Finding out about insurance companies takes a combination of their own advertising, but also reading reviews of the company.

An insurance company is always trying to make themselves stand out from the competition.

Insurance companies get most of their business by making you familiar with their name and what they sell. They do this through unending advertising, name recognition and more advertising (refer back to unending).

But, even with all of their efforts to make us well known with their name how do we know if an insurance company is really worth our time and money?

We can find out by using both the information from the insurance company and also seeking out information from other consumers.

From the Insurance Company

Insurance is an extremely competitive industry. Each company has to compete with another company to try and sell you something that you have to have and also don’t want to buy.

To do this the insurance companies are going to put their best foot forward. They are going to tell you “we have better customer satisfaction” or “you can save xx%” to get you to purchase a policy with them. This is the advertising that you can ignore or just enjoy for the entertainment without paying attention to what is being sold (i.e. Geico’s woodchuck commercial).

What you do need to pay attention to are the advertisements that introduce an insurance company’s latest and greatest new program for the insurance that they sell. Products like Nationwide’s Vanishing Deductible or Allstate’s Accident Forgiveness.

Listen when an insurance company offers a new program that none of the other companies offer. It may be something that could save you money or make it worth your while to call the company for a quote.

From the Consumer

You can find out how an insurance company treats its clients by talking to people that have been insured with them.  First, ask people you know who they are insured with. These are the people you will get the most honest response from. If they are happy they will tell you about it and vice versa.

Find insurance company reviews on websites that write about insurance or business. These reviews are written from the point of view of a person that usually has experience in the area of insurance, but is not affiliated with the insurance company that they are reviewing. These reviews offer a professional and even a consumer point of view about a company.

Look for insurance consumer reviews on the internet. Consumer reviews are the rawest of all information that you can find about an insurance company. They are not professionally edited nor is the person writing it restricted in what they say.

Don’t forget to add “contact insurance company” when you are making your moving to do list or you may find yourself without the insurance coverage you have paid for.

Don't forget to update your insurance company on your new location after you have jumped to a different state.

Unknown to most is the fact that insurance is actually a state regulated industry. The individual states make their own insurance rules and regulations and each insurance company that wants to write in a particular state must adhere to these rules and also be granted permission to write in a state.

So if you move to a different state, you are left with an insurance policy that may not be in compliance with your new state’s rules and regulations.

This may cause problems for you in the future if you do not update your insurance company of your new location. This is why it is important for you to go through the steps of getting auto insurance when moving to a new state.

Contact Your Insurance Company

As soon as you know that you are going to be moving or soon after you have moved, you need to contact your insurance company to let them know you are in a new state. Because insurance is issued according to the state that you live in, your insurance company will have to know that you have moved to a new state so that they can adjust your policy accordingly.

Also not letting your insurance company know that you have moved to a new state could nullify your coverage and if you have a claim, your insurance company may not have to pay for it even though you have paid the premium on your insurance.

Change in Rates

Insurance rates are based on the statistical likelihood that you will have an accident. These statistics are based not only on information about you as a person, but also the location that you live in. Some states run a higher chance of an accident happening because of a higher population, natural disasters or crime rates. (This is also true of different cities.) All of which can cause you to see a decrease or increase in your insurance premium when you move from one state to another.

May Have to Find New Company

Because insurance is regulated state by state, some insurance companies are either not large enough to have a presence in every single state or they choose not to write in a state for a number of different reasons.

First, they may chose not to write in a state because the insurance laws may be ridiculous and they can’t or do not wish to comply with them. This saves the company additional manpower and money to make sure that they are in compliance with the state laws and also from having to pay fines if they cannot comply.

Second, insurance companies are in business to make money, with this being said if a particular state poses such a high risk in what an insurance company will end up paying out in claims, they can opt to just not provide insurance in that state.

Accident surcharges are added on to your policy so that your insurance company can make up the money it had to pay out for your claim and future claims.

Every accident you have is assigned a point value to determine how much your accident surcharge will be for your insurance premium.

No one likes to pay for insurance, but it is something that everyone has to have if they want to drive. To keep your insurance premiums down so that paying them is less painful, stay away from premium surcharges, sometimes called accident surcharges.

How can you do this? Don’t cause an accident.

Minor accident

Insurance companies assigned a certain amount of points to each accident type and then apply your surcharges per how many points you have.

A minor accident has the least amount of points charged and will have the smallest impact to your premiums. A minor accident is classified as an accident that caused less than $2000 in damages. The amount of points and damage cost allowed to be classified as a minor accident depends on the insurance company that you are currently with and also the state you are living in.

Major Accident

Major accidents are the accidents where the damage cost is beyond what would classify as a minor accident. Again how it is classified will depend on your insurance company and state. These accidents carry a heavier point value and you will see a steeper increase in your insurance premiums if you have a major accident.

DUI/DWI Accident

If you are dumb enough to be driving behind the wheel while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, you deserve every single penny in surcharges that you will see if you cause a DUI/ DWI accident. You will not only see major accident surcharges,  you will also get the surcharge of the DUI/DWI traffic violation and also the SR-22 filing surcharge that you will now be required to have on your insurance policy. All of which will make you an honorary member of the high risk insurance pool.

