Before you get on your way to buy cheap auto insurance, evaluate the answer to the question, “How can a low price on car insurance be bad?” If there are two car insurances, one with $80/month at Insurer 1 and $70/month at Insurer 2, typically, an insurer will try to take advantage of the second one as it means a $10 reduction every month.
If the question ‘why you need to go for a higher insurance’ comes into your mind, it speaks for itself the fact that you are unaware of how your car insurance works and is at the same time downright scared about this lack of information within your reach. It is always safer to remain knowledgeable on how the auto insurance works before setting out to purchase one. Or it can result in a situation far worse than you ever imagined it to be.
The reason for the same can be cited with a simple example. Imagine you were driving alone on the road when someone pulls out of the parking lane onto the road at 30MPH forcing the car on your next lane to jump into your lane. On reaching your lane, they step on the brakes suddenly, making you smash on them.
In spite of you not being responsible for the root cause, you can be held liable for compensating the injury to the people and damage to the cars that resulted from the event. In Texas, the state minimum coverage is prescribed as 20/40/15 – the meaning of which I am sure many are unaware of.
Each number is in thousands and represents the maximum coverage you would receive in the event of an accident. 20 means that up to $20,000, the insurance company will meet the per person bodily injury costs, 40 means up to $40,000 of total bodily injury per accident and 15 means up to $15,000 of the amount of property damage covered.
If, in the above example, the person you hit received $10,000 in bodily injury, this will be covered as it is below the $20,000 total bodily injury limits and also under the $40,000 per accident limit. However, if the damages to the car based on the repair costs came to $18,000, then based on your coverage, your insurance company would pay up to $15,000, demanding you to pay the balance of $3,000 out of your pocket.
On the other hand, if in the above accident, your car hit a car with 3 passengers which went and smashed on another with 2 passengers, causing a bodily injury of $50,000 and vehicular damages of $36,000, where the other cars are uninsured or underinsured, then their insurance company would take care of the excess bodily injury, and property damage costs not covered by your policy, but will later approach you for the whole of the remaining $31,000 not covered by your insurance. Imagine the hit it can cause on to your financial position!
So, consider whether an extra cost of $30 a month or an outright payment of $30,000 is easier to afford before making the insurance purchase.