Comparing Auto Insurance Coverage and Rates

Why is Comparison so Important?

Everyone has been in a situation where they have purchased something from a store and then a little while later, across town, they see their new purchase on sale in another store and realize that they have missed out on a saving. Auto insurance can be as frustrating but even more costly if a person rushes into committing to the first policy they see.

Comparing insurance companies will allow the car owner to look at the rates being offered, but also the different policies available. It is important to weigh up cost versus cover. Sometimes the cheapest deals may not provide the client with the cover they need. It is important therefore for a person to know exactly what kind of cover they need before looking at quotes.

Comparing Companies Online

In today's world the first step most people will take is to scour the internet for answers and rightfully so as there is a wealth of information readily available, all at the click of a mouse. There are two main ways to compare companies online:

Use a Search Engines

By typing in "cheap auto insurance" into a search engine, a huge array of results will appear on the page. By clicking on a company and entering all the relevant details, a person can obtain a quote in minutes. This can then be noted down before moving on to the next company on the search results page. It is important to remember that by using different search phrases and search engines, varying results will be shown so it is well worth trying out a few variations before calling it a day.

Comparison Sites
It seems there are comparison sites for practically everything these days and auto insurance is no different. The benefit of using such sites is that it is not as much time and effort as scouring a results page. The information only needs to be submitted once on one form in order to gleam multiple results of quotes that are presented in an easy to understand way (usually in the form of a list) so all the information can be seen at a glance.

Whilst the comparison sites are extremely useful, they do not produce every single result and for that reason it is best to combine both methods of comparing companies online.

The First Car Led to The First Mechanic

The first car was created and it was good. A few days later, it broke down. That was bad. This led, of course, to the creation of the first mechanic.

From the time German Engineer, Karl Benz, invented the first practical automobile to use an internal combustion engine, there has been a need for mechanics. A mechanic is defined as someone who provides repairs or maintenance to a machine. Benz's made his first auto in 1885 and the history of the auto mechanic begins there for all practical purposes. Machines will break and they will do so even faster without care. Mechanics have always been with us and they have always repaired the engines we have used to help us with our work.

Automobiles were something totally different right from the start and the early mechanics were the same ones who had been repairing the horse drawn vehicles that they replaced. It did not take long for this to change. The automobile engine was something new and much more complex than the simple wagons and carriages. As automobiles quickly began to spread out, mechanics began to specialize in their repair and maintenance.

An example of how rapid this spread was can be seen in the fact that auto mechanics formed a union in Seattle, Washington in 1917. A year later, this union had 250 members, but in just two year's time, 1920, membership had grown to 500. Although auto mechanic unions never really caught on in the same way they did in the trucking or construction trades, these figures show how quickly the field of auto mechanics was growing.

Used Car Dealers Insurance: Consider These Coverages When You Shop For Your Dealership

This articles discusses the different coverages that are available for used car dealers. Certain coverage or limits discussed here may be suitable for the used car dealers in Illinois. There are thousands of used car dealers in Illinois with about 700 registered used car dealers in the City of Chicago. Coverage types and limits may vary according to state.

Generally speaking, used car dealer insurance is expensive because of the fact that the insurance company has no idea of who will be sitting behind the wheel during test drives. Also, liability coverage limits for used car dealers are higher than those in personal auto insurance. In the State of Illinois used car dealers must maintain a minimum liability limits of $100,000 for bodily injury per person, $300,000 for bodily injury per accident, and $50,000 property damage per accident (100/300/50). The State of Illinois does not require more than the statutory limits of $20,000 bodily injury per person, $40,000 bodily injury per accident for the uninsured motorist.

The following is a list of mandatory and optional coverages that owners of used car dealerships need to consider as they shop for insurance coverage.

GARAGE LIABILITY: Provides protection for liability resulting from the maintenance and the ownership of the garage (ie because of ownership/use of a Covered Auto, and because of "Other than Covered Auto.") Basically Garage Liability provides protection for the premises (ie slip and fall) and for auto accidents. Again, Garage Liability limits for used car dealers must be maintained at 100/300/50 in Illinois.

AUTO LIABILITY: Provides protection for the used car dealer in the event of being sued because of an auto accident. As mentioned earlier there is a minimum limit in each state, and the State of Illinois requires 100/300/50 from all used car dealers. This coverage is almost always included as part of the GARAGE LIABILITY.

DEALERS OPEN LOT: Provides physical damage coverage on vehicles that are owned by the dealer. Physical damage coverage includes Collision Coverage (if/ when vehicle collides with another object, or overturn) and may also include one or more of the following coverages: (1) Comprehensive or other than collision coverage which encompasses all other losses resulting from anything other than collision, (2) Specified Cause (less coverage than in 1) which includes certain coverages specified in the policy such as fire, lightning, explosion, theft, windstorm, hail, flood, mischief and vandalism; or [3] Fire and Theft (less coverage than 2). Insurance companies may set coverage limits per vehicle (for example, the policy may contain a limit of $25,000 per vehicle, maximum 275,000 for the lot.) This limit may be a problem for certain dealers that sell expensive vehicles.

Coinsurance Clause: This is the percentage which will determine if you are fully covered on a partial loss. If your policy states that your coinsurance is 90%, then the coverage on the Dealer Open Lot listed on your policy must be 90% or higher of the actual value of your inventory, in order for the insurance company to pay your loss in full.

Example: An SUV was a total covered loss with a value of $35,000. If your policy states that you have 90% coinsurance, and your actual inventory was $300,000 at the time of the loss, then you need $270,000 (90% X 300,000) for you to be 100% covered on that loss. Let us assume that your policy has only $200,000 coverage on dealer open lot. These numbers mean that you had only 74% coverage of the amount you were supposed to have (200,000/270,000). In that case, the insurance company will pay you only about $25,900 for the lost SUV (35,000 X 74%), without considering any deductible.