Auto Insurance

If you think all auto insurance is “created equal”, think again! What you don’t know can cause you serious grief and pain.

Big name companies have duped the public into thinking auto insurance is some sort of “off the shelf” product where “one size fits all”. That fallacy can cause your financial ruin!

Basic Coverages Normally Included

• Liability

Liability coverage on your auto insurance is the most critical portion of your policy. It is the coverage that pays out if you hurt someone in an accident, or if you cause any damage to property that doesn’t belong to you.

When you consider the cost of medical bills, or the cost of cars on the road today, it’s no wonder why your liability insurance is the one portion of your auto insurance that you do not want to skimp on.

Amazingly enough, your liability coverage is often times the cheapest part of your policy. The cost to double, triple, or quadruple your auto liability coverage is nominal. For the same cost as a few Starbucks coffees for you and your friends, you could add ten times the amount of liability coverage to your policy.

When shopping for your auto insurance, be wary of any proposal or quote that offers the state minimum coverage for liability.

Tennessee minimum limits are 25K/50K/15K

What this means, is if you are involved in an accident that is your fault, and the other vehicle has three passengers who all have various levels of injuries, your auto insurance will only pay out $25,000 per person, as a maximum, however the policy will not pay any more than $50,000 for the entire occurrence.

The number 15K in this liability limit represents the amount of coverage $15,000 for property damage that you are responsible for causing. With the average cost of a new car above $36,000, it’s is our professional recommendation to carry higher limits of property damage.

Any payout or settlement beyond those numbers will need to come from you personally. These decisions are often made in a court setting when the other party has decided to sue you.

With the high amount of fraud that takes place, it is a scary proposition to gamble with lower limits of coverage.

Because of the low costs, and our belief that you deserve more, at The Client’s Insurance Agency, we will never offer an auto insurance proposal with inadequate, or state minimums for liability and property damage coverage. – Get a quote for better liability insurance here.

• Medical Payments

This coverage pays for medical injuries sustained by passengers in your vehicle during an accident. Many agents quote a standard $5,000 in medical payments on every quote. We have options to increase this coverage to as high as $100,000 if desired.

• Uninsured Motorist

What if we told you that 15% of the drivers you drive next to each and every day is uninsured?

Sound frightening? Sound impossible? Even though it’s a “law” to maintain insurance, the numbers of people driving without insurance is scary.

According to the Insurance Information Institute, this was the last number recorded in 2015. Years later, we fear that number may be higher.

We’ll never try to assume why there are so many uninsured drivers on the road, all we can do is stress that as a smart, responsible driver, you carry coverage on your auto insurance that protects you from those driving without insurance.

It is a common practice of many direct, online insurance companies to write auto insurance policies that do not have this critical coverage.

As a result, if you are involved in a car accident with an uninsured driver, than you would be responsible for your own damages.

Of course you can try to go the legal route and sue the individual, however, that can take a lot of time to complete and you will have needed to come out of pocket to cover your expenses to your car.

The better, cheaper, and time saving option is to include uninsured motorist coverage on your policy.

Another benefit of having uninsured motorists coverage, is that if you are hit by an uninsured driver, your insurance company will waive your collision deductible.

It is for these obvious reasons that we at The Client’s Insurance Agency will never offer an auto insurance policy to anyone without having this crucial coverage piece on the policy.

What’s “Full Coverage” Mean?

Need “full coverage” on your auto insurance? Are you fully aware of what that means?

Most people assume it means every line of coverage available. That just isn’t the case. What you assume can leave you frustrated and upset during the claims process.

Many people assume that “full coverage” is just a policy package that includes all of the fancy bells and whistles.

People falsely assume that all “full coverage” is the same. It’s not.

“Full coverage” usually means “comprehensive” and “collision” coverage. This means that if you are at fault in an auto accident and you want to repair your car, the insurance policy that you pay for will do so after you’ve paid your deductible. This protection falls under your “collision” coverage.

If your car is stolen, vandalized, has a rock fly into and break your windshield, this would also be covered under your “comprehensive” coverage after your deductible is paid.

Deductibles are your out of pocket expenses. An average deductible for auto insurance is $500.

If the damage to your car total’s $4,000, you would pay $500, while the insurance company pays out $3,500 to repair or replace your car.

The higher your deductibles are, the more “risk” you assume. The insurance company will reward you by offering a lower premium.

Where “full coverage” becomes confusing for many, is people assume that it also always includes ancillary coverage’s such as:

*Roadside service

*Original manufacture parts

*$0 glass deductible

*Rental car reimbursement

*Loan gap coverage

*Ride Sharing Coverage

The facts are, sometimes policies do come with these coverage’s. However, most times they are always optional. In fact, there are certain coverage’s that some carriers do not even offer, yet, people incorrectly assume they are on their insurance policies.

It is not the fault of the consumer to know these differences. In fact, the responsibility to educate, instruct, and provide options is with the insurance agent.

It is for this reason why we always strongly suggest people buy their insurance from people. Technology is a great tool, and at The Client’s Insurance Agency we do everything in our power to give you smart insurance using a simple process. However, we still believe that at the end of the day, you need to work with a trusted professional.