Lawyers, car insurance and tort law, uneasy bedmates.

This article aims to provide you with an insight of the mechanisms behind car insurance. The technical fine points of car insurance and the interaction of the players of this game of numbers and chance are not well known by most. This is a chance to understand not only the what but the why behind our auto insurance.

Have you ever tried to explain somebody how to play a game they have no understanding of. For you the game is as simple as can be, even toddlers understand it, you might say. However, remember that toddlers also speak Chinese and read Sanskrit, skills not of all of us have. I recently was explained, or rather I should say, someone tried to explain to me the rules of American football. It was amusing to see my friend trying to explain concisely the rules of such a complex game. I still don’t understand the game completely so I will stick with Football (as in the original Football) when illustrating this point.

How do you start explaining the game? You might start by explaining the objective of the game. In the case of Football the objective is to introduce a round ball in the “goal” or net of the opposing team.

The Objective

The objective of car insurance is to provide financial protection from any damages, legal and medical liabilities that are a result of an accident or the use of your vehicle. In the case of the insurance company the objective is to make as much as a profit while keeping the clients sufficiently happy to continue paying their premiums.

Another important factor in Football is the role each player has. There are defender, midfielders, forwards, wings and so on. A major player is the goalkeeper. He is the only player that may touch the ball with the hands.

The players.

In car insurance there are various players each with their own agenda.

The broker: he wants the commission from your insurance policy. He will bend backwards to keep you happy and continue receiving the commission from your insurance renewal.

Then there is the car insurance company that has to balance the premium price to provide a profit to the company and keep you as a customer. The desire of attaining new customers might motivate the car insurance company to lower the premium of your car insurance.

You are the real player of the game, you are able to choose from a whole cohort of car insurance companies, ask for quotes and get the best deal there is to get.

Lawyers are interesting players in this game. They get paid by both sides and make a killing whoever wins. Such is the case that some car insurance companies have tried to arrange for no fault car insurance policies. These policies are cheaper and faster in paying for claims. The only catch for you and me is that we agree not to go to court, avoiding the lawyer fees and other expenses for both sides.

How to get the right car insurance for you?

Getting the right car insurance for yourself is a little like finding a good wife or husband. There is not only one good option, but there are certainly a lot of bad options. Knowing what options will work and which won’t  is the secret to successful car insurance. However, even though it might look simple getting the right insurance for yourself is far from simple. The ideas and principles are not complicated, but you will need to spend some time in order to get the right results. How you can go about this is what the rest of this article will discuss.

Steps to car insurance success.

The first step to car insurance success is to spend some minutes deciding what is more important for you in your car insurance. Car insurances cover three main aspects of the risk involved in driving a vehicle. 1) Damages to the car, 2) Medical expenses of you and your passengers and 3) any damages caused to others and to other people’s property. Admittedly this is a rather simplistic approach to car insurance. But simplistic briefs on a subject can help to point out the main issues that need to be dealt with. These are the lines you need to be thinking: I have a brand new car that cost me more than twice my yearly wage before tax, I cannot afford to lose that car. I must therefore protect it with a good damages cover in case of accidents, theft and any other conceivable unfortunate happening. However if you own an old banger that is not worth much, say anything up to 2,000$ then it might be a good idea to save on the damages cover and invest more strongly in third party coverage and medical damages. Again if you have good medical insurance you could save further on any cover provided by another insurance. No situation is identical so although we can help you think along the right lines only you can understand you situation fully.

Once you have decided what it is that you need, you need to get the best price you can for it. The best way to make that happen is to quote till you drop. Online auto quotes are very similar to the typical application you fill in at Insurance brokers. The only difference is that with online quotes you just do it once and apply to dozens of insurance companies attaining much better prices.

A final tip in reducing your premium without losing your coverage is to apply deductibles to your car insurance coverage. For example if you have damages coverage why not place a 500 dollar deductible on your car insurance policy. This will mean that the first 500 $ of every claim will have to come from the customer with the deductible.

In a nutshell.

Only you can get the best deal on your car insurance. Decide what you need for your car insurance, get deductibles to reduce your premium and finally send out quotes until you get the deal you want.