The 2012 Chevy Silverado is the truck you want if you are looking for a good truck with a low insurance premium.

The 2012 Chevy Silverado Model

While the Chevy Silverado is not rated as the safest truck on the market today, it still has a decent rating through the IIHS and NHTSA. Meaning that you are not driving a death trap, and there are worse trucks out there that you could be driving.

Even with the less than perfect safety ratings, the insurance premium for this truck comes in surprisingly lower than the trucks that are rated safer than it.

2012 Chevy Silverado Basics

The 2012 Chevy Silverado is available in 5 different versions:

• Silverado 1500

• Silverado Hybrid

• Silverado 2500HD

• Silverado 3500HD

• Silverado Chassis

Because we don’t have enough time to cover all 5 models, we are going to focus on the 1500. This is the more popular model of this line and is the one that is used most commonly by everyday drivers out on the road.

IIHS Safety Ratings for the 2012 Chevy Silverado

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has ranked the 2012 Chevy Silverado 1500 as being average in its safety ratings. It is not one of the “Top Safety Picks” (Ford, Honda and Toyota hold that distinction). However, it is still rated as safe.

For frontal crash tests it was rated as “good” (highest rating it can be given).

For side impact tests it was rated as “average” (second highest rating). It may not have achieved the highest rating in this test, but is a vast improvement on the “poor” rating it has been given for the 2007 through 2009 models.

The roof strength test on the extended cab models only rated as “marginal” (this is just a step above poor).

NHTSA Safety Ratings for the 2012 Chevy Silverado

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has its own set of rankings for the 2012 Chevy Silverado 1500. While they tested it separately, the ranking for their test comes out almost the same.

After frontal crash testing by the NHTSA, they ranked the 2012 Chevy Silverado 1500 with a 5 out of 5 stars for driver safety. Front passenger safety was ranked with 4 out of 5 stars.

Insurance Ranking for the 2012 Chevy Silverado

Good news for all of you out there that are already driving or thinking about buying the 2012 Chevy Silverado! The 2012 Chevy Silverado has been ranked by insure.com as one of the least expensive vehicles in the nation to insure.

It even made the list not once, but twice. How did it do that you might be asking?

It made the list twice with two different versions of the 2012 Chevy Silverado 1500. The 2012 Chevy Silverado 1500 Extended Cab ranked as the 10th least expensive vehicle to insurance. Then the 2012 Chevy Silverado 1500 Regular Cab was ranked as the 6th least expensive vehicle to insure.

Of the top 10 least expensive vehicles to insure, there are only 3 trucks that made the list. The 2012 Chevy Silverado holds 2 of those 3 spots.

Some states have started to allow electronic proof of insurance as acceptable insurance verification.

Electronic proof of insurance is now being accepted in some states.

With computers and internet being an important and prevalent part of our lives, it was only natural that our insurance activities and electronic proof of insurance have moved online as well. We can get insurance quotes online, purchase insurance, and even get all of our insurance documents sent directly to our email or phone now.

So when we are asked for insurance now, a lot of us were emailed our verification and forget to print it out, which can lead to trouble. For all of us in the electronic age and who now receive our insurance documents electronically, never fear, most politicians have our back this time.

What is Electronic Proof of Auto Insurance?

Electronic proof of auto insurance is any proof of insurance that is displayed on an electronic device, instead of in the old card or paper form. These electronic devices can include cell phones, iPads, or any other device that has a display screen and can pull up a PDF, website or a scanned copy of your proof of insurance.

What States Now Allow Electronic Proof of Insurance?

As of August 1st, Louisiana will be just the third state to have approved the use of electronic proof of insurance. In March, both the states of Idaho and Arizona signed their own laws into effect. Other states around the nation are slowly following suit and we could see a lot more states allowing electronic proof of insurance as they start up their legislative sessions over the course of the next year.

At the moment, California is currently looking into allowing electronic proof of insurance. While the states of Colorado and Alabama don’t allow electronic proof of insurance if you get pulled over, but they do allow it when you are registering your vehicle.

A Word of Caution about Electronic Insurance

Electronic proof of insurance is a great way to save on paper every six months when you have a new policy term. Overall, going electronic for all of your documents is great way to no longer have to pack around a bunch of paper, and it decreases the chance that you will accidently lose it.

However, what would happen if you left your electronic device at home or lost it and you were pulled over? Without your electronic device in the car and no paper proof of insurance in your glove box you will be cited for having no proof of insurace.

So, while electronic proof of insurance is convenient and nice to be able to provide; always have a backup plan.

The Insurance Company of the Driver At Fault for an Accident Should Always Pay to Get the Other Person’s Car Fixed.

Q: I was recently in an accident where another driver pulling out of a parking lot hit me while I was driving. My insurance company is not being helpful in explaining whether or not my insurance rates will go up if I report the claim and I need advice as to what I should do.

Should I:

1. Fix the repairs myself and not report it?

2. Report the car accident to the other person’s insurance?

3. Report the accident to my insurance?

A: First, let me start off with a disclaimer. We are not license insurance agents or claims adjusters, the opinion that I am about to give is based on my experience in the insurance field and should not be taken as official or legal advice.

Now, with that being said I would take option number 2.

Your insurance company is being vague about your rates going up because the customer service rep you talked to is protecting themselves from committing as to what will happen in the future with your premiums. They don’t want to get in trouble for telling you something wrong and have a lawsuit result from bad information given. Trust me; I answered this question at least once a day like this when I was a customer service rep.

If the accident was really not your fault the other person’s insurance company has the legal obligation to pay for the damages to your vehicle. By going directly through the other company you will not have to pay your deductible to get your vehicle fixed, but you will be at the mercy of the other insurance company as to when they decide who is at fault for the accident.

Yes, your insurance company will eventually find out about the accident after they pull your CLUE report and find it on there. But, it should be listed as a “not at-fault accident” and should not be charged against you, regardless of how much the claim ends up being. If your insurance company does raise your rates after an accident that is not your fault and they didn’t pay anything for you to get your car fixed, you seriously need to be looking for a new insurance company.

The owner of the vehicle is the one responsible for the insurance coverage.

This is actually a two part question:

1) I am driving someone else’s vehicle do I need my own insurance?

2) I am driving a vehicle covered with an Arizona car insurance policy, so do I need my own insurance because I am driving it in California?

First, no, you do not need your own insurance coverage when you are driving another person’s car. Insurance follows the vehicle and not the driver. If you were to get into a car accident, the insurance on the vehicle would cover the accident.

Second, I would check to make sure that the coverage that is on the vehicle meets California minimum requirements. Really there should be no problem here as Arizona minimum insurance requirements are just slightly higher than California requirements, but check just to make sure you are okay.

As far as required coverage, since the vehicle is registered in Arizona, it is not in the California insurance database. This means that California will not be contacting you to get your own insurance on the vehicle.

Yes, in this case an insurance refund is due. An insurance company cannot charge you for insurance premium on a vehicle that you do not own any longer. To receive the refund, you will have to provide the Bill of Sale from when the car was sold as verification that it was no longer owned by you.

In the case that you are helping out another individual, like an elderly relative, you may have to provide power of attorney papers to accomplish anything on their insurance policy. Otherwise, they will have to personally make the refund request themselves, but you can still help them with getting everything moving.