Insurance Anonymous

Finding cheap automobile insurance is a real possibility.  There are options out there and choices to make.  The area of liability insurance is one of those.  It is considered the “bare minimum” insurance you have to carry.  It is mandatory in most states, and what is more, there are minimum coverage requirements too.  

If you are still paying on your vehicle then you will, most likely, have to carry full coverage on your car.  That protects the lender.  If you wreck your car while you’re still paying it off, then the lender wants to be sure the car can be repaired, which means insurance coverage will be able to pay to have that done.  

So what about after you’ve paid the car off?  Many people chose to drop their insurance to the bare minimum requirement, which is liability insurance.  If you do so, just remember, any repairs for damage to your vehicle will have to come completely out of your own pocket.  Plus, if cost of damages to other’s property (including their car) or injury (or death, heaven forbid) exceed the limits set in your liability insurance policy, then that is money out of your pocket as well.  

If your driving a vehicle that is, let’s say, not new.  Ok, it’s kind of a piece of junk, then it may not be wise to carry anything but liability insurance.  You could easily end up paying for collision insurance (that is insurance for damage to your own car) that costs more than the car is actually worth. What would be the point?   Liability insurance alone would be the route to go.

Now, there are two types of liability insurance.  One is for bodily injury (BI) and the other is for property damage (PD).  As the first one suggests, this is to pay for any bodily injury cause to other people in an accident for which you are responsible. That does not include yourself or other people covered under your policy.

You have a choice to make about what limits you will set to have covered in your policy.  That is, how much financial coverage are you willing to pay for?  Obviously the lower the limit, the cheaper the insurance.  This is where most states set a minimum limit for PI liability insurance.  If you were to be sued to pay for medical bills, lost wages, or pain and suffering (these are the typical reasons in such a law suit) your insurance would pay for this up to the limit set in your policy.   You would still be responsible for any amount of the damages that exceeds the limit.  This is why going for the cheapest is not always the wisest.

The other liability insurance (PD) is to pay for any damage to property in an accident for which you are responsible.  That includes another car, a house, building, fences, etc.  The same principle applies here.  You see the limit that your policy will cover.  Again, most states have a bare minimum requirement.  

One last thing, to find the cheapest auto liability insurance, shop around.  All insurance providers are not created equal.  There can be significant differences from one provider to the next for the same coverage.  The best thing to do is locate an auto insurance rate comparison website on the internet.  There are lost of them.  Put in your basic information and begin the selection process.  It’s pretty simple.

Liability insurance covers your risk for driving your vehicle.  You can go for the cheapest liability insurance you can find, but remember, cheapest is not always best.  Make the decision you can live with regarding the level of risk you are willing to take.