As I addressed in the previous post, an SR22 form is something that needs to be filed by your Duluth GA automotive insurance company with the Georgia Department of Motor Vehicles after you have committed a drunk driving offense or some other offense that ends you with a suspended license. Now that you know what Duluth GA automotive insurance SR22 filing is, though, how do you go about getting it? It might be a little difficult for you, but it can be rather easily explained.

• Contact.

Get your Duluth GA automotive insurance company on the line and talk with your agent. Tell them you have a suspended license and inquire if they can help you with getting an SR22 form set up so that you can restore your driving priveleges.

This is where you might run into some hang ups. Just because you need SR22 insurance, doesn’t mean that your Duluth GA automotive insurance company is going to provide you with it. You may find your renewal of insurance denied if you are at the end of your six month period, or you’ll see your Duluth GA automotive insurance policy outright cancelled. Unfortunately, if it’s going to happen you can’t avoid it, but you can start looking at other Duluth GA automotive insurance companies and set yourself up with a new company.

• Get a new quote.

Once you are required to file SR22 insurance with your Duluth GA automotive insurance company, you are no longer the same customer as before. Now that you are part of a higher risk group, you will need a new quote appropriate to your rating, and that is only if your Duluth GA automotive insurance company decides to keep you on board.

You have the best chance at getting a good rate and staying with your Duluth GA automotive insurance company if you had a good track record with them in the first place. Many preferred and long time customers get DUI convictions and don’t see their Duluth GA automotive insurance rates go up even a dollar.

• Decide on your coverage.

As when you get any car insurance policy, you will need to choose your coverage. Collision will be through the roof if you have to file SR22, so avoid it unless you’re still purchasing your car and thus have no choice.

Duluth GA automotive insurance law only requires that you get the minimum liability coverage for your SR22 policy, so unless you have no other option, I suggest you go with that.

• SR22 filing.

Once you have made your down payment or paid your first premium bill, you will need to get your SR22 form. Your Duluth GA automotive insurance company will provide you with this, and every one has its own way. With some, you’ll be able to access it online, and with others you’ll have to wait for it in the mail. Once it arrives, fill it out and turn it in to the DMV.

When you get into an accident with an uninsured driver, then your minimum liability Loganville GA automobile insurance policy will not help you in the least towards your damages. In order to be covered in such an incident, you need to have uninsured motorist coverage.

As I’ve mentioned, the requirements for bodily injury liability under Loganville GA automobile insurance law are pretty low, so in a bad accident it wouldn’t be too hard for the actual medical costs to go way over the amount of insurance that this person has. This is why under insured motorist coverage is also very necessary.

If a person only has twenty five thousand in bodily injury liability, and the damages are thirty thousand, then their car insurance company will pay for the first amount, and your own will pay for the remaining five thousand dollars. Depending on where you are at, the way this is handled could be different. For example, if Loganville GA automobile insurance law requires that under insured motorist coverage be added on, then it will happen much like this:

If your under insured motorist coverage is for, say sixty thousand dollars, and their bodily injury liability is twenty five thousand dollars, then the two amounts will be put together to make eighty five thousand dollars, and that will be your coverage.

However, in other areas they deduct. If this is the case with you, the with the above coverages, you would only have the sixty thousand dollars of coverage.

As for uninsured motorist coverage, it covers bodily injury as well, although there is no additional coverage to be added to it. If you want your damages to be fixed, then you should have collision coverage.

If there is more than one car on your Loganville GA automobile insurance policy, then you can add more to your coverage by stacking your policies. So, instead of having sixty thousand dollars of coverage, you would have a hundred and twenty thousand.

If you don’t have the patience to read my post, then check out this video from YouTube about gap insurance. It does a pretty good job at explaining why you may need to add gap insurance coverage to your Loganville GA car insurance policy. If you’re still confused, let me break it down for you.

• Gap insurance is…

Gap insurance is the type of coverage that you add to your Loganville GA car insurance policy to fill the gap between the actual cash value of your car and the amount that you actually owe on it. When you total your car, the amount that you own on it isn’t taken into mind when calculating what your claim payment will be, so this can be very important.

Right now I’m making payments on a 2007 Chrysler PT Cruiser. We owe about $16,500 on the car right now, but it’s only worth around $12,000. If we were to total that car today and we didn’t have gap insurance, then after our claim payment came through, we would be without a car and we would still owe over four thousand dollars on our car.

• Who requires it?

Gap insurance is only necessary to add to your Loganville GA car insurance coverage if you’re still making payments on a car. Most of the time, your financer or car dealership will require you to purchase gap insurance much like they require you to purchase comprehensive or collision insurance on your new vehicle. They do this to protect their investment.

