What to do after hitting a deer, car insurance coverage that fixes the damage, and how to prevent it in the first place.

Comprehensive coverage will repair the damages to your car if you hit this deer.

Between 2005 and 2008 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimated that there were about 275,000 accidents in the United States that involved a vehicle hitting a deer.

Deer are fast and are easily hidden in the trees so they are hard to see until you are just about to come in contact with them.  So if you do hit a deer what do you do and is there any way of preventing it from happening in the first place?

Or more importantly, does car insurance cover hitting a deer?

What to do After Hitting a Deer

Once you have hit the deer pull over to the side of the road to make sure that everyone in your vehicle is okay and then call 911. Do not try to move the deer out of road or you could be hit by a car yourself. You also never know when a deer is actually dead or just stunned and if you try to move them and they are only stunned they may end up injuring you if they wake up.

Never take the deer home with you!  This is considered poaching in most states, especially if you do not have a hunting license and it is not deer season.  If you want to take the deer home as a trophy and are caught you will be slapped with a huge fine, lose your hunting privileges and Fish and Game will seize your trophy.  It’s just not worth the risk.

What Insurance Covers Hitting a Deer

Even though you have had a “collision” with a deer it is actually your comprehensive insurance that will cover the damages to your vehicle, not your Collision coverage. This is good news for most as this also means that you will only have to pay your Comprehensive deductible and most people carry a lower Comprehensive deductible than they do Collision deductible. Other coverages may also be available for you in this case, like towing and rental car coverage, but only if you purchased these coverages on your policy in advance.

Tips to Decrease your Chances of Hitting a Deer

An accident involving hitting a deer is just something cannot be avoided most times, but here are some ideas that may at least decrease your chances of hitting one:

• If you can, do not drive after sunset.  Deer are out in the highest numbers at night.  Also combine this with the interference in vision from the setting sun and the lack of light at night and your chance of getting into an accident with a deer increases.
• Don’t assume that it is only the one deer.  Most deer travel in herds so keep on the lookout for more.
• If a deer is running alongside your vehicle, get in front of it to prevent it from having the chance to jump out on the road in front of you.
• If the vehicles in front of you are slowing down keep an eye out for what they are slowing down for.

What the insurance actuary does, how car insurance premiums are calculated and how discounts are added later.

It's dry work, but someone has to do it.

You get your car insurance bill every month and pay it without question. It’s what the agent said you’d pay, right? So you do it.

But have you ever thought about how those premiums are actually calculated? Who’s in charge of that, anyway? As it turns out, there is a department in the insurance company responsible for just that.

Imagine that.

Meet the Insurance Actuary

Auto insurance is a business heavily dependent on statistics. It therefore follows that a statistician is somewhere in the mix. Enter the insurance actuary. Like an adjuster, an actuary is an insurance company employee or third party contractor who is never an agent. Instead, he or she has a specific job for the company: analyze loss data and determine premium accordingly.

While it’s true that the insurance company board and the state insurance commission have to approve premiums, it’s nevertheless the actuary who has the most say in how much gets charged for car insurance. The actuary almost never interacts with the public and rarely gets a lot of credit, even among insurance agents, but the job he or she does has a profound impact on not only how much you pay for insurance, but ultimately on how much the agent makes in commission.

How Auto Insurance Premiums are Calculated

As the auto insurance industry has evolved over the past century or so, it has looked at more and more variables when it comes to pricing its premiums. Today it’s not unusual for auto insurance company actuaries to consider thousands of variables including varying degrees of age, geographic location, make, model and so on. This shouldn’t surprise many people.

In other words, an actuary will look at loss history in a particular county or ZIP code for a particular demographic driving a particular type of vehicle, and do it again and again. Yes, it’s dry work, but the insurance companies consider it absolutely vital. The same actuarial work, by the way, is also done for every other type of insurance, including homeowners, commercial, life and all other lines.

What might surprise people is that auto insurance companies only look at their own loss histories. In other words, State Farm isn’t concerned with the loss ratio seen at Farmers in a certain area, or vice versa. It’s therefore theoretically possible for rates to be significantly higher in one area for one company over another because one company experiences significantly higher losses. This is one reason why auto insurance rates are different from one company to another all other things equal.

How Discounts are Factored In

Actuaries work exclusively with a base premium calculated before any discounts are factored in. Given that in today’s competitive car insurance market just about everyone qualifies for at least one car insurance discount, it’s therefore unlikely you’ll actually pay what the actuary says you should. Car insurance companies know this and build the discounts around the actuarial premiums accordingly.

What covers a hit and run accident on your insurance policy, and steps to take if you’re a victim in a hit-and-run accident.

Three different types of insurance adjusters and how they are involved in the claims process.

An Insurance Adjuster works off an estimate to pay for damages.

