Which Car Insurance Coverage Type Do I Need?
Reader question:
How do I find out what type of car insurance coverage I need in my state?
Errol
Thank you for your question, Errol.
There are plenty of ways that you can do this. The first way is that you can go to your state department of motor vehicles website and normally there will be information about what types of car insurance coverage you need and how much of it, along with a length to the state department of insurance’s website which will give you a list of car insurance providers who are licensed. You can also just ask your car insurance agent themselves.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
High Performance Car Insurance Coverage
There are several types of car insurance coverage, and one of the most necessary extra coverage categories for owners of high performance vehicles and muscle cars is the high performance car insurance coverage category for comprehensive insurance coverage. This covers such incidents as theft, be it of the entire vehicle or of just a part, like if someone steals your air bags (yeah, it happens, and a lot). It doesn’t cover things that you installed on your vehicle at some point. Like, I have a new sound system on my car, and if I got into a crash, then it would not be replaced regardless of how much I spent on it, simply because I didn’t buy the extra coverage for additions to my high performance car.
Comprehensive high performance car insurance coverage also extends its coverage to natural disasters. This means that if your car is damaged by a flood or a fire, or even by vandalism, then you will be able to file a claim under the comprehensive section of your car insurance policy for your muscle car.
Car insurance companies get the price for this type of coverage from how high a risk a certain vehicle is to incur costs that would result in a car insurance claim. For example, since we own high performance cars, we will pay more for comprehensive high performance car insurance coverage because these types of cars are more likely to get stolen. Components that are often stolen, such as xenon headlights or air bags, also increase the risk and cost and thus your comprehensive premium.
Prices in general for comprehensive coverage are going up, even though losses incurred from vehicle theft in the United States are going down (two percent in the last year). The reason for this is because the cars that are out on the road these days cost more, and thus replacing them and their components costs more as well. About four hundred and twenty one of every hundred thousand cars are stolen in this country. Most of the time, these vehicles which are stolen are gone for good, and only thirteen percent of car thefts or thefts of car components end up resulting with the thief being arrested.
Meanwhile, over the past ten years the cost of high performance car insurance coverage for comprehensive is rising, and has gone up by over ten percent in that time period. It is the worst in urban areas, where vehicles are thirty percent more likely to be stolen than they are in other parts of the country. However, thanks to no fault car insurance laws, states n the north east of the country where there are far more urban areas have in the same amount of time seen their prices remain pretty stagnant. As you can see, the rates are affected by where you choose to live, and if you live in an urban area then you are considered to be higher risk.
High Performance Car Insurance Coverage
High performance car insurance coverage is like a maze, full of terms that normal people don’t use and that can be confusing, especially for people who are not accustomed to dealing with the car insurance business. The type of coverage you choose will have an enormous impact on how much you end up paying for your high performance car insurance premium, and not only that, but it will also impact how much you end up getting if you ever get into a car insurance accident. For those reasons and more, when you are about to choose what type of high performance car insurance coverage you need, you should figure out what exactly the terms mean first.
- Liability coverage.
There are two types of liability coverage, although both are required by law. These coverage categories are property damage liability and personal injury liability. Most states require liability coverage in the area of ten or fifteen thousand dollars per type of coverage, with an additional coverage category for the injury or death of more than one person which requires an additional thirty thousand or so. This is not the number for all states, but it is typical. However, in a really bad accident, damages can come up to much more, so most car insurance companies recommend paying for around a hundred thousand dollars of coverage or more for each category if you don’t want to have to pay for a lawsuit.
- Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage.
This is to protect you from people driving out on the road who do not have auto insurance, or who do not have enough to cover the damages in case of an accident. It is important to have this coverage because even if you are a safe driver yourself, if someone else causes an accident and they don’t have insurance, then you could be in serious financial trouble.
- Personal injury protection.
This type of coverage is required in most no fault auto insurance states. Personal injury protection provides a lot of things, from the payment of medical bills to coverage for funeral expenses and wage loss. If you already have health insurance and life insurance, then you might not even need personal injury protection. To find out, look at your state’s laws and consult with your car insurance company.
- Collision coverage.
This is for when you yourself cause an accident. It covers any property damages that happen to you, such as any damages to your car, or if you back into your own mail box, then it covers that. While the other driver is covered by your mandatory liability car insurance coverage, it is a good idea to get collision if you want to not have to worry about paying should you cause a car accident.
- Comprehensive coverage.
This is for when a car is vandalized or when it is stolen. It also applies to natural disasters when a car might have been damaged by flooding or by fire or some other type of disaster. This kind of insurance coverage is something that I really highly recommend to owners of high performance cars.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
High Risk Car Insurance – High Performance Car With DUI
Reader question:
I can’t find a car insurance company that wants to insure my high performance car. I have a DUI from a couple of years ago and need an SR22. How do I get high risk car insurance?
John
Great question, John.
It’s hard enough to find good, cheap car insurance coverage when you have a high performance car, and it is also difficult when you have a DUI and need to file an SR22 form for your auto insurance coverage. However, combining the two means you are a double risk, furthering your complications with finding quality car insurance coverage. It will be much more difficult for you to find this coverage, but it can be done.
First of all, how hard have you been looking? Have you gone online and gotten auto insurance quotes from several different car insurance companies? If even that didn’t work for you, then what you might want to do is call up your state department of insurance and ask for a list of car insurance companies in your state that are licensed by the department to do business. You can also find a list like this online. However, if you call you might be able to ask for recommendations for someone looking for a high risk car insurance company.
If the companies on the list don’t prove helpful, then you might have to resort to the final option, which is joining your state’s high risk car insurance pool. Every state has one of these pools and it should be avoided unless you truly have no other option, because insurance through the high risk car insurance pool often costs much more than regular car insurance, even if it’s with the same company. These high risk car insurance pools randomly assign people to regular car insurance companies that might otherwise not have accepted them. If you have to resort to this option, though, remember that there are plenty of other ways you can lower your high performance SR22 car insurance premium price.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
High Performance Car Insurance Discounts for Security System?
Reader question:
Will I be able to keep my coverage while I am upgrading my high performance car’s security?
Anne
Sorry, but it doesn’t work that way.
Car insurance companies often have very strict rules about the prices a secure car will get you, and if you want to get good rates on your collision coverage, then you need to have safety features installed. However, if you don’t, you can still get the collision coverage, but it will jut cost more. The same thing does not go with high performance car insurance coverage. While you can get your car insurance collision coverage just as easily, the comprehensive coverage is not the same way. Many car insurance companies will not even think about covering you with comprehensive until you have the right safety mechanisms on your car to protect against theft, and you cannot put this off. No features, no coverage, it doesn’t matter if you are installing them right now.
The types of alarms that the car insurance companies require are called active disabling alarms. While you can get something with bells and whistles, what they want is for you to have something that shuts down an integral part of the vehicle so that the thief is not able to start it even with his techniques. The device also needs to be constantly active, not activated by you.
Cheers,
Fashun Guadarrama.
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