In order to utilize this strategy, you must first understand why your insurance increases. Police officers do not send a copy of your ticket to your insurance company. Instead, these statistics are entered into state databases. These databases allow a judge or police officer to see if you have any prior violations and what their disposition was. In this way, judges and police officers know if you are to be charged as a repeat offender, or if this is your first violation.

While the purpose of these databases is not to inform your insurance company of your moving violation, insurance companies can find out this information indirectly by “sweeping” the databases for points. When they find points attached to your license, they know you have had a speeding ticket or other infraction, and can raise your rates accordingly.

Points are a system used by most states which attach a certain number of points to your license for a given time. Points are earned by the severity of the offense. In many states, for example, speeding tickets might rate one, two, or three points based on how fast you were traveling at the time of the stop.

These points are automatically added to your license, and reported to the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles. If you accumulate enough points, you can theoretically lose your license for a period of time. Most points “fall off” your record after a number of years, so if you have a speeding ticket one year and then another ten years later, it is unlikely the first ticket will still be affecting the points on your license.

This is where you have some leverage, in many cases, to keep your insurance company from raising your rates. You have two options: you can fight the speeding ticket in court, or you can pay the fine and ask the judge to remove the points from your license.

If you choose to fight the speeding ticket, be sure you have facts to support your claim that you were not speeding. Simply showing up in court and denying the charge will not be sufficient for a judge to dismiss the ticket. Police officers usually have documentation in the form of radar readings to support their claim. You can ask for the radar device to be tested at the scene of the traffic stop, but not after. If you have neglected to show that the radar device was faulty, it is unlikely you will “beat” the speeding ticket.

If your moving violation involved something other than speeding, be sure that you have some sort of documentation as to why you are not guilty of the violation. It is possible to fight a ticket, but you must have proof to show the court.

On the other hand, if you agree to pay the fine immediately, and if it is your first offense, many judges will remove the points from your license if you request this. This means that your insurance company will not be able to raise your rates, as there are no points on your license.

This strategy works best if it is your first offense, and if you were not speeding at very high rates. If you were doing 90 in a 30 mile per hour zone, or if you have three prior speeding violations in the last year, judges will not be very sympathetic to your plight and will probably not remove the points.

Judges are not required by law to remove points. They are a valid legal consequence of moving violations. However,
you have nothing to lose by appearing in court and asking for this service.

For you, there is nothing to worry about. New York State minimum liability limits extend outside the state and even automatically increase to meet the financial responsibility laws wherever your travel in the US or Canada. As long as you have coverage on your car, it extends to the rental car on a secondary basis. Any coverage not provided by the rental company will be picked up by your policy.

I should be careful to point out that this is not true for everyone. Our non-New York readers should know that state-mandated minimum insurance doesn’t always extend into other states. For instance, in Massachusetts, the state-mandated Bodily Injury coverage only applies within Massachusetts. A person who buys only minimum liability coverage and travels outside of Massachusetts has no coverage if he causes injury to another person. In addition, traveling in other states without adequate coverage can be a fineable offense. This is yet another reason to always purchase additional bodily injury coverage. Compared to the benefit provided, the coverage is very cheap. Of you have not purchased additional bodily injury coverage above state minimums, be sure to check your policy to see if you are covered before traveling out of state.

Another reader had a similar problem. Here’s what we told him when he asked about an accident while driving a dealer’s car.

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Only a few reasons could stop coverage from extending when the girlfriend drives. Even then, the insurance company would be bound to pay the state minimum coverage on the policy:

1. Does she use the car regularly? If so, she needs to be listed as a driver on the policy first.

2. Did she use the car for business? Personal Auto policies do not cover business use.

3. Is she keeping the car with her for long periods of time (days or weeks)? If so, she is a regular user and must first be a listed driver before she will be covered driving the car.

“Regularly” is talked about in the policy as opposed to “occasionally.” It sounds to me like “occasional use,” but if your sons use the car at regular intervals, say every three months, you could get an adjuster who defines those regular intervals as “regular use.” Such an adjuster could have grounds to deny your claim for collision damage, rental, towing and any other optional coverage you have on the car.

You are better off letting the underwriting representative or agent know your boys use your car once in a while and let her tell you if you should list them as drivers. Get a follow up letter from the representative that documents the advice given to you. With all this on file, a claims adjuster will be much more trusting and less likely to drag out a claim because of suspicion that you have an unlisted operator driving your car on a regular basis.

You shouldn’t just worry about someone else hitting you without insurance. Everyone makes mistakes and you could cause an accident yourself. If that happens before your insurance is active, you will be personally responsible for the damage. It’s going to be tough keeping up those car payments if you have to pay for someone else’s car too.

It seems likely there is a policy that will cover this car temporarily. After all, you can’t get the car registered without insurance, so you must have shown proof of insurance at some point to be planning to drive the car now. That is unless the car is still registered to the dealership. In that case, you are covered under the dealer’s policy, as long as that registration is valid.

If this is your first car, and you have no existing car insurance, you should wait until your insurance is in place and registration valid before driving the car. Leave it where it is until the insurance kicks in.

