or car pool on their way to work instead of driving their car. The reason for this not only stems from the fact that the more you drive, the more chance you have to get into a car accident, but also from the road conditions and traffic stress that usually come with driving to work and can increase chances of getting into a collision, even among good drivers. Another great thing about this car insurance discount is that if you follow it faithfully, you might qualify for a low mileage discount as well, which most companies will give you if you travel less than five thousand miles a year in your car.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Driver car insurance application
Reader question:
If you have driver car insurance, but you drive someone else’s vehicle, and they also have insurance, then if you have to make a claim, who do you make it with, your car insurance company or theirs?
Ray
Good question, Ray.
This is a question that comes up a lot because the law in this case can confuse a lot of people. It’s actually pretty clear, but it’s not something that can’t be guessed at. If you look at how your car insurance rates fluctuate, most of the factors that go into the higher prices that you pay have to do with things such as the driver on the policy rather than the car being driven. While it’s true that a sports car will send driver car insurance rates shooting up, it is a lot worse when you add a teenager, for example. This makes it seem like the insurance would follow the person rather than the vehicle covered under the driver car insurance policy. This, however, is not the case.
In most situations, the car insurance policy sticks to the car that is listed on the policy and covers anybody who would drive that same car with permission. There are some states where this rule does not apply, but they are few and far between. Driving someone else’s insured car does not make your own car insurance policy void, though. For example, if they don’t have personal injury protection, but you do, then you will still be covered under that type of coverage from your driver car insurance policy. Also, if they don’t have enough coverage to cover everything necessary, then once their car insurance limits run out, your own kick in.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Glass car insurance coverage
Reader question:
I have glass car insurance coverage, and I want to know if my cloudy front windshield can be recovered by my car insurance policy?
Amy
Most of the time, I would say no.
From what you are saying, it sounds like the cloudiness of your windshield would fall under the category of wear and tear. While this might be covered by the warranty that goes with your car, in most cases it will not work with your car insurance coverage. The usual way that you would be able to get your windshield replaced by your car insurance policy would be if the damage was caused by someone else, or by vandalism, but this wouldn’t apply to simple cloudiness because that isn’t something that someone else could cause. Maybe if someone had thrown a rock at it, but not this.
One thing that might help you in this situation is if you have mechanical breakdown coverage. Not every company offers this, and even those that do might not extend their car insurance coverage to something like wear and tear, but if you can get it covered under any aspect of your car insurance policy, then this is the one. Once you have determined that you can get it covered, you want to look around for a shop to replace it. This shouldn’t be hard, especially considering that you cannot throw a rock without hitting some guy in a folding chair advertising to replace windshields. At least where I live. Get a few estimates and talk to the replacers about getting a cheaper deductible or waiving it entirely. You can probably find someone who will do this, so if they say no, then keep looking.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Non owners car insurance policy
Reader question:
What is a non owners car insurance policy and where can I get one?
Mary
Excellent question, Mary.
Non owners auto insurance is an insurance policy which applies to someone who either does not own a car, or who does not use their car in a state where it is possible to go without insuring an out of use car while obeying the car insurance laws. The non owners insurance policy is a lot more restrictive than your typical insurance policy, so it requires much more care on behalf of the policy holder. The reason for this is because with a non owners auto insurance policy, you are only covered for liability, and you don’t have the option of getting additional coverage such as comprehensive or collision. The only way that you can get more than just liability coverage for this type of car insurance policy is if your state requires additional coverage like uninsured motorist coverage or personal injury protection. However, the available coverage is limited to the state minimum insurance requirements.
You can get non owners car insurance coverage at almost any car insurance companies. The best way to find out your rates for this is to get an instant online car insurance quote from one of the many websites that offer this service.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Teen car insurance policy
Reader question:
If I get a teen car insurance policy, can I get it in my mom’s name?
Grace
Usually you can, Grace.
I know what you’re probably thinking. How do I get a teen car insurance policy without having to pay out most of my paycheck to it? This is a dilemma that many young people run into when it comes to car insurance, considering that at the time of their life when they have to pay the most for it, they are most likely to also be earning much less money then they would later when it’s cheaper. It hurts, but it’s a fact of life. Now, the only way that you can get on your mom’s car insurance policy are if either you live in the same house as her, or if you are named on the insurance policy.
If you live with your mother, than you are covered as a member of her household. Most car insurance companies, probably all, will cover anyone who is part of the policy holders household even if they do not have their name listed on the car insurance policy. The only person that usually can’t get it this way is the spouse, and the only way you can override having to list a spouse is if you have the proof of some sort of legal divorce or separation document.
If you don’t live with your mother, then you are not considered part of her household, so you have to be a named driver on the car insurance policy in order for you to be covered. It is possible to drive your mother’s car without being named, but only if you’re borrowing it, not if it is your main form of transportation. Leaving your name off of the policy while you live away from home and use one of the policy holder’s vehicles as your primary transportation would be considered misrepresentation.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
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