What’s High Risk Car Insurance? Free Essay Example

Auto insurance coverage covers bodily injury and property damage that are the result of an auto accident. Bodily injury covers injuries to those in the other car, if you are found to be responsible for the accident. Property damage covers damage to the other car; again, this is if you are at responsible. People pay premiums monthly, quarterly, semi-annually, or annually for coverage. There are also different amounts of coverage available.

Insurance rates within a geographical area are partially based on the number of auto-related fatalities.

Virginia ranks 47th for rates on a list of states including Washington, DC. Maine is ranked 51, and Michigan is ranked 1. (Vallet, 2019) The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that Virginia had 839 fatalities, Maine had 172, and Michigan had 1,030. (NHTSA, 2018)

The minimum insurance coverage in Virginia includes $25,000 bodily injury liability per person, $50,000 bodily injury liability per accident, and $20,000 property damage liability per accident. (Araujo, 2019) My family carries full coverage on two vehicles, a 2018 Nissan Altima and a 2013 Chrysler 300.

Full coverage provides additional insurance on our vehicles. We carry comprehensive insurance which covers “Acts of God”. We also carry collision as that will take care of the damage to our cars in an accident. We further carry personal injury protection which covers bodily injury to us and our passengers. (Casazza, 2018) The additional insurances are carried so that our injuries and cars are also protected in an accident. It gives us additional security.

We pay $243 per month for two cars. According to an article in Kiplinger Magazine, one of the easiest ways to reduce our costs would be to contact our insurance company and ask if there is a discount for paying a lump sum instead of monthly.

We could increase the amount of our deductible. However, I do not like this idea as it is more money out of pocket at the time of the accident. We could save additional money by shopping around and going with a less expensive carrier or asking our current carrier if they can match the lower rate. We also could reduce coverage to just liability on the Chrysler 300 as it has been paid off. (Lankford, 2019)

Conclusion

Car insurance shifts risk from us to the insurance company. It provides protection for the insured. Insurance rates vary within geographical areas on a broad scale by state and by county/city on a smaller scale. Rates are partially affected by the number of accidents, injuries, and fatalities when comparing by area. Minimum coverage is liability only in Virginia, while full coverage includes the insured’s body and property as well. Full coverage can also include comprehensive to cover those things referred to as “Acts of God”. As with all insurances, there are ways to save on premiums. Some ways to save include shopping around and carrying only what is minimally required.

References

Araujo, M. (2019, April 10). What Does Minimum State Car Insurance Mean? Is It Enough? Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/understanding-minimum-car-insurance-requirements-2645473

Casazza, C. (2018, August 01). What is Full Coverage Car Insurance? Retrieved from https://www.valuepenguin.com/what-full-coverage-car-insurance

Lankford, K. (2019, February 06). 12 Ways to Lower Your Auto-Insurance Premiums. Retrieved from https://www.kiplinger.com/slideshow/insurance/T004-S003-ways-to-lower-your-auto-insurance-premiums/index.html

NHTSA. (2018). Traffic Safety Performance (Core Outcome) Measures For Maine. Retrieved from https://cdan.nhtsa.gov/SASStoredProcess/guest

NHTSA. (2018). Traffic Safety Performance (Core Outcome) Measures For Michigan. Retrieved from https://cdan.nhtsa.gov/SASStoredProcess/guest

NHTSA. (2018). Traffic Safety Performance (Core Outcome) Measures For Virginia. Retrieved from https://cdan.nhtsa.gov/SASStoredProcess/guest

Vallet, M. (2019, April 16). Car insurance rates by state 2019: Most and least expensive. Retrieved from https://www.insure.com/car-insurance/car-insurance-rates.html