Can You Avoid Buying Any Types of Car Insurance Coverage?
Alex Healey
· 4 min read
It is smart to review your
car insurance
policy each year, and make sure you are only paying for coverage you actually need. After all, there are many different types of car insurance
available, and you don’t need all of them.That said, you must maintain enough coverage to protect yourself from financial loss in the event of an accident. Finding this sweet spot between adequate coverage and keeping the cost down can be tricky.
Read on to learn about the most common types of car insurance, and discover how
Jerry
can help you to customize your next policy, guaranteeing you the best coverage for the lowest price.
What are the car insurance laws where you live?
Before you start tearing up your car insurance renewal letter, it is important to remember that nearly every state requires drivers to have some form of car insurance.
Liability insurance is legally required everywhere except for New Hampshire and Virginia. It consists of bodily injury liability and property damage liability, and is used to reimburse the victims of an accident if you are
found to be at fault
.Most states also require drivers to maintain
personal injury protection
(PIP) or medical payments insurance, which will cover your own medical bills following an accident.Uninsured motorist coverage
(UM) is a legal requirement in just over half of the states. This coverage will kick in if you’re hit by a driver who doesn’t have insurance (or enough insurance) to pay for your expenses. Without it, you would be on the hook for costly repair bills and medical costs, through no fault of your own.Kelley Blue Book
explains that in addition to laws governing which types of insurance you need, states also dictate the amount of coverage you need.For example, your state may have minimum liability limits of 15/30/10. This means that following an accident, your insurance policy must cover up to $15,000 in medical bills per person, up to $30,000 in medical bills for the entire accident, and up to $10,000 in property damage.
At the very least, your insurance policy must satisfy the mandatory minimums required by your state. Drivers who get caught without it face fines, vehicle impoundment, and even jail time.
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Common types of optional car insurance coverage
Aside from liability insurance, personal injury insurance, and UM which are all covered above, there are many types of optional insurance coverages which you can add to your policy for an extra fee.
Two of the most common optional add ons are collision insurance and comprehensive insurance.
Collision coverage pays for repairs to your vehicle following a crash, either with another vehicle or a stationary object. It will also pay for repairs if you are the victim of a hit and run.
Comprehensive coverage will pay for damage caused by non-crash related incidents, such as vandalism or severe weather.
While both collision and comprehensive insurance are a good idea for most drivers, and will be required by the lender if you lease your vehicle, they don’t make sense for everyone.
For example, if your car is old and not worth a whole lot, it will likely be written off following a serious accident. As a result, it’s not worth paying for collision coverage, when your insurer is just going to send it to the scrapyard anyway.
Review your optional coverages each year, and if your circumstances have changed, you may be able to remove them from your policy in exchange for a lower premium.
Find savings without losing coverage
Everyone wants
cheaper car insurance
, but before you resort to slashing coverage that you may still need, compare quotes with Jerry
. Jerry is a personal insurance broker that lives in your pocket. But don’t worry about buying tiny office furniture, Jerry is an app.
Once you download Jerry, just answer a handful of questions that will take you roughly 45 seconds to complete and you’ll immediately get car insurance quotes for coverage similar to your current plan.
We’ll show you up to 50 competitive rates side by side, so you can clearly see which company is offering the most coverage for the lowest price. Getting your new policy is 100% free and Jerry customers save an average of $879 a year on car insurance.
