Monday, December 28, 2009

Save money on car insurance by shopping around, tweaking policy

Personal finance expert Clark Howard suggests on his website that drivers shop for car insurance at least every three years - unless they're customers of Amica or USAA, two companies lauded for their customer service.

The internet makes insurance shopping easy, says Howard. Some websites will display quotes from multiple insurers, allowing shoppers to compare similar plans side-by-side.

Even if a customer plans on staying with her insurance company, itwon't hurt to call and try negotiating a better rate, experts say. But she shouldn't bother unless her driving record is unblemished.

Teresa McUsic, a personal finance columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, recently wrote about adding her teenage son to the family insurance policy. She was expecting her premium to jump -- instead, it dropped $200. She credits the savings to her son's driver's education certification and the fact that he was listed as a nonprimary driver.

Having fewer cars than drivers, the columnist's insurance


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Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Car insurance with 8 weeks’ worth free from Direct Line

With car insurance a legal requirement, and with so many people trying to save money at the moment, it’s great to see that Direct Line are offering 8 weeks’ worth of free car insurance to new customers.
There’s no difference in the policy being offered, just a great offer with a discounted premium to pay, helping you get the best car insurance deal.
As we covered in our article on ‘Where to get the best car insurance quotes‘, buying car insurance can be a minefield but there are ways to make sure you get a good deal – not least by taking up one of the many offers from providers as they try to win your business.
Check out our latest best car insurance deals for more.
The policy from Direct Line includes some great features, such as
Vandalism Promise – you won’t lose your No Claims Discount if you claim for damage as a result of vandalism to your car
Uninsured Driver Promise – you won’t lose your no claims discount or your excess if you make a claim for an accident that isn’t your fault or the dirver of the car that hits you is uninsured.
Kerry Chilvers, Head of Marketing, comments ‘Direct Line is well known for providing outstanding products and services, and in the current financial climate, our offers highlight the fact that we have some of the best value products on the market.’


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Saturday, November 28, 2009

Florida Car Insurance Laws

Florida car insurance laws have provisions regarding mandatory limits, and they dictate what type of coverage is made part of a policy.  With respect to medical bills incurred as the result of the accident, Florida car insurance policies are required to contain Personal Injury Protection or PIP coverage.  This is often referred to as no-fault insurance and is common in many states. In Florida, owners of a registered vehicle are required to carry PIP coverage.  The State of Florida may suspend a policyholder's driver license and vehicle registration if the policyholder fails to maintain PIP coverage.

FLORIDA CAR INSURANCE QUOTES FOR FREE!

No-fault PIP benefits are designed to pay the medical benefits of those injured in a car, regardless of who was at fault for the accident.  This means that if you are driving your car, and someone else causes your accident, Florida car insurance law dictates that your own policy always pays for your medical bills.  In Florida, this also includes pedestrians that are struck by a covered vehicle.  This legislation is designed to eliminate delays caused by liability disputes common in car accidents.  Without no-fault laws, a person’s medical care may be placed in jeopardy while the insurance companies fight over which driver was liable for the accident, which could take a significant amount of time.

Along with details about which insurance company will cover which people, the legislation also has strict rules for insurers to abide by, specifically with respect to the time it takes to get a payment issued for medical bills.  If PIP payments are not made within 30 days, a Florida car insurance company is subject to penalties and interest.  If a covered person files a lawsuit against the insurance company for PIP benefits, the insurer is also then responsible to pay for the insured’s lawyer.

Insurance companies have a defense to this 30-day requirement however.  If they can prove that they had “reasonable proof” that would demonstrate that they were not responsible for payment, then the payment cannot be considered overdue.  The question begs, “What is reasonable?”  Currently the law says that if the insurer asserts that the treatment was unrelated to the auto accident, was not medically necessary or was “unreasonable”, or was in excess of what was permitted by law, they do not have to pay and will not be subject to fines for over due payments.

This has been recently confirmed in a recent court decision United Auto. Insurance Co. v. Millennium Diagnostic Imaging Ctr., Inc. (Fla. 3d DCA Case No. 3D08-772, Opinion Filed May 6, 2009).  In that case, the court affirmed that an insurer can challenge treatments at any time, and that they can rely on a report to challenge the treatment if the report was not obtained until after the 30-day time-period had elapsed.

By stating that Florida car insurance company can challenge a treatment at “any time”, the court has made it possible for an insurance company to delay payment for as long as it would take to obtain a report that would refute the need for treatment.

No-fault PIP coverage is an important aspect of Florida auto insurance and remains one of the most effective means of ensuring that medical bills are paid promptly when people are injured in an auto accident.  Ensuring compliance with PIP insurance laws is undertaken by the Florida Department of Financial Services.


