Reader question:

The zip code I live in has very expensive auto insurance prices. I put in the zip where I used to live (not very far away) to see what kind of rates I would get for that, and it was much better. Is it legal to use a different address to get cheap car insurance rates?

Amber

No, definitely not.

If you did that, Amber, you would be committing car insurance fraud. While for the most part your car insurance company wouldn’t go after you for something as petty as lying about your living address, but in case you ever filed a claim for your vehicle with that address on your policy, and they found out that the address was false, then you would not be getting a cent of your claim money, even if the other driver willfully rammed you off a cliff. And there are several states where the DMV will see your claim being denied for fraud as the same as though you never had car insurance coverage in the first place, and you could get the same results. That means fine, court, maybe a lawsuit, a loss of your license, and a long standing blemish on your car insurance score that all of your future companies will see. Are you willing to risk that just to get cheap car insurance rates?

While lying about where you keep your car may seem like a small thing, you are making yourself in a huge way responsible for the rising costs of car insurance premiums in your area. In many places, these high prices for car insurance rates are directly the cause of car insurance fraud. Some fraud has a bigger impact than others, and while it may manifest in the person of someone claiming a fraudulent injury and receiving thousands of dollars in court, in can also manifest in many people like yourself making small fraudulent statements for a couple hundred dollars, that all amounts to the same end result in dollar terms. No matter how innocuous you may seem, you are making other people who have nothing to do with this pay for your own problem.

The reason why it makes a difference what address you put down is because the risk that they put to your name depends on several factors, including your area. If you have a higher risk for, say, car theft because you live in a high crime area, but you put yourself down for a low crime area, then you are still just as risky a customer, but the company is not charging you for this risk. It might eventually come out when your car gets stolen, or it might not. Either way, there’s somebody out there who has to pay for your missing risk, and it probably isn’t you.

There are plenty of ways to lower your car insurance premium without committing fraud. It’s so simple. The first step you need to take is to raise your deductible to a higher amount, so that while your out of pocket expenses may be more, your car insurance premium will be much lower. Then you might want to think about paying your entire six month premium at the same time instead of doing the more expensive way of monthly payments. You should also think about cutting your coverage to only what you think is necessary. Finally, shop around to make sure you’re getting the best quotes (at your real address!) and stick with the company that treats you best.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Reader question:

I’m buying a used car. Does my used car insurance coverage have to include things like comprehensive and collision coverage?

Molly

Thank you for asking, Molly.

It really depends on several things. I, for one, a making payments on a piece of junk car that is older than myself, which I naively bought because I liked the way it looks. I’ve wizened up since then. In the meantime, it was an expensive car back before I was born, so even with age it is still in the expensive range for older cars, and I only have liability auto insurance coverage for it, considering that it is worth its weight in scrap metal and I probably pay more for it on insurance every year than I would get if it suddenly combusted. Now, my car dealer ship knows that I only have liability, because asked them, seeing that, regardless of the uselessness of this vehicle, I don’t want it to be repossessed. They didn’t have a problem with it, even though full coverage was required in my contract. I’m not sure if this is because I’ve almost finished paying for it or what, but it definitely couldn’t hurt to ask.

Now, apart from that, let’s get down to where the requirement to get full auto insurance coverage on your used car comes from: the financial institution that gives you the financing for your car. This will always be the one that decides, so whether it is your actual car lot or a bank, the word will come from them. If the financial institution doing the financing is a bank, then you probably have no chance of doing the little dance that I mentioned above. If you are dealer financed, you have a better chance, since some dealers are more lax than others.

If you are unsure as to whether or not you need complete used car insurance coverage, then you need to take a look at the contract you signed when you bought the car in the first place. This should included all of your own responsibilities for taking care of the car, involving subjects such as the warranty upkeep and auto insurance coverage. If the requirement to have full coverage is not in your contract, then your car dealer ship cannot make you get it. However, if you think it isn’t there, make sure you contact them first to make sure you aren’t reading it wrong.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

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.

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.