In order to buy gap insurance, your Laoganville GA car insurance policy must already have collision and comprehensive coverage on it. You cannot purchase gap insurance otherwise.

The reason why people need gap insurance is because, unless you put a sizeable down payment on a new car, then in the time soon after you have bought it you will be in an upside down loan, which means that you will owe more than the car is worth. This happens because new cars depreciate very rapidly.

Reader question:

Should I add comprehensive and collision coverage to my Lawrenceville GA automobile insurance policy? What are they, anyway?

Gloria

Thank you for your question, Gloria.

Whether or not you add comprehensive and collision coverage to your Lawrenceville GA automobile insurance policy should depend on several factors. Before we cover those, though, let’s first look at what comprehensive and collision coverage are.

• Comprehensive coverage is…

Comprehensive coverage is the kind of coverage that takes care of damages that result from things that aren’t automobile accidents. For example, if you were living in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina, then any flood damage caused to your car would fall under your comprehensive coverage. This is because comprehensive coverage takes care of damage resulting from natural disasters.

It also takes care of damage that results from criminal activity. For example, if your car is stolen, then it will be replaced if you have comprehensive coverage. If your car is vandalized, then it will be repaired under your comprehensive coverage portion of your Lawrenceville GA automobile insurance policy.

• Collision coverage is…

Collision coverage is like property damage liability, except that instead of being for the person on the other end of your Lawrenceville GA automobile insurance accident, collision coverage takes care of damage caused to your own vehicle. This includes repairs if your vehicle is simply damaged, and the actual cash value if your vehicle is totaled.

Collision coverage also applies when you get into an accident that involves your own property. If you’re parked backwards in your driveway, say, and you put your car in reverse instead of drive by accident, and as a result back into your garage, then the damage to your garage and your car will be covered by your collision coverage.

• Why you need them (or don’t)…

Collision and comprehensive coverage can be very useful when you get into an accident or have your car stolen, but not every vehicle needs it. One of the quickest ways to cut the costs on your Lawrenceville GA automobile insurance premium is to drop your extra coverage, after all.

If you have a car that is old and not worth more than a thousand dollars, then you do not need comprehensive and collision Lawrenceville GA automobile insurance coverage. You will end up paying more for the coverage than your car is actually worth, and there’s no point in that.

If you are still buying a car, then you are probably required to have comprehensive and collision coverage. If you don’t, then you could end up paying for a vehicle that you no longer have if your car ends up totaled.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Reader question:

I get so mixed up with my Smyrna GA auto insurance. I have so many bills to pay each month and I just don’t have time to figure out how to lower my premium. What can I do?

Jack

Thank you for asking, Jack.

You know, there is actually a way that you can kill two bird with one stone, and lower the stress of multiple bills while also lowering your Smyrna GA auto insurance premium. This is pretty simple to do, and might take a few minutes of your time, but it will be extremely valuable in your future.

The key to a cheap, stress less, Smyrna GA auto insurance premium is to

• Combine, combine, combine!

The first thing you need to do, Jack, if look at each of the insurance companies that you are with, not just your Smyrna GA auto insurance company. What kind of insurance do they offer? Many companies will offer life, home owner’s, and auto insurance, while some will only offer one kind of insurance. If you have the latter type holding your policies, then you need to ditch them and find a company that offers more.

Once you have decided on a good Smyrna GA auto insurance company that also offers other types of insurance, you should buy all of your insurance policies through them. Not only will you essentially consolidate your Smyrna GA auto insurance bills, making them easier to keep track of, but you will also lower your premium through the multiple policy discount that most companies offer.

• Join, join, join!

You don’t have to go it alone on your Smyrna GA auto insurance premium if you have another choice. If you have a fiancée, why not combine your policies into one Smyrna GA auto insurance policy? Same with a wife, or a roommate, or even a good friend. By adding someone else to your policy, you can save a lot of money on your Smyrna GA auto insurance premium, especially if that person is lower risk than you are.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

If you want to get auto insurance in GA, then you are required to follow the law and get the proper amount of coverage. If you don’t want to get auto insurance in GA, then you’re out of luck, because you have to. End of story. Most car insurance companies will sale you the simple minimum liability of auto insurance in GA if you go in and request nothing more than to be insured, but you still ought to understand what is required and why, and why you should take a step beyond that.

