Things You Shouldn't Do When Insuring Your Car

By Author: Marcus Stalder
Total Articles: 491
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There's always a way to cut down your insurance costs, and that's the good news. On the other hand, the bad news is that it's not as simple as cutting down your coverage to the bare minimum and hope you won't need that extra amount you've just thrown away. And if your friend keeps telling you that it's the only way you can get cheaper car insurance, let your friend to do it on his own. Because in reality there are some facts you should keep in mind and never do with your car insurance.

Cheap is not always better

Sure, you can sometimes get away with it. But in most cases car insurance is based on the old concept: you get what you've paid for. And if you choose to pay less for car insurance, you will end up in situations when you'll have to pay out of own pocket for covering the losses. And who needs that? Why cutting down insurance coverage when in the end you will have to pay more and right from your wallet? Car insurance is there to help you cover the losses when needed, so why refusing this help just to save some money in the short run? Because you never know when you'll need the coverage you've just dropped, ...
... and it's always better to have your back covered rather than feeling like walking on a minefield every time you sit in your car. In fact, when you strip down coverage to the bare minimum it's a lot like gambling and the stakes are just too high in this game.

What about the state minimums?

A lot of drivers tend to think that they only need the basic third party liability coverage required by state laws, believing that all other types of coverage are there just for the insurers to make money off their customers. Unfortunately for your wallet, it's far from truth. Yes, the state minimums are set to assure that the policy purchased in a particular state will be able to cover an average car accident taking into account the local repair and medical costs. However, in most situations these minimums are well below the average amount that would be enough to cover a serious accident, and the drivers who chosen to keep it as low as possible are forced to cover the difference out of own pocket.

Besides, other types of insurance coverage aren't useless weavers, too. For example, uninsured motorist coverage will certainly help you cover the damages caused by an uninsured driver. And taking into account the rising numbers of such drivers on the road these days, it's a really useful feature if you spend a lot of time behind the steering wheel.

So what's there for you to do?

It may seem like there's no way to get cheaper car insurance, but fortunately it's not so. Yes, it's not the best idea to manipulate your coverage, but there are variables you can tweak. First of all, you can raise your deductible if you can afford the increase. Make sure that you set the deductible to an amount you can really pay upfront and it won't be a serious loss for your budget. Otherwise, there's no sense in doing so. And you can always shop around for a better policy with other providers.