Members of high risk insurance get to enjoy monthly premiums that are high enough to rival what you are making for a car payment all the way up to what you are paying a month in rent or for your mortgage.

Driver’s Safety Courses

Even if you have managed to rack up the points for accidents (and even traffic violations), there is hope for you and your insurance premium. If offered in your area, take a driver’s safety course. This course can help erase points from your driving record and help to decrease your insurance premium. In some cases, you will be given the chance to take a driver’s safety course after an accident or traffic violation in exchange for not having the points land on your driving record.

However, if your insurance company has to pay out damages for an accident that you have been in, regardless of taking this course, you will still see an accident surcharge. These courses are designed to get the points off of or prevent points from being put on your driving record only. In the end though, the lower points on your driving record will still help to decrease your insurance premium.

Starting car insurance on yourself or a new vehicle is not hard, but still requires time and effort like other major purchases.

At some point in every driver's life they have to start their own car insurance.

Anyone that drives a vehicle has to go through the process of starting car insurance. This can happen when you first get your license, when you leave your parent’s house and start living on your own or even when it is time to buy a new vehicle.

The process is not hard, but to find a good price with a good company will take some of your time, but it is worth it in the end.

Starting Car Insurance for a New Driver

When you are a new driver you are usually 16 and still living with your parents.  Being added to insurance at first is something that your parents take care of for you. But, what about those that are starting their car insurance when they are adults? There is a long list of reasons that they waited to get their license or were not allowed to get their license until after they were 18.

No matter the reason, starting car insurance always starts with calling around to agents and insurance companies for quotes.  Make sure that you are getting quotes for the same coverages and limits so that you can compare the quotes to see who offers the best price. If you are getting quotes for different coverages, you won’t know who really has the best prices as you are not getting a good comparison of what you need to buy.

Also as a new driver, expect to be paying a higher amount of insurance than those of your same age group that have been driving. New drivers with no driving experience are usually placed in a high risk insurance group with higher premiums due to the higher chance of an accident happening from the lack of driving experience.

Out On Your Own For the First Time

Once you have moved out of your parent’s house you are no longer allowed to be on their insurance policy. It is time to start looking for your own insurance. To start, you may look at staying with the insurance company that your parents are with and just having them split you off onto your own policy. This is the simplest way to start car insurance for yourself when you are just starting out on your own in life.

If you would rather find your own insurance or want to see if another company can offer you a better rate, it is time to shop around. If your parents have an insurance agent, contact that agent and have them quote other insurance companies for you. If you find a premium that you like, purchase the policy and you have started your car insurance. If you are still not happy with the premiums quoted, go online and get quotes directly from insurance companies or through insurance websites like ours.

Starting Car Insurance for a New Car

Starting car insurance for your new vehicle if you already have car insurance is very simple. All you have to do is call your current insurance company or agent and let them know that you have a new car and they will put it on your current policy. This may also be a good time to start shopping around for quotes from other insurance companies and agencies to see if you can get better insurance rates on your vehicles than what your current insurance is offering.

Because you must prove you are carrying insurance (by law), knowing how to get a new insurance card is pretty important.

If you have lost your insurance card from your auto documents, get it replaced as soon as you can.

Insurance, specifically liability insurance, is required to be able to drive in all states. If you were to ever get pulled over for any reason, one of the things that the police officer will ask you for is proof of insurance.

This proof of insurance is the insurance card that your insurance company provides for you when you first get your insurance and also at each renewal. It provides your basic insurance information and the dates of your current insurance term to show that you purchased insurance for a certain time period. So if you have lost your insurance card you need to find out how to get a new insurance card.

Ask for a New Card

If at any time you have lost or misplaced your insurance card you can contact your insurance company or agent to get a new insurance card. Depending on the procedures of the company there are three ways that you will be getting a replacement card. First, your agent may make you a temporary card that has your information typed into a pre-set form.

Second, the insurance company will mail you a replacement card via snail mail. Third, if you are registered with your insurance company through their website that allows you to access all of your policy information, there should be an option to print out a replacement verification of insurance from here.

Use Your Declarations Page Instead

An insurance card is not the only way to provide proof of insurance so if you can’t figure out how to get a new insurance card from your insurance company or agent, use your declarations page from your insurance policy instead. This has all of the information that you would need to provide anyone that requires proof that you have insurance. In fact, it provides much more information than your insurance card does and actually much more than anyone would need to know.

Because of the large amount of information that is on your declarations page, do not under any circumstances allow anyone that you have been in an accident with see your declarations page. This information will provide them with your limits of liability and if they or their attorney try to sue you, they will know how much they can go up to for your insurance to cover it.

If you are in an accident and you only have your declarations page as your proof of insurance, you can write down or tell the other person the basic information (your policy number, name, insurance company and the insurance company’s phone number) as this is really the only information that they need to know.

What Happens If I Don’t Have My Insurance Card?

If you have not replaced your insurance card and are pulled over by a police officer, you will be cited for not having proof of insurance or not having insurance (depending on your state). Don’t just pay the fine, you can go to court and if you provide proof that you had insurance at the time that you were pulled over usually the ticket is dropped.  Again, the process depends on the state, but it is just best to always have that proof of insurance with you.