Auto Insurance Quotes | Car Insurance Quotes

How do you compare auto insurance quotes online? InsuranceTrak provides the easiest, quickest way to compare auto insurance quotes online. Simply use the quote box above and you'll be comparing multiple insurance company rates for car insurance in no time.

What is the average cost of car insurance?

Average cost of personal auto insurance

Over the past 5 years of all clients surveyed, as of 2015 the average cost of personal auto insurance has been $804 annually. This average takes into account clients in all states with one or multple vehicles and varying driving records.

Welcome to the Auto Insurance Center. Here you'll find a wealth of information about auto insurance which includes tips on keeping your rates low, coverage explanations, geo-specific trends and news, and much more. Auto insurance is just one piece of the personal insurance puzzle. Our Personal Insurance Center gives you the expert knowledge you need for Homeowners Insurance, Motorcycle Insurance, RV Insurance, and Umbrella Insurance.

Car insurance is complex and needs special attention if you want to make sure that your insurance protects you and your family properly. Below you'll find tremendously helpful information about auto insurance. We've ascertained this information through years of experience. Of course, to do your own due diligence, we always recommend visiting other sites for more information. A great site to glean important facts from an authoritative source is the Automobile section for the Department of Transportation. Another good site is DMV USA. Though this site is not a government run site, it links to all the state motor vehicle department websites.

The following content will have specific information by state and then an overall guide to car insurance. Choose your state below to get started:

Having auto insurance is very important if you plan on driving a car. Not having auto insurance and getting in an accident that is your fault could lead to serious financial consequences. The cost of property damage, medical bills, and legal fees from a lawsuit can be exorbitant.

Most states require anyone registering their vehicle to have car insurance. If they don't, they can be subject to fines. Having auto insurance is not just the law but a good idea if you want to protect yourself and others while driving. The United States Census Bureau estimates that 10 to 11 million motor vehicle accidents occur per year. Even if you think you're a good enough driver to not get into an accident, that doesn't mean that another driver can't easily hit your vehicle.

Being hit by another driver who has no car insurance affects you as well. Research from the Insurance Research Council has found that approximately 14% of American drivers are uninsured. When you get hit by another driver who is uninsured, you won't be able to make a claim on their insurance policy for the physical damage done to your car. That is why it's important that you carry your own physical damage coverage.

Physical Damage Auto Coverage

Physical damage coverage is broken down into two major coverages:

Collision Coverage pays for physical damage to your car as a result of your auto crashing into another object like a car, tree, house, or guard rail.
Comprehensive Coverage pays for damage to your auto for things that you collision coverage doesn't cover. Some of the things that are covered losses under comprehensive coverage include: fire, vandalism, theft, hail, water (flood), damage caused by a bird or animal (most commonly a deer), objects that fall from the sky, and glass breaking.

If you decide to purchase collision and/or comprehensive coverage, you'll need to choose a deductible. A deductible is the amount of money you agree to pay prior to your insurance company making a payment on a loss. The typical deductible amounts are $250, $500 or $1000, but can be as low as $100, and higher than $1000 with many insurance companies. Other than physical damage coverage there are many other auto insurance coverages you may want to consider including liability coverage (which is usually mandatory). Before we examine liability insurance, let's first take a look at some other optional coverages.

Optional Auto Insurance Coverages

Beyond the core liability and physical damage coverages, there are many optional auto insurance coverages to choose from. Some of these coverages include:

Medical Payment Coverage (or Med Pay) pays for the medical and funeral expenses for you or others injured or killed in an accident while riding in or driving your auto. This coverage also often extends to insureds that are struck by a vehicle while acting as a pedestrian. Covered expenses include hospital, surgical, chiropractor, dental, and funeral expenses. This might duplicate benefits provided by your health insurer. A coordination of benefits must be done between your health insurer and car insurer. Savvy coordination of benefits can lead to little or no out of pocket medical expenses including your deductibles.
Rental reimbursement coverage or transportation expenses pay for a rental car if your vehicle is damaged by a covered loss. This coverage is usually purchased with a daily and total maximum per covered loss. For example, $20 per day up to a total of $600 per covered loss. You should be aware of what the going rate is for a rental car in the areas your most drive so that you have ample coverage to pay for the cost of a rental car.
Towing or Emergency Road Service coverage pays the cost of towing your car to a repair shop. Many people purchase AAA to cover this expense. However, if you don't have AAA, it's not a bad idea to add this inexpensive coverage to your policy.

Liability Auto Insurance Coverage

Though your state may be different, most auto liability insurance policies contain three main sections: liability insurance for bodily injury, liability insurance for property damage, and underinsured/uninsured motorist coverage. Below is an explanation of these coverages:

Bodily injury liability insurance protects you if you're the cause of an accident and found to be negligent. The other vehicle that you hit might have injured people inside of it. Imagine if you accidently hit a school bus full of children and were found negligent! If you cause an accident in which other people are injured due to your negligence, this insurance protects you against their claims for damages, such as medical expenses, lost wages, and pain and suffering. The limit of liability is typically applied on a per person limit and then a higher per accident aggregate limit.
Property damage liability insurance pays for damage you cause to the property of others. This most often includes damage to another vehicle, but can include other physical objects like a tree, fence, or house.
Uninsured motorist coverage is one of the most mis-understood car insurance coverages. This coverage pays the policyholder and other people in your vehicle if you or them are injured by a hit-and-run driver or a driver who does not have auto insurance. Underinsured motorist coverage applies when the other driver is at fault and whose limits of liability are lower than the damages you sustained. Basically, this auto insurance coverage substitutes for the lack of liability insurance from the other driver who hit your vehicle. If the other driver has some liability insurance but it's low, your underinsured motorist coverage will pay you an additional amount up to your policy limits that is above the liability coverage that the other driver maintains. If the other driver has no insurance or it's a hit-and-run accident, then your uninsured motorists coverage will pay you up to your limit. Depending on your state and specific insurer, your uninsured and underinsured coverage may provide coverage for both bodily injury and property damage losses combined. Otherwise, you may be required to purchase separate coverage for bodily injury and property damage. It's also important to consider that you may not even need to tap into this coverage if you have no-fault insurance. We cover no-fault insurance below. Visit our state specific auto insurance pages above to get more information on your particular state.