What is an insurance adjuster and what exactly do they do?

Insurance adjusters have one of the hardest jobs in the insurance industry.  They are responsible for making sure that an insurance company’s legal obligation to their insured is satisfied by paying out legitimate claims that the insured may have.

They also try to offer an acceptable offer of repair or settlement to the insured or other party and at the same time trying to keep the cost of the claim low so that the insurance company can still make a profit.

Property Damage Insurance Adjusters

An adjuster in the field of property damage views the amount of damage done to a vehicle or other property and then assigns a monetary value to it.  Most times in the case of a car accident the damage assessment is actually done by a body shop and then they submit their estimates to the adjuster for payment.  The adjuster reviews the estimate to make sure that the damage being fixed pertains to the accident, the work being done is restoring the vehicle to the condition it was in prior to the accident and not improving the vehicle and that the prices for the parts and labor are acceptable.

The assessment of damage done to a home is similar to the way damage to a vehicle is assessed and paid.  The only difference between a vehicle and home is that most of the time it is the adjuster that comes out to assess the damage to a home — not the contractor that will be doing the work.

In the case of a theft, the adjuster is given a list by the insured of what items are stolen and they are responsible to make sure that the items are covered under the policy that the theft is being claimed under.  They also research the value of each item to compile a payment that is made to the insured for the current value of the items or replacement value, depending on the type of coverage that the insured paid for with their policy.

Bodily Injury Insurance Adjusters

A Bodily Injury Adjuster is responsible for the injuries that mostly arise out of an auto accident, in some cases it can also be a homeowner’s insurance claim in the case of an injury from negligence.   They gather medical bills, assess treatment making sure that it is relevant to the injury that the insured is accused of causing and then at the end of treatment settling the claim.  They also work on the medical bills for the insured or other injured parties that were in the insured’s vehicle at the time of the accident, if the insured has the coverage.

Settlement for a bodily injury claim is not just adding up the medical bills and making payment on them.  It also includes a monetary amount for pain and suffering that was caused by the accident.  The settlement of the pain and suffering part of the claim is where there is usually the most disagreement.  The insurance company does not want to pay out more than it has too and the person that had the injury is feels that their pain and suffering is worth more than what is offered.

If the injured party and the adjuster cannot reach an agreement through their own negotiations, legal counsel is called in and the settlement is either negotiated then or it heads to court.

How to drop car insurance, dropping a car you’re no longer driving, switching companies, and what to do if there’s a problem.

When this happens, it's time to drop your car insurance.

Much is written on how to get car insurance in the most expensive manner possible. However, little is out there on when to drop car insurance, and how to do it.

It’s a relatively simple process, but it’s not always straightforward. The most important part about dropping car insurance is to keep good records.

How to Drop Car insurance

Logically, the main reason to drop car insurance is when you’re no longer driving the car in question. This can be for any number of reasons including you’ve sold or otherwise transferred ownership of the car, if the car is no longer driveable due to a prior accident. The other reason to drop car insurance is if you’re switching companies. What you don’t want to do is simply assume your insurance will cancel itself. You have to be proactive.

Car insurance is typically paid 30 to 45 days in advance. By simply letting your coverage lapse, you’re effectively covering a car you’re not driving for that period of time. Regardless of whether you have a personal or commercial policy, you want to let your agent and company know of the change ASAP.

Dropping Insurance on a Car You’re No Longer Driving

When dropping car insurance, make sure you inform your agent of the make, model and VIN of the car in question so it matches up with his or her records. Tell them the exact date you wish to no longer cover the car as well so you can be refunded correctly. Agents add and drop vehicles all the time, so don’t feel like you’re putting them out with your request — after all, it’s their job.

If your car is totaled in an accident it may (and should be) be dropped automatically, but don’t simply assume it is. Consult with your agent to be sure. Also make sure that any other vehicles you have stay on the policy. It’s a good idea to review your coverages periodically even if you don’t have any problems or changes.

Changing Companies

In an instance where recent car insurance advertising campaigns actually speak the whole truth, car insurance indeed does not have to be canceled at renewal. You have the right to cancel at any time for any reason or for no reason at all. To that end if you find a better deal, there’s no reason not to go for it.

Canceling mid-term can be a bit messy, however. You won’t get a refund on your unpaid premium from your old company right away, but your new company will expect its startup premium right away. Be sure you have enough to compensate for this

If You Have Problems

If you find your agent is unresponsive to your car insurance cancellation requests you can contact the company directly. If necessary you can fill out the consumer sections of an “Acord Cancellation Request/Policy Release” form and present it to the company. This form is a generic insurance cancellation form all companies and most agents are familiar with. Failing that, you should take the matter to your state insurance commission, however that should be an extremely rare occurrence.