There are many reasons a person may want to purchase full coverage car insurance. If you have financed the purchase of a vehicle your lender will require that you buy full coverage car insurance. But even if you are not forced to purchase full coverage insurance you may still choose to do so in order to insure that your home and other assets are fully protected in the event of a serious accident and resulting lawsuit.
In Massachusetts full coverage car insurance includes four different types of insurance. The first is liability insurance. The minimum liability insurance you must purchase in order to drive in Massachusetts is what is commonly referred to as a 20/40/5 policy.
What this means is you have $20,000 of medical insurance for any one individual in an accident with a cap of $40,000 for everyone involved in the same accident, plus you have $5,000 to cover all property damage in an accident - property damage is generally the repair of the other person's vehicle.
You can see why some people choose to carry more than the state-required minimum liability insurance. $40,000 of medical coverage is almost nothing these days, and $5,000 will barely cover a dented fender on some cars.
If you are looking for full coverage car insurance then liability coverage is just the beginning. In addition to liability insurance, full coverage car insurance also includes collision and comprehensive, as well as personal injury protection.
Collision insurance will repair or replace your car if it is damaged in an accident with another vehicle or with a stationary object such as a tree or a lamp post.
Comprehensive insurance will repair or replace your vehicle if it is damaged in some way other than an accident, say by vandalism or hail or fire or a tree branch drops on it. Comprehensive insurance is also the one that will pay off if you hit an animal, such as a deer.
Personal injury protection pays your medical expenses and the medical expenses of the passengers in your car. Depending on other medical insurance which you have you may or may not need this coverage.
So that's what full coverage car insurance in Massachusetts looks like: liability, collision, comprehensive and personal injury protection. How much of each type of insurance you purchase depends on the assets that you need to protect from a potential lawsuit brought about by a car accident, and it depends on your own personal financial situation.
Regardless of how much of each coverage you need or wish to purchase your best bet for finding the best deal on your insurance is to purchase it over the internet.
Don't believe that you only need to use 1 website for comparing car insurance prices. If you really want to insure that you are seeing the best prices from ALL of the car insurance companies operating in Massachusetts you'll need to make your comparison on at least 3 different comparison websites.
Also, make certain that you use enter the exact same information into the form on all 3 sites. Only in this way will you actually be comparing the same policy on all 3 sites.
Once you have done this you're home free! Simply review your results and choose the best-priced policy. This is the only way to effectively look for a full coverage car insurance quote in Massachusetts and get meaningful results that will actually save you money month after month.
If you are financing your car you may have little choice: your lender will require that you buy a full coverage policy. However, even if you don't have a lender you still may choose a full coverage policy for the added protection and peace of mind it provides for you - especially if you have a home or other asset that could be lost in a lawsuit following a severe accident.
The minimum auto insurance you absolutely must purchase in order to drive legally in Mississippi is what is commonly referred to as a 25/50/25 liability policy.
A 25/50/25 liability policy pays a maximum of $25,000 in medical costs for any one individual involved in an accident with your vehicle with a cap on all medical payments (regardless of how many people are hurt or what the extent of their injuries are) of $50,000 per accident. The final "25" refers to the maximum amount of property damage your liability insurance will pay for -- $25,000.
Two things to think about if you are considering purchasing only this minimum liability insurance.
First, if you are involved in a serious accident it is very possible that medical or property damages will quickly exceed the limits of this liability policy - and if that happens you could be on the hook for any additional charges, which could put your home or your savings or any other assets you have at risk.
And secondly, a liability policy will not pay one cent toward the repair of your vehicle and it may not pay for medical costs for you or anyone in your vehicle, particularly if you are found to be at fault in the accident.
In order to fully protect yourself and your passengers you need something more than a bare-bones insurance policy. First you are going to want to increase the amount of coverage on your liability policy and, secondly, you are going to want to purchase a full coverage car insurance policy.
A full coverage policy starts with a liability policy but in addition to that you will need to purchase a collision policy, a comprehensive policy, a personal injury protection policy, and an uninsured motorist policy.
A collision policy will pay for the repair or replacement of your vehicle should you hit another vehicle or if you strike a stationary object such as a tree or lamppost. Keep in mind that almost no policy will pay more than the Kelly Blue Book value of your vehicle, so don't go overboard in the size of your collision policy.
Your comprehensive policy pays for the repair (or in some cases the replacement of) your vehicle in the event that your vehicle is stolen or vandalized or if it is damaged by natural causes such as a falling tree branch or fire or flood. It is your comprehensive policy that pays for the repair of your vehicle if you strike an animal, such as a deer.
A personal injury protection policy will pay for medical treatments for you and any passengers in your vehicle even if you are deemed to be at fault in an accident. If you have a health insurance policy that is separate from your auto policy consult with your agent to see if you need to purchase additional personal injury protection insurance.
Uninsured motorist coverage, as the name implies, pays for the repair of your vehicle and pays for medical treatment for you and others in your vehicle if you are involved in an accident with a driver who does not have auto insurance.
As you might expect, the higher the amounts of insurance that you choose, the higher the monthly premium is likely to be. Keep in mind that you may be able to get your full coverage car insurance less expensively online.
If you are serious about wanting to find a good deal then be certain that you enter all of your information onto the forms on 3 different car insurance price comparison websites rather than relying on just 1 site - and then simply choose the least expensive policy you find.