5 Questions You Should Always Ask your Car Insurance Agent

When you purchase insurance, make sure you are asking your car insurance agent the right questions.

Car insurance is a more important purchase than most people treat it. Buy too much and you are wasting your money. Buy too little and you are putting yourself at serious financial risk. To make sure you are right where you need to be with your coverage, ask these 8 important questions.

1. What Car Insurance do I Need?

Before you even go to the car insurance agents office, know what your assets are. How much is your car worth? How much money do you have in the bank or invested that you can liquidate quickly if needed?

Knowing how much your vehicle is worth will help you determine whether it is worth putting coverage on it at all and what deductible makes the most sense. You don’t put physical damage coverage with a $500 deductible on a vehicle that is only worth $500.

Knowing your assets and how much cash you can have on hand will help you decide how much liability coverage to choose to protect those assets in the event you are sued after a car accident.

2. Does My Policy Pay Attorney Fees?

In most cases, yes, your car insurance policy will pay for you to be represented by an attorney if you do find yourself in court from a car accident. But, make sure how much your policy covers and what the fine print is in a policy before you purchase.

3. Do I need Coverages That Aren’t Required by the State?

The only car insurance coverage you are required to purchase is liability coverage. However, even though other coverages like loss of use, towing, collision and comprehensive are optional they are still important in providing financial protection.

For example, if you are in a car accident that disables your vehicle, you don’t have a second vehicle and didn’t purchase loss of use coverage you are left without transportation to get to work. Without being able to get to work you aren’t getting paid and could possibly lose your job. A whole scenario that could be avoided just by purchasing the optional loss of use coverage; which is guaranteed to be cheaper than the wages you would lose.

4. What Discounts Do I Qualify For?

When your agent puts together your quote have them provide a list of available discounts. Make sure you go through the list and that the ones you qualify for are added to your quote.

5. Will My Policy be Non-renewed if I get a Ticket or into an Accident?

This last question will get a variety of answers and it all depends on who your car insurance agent is trying to place you with.