To meet the requirements for auto insurance in GA, you are required to have liability coverage. This type of coverage will take care of medical costs and property damage for the person to whom you cause damage in an accident which is your fault. You have to have:

• $25,000 of bodily injury coverage for each individual
• $50,000 cap for each accident if there is more than one person
• $25,000 for damage to property, such as a vehicle or a fence

These are the required amounts, but most companies that sale auto insurance in GA suggest that you stack on a little more than this amount of insurance, and the most commonly suggested amount is 100/300/100. You should remember when buying liability coverage for bodily injury that the two amounts do not combine. If you have fifty thousand of coverage for more than one person, then that is all that you get for a single accident, even if four people are injured. If only one person is injure, all they get is twenty five thousand. Considering the cost of medical bills in bad accidents, it makes sense to get more than that amount.

You need to have auto insurance in GA, because the GA department of insurance can tell when you don’t. As a matter of fact, they have an online insurance verification system that keeps track of the insured and uninsured in the state. You can check your own status online to make sure that there aren’t any mistakes, although if you have only recently gotten a policy you should let a month pass before checking because it takes time.

If you go without auto insurance in GA for 10 days or more, then your registration could be suspended. You would then have to pay $85 to restore. And although your auto insurance in GA can be verified online, you should still carry an insurance card in your vehicle for when you get pulled over.

Is your car safe? It doesn’t have to be as safe as this little car, dodging flying cows and avoiding tornadoes, but a certain degree of safety should be expected from any vehicle, and the standards are only getting higher. Not only will a safe car aid in avoiding accidents, but if you have one then you can also expect a Snelville GA automobile insurance premium discount. People with safer cars file fewer claims, so they naturally are charged less on their car insurance premium. However, the more safe your car is, the more expensive it usually is as well, and more expensive cars do cost more. The Snelville GA automobile insurance discount is higher for safe cars, but to get the best deal you should check in with a car that’s at least a couple of years old.

Here are a few things you should look at in regards to safety when you’re trying to buy a good car that will have a low Snelville GA automobile insurance rate.

• How well does it wreck?

A big factor in a car’s Snelville GA automobile insurance quote is its crash worthiness, which is determined by government crash tests. To find out how well your future vehicle does on these tests, you can go to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety website, where they have crash test results for side impact, front impact, injuries, and more.

• How is it built?

There are two factors under this category that will affect your vehicle’s safety and as a result your Snelville Ga automobile insurance quote, and they are

• Restraints.

These tend to be a given on any car, but they should be taken for granted. Restraints have caused the largest decline in injuries and deaths from car accidents, and it is unlikely to see anything that will work as well as a simple seat belt.

Other types of restraint devices include air bags, which can be placed in various areas of the vehicle. They work best when they are combined with seat belts, especially shoulder restraints which protect the person from the force of the air bag as well. Snelville GA automobile insurance companies are actually required to have discounts for seat belts and air bags, even though almost all cars have them.

Active head restraints are also helpful. They protect your neck from breaking by being jerked back from the force of the crash. They can usually be adjusted according to height.

• Anti lock disc brakes.

Anti lock disc brakes are part of a new wave of panic compensation technology that help you from getting into an accident when conditions cause you to panic. For example, if you’re driving on an icy road and the person in front of you stops suddenly, then you might hit the brakes quickly as well to avoid crashing. In a normal car, this action could cause skidding and you might end up worse than if you hadn’t hit the brakes at all. With anti lock disc brakes, though, the system keeps the wheels from locking up and allows you to make sudden stops safely. Aside from that, many Snelville GA automobile insurance companies provide discounts for them.

• Daytime running lights.

Many people might not realize the impact of these lights, because they don’t see why someone would need lights during the day, but daytime running lights help set a vehicle apart from its background and thus make it more noticeable. They do, in fact, lower the incidence of daytime car accidents.

Reader question:

What’s the point of a stupid renewal discount if my GA auto insurance quote stays the same or is higher every time I renew?!

Beth

Great question, Beth.

It’s frustrating, isn’t it? I’ve been getting my GA auto insurance quote with the same company for a couple of years, and while I have been tracking what effect other discounts have on my auto insurance premium, the so called renewal discount has been pretty elusive. My GA auto insurance quote goes up every time, never down unless I apply a new discount to it or get a safer car; all things staying the same, my GA auto insurance quote will rise.

There are several reasons for this that neither we nor the car insurance company can control, such as:

• Cost of vehicles. As each year passes, it costs more to buy a car. A more expensive car will have a higher GA auto insurance quote.
• Cost of repairs. As vehicles become more expensive, so do their parts. The higher the cost to repair a car is, the higher the GA auto insurance quote will be.
• Cost of health care. I went to the emergency room once and was given some aspirin and told to go home. A month later, I got a bill in the mail for five hundred dollars. I think you can see for yourself how that would affect your GA auto insurance quote.
• Lawsuits. The number of lawsuits has stayed the same even as crashes with injuries have decreased, and the amount of money awarded is phenomenal.

