Best Auto Insurance

Types of Coverage

Auto insurance policies offer different kinds of coverage. Some states require certain kinds of coverage to be included in your auto insurance policy. Regardless of where you live in the United States, you'll usually need liability coverage.

Liability coverage offers protection if you cause a bodily injury or property damage. It covers the other person's medical bills and repairing damage. Many insurers also allow you to add further liability insurance to your car insurance policy.

Additional protection can be added to your policy. The most common options include comprehensive, collision, medical payments, personal injury protection, and uninsured or underinsured motorist coverage.

Comprehensive coverage covers your car in non-collision circumstances like if a tree fell on your car. Collision coverage helps cover repairs for damage resulting from any kind of collision. 

Medical payments coverage offers payouts to cover medical costs for you and your passengers. Personal Injury Protection (PIP) offers coverage for medical costs and replaces lost wages or even covers funeral expenses.

Uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage provides protection if you're in a hit-and-run or in an accident caused by an uninsured or underinsured driver.

Car insurance companies offer other riders like coverage for a rental car while your car is in the shop for covered repairs. These additional riders vary by insurance provider. If there's an extra rider that you want to have with your auto insurance coverage, you'll need to find an insurer that offers it.

Auto Insurance Rates

Your car insurance rate depends on several factors, including the types of coverage you choose, your driving record, and your car. The more types of coverage you buy, the higher your total premium will be. If you have a good driving record, you'll usually qualify for lower insurance premium rates overall.

Your car's value, cost of repairs, and safety ratings all affect your overall rate. For example, newer cars haven't depreciated as much as older cars, so newer cars usually have higher overall rates.

Classic cars or antique cars have special policy rules and higher rates because the cars have high values and repairs are expensive, especially if you want to keep your car authentic.

Car Insurance Discounts

You can find many discounts and policy features that help you save from an auto insurance carrier. The most common ones include

• Safe driving
• Customer loyalty
• Teen and college student

The monitored safe driving discounts personalize your rate to how safe of a driver you are. Usually, you download an app to your phone that will track your driving and give tips for how you can be a safer driver. Many insurers with these programs offer an initial discount for participation. When you renew your policy, you'll receive a rate based on your driving habits.

Insurers also reward customer loyalty through multi-vehicle and multi-policy discounts. Multi-vehicle discounts help you save when you're insuring multiple cars. Multi-policy discounts also offer savings if you have more than one kind of policy from the same insurer.

Teens and college students are a higher risk group of drivers to insure. Many insurers offer discounts for participating in safe driving programs, getting good grades, and for students without a car away at college. These programs help lower the insurance cost for young drivers.

Some insurers offer additional discounts that are less common or distinct to the car insurance company.