Auto liability insurance is typically required if you own and register a car to be driven on the road. Having the proper amount of liability coverage should be a reflection of protecting your assets. We don't recommend just having the minimum coverage that is required by your state. Instead, we recommend having the maximum amount of liability coverage that your auto insurer will allow you to have. If that isn't enough to protect your assets or future wealth, you'll want to consider purchasing Umbrella Insurance. An umbrella liability insurance policy will give you that extra cushion of liability protection. It's often referred to as 'sleep at night' coverage. Even if you don't have millions of dollars in assets, this is still an important coverage to consider. If you're sued by another person that you hit in an accident, the court could potentially issue a judgment on you and garnish your future wages. Lawsuits are a serious thing and can be a huge financial and emotional drain. To avoid lawsuits, some states have implemented no-fault insurance laws.

No-Fault Auto Insurance

Not all states have no-fault auto insurance laws. Wikipedia does a good job at keeping a listing of the most recent no-fault auto insurance states. The no fault laws stipulate that there is no need to determine who is at fault in order to receive payment for bodily injury claims. When there is an accident, each party could receive car insurance from their own insurer in lieu of having to sue the other driver of injuries. Of course, No-fault auto insurance does not totally prevent you from being sued if you're negligent for an accident and injure the other party. However, no-fault laws do put restrictions on when a lawsuit can be served on the negligent party. For instance, in New York State, no-fault insurance covers the basic economic loss of the injured parties. This includes the actual expenses for medical care and lost earnings, up to a maximum of $50,000 per person. You can actually purchase more no-fault coverage but the minimum required in New York is $50,000 per person. This basic economic loss does not include any reimbursement for pain and suffering. In fact, the no-fault law prohibits a person injured in an auto accident from suing the responsible party for pain and suffering (A.K.A. "non-economic damages") unless the injured person suffered a "serious injury" as specifically defined in the no-fault law. Each state has separate laws concerning this and not all states require no-fault insurance. Above this section, we've included a list of states so you can see if and how your particular state applies these laws.

Typically, there are two types of coverage provided under no-fault laws. These coverages are Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and Residual Bodily Injury Liability Coverage.

Personal Injury Protection (PIP) coverage will pay you, your relative or any other person riding in your car a minimum amount per person for injury regardless of fault. The level of benefits varies widely among states. Coverage typically includes medical expenses, rehabilitation expenses, work loss benefits (loss wages), funeral expenses, and survivor’s loss benefits.
Residual Bodily Injury Liability Coverage will protect your family and anyone else while in your car with your permission in the event you are sued because of injuries caused to others. No-fault laws usually have certain thresholds that, if exceeded, open the possibility of a suit. These thresholds can be based on a specific dollar amount, clearly defined injuries, and/or a death resulting from an accident.

Car Insurance Quotes

Now you've learned all the different types of coverages that are involved in the car insurance puzzle. Purchasing the appropriate type of car insurance requires that you do your own due diligence. It's important to seek the advice of an experience professional. At the top of our website, we've provided an instant quoting feature so that you can start your insurance purchasing quest. The quoting form will provide instant online car insurance quotes from multiple carriers. This makes shopping auto insurance extremely convenient as we already work with the top car insurance companies. Here is a list of information you'll need handy when shopping for auto insurance:

Marital status
Driver's license numbers for all drivers
Social security numbers for all drivers
Date of birth for all drivers
VIN numbers for all vehicles
Does your vehicle have anti-lock brakes, air-bags, daytime running lights, or a security alarm?
Current occupation for all drivers. If retired unemployed or disabled, you can answer accordingly.
Highest level of education for all drivers. For example, high school diploma, some college, college degree like Associates, Bachelors, Masters, Doctorate, etc.
Average drive to work in miles, one-way
Number of household members
How long you've been living at your current address
Whether you rent or own your residence
Whether you finance, lease or own your vehicle
History of prior accidents, claims, and violations

Though this is not a total list of all the things you'll need to shop your auto insurance, this covers most of information. Once you enter all this information into our easy to use quote form, you'll be prompted to choose how much and what types of auto insurance you'd like to purchase. This is where our expertise comes in handy. We'll evaluate your specific needs to determine the appropriate amount of coverage you should purchase. Having the right amount of insurance coverage is crucial to protecting yourself in the event of an accident.

Car insurance quotes online can help to save you a lot of time. Instead of dealing with multiple insurance companies, we do the work for you. As an independent insurance agency, we work with multiple top rated auto insurance companies. Even better, there is no sales pressure when using our quoting form. You simple fill in your information and get instant auto insurance quotes.

It's important to know that getting instant quotes is not a perfect science. We'll typically need to contact you to firm up some of your information so that each insurance carrier will provide an accurate car insurance quote. When we call you to go over your information, we can discuss your specific needs and make sure you're shopping for the appropriate types of insurance coverages.

Top Rated Car Insurance Companies

Choosing the right types of auto insurance coverages is just as important as choosing a reputable car insurance company. J.D. Power & Associates is an authoritative source for insurance company consumer satisfaction rankings. Though they don't list all auto insurance companies, they do list most of the major carriers. We evaluate these rankings among many other sources to determine the top rated car insurance companies.

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