Does Financing a Car Affect Your Car Insurance?

Lenders Require Full Coverage

The main difference between having a loan on a vehicle verses not when it comes to car insurance is that lenders require both comprehensive coverage and collision coverage on top of the state minimum requirements.

Can I Reduce My Coverage in the Winter Months ?

Most financed cars are required to carry full coverage all year round until the loan is paid off per the lender. Some lenders will allow you to put vehicles in storage when it is not in use but documentation from your insurance carrier will probably be required along with your signature verifying you will not drive the vehicle. The lender will most likely have a specific form you will take to your insurance agent for them to fill out. Storage on a vehicle can be a big cost savings and it is worth it to ask your lender if it is a possibility.

How Does a Lender Know What Coverage You Have On Car Insurance ?

Financing a vehicle comes with a little extra paperwork. The lender will want to be added onto your car insurance policy as a loss payee. Insurance carriers update loss payees through mail of any changes to the policy regarding the vehicle they are listed on. It includes late payments, coverage changes, and policy cancellation.

Being required to carry comprehensive and collision by your lender will most definitely raise your car insurance rates when compared with a liability only policy.

Automatic Termination

If the insurance company offers to renew or continue your coverage and you do not accept, the policy will automatically terminate at the end of the

current policy period. Failure to pay the required premium to renew or continue your policy will mean you do not accept the offer.

If you purchase other insurance on your covered automobile, any similar insurance provided by the initial policy will terminate. The termination will occur on the effective date of the other insurance.

Refunds :

There are two ways of calculating your refund after cancellation, pro-rata cancellation and short rate cancellation.

Pro-Rata Cancellation:

This type of calculation is used when the company cancels your policy. It will generate your refund, without any penalty, for canceling during the policy period.

Short Rate Cancellation:

This type of cancellation may be used when the policy is cancelled by you or by a premium finance company. It will generate your refund minus a penalty for canceling during the policy period. The penalty amount

varies according to the total premium and the amount of time left in the policy period.

What Protection Does Travel Insurance Provide ?

Travel insurance provides financial compensation for canceled travel plans, emergency medical assistance, lost luggage and trip delay reimbursements. Additional services that are available include emergency medical evacuation, translations services, prescription medicine replacements and rental car insurance. If you experience significant delays on your trip, you may be able to recoup some food and hotel expenses that result from uncontrollable delays.

We compared several trip insurance plans that provide U.S. and international travel benefits. Some offer packages specifically created for cruises and high adventure vacations. Many insurances offer individual trip plans as well as yearly, group, family and business plans. While most offer group and family plans, some plans cover children without adding to the cost of the premium. If you travel often for business, you may want to look into business or yearly plans.

While your travel agent may attempt to sell you trip insurance, we recommend that you shop around, since your agent may only offer plans from one or two companies (which they may receive commission incentives from). It is also recommended that you avoid purchasing insurance from the same company that owns the cruise line or resort location you plan to use or stay at in the event the company becomes financially compromised.

Insurance Quote Review

Why Insurance Quote Websites?

There was a time when buying insurance was a dreary chore that meant talking to an agent who had only limited insurance company contacts, listening to explanations of mind-numbing policies and costs and then trying to figure out what was best for you.

You now can use online services that are connected to a multitude of agencies to help you search for and compare insurance quotes and find the best coverage. With these services, you have access to literally thousands of insurance agencies in the United States and Canada from which to choose. Online choices give you many benefits, including:

• Time Savings: There are so many insurance agencies in the U.S .and Canada that provide various levels of coverage. It could take hundreds of hours to talk to all the agents involved to find the best plan or get a particular type of insurance coverage. However, most services today can provide insurance quotes the very same day, often within minutes.   
• Convenient Location: You can search by zip code to find the agents near your home or business who offer the kind of coverage you need.
• Multiple Quotes: Most sites can connect you with several agents in your area and many of them can provide several cheap insurance quotes.
• Financial Savings: All of the insurance quote services we've reviewed are free. Most services have access to thousands of agents who can provide a wide range of price structures, so you can search for the lowest rate for the best insurance to suit your needs.
• No Obligation: Each site we reviewed offers quotes with no obligation to buy anything, and an agent will not call you unless you request that service.
• Privacy Protection: The best sites we reviewed give you an extensive privacy policy in writing and also use a secure site protocol to encrypt your personal information so it is safe.

Insurance Quote Website: What to Look For

There are many services from which to choose, but finding the one that best fits your needs can be a challenge. We picked the most reputable online insurance quotes services available and rated them based on the following criteria:

Types of Insurance Quotes

The most comprehensive services offer many coverage options and have access to thousands of agencies. Some services offer only basic policies such as auto or home insurance, whereas others have access to special coverage like professional liability or medical malpractice.

