Insurance Coverage for Our Family

A Closer Look At 3 Types Of Add-On Car Insurance You Should Consider

23 May 2022

Christian Byrd

When purchasing car insurance, you will have two basic types of coverage. There is the coverage that you are mandated by law to carry and then there is add-on or optional coverage which you are free to accept or decline. Many people choose to purchase policies that only offer the legally mandated coverage. This often leads to people discovering they do not have enough coverage when the time comes for them to actually file a claim against their policy. You can help to avoid finding yourself in this same position by seriously considering the addition of these three types of add-on coverage to your auto insurance policy.

#1: Collision Insurance

The law currently only requires that people carry liability insurance. The problem with this is that liability insurance only protects the other drivers on the road from accident-related costs. This type of insurance does not provide any protection for you if you are left facing accident-related repair costs. In order to ensure you have the coverage you need to cover these costs, you will need to add collision coverage to your car insurance policy. This type of coverage will cover the cost of repairing your own vehicle if you are ever involved in either a single-car accident or an accident in which you are found to be at fault. 

#2: Uninsured Motorist Insurance

While it is true that the law requires all drivers to have car insurance, the fact is that not all drivers choose to abide by this law. This means that there are still drivers on the road who do not have any insurance coverage. If you are involved in an accident with one of these drivers, you will not be able to simply file a claim with their insurance company in order to have the costs of repairing your vehicle covered. While you can choose to sue this person in civil court, collecting the money you are entitled to can be quite time consuming and may prove difficult if the individual has limited resources. Adding uninsured motorist coverage to your car insurance policy will ensure that you are able to easily collect compensation in this situation since you will be able to file a claim with your own insurance company.

#3: Underinsured Motorist Insurance

As the value of many vehicles has drastically increased over time, it has become more and more common for car insurance policies not to offer enough coverage to completely cover the costs associated with a serious accident. This is because many people simply purchase the minimum amount of coverage allowed by law. This minimum coverage is less than the value of many new cars. Consequently, you may not be able to cover all of your accident-related costs using only the coverage carried by the other driver. In this situation having underinsured motorist coverage will allow you to file a claim against your insurance policy in order to make up the difference between your actual out-of-pocket costs and what the other driver's insurance coverage was able to pay. 

Contact a car insurance company to learn more. 

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