Reader question:

How do I choose an auto repair shop for my car?

Mallory

Great question.

For most drivers, owning a car is a significant part of life, so when it comes time for your car to have that major life changing operation, you want to have the best surgeon make the incision. Maybe that’s going a little too far, but it’s definitely true that anybody who cares about their car is going to be invested in getting the best auto repair shop to fix it after they have falled a car repair insurance claim. But choosing that shop is where the trouble is. For those in that situation, I have created these guidelines.

• Certified by I-Car.

I-Car is an org that basically teaches mechanics in the best way to handle vehicles that have been in a collision. Shops which havetheir employees certified with I-Car overall provide the best service and the most quality repairs. It’s easy to tell which shops these are, because they tend to hang their certification in a prominent area.

• Certified by ASE, too.

This is the one that your car insurance company is probably looking for. Often, if you want to make sure you don’t get played on your claim, you should take your car to an ASE certified shop, and most of the time your car insurance company won’t let you do anything but. Standing for the National Institute of Automotive and Service Excellence, it trains people in what is required for repairs by the automobile industry.

• Your gut.

Don’t turn so red, I wasn’t talking about the one above your waist. Trusting your gut is something that you should also rely one when picking an auto insurance repair shop. All of the accolades on the wall might not make up for a dirty shop with surly employees and rusty tools hanging from the wall.

• Balding.

There are a lot of people in there who would never hire a mechanic who doesn’t a least have salt and pepper hair. This confused me at first until I understood their reasoning. People who are older tend to have more years of car repair experience behind them, and are thus more trustworthy with your vehicle. Now that does make sense, but I would only take it if they fit other criteria. As for me, I’ve had plenty of younger people fix my car just fine.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Normally, for someone who as never been involved in the car insurance claims process, you are inclined to think that once you have made your claim initially, the rest is out of your hands. You get to sit back until the check comes in, right? In reality, decisions need to be made by you all along the way, and those decisions could not only affect your own future car insurance rates, but also the rates of everybody else in your area. It all starts when your car insurance company and the repair shop that has consented to fixing your car cannot come to any agreement regarding compensation for services. It would seem simple enough. The repair shop gives an estimate, and the car insurance company gives the okay, but it really goes beyong just that.

Usually it begins when the car insurance company gives the body shop an appraisel for the needed repairs. The problems that start after this usually originate from the shop when they try to mess with the system. It is unfortunately a widespread happening that at many repair shops, they will try to fix the price so that they can get more money out of car insurance companies. This can be done by ‘fixing’ things that aren’t even broken, or by replacing something with an entirely new part when all it needed was to be repaired. Such actions by a repair shop can lead to a long drawn out battle with the car insurance company that gets in the way of your claim and could bring more serious complications for you if you end up implicated in the fraudulent mess.

Such actions bring rates up for everyone. This can be for several reasons. The most salient one is that the extra rates charged by the repair shops make the claims amount paid by the car insurance company. However, in order to avoid this problem, car insurancec companies often have to hire people to stand watch at the repair shop to make sure that nothing fishy is going on with their claimant’s car, and that’s more money still.

There are ways that this can be avoided though. If you do end up getting with a shop where the company and it cannot decide on how much money is owed, you’ll probably end up picking up the slack. In order to both avoid a duct tape fixing of your car and problems with funds and fraud, you can just call up your claims adjuster and ask for repair shops suggested by the company. These shops have not only proven over time that they do quality work, but they have formed a relationship with the car insurance company. There is no suspicion between them, so you can easily turn their vehicle over and forget until it’s ready to be picked up.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Reader question:

Do I get to decide which kind of parts are used to repair my car? Do I get to complain about the appraisal?

Emory

Good question.

The answer depends on the source of your information. Let’s take your first question first. If it is your car insurance claims company that tells you what kind of part is going to be used to fix your car, then after they tell you that there isn’t much that you can do about it. You may want to raise a fuss, but nine times out of ten all you need to do is take a look at your own car insurance policy and that will shut you up fast. You’ll see right there in the small print that you signed on the dotted line to let your car insurance company use aftermarket, OEM, whatever kind of parts that they determined were best to fix your car. This is why you need to study your car insurance policy before you sign.

