Haiden Fox Farmers Insurance Agent, working with Tavia Jean Breeze Courier Reporter.
(Taylorville) – All drivers in Illinois are required to have a car
Insurance. However, most who have auto insurance may need help understanding how it works. You may be paying too much for services you don’t need. On the other hand, you may be underpaying and needing proper coverage in the event of an accident. In order to legally operate a vehicle in Illinois, you must have a minimum amount of auto insurance coverage. The state requires liability coverage of at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for personal injury and $20,000 for property damage.
Liability insurance pays for someone else’s medical expenses and property damage if you are at fault in an accident.
In addition to liability insurance, consider purchasing optional coverage such as: Collision Damage Waiver pays for non-collision damage to your vehicle, such as: B. Theft, vandalism or weather-related incidents. Comprehensive insurance helps pay for damage to your car if you are involved in an accident. Health insurance pays you if you are also injured in the accident.
Uninsured/underinsured motorist insurance will pay for damage to your vehicle if the other driver has insufficient or no insurance to cover the costs of the accident. The amount of coverage you need depends on your circumstances, such as: B. the type of vehicle you drive, your driving license and the number of your assets. It’s important to shop around and compare quotes from different auto insurance companies to ensure you’re getting the best coverage for your needs and budget.
The Breeze Courier contacted Haiden Fox for comments on common auto insurance misconceptions.
If you have car insurance, can you drive any car at any time?
“If you have insurance and you decide to drive my car because I gave you permission, and you get into an accident, your insurance plays the ‘primary insurance’. It would be based on your policy where my insurance would step in as a secondary and cover anything yours didn’t. You can also take out a “Non-Owner” policy that meets the measures already mentioned, but you don’t have a car. That being said, there may be other companies that would not insure you if you were driving a vehicle that you do not own, or they may reduce your liability limits to the state minimum should a claim occur. I can only talk about Farmers’ Insurance Companies in this regard. You cannot insure just one of your vehicles if you have several. They all need insurance. In Illinois, every registered vehicle must have insurance, which is reported to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State monitors VIN and registrations. If they were not reported to have insurance for that particular VIN/Registration, they would issue a letter requesting proof of insurance for a specific date. If proof of insurance or the stored vehicle is not provided, vehicle registration will be suspended.”
How often should you adjust your insurance and why should you adopt it?
your politics?’
“A large adjustment to your policy may result in additional charges being placed on the policy. Ideally, your agent will have given you a policy that covers you in every situation, and you should only need to change it if you add/remove a vehicle/driver, for example, or if you don’t drive it that much/at all, such as a vehicle store over the winter.
Most major companies have comprehensive coverage for travel throughout the continental United States. Some policies even include areas for Mexico and Canada. You can ask your agent if yours is already included in the policy. Changing a policy due to finances is the most common, apart from adding/removing a vehicle. The world is turbulent and prices are constantly changing; Prices vary everywhere, so buying car insurance every year is recommended. Sometimes the costs are similar and you like your agent; Sometimes another company can save you hundreds, and your agent should understand that.” — Haiden.
Why is it important to pay for the right amount of coverage?
“Most people need to learn or understand that having adequate coverage can easily protect you from being sued for a car accident. Carrying only the bare minimum can result in being sued for any amount in excess of that threshold. Example: A 2023 Ford F150 MSRP is $33,695. If you have minimum state property damage of $20,000, you will be sued for $13,695; If you hit any of these and add them up, that’s the case with the cheaper XL series. A Limited goes for $84,910, which means you’ll be sued for $64,910, which is life-changing debt. – Haiden.
What should we look for in a policy?
“Minimum coverage for people who don’t drive much is one thing. Your “risk” is low, but it doesn’t mean zero. The lowest I normally take in my office is $50,000/$100,000 personal injury and $50,000 property damage. I’ll pay everyone $100,000 in property damage if possible. This also doesn’t mean you can’t be sued for medical bills, but it does give you a better chance of getting adequate coverage.
It’s better than just having $25,000 in personal injury liability insurance, the state minimum for a single person in an accident. The average cost of a hospital stay is $2,873/day and the average length of hospital stay is 4.6 days. That means if you hit someone and injure them so badly that they need to go to the hospital, the total cost for just 4.5 days is already $12,928.50, not including drugs, procedures or any of that. Combine that with the ambulance to get you there and it costs between $1200-$2000 alone and you’re quickly approaching the $25,000 bare-bones mark. “We took you there and gave you a bed.” something like that.” – Hayden
There are rumors about a radius limit on how far you can drive
your insurance policy.
“As I understand it, there is no radius for auto-coverage. States may require other things, such as B. Different liability limits and other endorsements required when moving out of state. You must determine if your agent is licensed in the new state; If not, you will need to relocate to the state you live in or find a new representative. However, if you buy a policy in Illinois and then go on vacation to AZ for two weeks and have an accident on the way back, your Illinois policy will still cover you. As for the smaller insurance companies you mentioned, to my knowledge, small companies don’t sell radius-based insurance. The little agencies you see like Pattersons Ins. Here in town they are called “insurance brokers” which means they are independent agents not tied to any particular company like me. They can do business with any company they have been appointed to, Progressive, Erie, Bristol West etc. But they still do business with nationally recognized insurance companies which to my knowledge are not ‘radius limited’. Coverages outside of the possible Mexico/Canada coverages I mentioned earlier.” — Haiden.
Regardless of which insurance company you do business with, make sure you find an insurance agent you can trust and do your research so you know what changes are occurring in the insurance world. As the prices of everything change, your insurance premiums may change as well.
