Shopping for vehicle insurance can be an overwhelming process with a couple of key decisions that need to be made:
What kind of coverage do I need and which companies provide auto insurance in my area at the best price?
Jacksonville, like most major cities, has a great variety of auto insurance options to choose from. With patience, you will be able to find insurance options that fit all your needs.
Basic Coverage
The first thing that must be determined when you are shopping for car insurance is how much coverage you need. Some people only require the lowest cost and lowest coverage option: basic coverage. Basic coverage is the coverage you can’t go without and is usually the base level of coverage mandated by your state.
Basic coverage usually involves liability coverage, comprehensive coverage, and collision coverage. Liability coverage is coverage that protects you from the monetary cost of being at-fault in an accident; medical and auto-repair costs are an excellent example of this. Comprehensive coverage is coverage that covers a wide array of unfortunate events that could befall your car. It covers events like hail damage, theft, and damage as a result of a natural disaster.
Collision Coverage
Collision coverage will pay to repair your car no matter who is at fault in the accident. Since liability insurance would only pay for your car repairs if the other driver involved in the accident was at fault and they had enough liability insurance to cover all the cost of your repairs, collision coverage can be a real godsend were an accident to happen.
Extended Coverage
Extended coverage is the next step up from the basic coverage options that we just discussed. Extended coverage can include options like medical payments coverage (MedPay), personal injury protection (PIP), and uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage.
Medical Payments Coverage
Medical payments coverage is coverage that will pay for most or all of your medical expenses resulting from an accident, no matter if you were at fault. Personal injury protection is similar, but more extensive coverage that comes with higher premiums and more benefits. PIP will cover things like medical expenses, physical therapy, and lost wages.
Uninsured and Underinsured Coverage
Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage is exactly what it sounds: it is coverage that will cover you if you are in an accident with someone who commits a hit-and-run, lacks insurance, or does not carry insurance with high enough liability coverage to cover your expenses.
Premium Coverage
The last type of coverage that comes with the highest cost to you is premium coverage, which can cover mechanical breakdown protection, rental reimbursement, and roadside assistance among various other coverage options. Premium coverage is for those who want to go above and beyond to ensure that were an accident to occur, they will have every amenity available to them while they deal with the fallout. Most of these coverage options are self-explanatory and tend to vary depending on your insurance provider, so be sure to do your research if you are looking for premium coverage.
Insurance premiums can vary quite a bit from company to company and from location to location. Having a local agency in the Jacksonville area, like First Beaches Insurance, can help you look at all the options available to you. As an example, we have 5 great auto insurance carriers we represent and can find the right policy and price for our clients.
Getting the Best Price
There are some easy ways to ensure that you are getting the best prices available on your auto insurance. One of the easiest ways is to work on your credit score, which plays a significant role in the quotes you receive from insurance companies. The higher you can get your credit score, the lower your quotes will be for auto insurance.
Another easy way to lower insurance premiums is to ask about discounts. Many companies will give discounts to customers who bundle home and auto insurance together or insure multiple cars on one policy.
Jacksonville has a plethora of options when it comes to vehicle insurance. If you are willing to go beyond taking the first quote you come across, you will find a policy that fits all of your needs.