Choosing Budget Car Insurance: A Guide for the Truly Cash-Strapped
Whether you are a victim of the “Great Recession” of 2008 to 2010, or you are simply looking to make your policy more functional, you will find this guide for choosing budget car insurance quite helpful. Let’s first demystify this process. Looking for budget car insurance does not mean slashing and burning your policy. It doesn’t mean stripping yourself of coverage that you might need, and it doesn’t even necessarily mean discount hunting.
What we are ultimately trying to do is minimize your risks and maximize the efficacy of your insurance dollar. Doing this is hard. There is no one size fits all solution. And you are going to need to assess and reassess your coverage frequently if you want to keep costs down and “maximize” your policy. So with that in mind, let’s figure out how to get valuable coverage without breaking your bank.
A New Approach to Liability Limits
You need to carry insurance for bodily injury and property damage — if you hurt someone or destroy property. Higher limits equal more coverage when you need it most — after an accident. Unfortunately, many people who are searching for budget car insurance often minimize their liability coverage. This can be a huge mistake. After all, the reason you get insurance in the first place is to minimize potential catastrophic fallout.
For instance, say, heaven forbid, you rear-end an old lady and give her terrible whiplash, and she sues you for $200,000. If you skimp on liability coverage, you leave yourself incredibly exposed — and in this instance could have to pay much of that $200,000 out of pocket. So get enough liability. Start from higher limits and then work your way down.
Protecting your Car
There are two main kinds of coverage to protect your car — collision and comprehensive [also known as Other Than Collision (OTC)]. Depending on the situation — such as lender requirements — you may be required to have some collision and OTC coverage. This will help you pay for repairing or replacing your vehicle if something happens to it.
But if you own a “hunk of junk,” and you don’t care if it gets dinged up, severely curtail or even cut out collision and comprehensive altogether. Alternatively, raise your deductibles on your collision and other than collision coverage. If, for instance, you raise your deductible to $1,000, most carriers will give you a hefty discount for taking on extra risk. Just be sure that you have the capacity to pay out of pocket for any expenses that you might incur.
Long-Term Planning Beats Short-Term Planning
Your budget car insurance strategy should focus on getting your rates under control for the long term. Take a defensive drivers course, raise your credit score, stay out of accidents, and avoid traffic citations. If you stay with the same insurance carrier for many years, you can earn discounts and rewards. The point is, it’s not all about trying to shave down your budget in the present — it’s about ultimately becoming a better, safer, more responsible driver.
Don’t Go It Alone
A trusted insurance agent can be worth his or her weight in gold — just ask anyone who has been through a claim. Budget car insurance shopping can be a complicated business — even for someone who is knowledgeable and relatively experienced. An agent can go over your coverage with a fine-toothed comb, suggest little personal strategies and tactics to optimize your coverage, and warn you if your coverage is somehow unbalanced.
Lastly, any budget car insurance shopper should get multiple quotes from different insurance companies. You need to see what the market has to offer you. To that end, use the trusted and proven system here at NetQuote to collect 5 plus quotes to analyze and compare today.
See how much you could save today on your car insurance. Get your free auto insurance quotes today!