Ease of Use

These sites should be easy to navigate from the start, and the quote request form should take only a few minutes to fill out.

Number & Type of Quotes 

The more auto, home and health insurance quotes you receive, the more choices you'll have regarding policy options and pricing. A good service will offer up to four or five quotes as well as alternative links to agencies that may be able to help if you have a special need. It also helps if the quotes present different policies and plans so you can study them and see what will work best for you.

Help & Support Options

Insurance quote websites should offer a variety of contact methods for customer support including telephone, email, mail or instant message. Online support may range from help menus to FAQs pages to glossaries.

Multi car insurance

What are the requirements for a multi-car policy?

To obtain a multiple-car policy, you need to insure two or more passenger vehicles on the same auto insurance policy. It’s that simple.

You will need the VIN and lienholder information (if applicable) for all vehicles along with the driver’s license numbers for all drivers. This doesn’t vary from a single-car policy other than you are listing more than one vehicle on the policy.

Some insurance companies cap how many vehicles you can have on a multi-car policy at four or five.

Car insurance companies’ rules vary. Some car insurance companies offer a discount only if the insured autos are in the same household and insured by related parties. Other insurers only require you to be at the same address and don’t care if you’re related or not.

You can qualify for the discount mid-term if you place an additional car on your policy. Conversely, if you delete a car mid-policy and are insuring a single vehicle, your discount would stop

Does the coverage need to be the same on each vehicle?

Yes and no. Most insurance companies require that you have the same amount of liability insurance and uninsured motorist coverage on each vehicle, so there is no confusion as to how much liability coverage each vehicle has.

You can, however, carry collision and comprehensive on one car and not another. The same is true for add-on coverages, such as rental reimbursement or custom car and equipment coverage.

In general, the optional coverages that protect vehicles – such as comp and collision, rental reimbursement and custom equipment coverage -- can be different on each vehicle, but your liability, uninsured motorist and other required coverage limits must be the same on all vehicles. That means if you have liability limits of 100/300/50 on the first car, you need those same limits on the second vehicle as well.

Car insurance companies, and state laws, normally require that liability limits on all vehicles on your policy are the same, so there is no confusion as what your liability limits are on any of your vehicles if you’re in an accident. Use our car insurance coverage calculator for a recommendation of an appropriate coverage package.

Remember that it’s the car that is insured, not the person.

If the driver of the second car on the policy, the one with full coverage, were to drive the primary vehicle, he would have only liability coverage if in an accident, since that is the only coverage purchased for that vehicle.

And, whoever drives the second vehicle would have collision and comprehensive coverages available as well as liability if in an accident since those are the coverages on that particular car.

When adding another car, driver or both to your car insurance policy it’s a great time to compare car insurance rates. Your present car insurance company may no longer have the best rates when you factor in the additional car and driver

What are the benefits of a multi-car policy?

Besides any discount, you can insure all the vehicles with one policy with one renewal date and one payment date.

If you get a separate insurance policy for each vehicle you not only miss out on the discount but you also have to keep track of multiple bills and due dates each month.

How big is a multi-car discount?

The discount runs from 10 to 25 percent off of your liability, collision and comprehensive parts of your car insurance policy.

Each vehicle gets this discount, but the discount doesn't compound with each car you add. So, if the discount is 10 percent, your first car will get 10 percent off no matter if you add two or four other cars to the policy.

Health Insurance for Student

This portion of the website provides information about the University Health Insurance Plan

(U-SHIP) and University requirements for health insurance. Find links to:

waive your U-SHIP enrollment

confirm your U-SHIP enrollment (important if you need to access your insurance benefits before the enrollment / waiver deadline)

determine if your alternate insurance plan provides comparable coverage

petition to change your insurance in the middle of the plan year (must be done within 30 days of a qualifying event)

detailed informatinon about the 2015-2016 U-SHIP plan

What You Need to Know

• Each year all insurance eligible students are enrolled in U-SHIP. 
• To waive out of U-SHIP coverage, you must provide proof of alternate comparable coverage before the enrollment/waiver deadline. 
• If you do not waive by the deadline, you will remain enrolled in U-SHIP for the entire academic year, and you will be responsible for the annual premium. 
• If you will use U-SHIP as your insurance coverage for the 2015-2016 academic year, confirm your enrollment as soon as possible. Your data is not active in UnitedHealthcare's system until 48 hours after your enrollment is confirmed. 
• The Patient Protection Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes requirements for student health insurance plans; U-SHIP is compliant with ACA requirements. 

Waiving U-SHIP Coverage :

All registered students must carry good health insurance. (If you are considering waiving U-SHIP coverage, see the Comparable Coverage Checklist to review the benefits that all plans must provide to meet University requirements.) Additionally, if you reside in Chicago during the academic year, your insurance must cover medical care provided in the Chicago area for both emergency and non-emergency medical situations.

