How trailers are insured, how to insure a personal and commercial trailer, and why it’s important to make sure your trailer contents are insured too.

Don't forget to insure your trailer!

There are a myriad of reasons to have a trailer. They can be strictly commercial, strictly for pleasure, or a little of both. Regardless of what they’re used for, however, they should be insured just like your other vehicles.

While they do carry some coverage simply by being towed, this is often not enough. You may need trailer insurance. Insuring a trailer is a simple thing to do once you know what the insurance company needs.

How Trailers are Insured

The single most important thing to remember about trailers is that you have to insure them separately from your vehicles. Because trailers are not self-propelled vehicles by themselves, they do not qualify for liability coverage. Instead, they are eligible for full coverage only.

Many trailers are insured on a stated value basis. That is you tell the insurance company how much it’s worth and they insure it for that amount (less depreciation, of course). It’s a fairly simple process.

Insuring a Personal Trailer

It’s very easy to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a nice recreational vehicle trailer. Why would you not insure it? Remember, when it comes to your trailer your vehicle’s coverage only extends to liability. Even if the vehicle towing the trailer has the best zero deductible full coverage available, if you’re in an accident and the trailer is not covered separately, there’s no coverage on that trailer. Obviously, you want to insure it.

Depending on the company, recreational vehicle trailers may be insured at actual cash value (i.e. the amount the trailer is worth at that particular point in time) or stated value. Consult with your insurance agent to for more information specific to your company.

Insuring a Commercial Trailer

If anything, commercial trailers are even more straightforward to insure. You provide the insurance company with the year, make, serial number and value of the trailer and they insure it at the desired deductible. That’s pretty much it. Since many commercial trailers tend to be pretty basic (seriously, how much more basic can a vehicle be than a flatbed trailer?) premiums to insure them tend to be quite reasonable.

As with other commercial vehicles, don’t forget to notify your insurance agent of any changes as soon as they occur to keep your coverage current. Add a trailer as soon as you acquire it, and drop a trailer as soon as you get rid of it.

Don’t Forget Your Tools and Toys

In addition, any contents loaded in or on that trailer have to be insured separately as well, usually on a so-called “inland marine” policy. This includes work trailers as well as recreational trailers such as those used to transport boats, snowmobiles or jet skis.

Remember as a general rule an auto insurer only insures those things on a vehicle that are factory installed and bolted down. Trailer contents need to be insured separately to avoid any gaps in coverage should theft or any other loss occur.

How to find instant car insurance and the benefits of purchasing instant car insurance compared to the downfalls.

Instant car insurance online is as easy as a few clicks of the mouse.

In our “need everything now” culture, it’s no surprise that you can even get your car insurance instantly…well, almost instantly.

A simple visit online to an insurance company that specializes in online insurance and a quote or two later you have instant car insurance.  There’s no waiting, you are in control of what you buy and everything is done from your computer.

But, is instant car insurance really as good as it sounds?

Finding Instant Car Insurance

Finding instant car insurance is harder to do that one would think.  If you type “instant car insurance” into your favorite search engine you will find yourself with close to 11 million results.

But, if you start visiting all of the sites that came up you will find that most of these sites are for instant quotes only and they will have an agent call you or you have to visit a local agent to get the actual policy.  This is not instant car insurance, there are too many steps involved before you get your policy.

Generally, instant car insurance is available directly through companies like Esurance, Progressive and GEICO.  These are companies where you can get a quote and purchase the policy instantly online, all in one step.

Benefits of Instant Car Insurance

Instant car insurance has the benefit of being able to be purchased any time of the day or night, whichever is most convenient for you.   All you have to do is log on, decide what coverages you need and if the price is right, purchase the policy.  There’s no agent pressuring you into additional coverage that you don’t really need just to increase the amount of commission they will make off your policy, you purchase what you have to have and what you want.

Instant car insurance can also be cheaper than buying a policy from an agent because the company doesn’t have to pay out an agent commission on your policy.  This means a   10–15% savings for you.  If you opt to receive bills in your email instead of through the mail, have your premiums automatically withdrawn and print off your own policy paperwork instead of having it mailed to you, the savings could be even more.

Like everything else in insurance, the savings and options available for purchasing instant car insurance varies from one company to the other.

Downfalls of Instant Car Insurance

The main downfall of instant car insurance also happens to be one if its benefits, the absence of an agent.

Without an agent you have no one to ask questions to if you don’t understand coverages, if you have billing questions or if you have a claim.  All of your insurance needs are handled through a toll free number answered by a customer service agent that is timed on how long they take talking to you and has the best interest of the insurance company in mind, not what’s best for you.

What foreign cars need import auto insurance, why the premium is so high and how you can bring that premium down.

A foreign car like this needs special insurance in the U.S.

When we watch movies that are set in other countries, depending on the type of movie, the cars look sleek and sporty or they look funny and interesting to drive.

But, trying to get import car insurance for a foreign vehicle that you have managed to buy and get to the United States can be anything but fun.  Insurance companies have special markets for import cars and some companies won’t insure them at all.  Don’t give up on your dream of owning an import – there are ways to get them insured.

What Foreign Cars Need Import Auto Insurance

Import auto insurance may be needed on any car that you have brought into the United States from a different country.  This does not include what people normally think as import cars, that you can buy on a U.S. car lot from Toyota, Hyundai or Honda.  While these are import names, they do not meet the specifications of being an import car.  In fact, some of these import names have plants here in the United States where they make the vehicles that we drive here.

Import autos are the ones that you have brought over or are from another country and do not have to meet the same specifications as vehicles in the United States do before they are sold.  These specifications are along the lines of safety equipment that is required by law in the United States, emissions and that the speedometer shows speed in MPH in addition to kilometers.  The largest difference in import cars from most countries is that the steering wheel is located on the left hand side of the vehicle instead of the right side that is standard in the United States.

