Thursday, August 7, 2014

The dangers of the car insurance "race"

You've heard the ads:

"15 minutes could save you 15 percent!"

"Welcome to the modern world. Save in half the time!"

First of all, I hadn't realized it was a race.



Price is important, nobody understands that better than me. The best auto insurance in the world does you no good if you can't afford it.

But the battle over whether the protection of everything you own is worth a quarter of an hour vs. 7 1/2 minutes?

That really is what we're talking about here. It's not just your car you're protecting, it's also your assets.

Now then, I know you have an excellent driving record and you would never get into an accident that's your fault. But let's pretend for a moment that you do get into an accident and you send someone to the hospital.

The accident is your fault, so it's your responsibility to pay for the other guy's hospital bills and the pay he's not receiving because he is in the hospital.

If someone dies in that accident, you're responsible for not only their burial costs, but all of the money that he won't make to take care of his family.

Your insurance company will pay all those bills, that's it's job. But it's only going to pay the bills up to the liability limits that you've set up.

If you haven't set those limits high enough, you may have to pay for the hospital bills and the lost wages with whatever money you have in your bank account, whatever assets the court says is claimable, plus whatever wages the court says can be garnished.

That's what those ads promising "quick and easy" don't tell you and that's why it's worth a lot more than just 15 minutes. That's why it's worth talking to an agent about what coverages are right for you.

But at least it's not Norm McDonald extolling the benefits of just doing the minimum. I really hate those ads.
photo credit: sdowen via photopin cc

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