14th March 2007

How Your Auto Insurance Rates Are Determined

Your auto insurance rates are determined by a number of factors:

-driving record

-usage, how you are using the vehicle, work, pleasure, business

-how many drivers you have and their ages

-how many vehicles you have

-what kind of coverage limits you want

-what area you live in

-your payment history

-what color car you drive

-your insurance credit score

-your claims history

-your occupation and how many years you have lived at your current residence

-how fast you can solve a Rubix cube

-your daily, weekly, annual mileage

There is a lot of information about you that is used to determine your rates. You are grouped or pooled together with similar drives of the same background that way you are not paying for drivers that are much worse than you.

Similar risks will pay similar rates.

Your usage affects your rates because if you are driving to and from work or school 5 days a week, 15 miles one way you have a higher chance of getting in a accident than someone who only drives 1 mile 1 way 3 days a week or someone who works from home and only drives to get groceries. So business, work, and school usage is higher than pleasure usage.

The area you live in affects your rates due to the fact that one area or town may have a higher incidence of claims than another area. One area may have higher lawsuit payouts or higher theft rates than another area. Even if you live in a affulent area your rates may be higher due to the higher value vehicles in your area cost more to fix than in an area with lower value vehicles.

Although you may have heard that if you drive a red car you will pay higher rates but this is not true. It is a myth. GEICO, USAA (For Military Only), and Allstate, to name a few, don’t even ask what color car you drive when you apply for a quote. And your VIN number doesn’t give this info either.

If you have one car and three drivers you will pay more because that car will get used alot more than if you had only 1 driver and 1 car.

If you have had a poor payment history or your policy has cancelled due to non payment you will have higher rates when you try to reapply for insurance.

The higher your insurance credit score the better. The insurance credit score is similar to your FICO credit score such that the higher your FICO score the lower your interest rate and the higher your insurance credit score the lower your insurance premium.

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14th March 2007

How Can You Lower Your New York Auto Insurance Rates?

New York Auto Insurance - Lower Rates Available

New York car insurance is compulsory for all drivers in New York . Such insurance should include Liability insurance, No-fault or Personal Injury Protection insurance, and Uninsured motorists insurance. New York car insurance also offers optional collision or comprehensive, Emergency Road Service, Customized Equipment, Rental car coverage.

What decides insurance rates?

New York car insurance rates are not same all over the state. Driving habits in combination with legal and settlement fees of all drivers in the state decide car insurance rates across the state. However, your individual rates depend further on your age, driving record, your make of car, your place of residence, etc. Again, different insurance companies keep different parameters for computing insurance rates.

How can I get the best rates?

The best solution to acquire affordable and most competitive New York car insurance rates is to scout around different insurance companies through insurance agents, brokers, professionals, and internet. You then receive best offer with good discounts.

What do I receive from my insurance?

In the event of any accident, New York car insurance offers you:

Liability insurance - You receive $25,000 for physical injuries per person per accident, $50,000 for all injuries per accident, and $10,000 for damages to other’s property due to accident. If accident results in death, compensation rates are $50,000 per person and $100,000 for all injuries per accident. This helps you meet cost of injuries and damages you cause to other’s property in accident.

Personal Injury Protection (PIP): This is a no-fault insurance covering cost of your personal injuries in accident like loss of wages, loss of services, medical expenses, death benefits, etc. This protection prevents you from suing for damages.

Uninsured Motorists Insurance: If you receive injuries due to accident with uninsured vehicle, or you experience physical injuries due to any hit-and-run case, you receive coverage under this option.

Additional Benefits

New York car insurance provides for optional coverage:

Collision -This helps you compensate cost of repair or replacement of your vehicle due to collision with other objects or cars.

Comprehensive -This provides coverage for loss due to other reasons like theft, natural disasters, mob fury, fire, damage by animal, etc.

Rental Car Coverage -This coverage is only with comprehensive and collision coverage. You receive compensation for rental vehicle due to damage or theft.

Emergency Road Service -This covers towing costs for your vehicle and is with collision coverage only.

Customized Equipment - Normal car insurance covers onlyoriginal car equipments. This coverage provides for loss of special customized equipment in your car like roll bars, fog lights, trailer hitches, camper shells, etc. This is available with collision and comprehensive coverage.

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14th March 2007

California Auto Insurance - Simples Steps to Help Lower Your Auto Insurance Rates

California auto insurance is compulsory for all drivers in the state. California is a tort state, which makes you financially responsible for injuries and damages in auto accidents. Maintain a good driving record with higher deductibles to arrive at affordable California auto insurance with sufficient coverage. Of course, other factors like number of miles driven each year, driving experience, etc. play prominent roles in deciding your insurance rates.

What decides my financial responsibility?

You can prove your financial responsibility in any one of the following ways:

* Have an automobile liability insurance policy

* Surety bond for $35,000 from insurance company to do business in California

* Self-insurance certificate of DMV, if you own more than twenty-five vehicles

* Cash deposit with DMV for $35,000

What is the minimum coverage available?

California auto insurance offers minimum liability insurance of $15,000 for physical injury or death per person per accident, $30,000 for all persons affected in an accident, and $5,000 for damages to property per accident. Your insurance coverage should have this minimum coverage; otherwise, you should provide alternative methods of paying for damages due to any accident. California law does not make other coverage like collision, comprehensive, medical payments, uninsured motorist, etc. compulsory.

