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A lot of car owners will agree that at times auto insurance can get very costly for the ordinary budget. And having to deal with the economic recession, most of us would agree that learning how to cut insurance costs effectively is a necessity these days. When every dollar counts, getting smart about your expenses is the best way to cut down your costs without sacrificing insurance coverage. But how do you do that and what should you start with?

Fortunately, it’s not that complicated as it may seem. You just need to ask yourself the right questions about auto insurance in order to determine your exact needs and adjust your policy respectively. There are four questions that are very important, so make sure you put them right and get a definite answer:

Do I have the right coverage amount?

Collision and comprehensive coverage is the type, which is mostly influenced by depreciation of the vehicle itself. So if your car is quite old you may want to adjust or even drop collision and comprehensive. Check other types of coverage as well, since your needs could have changed from the moment you’ve purchased the initial policy. Marital status change, moving to another place or changing the car should make you review your policy according to your new needs. Keep the policy up to date and you will always have adequate insurance costs.

Can I afford raising the deductible?

You should know the rule about the deductible: the higher it is the lower premium you have to pay. Deductibles are out-of-pocket expenses you have to cover before the insurance coverage kicks in. And the higher is the amount of deductible, the less the insurance company is bother by minor claims and can set your premiums accordingly. However, keep in mind that you have to afford such expenses. There’s no point in setting a $1,000 deductible when you can’t afford paying so much money upfront in case of an accident. So keep your deductible within the range you can afford.

Can I opt for any discounts?

Ask your insurance agent or broker if you qualify for any discounts. See if installing additional safety features into your car will lower your premiums. If you are good driver with a clean record you can receive a discount too. Good students with a high semester average can get better rates. It never hurts to ask, but you can save some money as a result.

Did I shop around enough?

It’s not big news that different insurers can have different auto insurance quotes for the same vehicle. This is because insurance companies have different claim histories and use different algorithms when calculating their rates. Use it to your advantage and shop around to get the best rates. There are a lot of auto insurance quotes available online for free, and the more you get to compare the higher is your chance of finding a really competitive policy in the first place.

With these questions in mind it will be much easier for you to find the right policy to cover your needs. So keep asking them from time to time when you feel your auto insurance needs have changed and adjust your coverage respectively.

Sometimes when your eyes scan the countryside as you drive the interstate, you catch sight of lone farmhouses or small communities nestling into valleys and you get caught up in that dream. Urban living may be convenient with all the services in easy reach, but there’s a romantic gloss to living somewhere remote. You get that spectacular view of all that peace and quiet, with just the occasional neighbor and some raccoons as company. There’s a white picket fence and that picturesque hillside out back that develops a stream running through your cellar every time it rains. And then you suddenly list all the problems about whether you can get hooked up to power and how far away the nearest hospital is if you have an emergency.

So before you get sucked too far into the dream, here are a couple of issues to think about. Some of these rural properties have a lot of wood in their construction. This may look beautiful but it’s a fire hazard. Your first question for the realtor is where the nearest fire department is located. Then you need to get into the small print. Looking at your own location, perhaps set back from the road with not the best water pressure in the local pipes, what’s the average response time to reach you and, when they arrive, how effective will they be in putting out the fire? This means looking at what equipment the fire department has and how well trained the volunteers are. Yes, that’s right. You’re not dealing with a team of highly-trained professionals. These are your neighbors who train when they can and hope it’s your home they have to save and not their own.

In most rural areas, the state Property Insurance Association will do a visit every two or three years. They issue a points rating for every fire department and that can be the difference between fire coverage that’s affordable and quotes that bring a sharp intake of breath. Then there’s the question of communications. If you have an emergency, how easy is it to call help, and how quickly can all the volunteers gather together? Live in the wrong place and your house is a pile of cooling ash before any help arrives. Now change fire into all the problems. There’s that cellar full of water. Who’s going to reinforce the hillside to ensure a wall of mud or worse is not going to wipe you off the map? And what happens when winter snows bring down your power cables? And who said anything about termites?

None of this should stop you from living the dream but, before you let the realtor talk you into signing, you should get some home insurance quotes to see whether you can afford to live there. Literally, the ground can move under you or slide down. Water can flood and fire can burn the forest around you. Rural living is good so long as you are born into it or go into it with your eyes open. If you want to keep that home, pay what it takes to get reliable home insurance for all the obvious hazards.

There are several facts clear. When you look at all the different types of natural disaster that can affect your home, flooding is one of the most common. It makes no difference whether you live in a city or the countryside, when enough rains fall, either the drains back up or the ground gets so saturated, the water has nowhere to go but across the ground in a flood. In fact, even if you have a home in an area supposedly rated as a low flood risk, you can still get caught. Whether climate change is real, one thing does seem clear. We have had a lot more weather recently, and it has been causing damage to the structures of our homes and ruining the contents. So, no matter where you live, remember your home is the biggest single capital investment you make. Some coverage is better than no coverage.

Except, there’s a strange plague sweeping the country. It seems insurance companies have decided to stop offering wind and water-related insurance cover. We could be cynical and say this is just capitalism at work but, when you can’t get coverage yourself, you find that ever helpful mortgage holder comes up with a policy that brings tears to your eyes. In all this, there’s one fact that’s supposed to make this all bearable. There’s always flooding coverage from FEMA.

