Texas Auto Insurance Minimums to Rise

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA, December 29, 2010 (Press-News.org) At the end of this week, every car insurance policyholder in Texas who has the minimum limits will be required to raise the limits for liability protection in order to be in accordance with state law. And, unfortunately for those who are already struggling to scrape together the money for their 6- or 12-month premium payments, the change may bring with it a slight increase in premiums.

As of Jan.1, 2011, policies with just the minimum levels of bodily injury liability coverage will need to increase their amount of coverage by 20 percent. Although premiums may rise as a result of this, the corresponding price increase should be slight. A spokesperson for the state's department of insurance told NU Online News Service that the new minimums would be a premium increase of around 2 to 3 percent.

Although finding car insurance with no down payment will likely not be an option for Texans looking to cut immediate costs, there are consumer rights in place ensuring that they have the option of spreading out their costs through payment plans. According to the department of insurance, a policyholder's initial bill for a payment plan cannot exceed the cost of two months of coverage, and consumers can break up an annual policy into at least ten installments and a six-month policy into at least for equal installments.

Source: http://www.tdi.state.tx.us/rules/pdf/bor-auto-english.pdf

This option should be carefully scrutinized, though, as fees associated with monthly billing may end up cutting into the cost-effectiveness of going this route.

To find out more about getting coverage with low initial costs and monthly or bi-monthly billing, readers can go to http://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/pay-monthly/ where they will find informative resource pages and a free-to-use quote-comparison generator that will help users jump-start the search for an affordable policy.