On the bright side, while your GA auto insurance quote has a good chance of increasing each time you renew it, premiums as a whole are increasing less and less every year. The last year that the estimates were on record for, 2004, nationwide premiums only went up 3.4%, part of a trend of lower and lower increases that should be even better this year and in 2008, if the trend follows through.

People aren’t filing as many claims as they used to, and this is part of the factors that temper the rise of your GA auto insurance quote. Another thing that helps out is that cars are made more safely with features that both prevent accidents and make them less damaging when they do happen.

However, since even with the lower number of claims, car insurance companies are spending more on each individual claim, you will likely only see your GA auto insurance quote rise for years to come, although we could have an actual decrease in our future.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Reader question:

Does my insurance score affect my Columbus GA auto insurance premium?

Max

Thank you for your question, Max.

Columbus GA auto insurance companies have been looking at the credit reports of prospective customers for years, but it is only recently in the past twenty years or so that, with the advent of computers and the internet, they have been able to gather that information into a final number, called an insurance score, which is used in the calculation of your Columbus GA auto insurance premium. This insurance score, based on information in your credit report, can be the difference between a person with a good driving record but a high Columbus GA auto insurance premium, and another person with the same record and a much lower premium.

• Is it legal?

In some states, the question has come up as to whether or not credit scoring with car insurance premiums is discriminatory against low income and minority groups. While it does affect people who fall into these categories more than most, it doesn’t anymore than credit scoring affects people when buying a car or doing anything else that requires credit.

As great as it would be for Columbus GA auto insurance companies to give out premiums that are low cost regardless of risk, that is simply how business works. In order to make money, they need to charge the people who will cost them more money higher premiums, so that the people who are less likely to file a claim don’t have to pay enormous premiums. Columbus GA auto insurance companies make a lot of money, but the profit margins aren’t as consistent or large as with other types of companies, so it is a kind of tightrope walk.

• Why do they do it?

Now that we’ve covered the fact that Columbus GA auto insurance companies need to charge more to people with higher risk, how are people with bad credit histories higher risk? After all, your credit score doesn’t affect your driving, does it?

Technically, it doesn’t, but there are a lot of factors that don’t necessarily affect your ability to drive, such as your grade point average, which Columbus GA auto insurance companies consider when figuring out what your premium will be.

What Columbus GA auto insurance companies have figured out is that people with bad credit history tend to file more claims than people with good credit history. One of the reasons is, for example, that people who live in dangerous areas are more likely to have bad credit, and thus are more likely to have their car stolen, which would raise comprehensive insurance rates.

Some people claim that this credit report shouldn’t be used by Columbus Ga auto insurance companies, because correlation is not the same as causation. That means that just because people who have bad credit scores file more claims, it doesn’t mean that the credit score had anything to do with it.

Cheers,

Fashun Guadarrama.

Atlanta GA auto insurance don’t exactly accept cows and vegetables in exchange for car insurance policies, but they do offer a wide variety of payment methods that allow modern drivers to keep up and find a method that fits their circumstances.

• When do I pay?

There are two basic options for paying your Atlanta GA auto insurance premium, and those are

Both have their perks, and the truth is that you have to make your decision based on where you are financially, and try to work your way from one to the other. There is, actually, a difference between your Atlanta GA auto insurance rate if you pay all at once than when you pay in installments, because if you pay in installments you are charged an installment fee. This isn’t a huge fee, but it does save you a few bucks to avoid it, and not only that but paying all at once will save you the headache of monthly Atlanta GA auto insurance premiums.

If you don’t have the money to pay an entire six month premium up front, then the trick is to work your way up to it. Put a few dollars aside here and there, and it might take a couple of years, but once you get there it will be much more easy to save. It’s best to at least try to pay the entire premium at once, especially for those of us who are trying to get their Atlanta GA auto insurance premium as close to zero as possible, or those who are high risk and need all the help they can get.

• How do I pay?

Atlanta GA auto insurance companies are online, or at least most of them are. While some companies have very basic sites with perhaps a location and phone number, most of the decent sized companies these days are really putting on the glamour with their websites. They contain information on coverage and instant Atlanta GA auto insurance quotes, but most of all, they contain the option for paying online.

In addition to paying online, you can also pay more traditional ways, such as through direct debit, mailing a check, paying at the office, or paying over the phone.