How you can acquire auto insurance?

There are many insurance companies in California offering different insurance rates for their policies. Different companies calculate their rates according to their experiences, expenses, losses, etc. You need to scout around for various insurance companies, agents, brokers, etc. to get a fair idea of different rates in same geographical region. You can take help of the Internet or call up different insurance companies to gather information. Thereafter, you can choose the most suitable insurance company, which offers necessary coverage at rates affordable by you.

What if no company is willing to insure my vehicle?

It is possible that no California auto insurance company is willing to provide you coverage. You can then receive liability coverage through California Automobile Assigned Risk Plan (CAARP). You need to approach such agents or CAARP directly. They then assign your application to any licensed insurance company. All such insurance companies have to accept CAARP applicants and there can be no broker’s fees or charges. You can take up a regular insurance from standard companies after three years of clean driving record.

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14th March 2007

Cheap Auto Insurance Rates

Reliable statistics say there is a car stolen every second, somewhere in the world. What would happen if tomorrow your car was to be stolen; what would happen to you? This is why auto insurance is such an important thing to have. Unfortunately, auto insurance can sometimes be very expensive. This has traditionally been a problem for people who do not have that much money. But thanks to modern-day cheap auto insurance, people can now carry affordable insurance and claim for compensation in the case of theft or accidents. Once you decide you will look for cheap auto insurance rates, it is time to go get to work, researching various insurance companies, their plans and their rates.

In some cases, the rates may be attractive, but you need to find out what your state’s requirements are and whether or not the whole policy match those requirements or not. Any licensed agent you speak with should be able to tell you these things if you speak with them, Remember, whenever you are comparing the rates of two insurers, the comparison should be between policies that offer the same coverage and protection. You are likely to make a better decision this way. Most cheap auto insurance policies offer deductibles. These deductibles are nothing but the amount which you would be responsible to pay before the insurance company provided any payments. This is one way an insurance company is able to offer cheap auto insurance rates. Choosing a policy with a higher deductible ensures that you get a better deal, as far as cheap auto insurance rates are concerned.

Find out from your insurer about the collision coverage they offer. The older your car, the less collision coverage it would require. Once you find out the insured declared value of your car from your insurer, you will also be able to get some idea about how much collision coverage you would need. Check out on other aspects, such as the premium to be paid, the policy period, and liability coverage, to mention only a few considerations.

You can always consult your friends, family members or colleagues, who have auto policies with these cheap auto insurance policies for advice regarding cheap auto insurance rates. Probably the best person to find out about these cheap auto insurance rates is your insurance advisor or agent. They will be able to give you a clear picture on the present rates available that suit your needs.

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14th March 2007

Fuzz-free Ways to get the Best Auto Insurance Rates

People are always on the look out for great buys.Theres probably nothing more exciting than finding a good product for sale at an extremely low price. Auto insurance shoppers are in no way different.They scout the market for policies offering excellent coverage for the lowest possible cost. If you have somehow found yourself in need of auto insurance then heres something for you.But first, it would be helpful to understand one basic concept risks.

Auto insurance rates are largely based on the risk that a buyer or hes car would suffer from injuries and damage, respectively, from vehicular mishaps.The higher the risk, the higher the rates go.Showing proofs that you are a low-risk buyer enables you to get access to the best auto insurance rates available.

The following enumerates helpful advice on how you can successfully get the lowest rates.

Shop around.Dont just buy the first quote that comes your way.Remember that you have so many options that its simply up to you to look around.Online resources such as quoteserv.com, progressive.com, and geico.com can make insurance-hunting significantly easier for you by showing a summarized version of the best-priced options available.

Maintain a good driving record.Being marked as a safe driver gives you the right to avail of huge premium deductions from insurers.The number of years that youve been driving a vehicle, speeding points youve received, and DUI offenses youve been charged with all determine how safe your driving is.When you drive safely, you are at a lesser risk of being in an accident than those who drive recklessly.Regularly check your driving record for errors since experience shows that more than 20% of all records have wrong entries in it.Overstated penalties or speeding points can drive rates up so you need to examine your record before shopping for insurance.

Avail of discounts.Almost all insurers offer discounts for people and cars with specific characteristics that are indicative of lowered risks.Drivers under the age of 25, who have just finished a state-approved class on drivers education, and those over 55 normally get 10% off the regular rates.The same thing goes for students who have good academic records and who are presumed to be healthy and responsible drivers.Statistics show that engineers, mathematicians, and scientists get involved in much fewer accidents than the average individual warranting lower rates for such people.And due to meritorious reasons, teachers and military men are often offered reduced rates.

Drivers from rural areas get access to lower rates because the incidence of vehicular accidents is high only in urban centers.If youre not planning to drive your car to work, then youll also be entitled to discounts.People who drive to work everyday especially during rush hours in an urban environment is at higher risk of being in an accident than say, people who drive regularly on weekends for fun and leisure.

Meanwhile, owning a car that has been statistically proven safer than most models (by virtue of its design, features, etc) also gives you significant price advantages.In fact, merely having automatic seatbelts and airbags already gives you approximately 30%.Anti-theft alarms also cut insurance rates most especially when they automatically activate once the engine is turned off.

Sign-up online.Many companies now offer discounts to people who sign-up for policies online.This is because its much easier and faster for insurers to process applications filed online than those filed over the counter.Its basically cheaper for them and this savings are reflected on the lowered rates.

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