Car Insurance

As gas prices approach four dollars a gallon, many personal auto insurance policyholders find themselves in a particularly painful kind of trap: most states require citizens to maintain auto insurance. For example, Florida requires drivers to carry at least $10,000 of Florida auto insurance simply to maintain their license. As gas prices eat into family budgets, it can seem impossible to keep gas in your vehicles and auto insurance on your vehicles.

And it’s not just personal auto insurance customers; commercial auto insurance policyholders feel the same crunch. According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, firms with fewer than twenty employees can spend up to 45% more per employee to meet federal and state regulations. Some of those regulations, of course, set the minimal required amount of commercial auto insurance. In light of this information, what can personal and commercial auto insurance customers do to soften the blow?

First, drive safely-and let your insurance company know it. If you’ve been free of moving violations and accidents for the last three years, check to see if your auto insurance policy carries a safe driver discount.

Once you’re focused on driving safely, consider raising the deductible on your auto insurance policies. Although this means you’ll have to pay more in the event of an accident, doubling the deductible on your policy can save you 10% or more on your monthly premiums.

Next, check into moving your auto and homeowner’s insurance to the same provider. Many insurers offer discounts up to 10% for policyholders with multiple policies.

Finally, many auto insurance consumers aren’t aware that insurance companies have begun using credit scores as one factor in setting premiums; if your credit situation is better now than it was when you first acquired your auto insurance policy, make sure your insurer is aware of that fact, or shop your policy around for competitive rates.

Farmers Insurance, Nebraska’s fourth-largest insurer with more than 83,000 auto customers, and Citibank have joined together to offer auto loans through Farmers’ 100 insurance agents in the state.

Farmers will also offer credit life and disability coverage where approved, through its life insurance company, Farmers New World Life.

The program has been launched in Nebraska, Virginia, Texas, Washington, Nevada, Oregon, Arizona, Wyoming, California and Colorado. It will be expanded in phases to the remaining 19 states where Farmers operates.

Customers can contact their local Farmers agent at the time they want to purchase an automobile and obtain or refinance a loan. Notification of approval will usually occur within three hours.

“Providing competitively priced auto loans is another step toward our business strategy to offer an assortment of companion products and services to meet the needs of our customer base,” said Brian Cohen, vice president corporate development at Farmers. “We are excited about the opportunity to work with Citibank, one of the premier financial institutions in the world on this venture,” Cohen added.

“Citibank is honored to have been chosen by Farmers to participate in this program. Citibank will integrate its lending expertise with its efficient servicing capabilities to offer a superior auto loan product to Farmers’ customers,” said Denis Moore, vice president and business manager for auto finance at Citibank.

Headquartered in Los Angeles, Farmers Insurance includes the third-largest auto and homeowners insurers, one of the nation’s leading commercial insurers, and operates a major life insurance subsidiary.

Citibank is a subsidiary of Citicorp, a global financial services organization serving individuals, corporations, and governments in 98 countries. The corporation has businesses dedicated to serving the full spectrum of financial needs for consumers in more than 50 countries.

There are many people who use a no fault insurance policy because of the benefits that it offers. But even though you can take advantage of many benefits, you will be giving up some things as well. And when it comes down to it, you need to decide what is more important to you.

With no fault insurance you will be covered during accidents, but to go along with this there is a limit placed on what you can do as far as suing other drivers is concerned. This may never come into play for you, but in some cases there is no avoiding it. With a no fault policy your auto insurance company will pay for all of your damages up to how much is allowed by your particular policy; this holds true regardless of which party was responsible for the accident. But along with this complete coverage, you will never be able to sue another driver; even if they are completely liable.

Even though the system listed above would be perfect, the fact of the matter is that there are no states that act this way. Each state has a different no fault policy system in place. In most cases this means that you are responsible for paying the damages that you cause.

There are many benefits that go along with having a no fault auto insurance policy. A few of the more important ones are listed below.

1. In the case of an accident, everybody who is involved will have the ability to get the proper medical care for their injuries.

2. No matter who is responsible for an accident, you will be covered up to your policy limit.

Even though nobody ever wants to get into an auto insurance accident, the fact of the matter is that it can happen. The good thing is that if you have the proper amount of auto insurance coverage you should never have to worry too much about an accident. In other words, it is better to be safe than sorry when it comes to having the best auto insurance coverage that you can afford.

If you are in the position where you have to file an auto insurance claim the first thing that you should do is contact your insurance company. As a general rule of thumb you should do this right away. If you wait, you may end up getting yourself into a bad situation. Plus, when you deal with an auto insurance company you will have them on your side to help you out when dealing with the other party’s insurer.

After you get in touch with your auto insurance company they will probably send you information so that you can fill out a claim report. In many cases you can do this online as well. When you are filling out your auto insurance claim report make sure to include all of the pertinent information. And remember, honesty is always important when dealing with an auto insurance claim. Even if you do not want the accident to be your fault, it is better off that you take the blame if you are responsible. Being dishonest is not going to get you anywhere.

In addition, if you have the opportunity you should take pictures of the cars that are involved as well as the accident seen itself. This way you will have evidence to support your claim. If you do not remember to do this, or are injured, you should not stress out.

In order to narrow down the competition you will have to come up with a set of criteria that is important to you. There is no way of saying how you should choose your auto insurance provider because every person has a different situation.

Price is always a deciding factor when it comes to buying auto insurance, but it should not be the only thing that you look at. Of course if you feel that you are getting a good level of coverage for a low price then you may want to move forward. But if you are giving up a lot in order to get a low price you are not doing good. This may seem like a bargain up front, but when you have to file a claim you will not want to have a low level of coverage.

One area that you should consider is customer service. Does your current auto insurance company give you good service? Are they always there to help you if you have questions? Do they help you file your claims and get them resolved quickly? These are all things that you will want to take into consideration. After all, if you can never get through to your auto insurance company it will not do you too much good if you need them in an emergency such as to file a claim.