How To Modify Your Car Insurance Policy To Meet Economic Needs
Making any policy modification to your car insurance policy is a serious decision. It’s a bad idea to choose lower levels of coverage if you’re already close to your state’s required minimums, and increasing your deductibles can be just as problematic. However, sometimes policy modifications are necessary, particularly during tough economic times. If you’re considering changes to your policy to adapt to the current economic climate, here are a few tips to help you do so safely while maximizing the benefit of your changes to your car insurance premiums.
First of all, you’ll need to think about the coverage that you’re buying and how it would actually work to protect you financially after a major accident. Inspect one element of your coverage at a time. Make sure that you’re buying adequate amounts of liability coverage; if you aren’t and you’re at fault in a major accident, a judge could garnish your wages in order to compel you to pay the other party, so this is one area of coverage that you’ll want to keep high. You should also make sure that your comprehensive and collision limits are at the value of your vehicle. A policy modification to your comprehensive and collision limits might be acceptable, however, if you completely own your vehicle and the value of your vehicle is fairly low. If you don’t spend a lot of time on the road, lowering these types of coverage along with your personal injury protection (PIP) coverage is acceptable. You can also lower your personal injury protection if you own a good health insurance policy and if you don’t carry very many passengers in your vehicle.
Raising your deductible is another way to change your car insurance policy in order to lower your monthly auto insurance premiums. When you raise your deductible, you’re raising the amount that you’ll have to pay before your insurance kicks in after an accident. As such, you’ll want to exercise some caution. Most car insurance companies allow separate deductibles to be picked for different types of coverage, so if this is the case, you should again spend some time thinking about what would be affordable in an accident and modify your car insurance policy accordingly.
If you don’t want to make a policy modification, there are often other ways to lower the overall cost of your car insurance policy. Try looking for quotes from other insurance companies during harsh economic times or asking about discount programs. These are great ways to keep your coverage high while still adapting when budgeting is a major concern and can help you to save.