Introduced in 1968, the Federal Flood Insurance Program is intended to give you cover so long as your community participates. This allows owners, renters, business operators and condominium unit owners the chance to get some cover. So what has to happen? There has to be a mapping exercise which captures where the local floodplain lies and in which direction the floodways run. Getting this information right requires input from hydrologists and other experts. But FEMA has been in financial difficulties and one of the economies it has made is in the mapping department. That’s why many of its maps show floodplains and floodways as straight lines. No real money has been spent on matching the maps to the rise and fall of the local land. According to FEMA, it’s all flat.

This failure creates genuine hardship. You may know your home is built on higher, well-drained ground but, when it comes to the cost of insurance, you’re treated the same as people whose homes are most at risk at the bottom of the hill. Since commercial insurers use FEMA’s maps, you can end up paying hundred more dollars than you should. It can be worth paying for an expert’s report to appeal the mapping, but not everyone has the cash available to pay for that.

So always check the homeowners insurance quotes to see whether flood coverage is included and, if so, whether it’s limited in ways that make it poor value. Talk to your neighbors and find out how their insurers define the area’s risk level. If you have a well-organized area, there should be a person designated as your area’s floodplain manager. Your local manager should be able to offer detail advice. To get the best value homeowners insurance, you really do need a community response, particularly if you want to appeal FEMA’s maps.

Sure, it’s a very unpleasant surprise to find out that your particular insurance situation is not covered when filing a claim. Exclusions from coverage vary from policy to policy and across providers. Still, there are typical exclusions you will run across in most policies, and knowing them will save you from having a lot of headache when you really need the coverage. Here are some things to look out for:

1. Insuring a teen driver

One of the most common causes for policy holder to get confused is whether or not to include a teen driver if he or she already has a driver’s license. Usually, it depends on the insurance providers as some insurers don’t require teens younger than 18 to be specifically mentioned in the policy even if they are driving the vehicle. However, the best option is to contact your insurance provider or agent and ask them how to proceed. In most cases, if your teen driver gets into an accident while driving your car and he’s not listed in the policy, you will get covered but your policy may ultimately be voided because you didn’t mention having a teen driver in your family.

2. Giving your car to a friend

In most cases, when your friend borrows your car for a ride he or she will be covered. And if they end up in an accident your car will be covered, too. However, it depends on how often this happens. If your friend uses your car on occasion, it’s OK with the insurance company. But if they are using it on a regular basis and aren’t living in your household, then they should be included into your insurance policy for your car to be covered in times when they are driving it.

3. Injuries to pets during accidents

In case your pet is injured or killer during the accident caused by you, the expenses won’t be covered by your policy. Even in case you have collision coverage, which pays for damages to your vehicle when you’re at fault, most policies have exclusion when it comes to personal property in the car, and pets are considered as personal property by the law. Still, if your pet gets hurt or killed in an accident when the other party is at fault, you may file a third-party liability claim for reimbursing the medical bills or the market value of your pet.

4. Accidents made by drivers who are not listed in the policy

Some policyholders choose to exclude a particular family member from the insurance policy because they may cause high car insurance quotes. For example teens usually have higher car insurance quotes and raise the policy’s premiums when included. Family members with DUI convictions also influence the premiums negatively. However, if such a family member or any other person who is intentionally excluded from the policy and has access to your car ends up in an accident, your insurer won’t pay a penny in coverage. It’s your total responsibility.

There are some simple tips many car owners forget about following. Still, these tips can make it much easier for you when it comes to comparing auto insurance quotes. So the nest time you’ll be looking for a new policy make sure you keep the following tips in mind.

When should I get auto insurance quotes?

The best time to get auto insurance quotes is 30-45 days before your policy renewal period. This will allow you to compare the quotes without having to make fast decisions and will give you an adequate and timely picture of the insurance industry in your area at the moment. In general, it is recommended to review your policy every two years and check if there are more competitive deals available. When you change your vehicle, place of residence or marital status, the insurance policy should also be reviewed and adjusted to your new needs.

How auto insurance quotes should be compared?

When looking for a new policy always make sure to compare the same amounts of coverage and deductibles across all quotes. There’s no sense in comparing quotes for different coverage amounts since the difference won’t reflect the actual divergence in the premiums you will pay. In order to see how changes in deductibles and coverage amounts will affect your rates you can change them and get quotes for any combination. However, keep in mind that different companies use different methods of calculating their rates and if one company gives you certain results when playing around with coverage amounts, this doesn’t mean that the other provider will give you the same results. Another thing to pay attention to is that you get exact auto insurance quotes, not estimates. When comparing estimates in most cases the actual rates will be higher than the amount you get in the first place. Insurance quotes, on the other hand, tend to be constant even after buying the policy and rarely change too much.

Where can I get quotes?

The best source for auto insurance quotes is of course going online. There are many sites providing free auto insurance quotes, and you can even compare quotes from your local providers. Of course, you can also contact your insurance agent or address the provider directly. However, this is a bit time consuming and ineffective. It’s much easier to compare quotes after a few clicks of the mouse, right? Besides you’re not limited to just a couple of companies and are free to get any quotes from any provider working in your area.

What should I do when I have already chosen the right quote?

If you’ve found the perfect quote for your car and want to get the respective policy you can typically apply directly from the site you got quotes at. You will be linked directly to the submission page at the corporate site of the insurer you’re interested in buying from. Still, always make sure to read the contents of the policy before applying. You should know what your policy will and will not cover before signing it. So apply only in case you are fully aware of the actual policy contents.