SR 22 questions
Filed under: Free insurance quotes, Insurance comparisons
Reader question:
What’s SR 22 car insurance?
Andrew
Good question.
An SR 22 is something that your car insurance company has to fill out and file with the department of motor vehicles for your state to provide proof that your vehicle is insured. Normally, there are reasons why you have to have SR 22 insurance. You might need it if:
- You have a ticket for driving without insurance.
- You have a drunk driving offense.
- You have a speeding ticket.
For the most part, if you have to get SR 22 car insurance then you will have to have it for a period of three years. Usually it is more expensive than other types of policies, and you may find it hard getting insured with this requirement. And after the three years, your rates do not automatically go down. It may take five years.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Out of state auto insurance coverage
Reader question:
I’m going to be living in Florida for a bit, but I’m actually from Michigan. Do I have to get Florida auto insurance coverage?
Alex
Depends.
Most auto insurance coverage extends all over the United States and Canada, and even occasionally into Mexico, so while you are temporarily living in another state you are normally covered and thus not required to buy car insurance in that state. In fact, most car insurance companies make all of this much simpler by making it to where your policy complies with the laws of whatever state you are traveling.
If you are going to be in Florida for more than six months, then it is usually a good idea to get car insurance coverage there, especially since in six months in when a car insurance policy normally goes out. If you are only going to be in Florida for a short time after your home state auto insurance policy goes out, then you might want to consider getting a temporary one month policy every month until you leave, although these cost more.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Cheap auto insurance shop
Filed under: Free insurance quotes, Insurance comparisons
Reader question:
My car insurance company has its own selection of repair shops. Does my car have to be repaired at one of those?
Larry
No.
In most of the states in the U.S., there is a law that allows you to decide where to take your car to be prepared. However, you cannot just choose any repair shop that you want, even though you do have a modicum of freedom. Your car insurance company has the ability to give the yea or nay on your choice, so you have to shop around for car repair shops and get estimates on prices.
This is usually a good idea anyway, because that means that not only can you get more out of your claim but you can be more involved with what is happening to your car, rather than just letting your car insurance company take care of everything.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Car Insurance Claim Check
Reader question:
When I finish with the claims process, who gets the check for my car insurance claim?
Miriam
Great question.
It actually depends on your situation, like most things do. If you were the at fault driver, and so your check is being paid through the collision coverage that you have with your own car insurance company, then the check will come in both your name and the name of the repair shop that is taking care of your car. However, if the other driver was at fault, and you are making a claim through their company, then the check will come to you and you can use it at your own discretion.
It also differs if you are still financing your car, in which case the check will be made out to your financer. You will then have to go through a lengthy process of getting your financer to inspect the car and endorse the check.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Car Insurance Newark
Filed under: Free insurance quotes, Insurance comparisons
Like in most other states, people driving cars in Newark, New Jersey need car insurance to cover their vehicles in the case of an accident. There are many levels of coverage that one can get, and different requirements for all, but the only kind of coverage that you have to have is the basic liability required by New Jersey state insurance law. There are three types of coverage that are required for the basic Newark car insurance liability plan. These are:
- Liability for Bodily Injury.
This is for when you get into a car accident in which you are at fault. In this case, your car insurance company has to pay for the claims of the driver. This coverage does not cover you. Instead, it covers the other driver. The minimum amount according to Neward car insurance policy is $10,000. This goes for both a claim someone makes or a lawsuit that they bring against you or the company.
- Liability for Property Damage.
Again, this is for accidents in which you are the at fault driver. What this does is cover, usually, the vehicle of the other driver, and if other types of property such as a house or a mailbox are involved, it covers those, too. However, the basic for this type of coverage is only $5,000, so if claims exceed that, you could see a lawsuit.
- PIP, or Personal Injury Protection.
This is where the basic coverage finally starts pertaining to you. It covers the injuries of you or anyone else who is with you or on your policy. The minimum for this type of coverage in Newark is $15,000 for every person, and $250,000 if the injury resulting from the accident ends up being permanent.
- Uninsured Motorist.
This covers you when you are in an accident where you are not at fault, and the other driver either does not have insurance or does not have enough to cover your injuries or damages. Your own company picks up the slack here.
While you are driving in Newark, you will be required to have proof of insurance on you. This comes in the form of your insurance card, a copy of which should be stored in your car. You’ll have to show this when you get your car inspected, if you get pulled over by a cop, or if you are involved in a car accident. If you don’t have it with you, you might get tickets and you might even lose your license for a short period. It will affect your ability to get cheap Newark car insurance.
