So you are getting ready to purchase a new vehicle and are wondering what insurance hurdles are ahead. I am going to briefly discuss 3 situations you may be in; hopefully this insurance blog will better prepare you for what to expect. First, you have insurance and need to replace or add a vehicle to it. Second, you already have insurance but want to compare rates from other companies on your newly purchased car. Third, you have no insurance.
Once you have a car in mind you might check with your existing agent to see how much it will cost to add it to your insurance policy. If you think you might purchase the vehicle on the first visit you should call your agent ahead of time. If you have a vehicle that has full coverage on it currently, that full coverage insurance might extend to the newly purchased vehicle without you having to call your insurance office. You will want to verify this ahead of time. I can speak to Nationwide Insurance and Progressive’s policy…that newly purchased vehicle will be covered for up to 30 days without you calling in as long as you have full coverage on another car. Again, you need to verify ahead of time. However, you do need to consider that the dealership may not honor proof of full coverage insurance on another vehicle and instead require you to show insurance on the actual car you are purchasing. I would not want to haggle over a new vehicle for three hours and then find out they are going to have to see proof of insurance on my new car before I drive it off the lot. What if it is after hours, on a weekend or on a holiday? You may either be waiting for longer than necessary or not get to take home your new car at all! Figure all this out ahead of time.
Did you just budget a certain amount of money for a newly purchased vehicle only to be unpleasantly surprised when you called your existing insurance agent for the new price? It happens all the time. Don’t worry, you usually don’t have to pay the increased rates until your next bill is due (if you cancel you will owe the increased insurance rate for the prorated amount of days you have the new vehicle on your policy) so go ahead and add the car if you’ve already bought it. Express your concern to your agent. Maybe they can do something to lower your rate, maybe they can’t and then again maybe the new rate you were given is fair. This may be a perfect opportunity to call a couple of places to see if you can get a better deal.
If you don’t have any insurance and are in the market for a new car you will definitely want to call around for insurance rates before you make a decision on how much to spend on that car. If you have not had current insurance for at least 6 consecutive months you are going to be looking at paying more expensive rates for at least the first 6 months. Don’t sign a new car contract for $350 a month only to find out later that the best insurance rate your can find is $400 a month. If you are getting very expensive rates, ask the insurance offices you call to tell you how much the rate will be for the bare minimum full coverage. Also, ask what your rate will be if you pay on time and keep your policy active for 6 months…will the rate automatically decrease? Additionally, you might get a better deal on insurance if you have a checking account and will let them take the insurance payment directly from that account once a month on a predetermined day. Your insurance is due every month; you might as well do that but just make sure you have money in your account for the payment.
http://www.nationwide.com/agent/austin-texas-insurance-agent/joshlewis/office.html
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