What is that long-term care insurance

How long-term care insurance has changed

Policies issued a generation ago typically paid for nursing home care. Today, most policies are comprehensive and cover a wide range of services in a variety of settings, including nursing homes, assisted living communities, adult day care centers, Alzheimer's special care centers and your own home. As coverage has expanded, prices have increased. For help in understanding how to get the best coverage at the lowest price read our article.

You can also choose from a variety of riders - or add-on benefits - such as inflation protection, which allows the value of coverage to increase with inflation. The cost of an inflation protection rider is built into the premium from the beginning.

Many policies also pay for services and equipment to help you live at home, such as electronic monitoring systems, wheelchair ramps, transportation to medical appointments, and training for a friend or relative to provide care.

Some policies even provide payment to family members or friends who care for you, according to the National Clearinghouse for Long-Term Care Information. Another common benefit pays for the service of a care coordinator, who meets with you and then arranges for and monitors care.

Another way to plan for long-term care expenses is through a policy that combines life insurance with long-term care insurance. The popularity of these policies has taken off in recent years, with nearly 100,000 sold in 2014, which was a 4 percent increase over the previous year, according to LIMRA, a global life insurance research and consulting firm. The policies provide long-term care benefits and pay out a death benefit to life insurance beneficiaries if not all of the long-term care coverage is used.

Were having more car accidents

More jobs, more driving, more crashes

While it's impossible to say precisely what's causing more traffic deaths and injuries, the NSC says a stronger economy, lower gas prices and lower unemployment rate are leading to more people on the road. "More people can afford to drive, and many travel longer distances and take vacations," the NSC said in a news release. The increase in driving has been accompanied by 18,630 motor vehicle deaths for the first six months of the year, according to the NSC. That compares with 16,400 deaths during the same period last year. If the rate of fatalities continues, the number of deaths would exceed 40,000 for the first time since 2007.

The number of injuries from motor vehicle accidents in the first six months of the year that resulted in a medical consultation jumped to 2.25 million, up 30 percent from 2014. "Traffic deaths rise and fall with the economy. We had record low numbers during the recession, so it's not surprising that deaths would increase as the economy slowly recovers," says Russ Rader, spokesman for the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS).

In reality, you’re safer than ever

Motor vehicle deaths peaked at more than 51,000 in 1979 and 1980. At that time there were more than 3 deaths per 100 million miles traveled, according to the IIHS. For the first half of this year, there were 1.3 deaths per 100 million vehicle miles traveled. The enhanced safety features in today's vehicles have led to the sharp decline in deaths per vehicle miles traveled, Rader says.

Why your insurance rates are rising

The cumulative cost of the accidents so far this year has totaled $152 billion, up 24 percent from last year. That figure includes things such as medical expenses, wage and productivity losses, and property damage. Those soaring costs can affect all drivers, even if you've never been in an auto accident.

Both Allstate and Geico reported that they planned to boost rates because they have been handling more frequent auto insurance claims and more severe claims. Allstate reported an increase in property damage and bodily injury claims among both high-risk and preferred drivers, across state lines, and from customers old and new.

“We are broadly increasing rates to catch up, and then keep pace, with increased loss costs,” Allstate President Matt Winter said during a conference call with analysts on Aug. 4. Geico, announcing a 7.7 percent increase in rates for new Illinois customers, reported more frequent and more costly property damage, collision, bodily injury and personal injury protection claims.

The high costs of high-tech gadgetry

The cost of auto insurance claims has been on the rise for a number of years, driven by the increasing costs of medical care and the rising costs of repairing today's vehicles, which are equipped with so much more technology, says Robert Passmore, assistant vice president of personal lines policy at the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America.

On the other hand, the average vehicle on the road is 11.5 years old, and older cars are more likely to be considered a total loss if they're involved in a wreck, Passmore says.

New-car sales are expected to top 17 million this year, McChristian says. While new vehicles are much safer because of the extra equipment and technology, the technology can be a double-edged sword and be a distraction to drivers. And cell phone usage has a major role to play. The NSC says one-quarter of traffic accidents involve someone using a cell phone.

Long-term trend points to fewer crashes, not more

Even if the economy continues to strengthen, Passmore doesn't think that will necessarily continue to impact traffic fatality and injury rates. The number of vehicles on the road hasn't risen much in recent years, and millennials are less likely than their parents to even get their driver's licenses. Autonomous cars are being tested on public roads in several states. At the same time, public transportation usage is on the rise, and people are turning to ride-sharing services such as Uber and Lyft, Passmore says.

"I don't know that it (the increasing number of traffic fatalities) is going to be an ever-rising trend," he says. Reports from think tanks and industry trade groups suggest a dramatic drop in both accidents and insurance costs will become evident a generation from now.