In Newark, there are strict laws for car insurance fraud, so that it does not get out of control like in its neighbor state of New York. Fraud is when you lie to an insurance company while making a claim, usually. This could mean lying about what is being fixed, about who caused the accident, about what the damages or injuries were. They are convicted with either imprisonment or almost twenty thousand dollars in fines.
Having car insurance while you are in Newark is very important, and you should not think that you are free just because uninsured motorist coverage is a requirement. If you don’t have insurance, then you are susceptible to lawsuits which could ruin your financial situation for a decade or longer. Staying insured is much cheaper than the consequences.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Very cheap car insurance credit
Filed under: Free insurance quotes, Insurance comparisons
Reader question:
My best friend’s name is Jack, and we don’t have a lot of difference between us. We got married around the same time, had our first kids around the same time. We drive the same kind of car (I got it first) and neither of us have ever had any problems with our driving records. He lives around the block from me. So why is that I pay so much more on my car insurance premium, while he gets the cheapest car insurance?
Albert
I can make a guess.
Looked at with the naked eye, insurance premiums can seem like they are being chosen at random. As though the insurance companies are choosing you, specifically, to suffer for no other reason than that to you fell the burden. This comes to light especially when you compare people that you would say are like you in every way, at least in the eyes of the car insurance industry. However, a lot more is involved in the premium rate decision process these days. Used to, there were only a couple of factors that went into the decision to charge you a certain rate. These were:
- your age.
- your gender.
- your driving history.
However, nowadays, it is much more complicated. It’s not easy to determine, without looking at the car insurance company’s records, why Jack is paying less than you are.
However, I can give you one thing it might be. One of the newer factors that is still fairly controversial is your FICO credit score. These have a big impact on your car insurance rates, even if just from thinking about it it’s hard to figure out what your credit has to do with your ability to keep your car out of the ditch. The car insurance companies think it does have to do with it, though, and if you look at the facts, you’ll see that even if you are great in every other category, a bad credit score will get you a high insurance premium. And even if you are less than stellar in every category, a good insurance score can save you a lot of money. Just another reason to pay your bills, if having running water wasn’t enough incentive.
So what’s the difference?
If you have a good credit score, your car insurance premium will be rated at almost half the price of other peoples. So why do insurance companies even get to use this? Well, in their constant efforts to separate people into groups so that they can charge people more for being part of these groups, they discovered that people with worse credit scores tend to file more car insurance claims. This either means that people with higher scores are better drivers, or they are financially secure enough to not need to file as much. Either way, insurance companies see it as an excuse to raise prices for low credit score customers.
How is that legal?
The right of it is still up for debate. There are a lot of states where the use of credit scores to affect car insurance rates is going through the court system, but the jury is still out. In a few states, it may happen that it won’t be allowed to be used as a factor, or it won’t be allowed to have as much of an importance in the final premium rate decision. However, for the moment it’s an acceptable way of creating risk groups for your car insurance company, and so you should expect to be effected by it.
If you have a bad credit score, you don’t have to give up hope. Aside from trying to improve your credit, which you should be doing anyway, you can do other things to keep your car insurance rates down. Even someone with bad credit can get very cheap car insurance. These are the usual ways, such as finding out about discounts, raising your deductible, and shopping around before settling with an auto insurance company.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Car Insurance Fraud
Filed under: Free insurance quotes, Insurance comparisons
Reader question:
Is the reason that car insurance rates are so high because of car insurance fraud? Is there some way that I can protect myself from car insurance fraud?
Tony
Good question.
Nobody wants to waste their time thinking about car insurance fraud, but considering the billions of dollars of profit in New York alone that have come out of car insurance fraud, it is no longer something to be considered a waste of time. Car insurance fraud is rising, and it is indeed one of the reasons that you pay so much for your car insurance premium. The companies that deal your insurance take into account all of the claims they have paid out and how much in order to decide how much they should charge on premiums, and fraud skews the numbers normally based on legitimate claims. It’s something that you have to watch out for, especially because sometimes you can become considered as part of the crime even if you didn’t know anything about it, just because you weren’t watching your back.
Yes, there are people out there who will use you in order to get unneeded money out of a car insurance company. And the only way to keep yourself from becoming an unwitting victim is to know what they do and how to avoid them. Here are a few ways.
- Repair shops.