Now, if the estimate that you get is given to you by the actual body shop, then you probably have some leeway. Body shops are more likely to want to use the original manufacturer parts, or OEM, mostly because these kinds of parts cost more and they’re out to make a buck like the rest of us. If you get the estimate from them, you probably have an option, and they will prefer it if you choose OEM. If your auto insurance company disagrees, you can either raise a fit with them and see if they let you or you can just pay the difference between the OEM part and the aftermarket part.

As for your second question, can you decide about the appraisal if your car should be fixed or if the part should be replaced? Most of the time, no. For one thing, your car insurance company has a single obligation to you. That is to get your car back to the way it was when you crashed it. If that can be done with only fixing the same part, then that is that. Again, you can complain and see if that will change things, but normally they won’t take it.

Now, if your car insurance company is truly mishandling your claim in this arena and you haven’t gotten any help in complaining through their departments, then you should take it to a higher level and complain with your state department of insurance.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Reader question:

My car insurance company gave me a dollar amount to replace my total loss vehicle on my car insurance claim, and it just isn’t right. What do I do?

Allie

Glad you asked.

There actually is something that you can do in this situation, even if it seems like there’s no way you can win out against the big bad car insurance company. People do it all the time, and the key to the thought process behind their success is to not step down. This does not mean that you immediately have to file a complaint with the state department of insurance, hire an attorney and take them to court for everything except the shirt on their back. There are plenty of much easier ways to get thing fixed before you move to the more extreme options.

First thing you need to do is give a call to your car insurance claim adjuster. What you need to find out from this person is what data they used to figure out the total loss dollar value for your vehicle. It is entirely possible that there was something that your vehicle had that they missed, and factoring that in might bring about a number that will please you. If you are trying to prove that your car has more value than they say it does, make sure you have evidence to back it up. For example, if you just got a new set of tires on your vehicle, I hope you kept the receipts. They’ll want to see those.

Don’t be too cynical when going into the car insurance claims process.Keep in mind that all of the car insurance companies in your state are regulated by that state, so there is a very strict set of rules that all of these car insurance companies have to go by. They are trying to get you the right amount of money, so you shouldn’t be dishonest with yourself if the amount that you don’t like is what your car is actually worth. Think about it. If you had tried to put your car up for sale right before you crashed it, do you think someone would have bought it for more than the amount that they are offering you?

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Reader question:

I’ve only been in one accident before my recent one, and it wasn’t my fault. This one was, though. What is the process for an at fault car insurance claim?

George

Good question.

Being in an at fault car accident is often a lot more nerve wracking than is being in one in which you are not at fault. The reason is that you have to worry about both drivers. You’re stuck with thinking about whether the other person is properly covered under your policy and whether they might come after you with a lawsuit, and then you have to go through the normal motions of getting your vehicle repaired or replaced and possibly getting medical stuff done. It’s crazy, and then there is the possibility of a rate raise for an at fault car insurance claim. Here are some tips to get through it.

• One thing that you might be hung up on is the the police report filed a the scene of the accident says that it was your fault that it happened. However, that does not mean it is the gospel truth. Your car insurance company will investigate the accident on its own, and their results might be different.
• Simple and sweet accidents aren’t going to have that much of an effect on your car insurance rates, even if they do get reported. The ones that you need to worry about are the ones with lots of damages and possible injuries.
• For your first at fault accident, most companies will let it slide without an increase in your car insurance rates. For the second, look out.
• If you rack up several at fault accident over couple of years, you might not be able to get your car insurance policy renewed.
• If your rate does go up, remember that you have the right to a decrease a couple of years after the accident.
• From the get go you need to know how your car insurance company does with first time at fault accidents. Many have accident forgiveness programs, and for some of them you might have to pay a few bucks extra for it.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

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.