OnlineAutoInsurance.com Explains Basics of Property Damage Repairs

RANCHO CUCAMONGA, CA, March 16, 2011 (Press-News.org) There's a common misconception that some may have about property damage and bodily injury liability car insurance policies, which is that these types of coverage will protect the policyholder financially for his or her injuries and auto damages following an at-fault accident.

As the writers at Online Auto Insurance explain in a new FAQ, liability coverage is actually a type of third-party protection ensuring that policyholders will not have to pay out of pocket for damages that they accidentally inflict on others; it will not pay for damages to the policyholder's car.

If a car owner wants to protect his or her vehicle from all types of damage, it will be necessary to also purchase comprehensive and collision coverage. These are types of first-party protections that pay directly to the policyholder in the event of an at-fault accident or damage from other types of events. They are relatively inexpensive, as a quick comparison of free online auto insurance quotes will show.

According to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, the average annual cost for these types of polices in 2008 were about $300 for collision and about $133 for comprehensive.

If those costs are still too high, some industry experts recommend that policyholders raise the deductible, which is a unique aspect of these coverages. The deductible is generally an adjustable limit of a couple hundred to one-thousand dollars. When the policyholder goes to have repairs done, he or she will have to pay the deductible for most types of damages, and the insurer pays for the costs above the deductible limit. According to one consumer group, raising a deductible from $200 to $500 can lower costs by 15 to 30 percent.

Source: http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/cars/autoinsu/autoinsu.htm

It should be reemphasized, though, that the policyholder will have to pay more out of pocket in the event of repairs.

To learn more about this and other coverage issues, readers can go to http://www.onlineautoinsurance.com/quotes/free.htm where visitors will find informative resource pages and a quote-comparison generator that can be used to quickly find the best rates for a policy. Visitors looking for the full FAQ only have to follow the "Questions" link located at the top of any page on the site.