Whenever you get into a car accident and you need to have repairs done on your car, you take it to a repair shop. However, not all repair shops are the cleanest out there. In fact, it is often the case that a repair shop will fix the bill that they tell the insurance company the repairs will cost so that they get more out of the deal. They can do this by over charging, or even by fixing things that weren’t broken in the first place.
So how do you avoid it?
This one’s easy and all it needs is for you to stay up to date in your claims process. You should be fully aware of all of the repairs needed for your vehicle and keep involved in the talks between your company and the mechanics. Shopping around for the best rates on car repairs also can’t do any harm.
- Instigated collisions.
Believe it or not, some people actually get into car accidents on purpose, and they’re not even suicidal. A lot of the time, car insurance fraud will be committed in this manner when both cars are involved. However, sometimes only one driver is aware of the fraud. These are the trickier ones, because it isn’t easy to cause an accident and then make it look like the other person is at fault. These are also the scariest ones, as they put your own health and history at risk.
So how do you avoid it?
Defensive driving is your friend. Watching the behavior of the cars around you can always clue you in as to when one of them is acting dangerously. Always keep at least three second distance between you and the car in front of you, unless you have no choice.
- Fake claims.
This is another one that takes many forms. Some who have their hands in high places can get police reports filed for accidents that never happened. They can scheme with their attorney to make claims and file lawsuits based on damages to car and body that don’t exist. These aren’t impossible to get, and sometimes people can get as much as a million dollars in damages for something that never happened.
So how do you avoid it?
Unfortunately, you can’t do much with this one unless you’re in the car insurance business yourself. These kinds of claims make the rates go really high, because they require the most money to be awarded out.
If you really want to keep away from car insurance fraud, just do the responsible thing and be vigilant, and keep track of everything in the claims process. Always take pictures after an accident and document everything.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
RV insurance
Reader question:
I retired a couple of years before my husband did. Now that he’s retired, we want to take our RV around the country and see the sights that we never saw when we were younger and didn’t need glasses to see them! But can you use car insurance for an RV, or is there a special RV insurance? We want to be protected while we’re enjoying life.
Rebecca
Great question.
I’m not going to lead you wrong. You can get regular car insurance for your recreational vehicle, but it isn’t advisable. When you insure your RV with a typical car insurance policy, you will be covered for whatever that policy typically covers on a car. That will include, if you get comprehensive and collision as well as liability, the costs of damages and injuries to another driver if you crash, your own medical costs, cost of replacement or repairs in a crash, or theft, or storm. However, an RV is so much more than a car, and because of that it needs more protection.
Consider what an RV contains. A kitchen sink, a bedroom…These things aren’t going to be covered by your car insurance company if something goes wrong. This RV, for the period that you are traveling around the country, will be more like your portable house than your vehicle. It will probably contain plenty of valuable things that you cannot replace. While it is not recommended to take expensive things with you on a journey around the country in an RV, it is the case that even a set of dishes or a stereo system that will be loose in your RV cannot be replaced, and that can set you back.
That’s why you need to get recreational vehicle insurance. This is RV insurance, and it also covers things like trailers and snow mobiles, and more. So what does it offer that nothing else does?
- Home insurance like coverage.
Like your home insurance policy, an RV insurance policy will not just cover the vehicle itself, but also what’s inside it. So if you have your priceless DVD collection of your favorite actor’s films, you can rest assured that you will be compensated in the case of a disaster. A thing like a bed is not that easy to replace when you have just gone through an accident, and it’s especially hard to deal with things like this when you’re across the country.
- Traveling out of the U.S.A.
Normally when you travel to a different country, you have to get a new car insurance policy for your time there. However, most companies that off RV insurance extend their coverage to the neighboring countries of the U.S., so if you decide to hop over to the Canadian side of Niagra Falls or take a drive through Michoacan, you’ll be covered.
- Injuries.
Your health is more important than ever after you’re retired, and RV insurance protects that. It gives you more liability coverage than most car insurance policies so that you can cover the safety of all the people traveling with you.
- Total loss replacement.
Your RV will probably go through more wear and tear in much less time than will your car. You may use it less, but when you use an RV, it is driving more time on average than a regular vehicle and is subject to more extreme conditions. Luckily, RV insurance covers the replacement of an RV in the event of its loss.
