What to Look for in a Full Coverage Car Insurance Quote in Maryland
Under Maryland state law all drivers must have 3 different kinds of automobile insurance. Each driver must have liability insurance, uninsured motorist (UM) insurance as well as personal injury protection (PIP) insurance.
The state mandated minimum liability coverage every driver must purchase is $20,000 of medical coverage for each person with $40,000 per accident, and $15,000 per accident for property damage. In the real world these minimum amounts may not cover all of the damages ensuing from even a small accident, which could leave many drivers who have such insurance still owing additional money as the result of an incident.
Depending on your financial situation, and the assets that an injured party could lay claim to, you may wish to consider much greater coverage amounts not only for your liability insurance but for your uninsured motorist coverage as well as your personal injury protection coverage.
In addition to the state-mandated minimum insurance coverage, any vehicle that is financed will be required to carry collision as well as comprehensive coverage. Again, the amount of such coverage can be determined based on how much protection of your personal assets seems reasonable as well as the replacement value of your vehicle.
Depending on the value of your vehicle and the amount of protection you purchase, your automobile insurance premium could be quite high. Fortunately there are a few things that you can do to help keep your monthly premium outlay under control.
First and foremost are your own driving habits. Tickets for speeding or reckless driving can, in some cases, as much as double your monthly insurance premium. Convictions for drunken driving or for driving while impaired can also cause your monthly premium to skyrocket and to remain in the stratosphere for quite some time.
Drivers under 25 are in a special risk category and, on the whole, have higher insurance premiums than most other drivers. Younger drivers who stay in school and maintain a “B” grade point average are often eligible for a Good Student Discount of up to 5% on their monthly car insurance premiums.
Older drivers, who are often also placed in a higher-risk insurance category, can often reduce their monthly premiums by up to 10% by taking and passing a special driver’s refresher course. Not all insurance companies offer such a program, so check with your agent.
Ask yourself how much you can afford to pay out of your own pocket for each claim against your car insurance company. The money you pay out of your own pocket following an accident is known as your deductible. The more money you can afford to pay — in other words, the greater your deductible – the lower your monthly premium will be.
Lastly, go online and find two or more websites that allow you to make side-by-side comparisons of auto insurance policies and their prices among a variety of insurance companies. In order to insure that you are comparing as many different companies as possible it will be necessary for you to fill out the form on at least two different websites and preferably three different sites.
Making comparisons on multiple sites is an added time expense, but the results can be worth it when you consider that the savings you receive will continue month after month.
By: Larry Nez