Smart Auto Insurance Blog

Some basic tips for understanding auto insurance and choosing auto insurance companies are available on CNN’s website through a collaboration with Fortune and Money.  They first want you to know that you are often a statistic, rather than a person.  Auto insurance companies tend to see you as a risk based on certain risk factors like your job and where you live.

Even if the coverage appears the same, prices are always different through different auto insurance companies.  Shopping around is one of the best tips related to finding the best auto insurance premiums.  Don’t shop only on price though.  Just because a company has the cheapest price, it doesn’t mean that they have quick and reliable customer service.  Those are very important as well.

It’s smart to get more than the minimum coverage required in your state because most state requirements are really just the bare minimum.  Always ask your insurer for discounts.  They are available and most companies will lower your auto insurance rates if you have a good driving record and you simply ask.

Some auto insurance companies force you to use replacement parts that are not made by the original equipment manufacturers.  This can cause problems in your vehicle, so make sure that your insurer will cover original parts.  The article reminds the reader that while the insurance company does want you to recoup your financial losses, you may not have the same ideas of what is fair compensation.  Make sure that your plan is updated and that you know all of the details before filing a claim.

As the winter weather advisories pick up, make sure to check your auto insurance policies to ensure coverage before going out in that snow.  In Rhode Island, “RI Regulators Give Guidance on Snowplow Insurance Implications,” according to Ben Zitney of Online Auto Insurance News.  If you have a snowplow on your truck, your personal auto insurance policy should cover you plowing your own driveway or that of neighbors or relatives. Make sure that your auto insurance premiums cover liability and property damage.

But that assumes that you are doing the plowing for free.  If you accept money to plow anyone’s driveway, parking lot, or walkways, you need to have separate Rhode Island auto insurance to cover commercial work.  The Department of Business Regulation has guidelines on their website and urges you to look there or contact your auto insurance company to make sure you are covered.  The Department also reminds Rhode Island residents to make sure that their snowmobiles are covered before riding on them, especially if they are rentals.  Homeowner and auto policies do not typically cover snowmobile damage.

More than a year later, the National Transportation Safety Board has determined that a horrible car accident in Missouri was caused by a 19-year old driver texting on his cell phone.  Joan Lowy’s Associated Press article, “Driver was texting in Missouri traffic pileup,” says that the 19-year old was driving a pickup truck while texting on his phone and rear ended a tractor truck.  Because of that collision, one school bus rear ended the pickup truck and was consequently rear ended by another school bus.  The pickup truck driver and a 15-year old in one of the school buses were both killed.

Many states have banned texting or talking on the phone while driving; Pennsylvania was recently the 35th state to put a ban on texting while driving.  The NTSB has recommended bans for commercial drivers, but hasn’t recommended the ban for passenger cars yet.  Missouri auto insurance companies are well aware of all of the additional accidents caused by the use of cell phones for talking, texting, and surfing the internet.  One out of 100 drivers on the road in America are on their phones at any given time of the day.  An accident caused by using your cell phone while driving will likely increase your auto insurance premiums, but more importantly, no one wants to cause a death like those in Missouri for something as ridiculous as texting while driving.

Written by Sara Smart

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