The web changed the way we shop for car insurance. We used to take a walk through the Yellow Pages. Sometimes an agent or broker would actually come to our home in hopes of lining us up for the full package of insurance products: life, automobile and home. But those days are long gone when it comes to vehicle insurance. Like electricity and water, vehicle insurance has become a regular commodity. Once the first broker put an Instant Quote feature for car insurance up on its website, the game was over. Now the majority of us get quotes on the internet, even if we don’t actually buy auto insurance.
A generation ago, insurers would get uncomfortable when approached by a new car insurance customer. If they had just acquired a car and had no insurer - that was one thing. But if the would-be client already had an automobile insurer and they just wanted to switch companies, they were typically viewed with suspicion and their application scrutinized closely.
Thanks to online instant quotes, it is no longer the case that the average shopper is subjected to arbitrary review. The mystery has gone out of the actuarial process and along with it, the barriers to get the best rates for your particular needs and circumstances.
One of the nicest things about buying auto insurance online is the way it lets you compare rates for full coverage versus just getting liability. This is particularly significant for those who live in so-called ‘no fault’ insurance’ jurisdictions.
No-fault insurance, in its broad sense, describes an insurance policy that says the insurance company agrees to pay the policy holder’s losses regardless of who is at fault. Basically, a policyholder and any passengers in the policy holder’s vehicle are reimbursed for losses in a traffic accident by the policyholder’s insurer without reference to whose fault the accident was.
Even for good drivers, no-fault can mean that your rates are going to go up if you are in an accident no matter what. As of this writing, in North America this includes 12 states (California, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Dakota and Utah) as well as the Canadian provinces of Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba and Saskatchewan.
Under these types of insurance laws, the additional cost of carrying collision insurance makes little sense unless new, or close to it. If you are financing the car, you may still be required to carry comprehensive coverage. The great thing if you buy auto insurance online is that you can quickly get the price for full versus liability-only coverage and can quickly know when you’re better off dropping the collision and theft coverage.
Tags: auto insurance, automobiles, autos, car insurance, cars, family, finance, home, insurance, motorcycles, online auto insurance, online car insurance, product reviews, Vehicles