It’s easy to get RV insurance rate quotes, and it only takes a few seconds online. It’s very important to have this if you ever intend to go a-wandering in your recreational vehicle. You might consider just adding it to your regular car insurance policy in order to save money, but this will only cost you more in the long run.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Zip code vehicle insurance rate
Filed under: Free insurance quotes, Insurance comparisons
California’s state department of insurance now has a new set of rules that makes it harder to base vehicle insuranc premium rates on what zip code the car is parked in. Right now in California, most of the factors that car insurance companies can use to determine the vehicle insurance rate are things that the drivers can change, such as the safety rating of their vehicle or their driving history. Zip code falls in with the widespread but a little more fishy factors that also include gender and whether or not the driver is married.
Zip codes currently have a big effect on a person’s auto insurance premium, and the new rules set by the state commissioner will change that. According to the new set of regulations, there will be three main factors when it comes to deciding what the price for vehicle insurance should be, and those factors are:
- mileage
- driving record
- experience
Companies can use factors besides just these three, but they will have to have a lot less of an importance on the final decision.The law was brought about by voter demand. Several different groups have been making trouble for the past twenty years over whether or not it’s okay to use zip codes as factors in vehicle insurance quotes, and the commissioner said that it would be a lot better for everyone to just put an end to all of it and clear up there by making things more understandable.
It took a couple years of looking over different methods of how to work the importance of the zip code out of the insurance factor process before they finally decided on which way would be the best. The decision ended up being that it was better to allow it to still be used to some extent, but as a secondary factor. Under California law, the secondary factors cannot have as much effect on the rate as can any of the primary factors. This was because people believe that zip codes were given an unfair weight and more important than options like car safety.
State Farm doesn’t see the good in it. According to that company, the use of the zip code actually did good for most of the state of California. After the new laws are put in place, California vehicle insurance will cost more in eight out of ten counties state wide. Allstate was in agreement with this. In their company, it may be that forty percent of California drivers will see a decrease in price, but the other sixty percent could actually see a significant increase now that zip codes are out of the question.
However, the state consumers union claimed that the use of zip codes were used for purposes of discrimination. The basis of these claims comes from the fact that zip codes in which the majority of the residents were black or Hispanic got charged a lot higher on their vehicle insurance premiums than the zip codes that were predominantly white. These zip codes paid almost twice as much as the white communities. These groups claim that the practices are ridiculous, and that vehicle insurance rates should be based on how well a person drives and nothing else.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
Vehicle insurance claim mediation and arbitration
If you get into a claims situation and you and your vehicle insurance company can’t come to a mutual decision, then the next step to take might be for you to hire a mediator. The advantage of having a mediator is that, unlike an arbitrator, they don’t carry the weight enough to make a final decision. What they say at the end of the process between you and your company is meant more as advice than command, and they don’t get to say who gets the money and how much.
It’s a lot better and cheaper to go with mediation first before stepping up to something more hard line, because it is possible to solve things more quickly this way. It only works, though, if everyone works together. Both you and your company have to be willing to talk to the middle man in order to come to some sort of compromise.
If you figure out that you want to go ahead and take the step of mediation, the first thing that you need to do is get out your vehicle insurance policy. Your policy will have details within it that tell you what steps you will need to take in order to start up the mediation process. Normally, you have to get a request for arbitration form so that you can fill it out and send it back to the vehicle insurance company.
These forms can be got at the website of your state department of insurance and printed from there. Or, if you’re more old fashioned, you can just run up to the department’s office and get one. It may sound like the form is only for arbitration, but you can point out within the form that you want mediation instead, since the same form is used in both cases. Then there will be a person or company that is picked by your vehicle insurance company who will provide both of you with a list of possible mediators. Both you and the company can cross names off until you agree on which mediator you want to use. If you need, lawyers can also help you understand the mediation and you can even bring your lawyer to the sessions.
If you want to arbitrate, then again you will have to have the same form, specify arbitration, fill it out and send it in either to the dispute office listed in your policy or, in case there isn’t one, send it to the state department of insurance. Like mediation, both you and the company have to be fully on board with it.
Should you intend to use a lawyer for your representation at the hearing of arbitration, you have to send an advance notice about it to your vehicle insurance company. The same rule goes for them if they want to use a lawyer then.
The arbitration takes place kind of like a trial. Both you and the company come forth and present your side of the issue, with your evidence and so on and possibly the representation by your lawyers. You can have witnesses which can be cross examined by the opposite party’s lawyer. The arbitrator can send out subpoenas to bring some witnesses in. There may be a certain amount of time in which the arbitration must be completed, and if it is not stated in your policy, then the arbitrator will decide it. Once the arbitrator has decided who is in the right or how the case will in, the decision is final and you can’t take it past that.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
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