Understanding Insurance Coverage Options

By Author: Marcus Stalder
Total Articles: 491
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People tend to get really annoyed by the necessity of purchasing insurance for their cars. Due to the mandatory nature of this type of insurance it's hard to minimize vehicle maintenance costs for a lot of drivers. Some of them even choose to drop insurance altogether and drive without proper coverage, which ultimately results in enormous out-of-pocket spendings after ending up in a traffic accident. Of course, doing so isn't the smartest thing to do both financially and legally. But what many drivers tend to overlook is the fact that not all types of insurance are really mandatory and it's the optional coverage that often pumps up the final cost of the policy. Let's take a closer look at a typical insurance policy for a vehicle to get a better idea of what's going on.

The mandatory part

Yes, having an insurance policy is a legal requirement in most states that can lead to fines, license revocation and even jail time if not met properly. However, the only mandatory type of insurance coverage is property damage and bodily injury liability. These two coverage types refer to third party liability and are use as a ...
... proof of financial abilities to settle any liability arising due to an accident. Each state has specific quantitative requirements concerning these coverage types that a policy should meet. The so-called minimums are assumed to be enough for covering an average accident with moderate damage and injuries. You can always get more third party liability coverage but going below the minimums automatically makes your policy invalid.

The optional part

Now, if you have ever looked into your policy you might have noticed that there are other types of auto insurance coverage included. The most common would be collision/comprehensive coverage, uninsured motorist coverage and rental car insurance. All these forms of coverage are really useful in different situations. For example rental car insurance can cover your costs of using a rental car while your car is being repaired. Or you can get your car fixed after a tree falls down on it if you have comprehensive coverage. But unlike third party liability coverage all these coverage types are purely optional and no-one is imposing you to buy them. Except for the situation when you're buying a car through a loan - most lending institutions make collision and comprehensive coverage a part of their requirements to provide the loan. And as you may know, the more coverage your policy carries the higher will be your rates.

So now that you have a better understanding of auto insurance coverage you'll be able to make better decisions in terms of insurance. If you need to cut your costs minimizing the amounts of optional coverage will be the most reasonable option. If you're OK with your current insurance spendings or want to secure your car against additional perils you might as well consider buying more coverage to include into your current policy. It's often a matter of balance between insurance needs and financial abilities. So make sure to make the right decisions.