Reader question:

I’m a writer and I live on a mountain, pretty much by myself. There’s a town a few miles away, but I keep to myself and only go there when I need to buy something. I own two cars, which are exactly the same in year, make, and model. Why is it that I have to have liability car insurance coverage for both vehicles? I can only drive one at a time?

Gary

Kind of weird question there, Gary, but okay.

I feel like your asking me one of those mind bender questions, like how could a house with four windows have them all facing north. However, assuming that you do live all alone on the top of a mountain with an exact copy of the same car, it does bring up an interesting point about liability car insurance that must be brought across. You don’t have to be in a car to be liable for what it does. That might be a silly statement at first. After all, it isn’t like your car is going to start on its own and run over the mayor’s expensive doberman that wandered up from below.

However, there are many situation where the car you don’t use could get into an accident even while you aren’t using it. For one thing, something could go wrong with the breaks and it can roll off a cliff and fall through someone’s roof, which would end up in significant property damage and possibly death. Another thing that it could do would be if you lent it to somebody else to drive it.

You might be protesting that your brakes are fine and that you would never let anybody else borrow your car, not even over your dead body. But the point to all of this is that your car insurance company doesn’t know that. What they know is that you own two vehicles, and they know nothing about you personally, so they can’t take it on your decency and honesty when you say that the second vehicle will do no harm. As far as they are concerned, anything can happen with that car.

Another thing to consider is that often when someone lives alone but owns two of the same car, it will be a red flag going up for fraud by misrepresentation. It will be hard for the auto insurance company to believe that you don’t have somebody else who is regularly using this vehicle, so they will tread lightly around your policy. However you shake it, though, it is necessary to have liability car insurance coverage regardless of what you think you might or might not do with a car.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

You never know who you’ll meet up with on a parking lot, which is why collisions like this one can be a problem for many policy holders out there. It’s funny how DMVs will be rabid about students learning correct methods for parallel parking, even if they live in a rural area and will probably never see a city street. Meanwhile, normal parking lot parking methods are completely ignored. From all the vehicles I see double parked or so close to my own car that I actually have to lose weight in order to get in, I’d say it was necessary.

So what kind of car insurance coverage do you need for an encounter with someone who is a deranged and delayed parker? I would suggest you get yourself collision coverage for your car if you want to avoid this problem. While certain parking shop horrors, such as a grocery cart slamming into the side of your car or a piece of glass popping the tire, can be covered by comprehensive car insurance coverage, many people make the mistake of thinking that the same goes for accidents that happen when you aren’t in or around your car. But the same way your collision coverage will take care of your car if you run over someone’s hedge, it will take care of your car if you back up too far in the parking lot. Of course, if you are the victim in the incident, your car will be covered by the other driver’s liability coverage. That is if, unlike the driver in the video, the person who hits your car thinks it right to let you know it was them.

In order to determine whether you need collision car insurance coverage on your vehicle, consider the worth of your car. If it’s a new car, or a car that you’re still paying on, then of course you are required through your contract with the financing company to have both collision and comprehensive coverage on the vehicle. If it’s a newer car that you’ve already finished paying on, then you should still keep the coverage to protect your property. However, if you have an older car that’s worth about a thousand dollars or less, then you should consider dropping your coverage down to just the state minimum. The reason for this is that you will probably be paying out more to insure your vehicle than the car is worth, even the used car rates are lower than new ones.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Reader question:

If I purchase a used car, how do I figure out what the used car insurance history was of the person who owned it before me?

Randy

There are a couple of ways that you can go about this.

First of all, you might do yourself some good by getting a hold of older checks and credit card reports to see the history of the payments made for the vehicle. In order to figure out if you are even allowed to do this, get in touch with the depatmentof insurance for your state to see what the rules are about public information and so on. You can also call up your auto insurance agent and ask them what the history is of the vehicle, or talk to the car insurance company directly, failing that. If you are entitled to the information in your state and the car insurance company does not cooperate, then you can take it to the next level by filing a complain with your department of insurance.

Another way you can go is by checking out the reports that are connected to the car. There are two different kinds that will help you, here. One of them is the CARFAX vehicle report. This is very useful, because it will give you information about any previous collisions that your car has been involved in and is a big help when it comes to things such as determining the value of your car. Another report that you can get is the CLUE report, which can be gotten from ChoisePoint. This one is only accessible to you if you know a thing or two about the person you are getting the vehicle from. Used car insurance is usually cheaper than most, but you should still see what you are getting into any time you need to buy a used vehicle.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

It’s nearing the end of hurricane season and they are really ripping it up. One category five hurricane just tore through Honduras, so those of us stateside have to really watch it. In addition to that, winter is getting close and in some stats that means pretty cold conditions. What does any of this have to do with car insurance or car insurance claims? It’s easy to observe that when the weather gets worse, so does the driving, and more claims are filed. When it comes to the bad seasons, the best way to keep your car insurance rates down is by avoiding claims, which you can do by taking extra measures to drive safely.

• Drive slow. The faster you drive, the more traction. This causes accidents when it gets out of control, so if you don’t have a vehicle with one of those nifty traction control features, you need to pay special attention here.
• Keep five seconds behind the next car instead of the usual three.
• Do not, by any means, hit the brakes. If you need to slow down, do it gradually and steadily. Cold, icy roads will only send you skidding if you make any sudden movements such as a slam on the brakes.
• If you are driving in areas where there is more ice, be even more careful. These are places like bridges and intersections. In some cases, you may hear that your tires are making a different noise. If you do, take your foot of the gas right away, because you could be rolling over black ice.
• When you’re driving in the snow, drive through the ruts that have been made by the cars gone before you instead of making your own.
• Four wheel drive is good, but it is not god. You still have to be careful in snow.
• You could just stick around the house and sit in front of the fire until things clear up. More cozy, and it’s foolproof, too.

Even taking that advice, it’s still possible to get out of control in bad weather. If you start spinning, don’t hit the brakes and turn the wheel crazily in the other direction. Instead, take it easy, don’t touch the brakes, and turn the wheel at a slow pace in the direction you want to go.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Reader question:

Does getting married affect my car insurance rates?

Miriam

Yes, it does.

I’m guessing you are asking because you are getting, or have just gotten, married, so let me start off by offering you the proper congratulations for your happy event. Now that we’ve got that done, I can assure that this life changing happening does have an effect on your car insurance rates, although it is not an enormous one by any means. For this reason, the closer you get to tying the knot the more you might want to look into free online car insurance rate quotes to see if, as a married person, you qualify for better car insurance rates from your company or another.

Once you are wedded, you’ll want to make some changes to your car insurance policy, to begin with. Once both of your names are on there, you need to increase the amount of coverage. For example, if you each have a car you will need to up your liability coverage, most likely. Even if you may have some doubts about adding a new person to your car insurance policy, it is easier to handle when it is under the both of your names, and it is also cheaper.

Some other aspects of married life might be used to help you get better car insurance rates, too. If you guys are thinking of buying a house, or already are, you probably need home insurance. Getting both home and car insurance with the same company can get you a multiple policy discount, and you can see your rates tumble down.

Your husband also might get some good results from being married car insurance policy holder. Whenever men are under the age of 25, they pay far more for car insurance than women. If they get married, though, their rates drop by quite a bit. The fact that car insurance companies go by is that married people are more responsible drivers and less likely to file claims.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.