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Sunday, November 15, 2009

BestCarInsurance.net Offers Tips on Finding the Best Car Insurance in a Tough Economy

Today's insurance shoppers have access to endless amounts of information readily available online to compare top insurer nationwide. Rather than having to pull out a phone book, call countless auto insurance agents, discuss policies with each, compare quotes and choose the policy with the cheapest car insurance premiums, insurance shoppers can have insurance agents come to them with websites such as BestCarInsurance.net.

There are several websites that insurance shoppers can use to find the cheapest car insurance premiums (http://bestcarinsurance.net/cheapest-car-insurance-premiums.htm). Users can quickly enter basic information about their car, driving history and residence. This online form will be sent to a network of car insurance agents in the local area who will use the information to come up with a quote. The agents are aware that other agents are competing for the same consumer, so they will work that much harder to ensure they are offering the most complete car insurance coverage at the absolute lowest rate.


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Wednesday, October 28, 2009

SaveTodayAutoInsurance.com Cites Apr 2009 Study Confirming Continued Growth in Use of the cyberspace to Obtain Auto Insurance Quotes

SaveTodayAutoInsurance.com Cites April 2009 Study Confirming Continued Growth in Use of the Internet to Obtain Auto Insurance Quotes


Leading auto insurance quote website SaveTodayAutoInsurance.com sees jump in online auto insurance quote volume. Company cites recent study by comScore (1) which indicates that nearly two out of every three auto insurance shoppers use the internet to obtain auto insurance quotes.

Lexington, KY (Advertiser Talk) 31-Jul-2009 — SaveTodayAutoInsurance.com reports increased volume of online auto insurance quotes in 2009, citing the effect that recent economic realities have on the behavior of auto insurance shoppers. Consumers have historically found that looking for a new auto insurance policy too time consuming. The internet is now the top method for consumers to obtain free auto insurance quotes, and the task can be greatly simplified by using an online auto insurance quote

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Thursday, October 15, 2009

Compare Car Insurance Companies Quotes to Save Hundreds of Dollars

When you begin looking for insurance it may seem to be a difficult task as there are an enormous amount of companies offering you a variety of options making it harder to make a decision.

An auto insurance agency is essentially selling you a product for a fee, but in case of car insurance, you can buy for yourself without the fee. To avoid paying this extra money you can go online and purchase your policy directly from the insurance company. To do so only take a few minutes and the agent's fee is taken out of the equation. This is where the bulk of the savings comes from when you buy insurance online.

Buying insurance online is not a technologically difficult process. In fact anyone who has ever bought anything online will be familiar with the process. All you have to do is enter your information in the little boxes and you will get a quote almost instantaneously. Most insurance companies will provide you with estimated quotes based on the information you have provided on their web page in a matter of minutes.

There are affiliate sites who will direct you to the best and top insurance companies for quotes. This is a good tool to use. You will complete a quick questionnaire with your information, name, address, if you currently have insurance or not, the make and model of your automobile, and possibly your age.

The affiliate site matches you with providers instantly to get you started with your auto insurance quotes comparison. In most cases a list of the insurance carriers will immediately populate. In other cases, a list will come up and you select the providers you'd like to start with. It depends on your preference. If you want quick information and trouble free user friendly tools, look around for a full service online tool to eliminate phone calls and emails. It's that easy.


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Friday, August 28, 2009

Car Insurance Providers Lower Rates For Back To School

As teenagers are getting ready to go back to school and parents are reviewing their car insurance policies, the providers of car insurance plans are in a price war to lower their premiums to attract more business. Price wars are causing auto insurance companies to lower rates this month. Trey Augusta reports.

You could be saving money right now by paying a lower price for your car insurance. In fact it is very likely that the company you are currently using has lowered its rates without telling you, or there is another company out there on the market now with cheaper prices. An easy quick way of finding out whether this is true is to do a free search online that can help you compare quotes from all the car insurance companies on the market at present.

Currently it is so likely you are paying too much for your auto insurance. Today's state of the economy has driven car insurance companies to lower their prices in an attempt to get as much business as possible by undercutting the other companies out there. This puts you in a great position.

Online is the best way to search for the cheapest car insurance quote. You don't have to deal with annoying sale people and it saves you time, energy and is almost guaranteed to find you the cheapest price. It's as simple as pressing few buttons.

Many Americans don't know that car insurance quotes are revised daily because the car insurance sales people don't want you to know this. The internet is far more effective at getting you reliable quotes. It could save you hundreds of dollars per year.

If it has been more than a month since you have searched for quotes online or since your car insurance rate has changed do a quick search online and see if you could be saving money, it is highly likely you could be. Every American who has car insurance needs to check for free to see exactly how much their rate has changed.


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