Why is Import Auto Insurance so High?

Import auto insurance is expensive because of the vehicle itself.  Import vehicles generally do not have parts available here in the United States making it expensive for an insurance company to repair if it was ever in an accident.   Also, because the import does not fall into the same category as all other domestic vehicles, it requires a specialized policy where the policy is centered on the individual value of the vehicle, similar to a collector car policy.

The rate for an import car also depends on the type of import that you choose to purchase.  For example, an imported sports car is going to be much more expensive than a small import that you purchased for the excellent gas mileage.

Keeping Import Auto Insurance Premium Reasonable

• Get quotes on the insurance before you buy your import.
• Make sure that the import is modified to legally drive on the road in the U.S.
• Install car alarms and lock your car in a secure area when not in use.
• See if the insurance company will insure the vehicle as a collector car if you don’t drive it all the time.
• Ask your current insurance company if they offer import insurance so you can keep your longevity discounts.
• Shop around to different companies to see if they even offer import insurance and to get the rates of the ones that do.

The good and the bad of over 50 auto insurance and how to take the bite out of increasing premiums.

Over 50 doesn't mean the end of fun driving.

Life changes after 50. You’re getting closer to retirement (if you aren’t there already), your body is aging and your insurance is about to go through some changes of its own.

While the early years after 50 bring lower premiums, you will find that this is only for a short period of time.  The higher your age gets the higher your over 50 car insurance is going to start getting.  But, there are steps that you can take to slow down this premium increase.

The good news and bad news about over 50 auto insurance

The older a driver gets the more experience they obtain being behind the wheel.  For most, unsafe driving is a thing of the long-ago past and insurance companies reward you with lower rates as you age past your 50’s.

However, over 50 auto insurance does not continue to be a good thing as you reach further and further beyond your 50^th birthday.  As you get older, your senses deteriorate and your reflexes slow. Insurance companies know from the statistics that this also makes your driving not as safe.  This is not due to any fault of your own, it is just your body getting older and you do not react as quickly to different situations on the road as you did when you were younger.

Unfortunately, this also gives insurance companies a reason to increase your auto insurance premiums and the older you get the further down the safe driver categories you will fall.  You finally fall so far down that you are rated no higher than a new teenage driver and are considered a high risk.

Decreasing Your Over 50 Insurance Premium

Just because you now have auto insurance doesn’t mean that you have to stay with the rates that your current company is charging you.  If you are not happy with your premium contact your agent or company and see if there is anything they can change or update for you to decrease your premium.  If they are still not able to decrease your rates or are unwilling to work with you, it is time to start shopping around with other insurance companies.

Start with companies that specialize in servicing seniors. Companies like AARP may be able to offer a better deal.  Also if you are computer savvy, don’t forget about the additional discounts some companies offer if you purchase their instant car insurance online.

Additional ways to save on over 50 auto insurance

• Combine all of your insurance needs with one company for the multi-policy/multi-car discounts.
• If you drive a collector car, look into restricted collector car insurance.
• If you are retired and don’t drive as much, make sure that your insurance has your annual mileage listed correctly.
• If you store your car for a long snow bird vacation, see if your insurance company can drop your coverage to comprehensive only while it is in storage.
• Take a senior safety driving course.

Where your premium dollar goes, who does what with it, and why large cash reserves are important to auto insurance companies.

Here at Car Insurance Guidebook, we followed the money...that is your premium dollars.

Auto insurance, it’s part of most people’s monthly bills. Most people pay that insurance bill without giving it a second thought. But what if you did? What if you asked yourself where that money actually goes, and what does it do?

It just so happens we asked the same question.

The following is a generalized discussion of where your premium dollar goes at an auto insurance company. Please remember exact figures vary from company to company, but most follow this formula fairly closely.

The Agent’s Cut

Around 10 percent of your car insurance premium goes to your insurance agent as commission. Agents typically get higher commissions for new business and lower commissions for renewals, but when it averages out it comes out to right around 10 percent with most companies.

Agents are almost always contractors with the insurance company, rarely employees. They are therefore responsible for paying for much if not all of their overhead with this commission. In other words if you like your agent, by all means stick with him or her. That agent sees a direct benefit from your loyalty at least once a year.

But what if you bought your policy online and you don’t have an agent? Well, then that 10 percent either goes back to you as savings, to web sites for referral fees, back to the company, for something else, or a combination of any of the above. Check to see if getting auto insurance through an agent is really that much more. If not, it may be in your interest to have a human on your side rather than a computer.

Keeping the Lights On

Around 25 percent of your insurance premium goes to the insurance company itself to account for its day to day operating expenses. This includes salaries for executives, front office staff and other employees such as claims adjusters. It also includes other overhead such as front office utilities, company fleet vehicle maintenance, and something called “re-insurance,” which is effectively insurance for insurance companies. Pretty much everything the company does except for one very important function falls under this category.

All They “Claim” to Be

That leaves us with around 65 percent left of your premium dollar. Where does that go? Well, what is the most important function of any auto insurance company? Indeed, what is the main reason an auto insurance company exists in the first place? That’s right. To pay for claims!

Like all insurance companies, auto insurance companies are required by state law to keep substantial amounts of cash on hand in what are called “loss reserves” so that they can pay any and all legitimate claims that come their way in a timely manner. In fact, when insurance companies do go into state receivership, failing to comply with this rule is by far the most common reason.

Even for small, regional companies, required loss reserves can easily run in the tens of millions of dollars. Despite that, many companies keep loss reserves well in excess of state requirements to prove financial security with independent agencies such as A. M. Best and others. Suffice it to say, auto insurers take loss reserves very seriously – thus the large amount of your premium dollar they apply to them.