Things Your Auto Insurance Company Might Not Have Told You

One of the most important things you should learn about your auto insurance company is its policy on late premium payments. While may auto insurance companies offer a grace period so that your coverage will remain in effect even if you miss your premium payment date by a few days, some do not. You may be driving on a terminated policy without realizing it, simply because your premium payment was due and you forgot to mail it. Any auto insurance company can cancel your policy for a number of reasons, and one of the most common is for failing to pay your premiums when they are due.

No Fault Insurance

If you live in a no fault state, your auto insurance company is regulated by that state's laws when it comes to determining the percentage of fault for the accident which will be assigned to you. Even if you bear absolutely no responsibility for an accident in which your car was involved, you will still be assigned a small percentage of the blame simply because you were present. Because you are in a no fault state, your auto insurance company will have to cover the damages to your car even though you did nothing to cause the accident.

If you need liability insurance in order to have your revoked or suspended license reinstated, your auto insurance company is required to file an SR-22 form with your state's Motor Vehicles Department should you liability insurance be terminated for any reason. Many auto insurance companies, however, refuse to provide liability insurance for high-risk drivers, so if your license is being reinstated you need to find one who will.

When Your Car Is Totaled

In the event that your car is totaled in an accident, your auto insurance company will first look at the value of your car and then at what it would cost to completely repair the damage to it. If the damages will cost more to fix than the Blue Book listed value of the vehicle, you will not get your car fixed; you will simply get a check for its Blue Book value minus your deductible, if any. So you may end up having to write off any money or time you have put into customizing your car.

As long as your automobile is insured, your auto insurance company will probably cover any accident in which it is involved, regardless of its driver. But there may be situations in which this coverage does not apply, and you should clarify what they are with your agent.

Take Responsibility For Understanding Your Coverage

Because your auto insurance company may have its own unique policies when it comes to the terms of your coverage, you can be caught unaware and be denied coverage just when you need it most. If you don't want to be faced with a very nasty and potentially devastating surprise, you go look over your auto insurance coverage with a fine-toothed comb. Because many of its clauses will be legal boilerplate, don't be afraid to ask your agent to explain the details of your coverage in layman's terms, and write down what you are told if you need to. Above all, stay current on your auto insurance premiums, and your car maintenance, and make a point of driving safely and defensively!