First, if you own a pickup truck designed for family use, the same rules apply when looking for insurance savings as those which apply to cars. In essence, pickup trucks are simply cars with bigger frames. Since they are driven for mostly the same purpose as passenger cars, most insurers simply insure them in the same way as they do cars.

You should shop around for the best rates, and be sure to take advantage of good driver discounts, good student discounts, driver’s education discounts, and multi-car and multi-policy discounts. You can also save by raising your deductibles or lowering your coverage levels, or both.

However, if you are looking for truck insurance for a vehicle designed to do commercial work, whether it is a panel truck, a flat-bed truck, or a semi-tractor-trailer truck, you will need a completely different policy than that which covers your personal pickup truck. There are a variety of policies which cover commercial trucks, and you will need to find the right policy for your particular needs.

Trucks are classed according to size, weight, and purpose. In general, the bigger the truck, the higher the insurance premiums, although this is not always the case. Trucks are also classified by their use, and trucks which are used to transport hazardous materials or to do dangerous jobs will require more insurance and typically higher premiums, even if they may be smaller than some other vehicles.

There are four types of coverage for commercial vehicles. Each of these has a specific purpose, and all four are usually required, depending upon the use to which the truck is put.

All trucks must carry liability insurance. Liability insurance is very similar to the insurance carried by cars in this regard; it protects the driver from liability in an accident. It will pay for damages to another person’s vehicle, medical expenses, and other property damage if you cause an accident.

Trucks can also carry “physical damage” insurance as a separate policy. Similar to a “comprehensive” policy on a car, this insurance pays to repair or replace the vehicle if it is damaged in a non-accident-related incident. Fire, flood, theft, and tornado are all covered by a physical damage policy, and many policies have riders such as glass breakage, which can save you a good bit of money if you have minor damage to your vehicle from a flying rock or other debris.

One type of insurance which is completely different from that carried on cars is a “cargo” policy. Because so many trucks carry large loads of goods, the goods as well as the truck must be insured. Cargo policies are typically priced by the type of cargo the truck generally carries. If the cargo is expensive to replace, the corresponding coverage will cost more.

A final type of insurance often carried by truck drivers is medical coverage. If the worker is injured as a result of operating the truck for work, workers’ compensation may pay; however, if the truck driver is off duty and owns the truck, medical coverage may be necessary to pay the bills.

These policies are sometimes integrated into the liability section of the policy, but can also be standalone policies.

If the truck is stored, there is a form of storage insurance called “bob-tail” insurance which is designed to protect the truck driver’s investment. Bob-tail insurance is specifically designed for trucks which are not currently being used for work purposes.

If you want to save on these types of truck insurance, your best bet is to visit an independent agent or a company which specializes in insuring trucks. Sometimes, your car insurance carrier is not the best place to save. Visit several companies and perform an internet search to find companies specializing in truck insurance.

Insurance companies often waive car insurance deductibles if they can recover most of their payments. The endorsement is exceptionally cheap, so anyone who has access to it usually has the endorsement. I have Waiver of Deductible on my policy, and it costs me $2 per year. At that price, there’s no reason not to have it. At the same time, being too nice could make that endorsement useless.

Waiver of Deductible endorsements do just what they say. They “waive the deductible” in certain situations. Essentially, if the insurance company can collect 50% or more of what it pays for your damages, it will waive your deductible. However, if your actions make it impossible for the insurance company to collect damages, your deductible won’t be waived.

Case in point: You were hit in the back. You didn’t call the police because the other driver said she would pay for the damage. What happens when she turns out to be a big fat liar? You go to your insurance policy. Your insurance will pay for your damages, less your deductible, unless they have enough information to go after the other driver for the damage. If you have the plate number of the at fault driver, that’s usually enough for the insurance company to track down the other driver’s insurance company and waive your deductible. If you did not get enough information to track down the other cars insurance, you are likely to lose your deductible, unless your insurance company eventually collects all the damages. Then you’ll get your deductible back as part of the damage settlement.

So, no matter how sad the other driver’s story, get their plate number and drivers’ license information, just so you have it on file. Then, you can offer them the benefit of the doubt without risking your deductible.

Let’s say you have hail dents on the trunk and rear bumper and a car comes along and hits you in the rear. Because the trunk and bumper cover were already devalued from hail damage, the insurance company won’t pay to replace or repair them. However, they will cover any non-hail damage, such as the crushed crumple zones beneath the bumper cover.

It’s true that a car with cosmetic damage can save you a bundle on the cost of the car, but you must be willing to accept the fact that you might need to pay out of pocket for repairs if an accident happens after you buy the car. This could also have a huge impact if there is a total loss. For instance, if the car is stolen, you would be covered for the actual cash value of the car. If the hail damage caused the car to be a total loss before, the car is only worth salvage value now…usually a few hundred dollars at best.

When you buy a car that was a previous total loss, you are essentially buying a car without cash value. That means you are better off pocketing the extra cost of collision and theft insurance to save for the rainy day when you will need to buy a replacement. If you buy such a car, buy it with the assumption that you will have to buy another used car in the next five years or so. If you couldn’t afford to buy another car, you probably can’t afford that hail-damaged car. The sticker price might be low, but there is a hidden cost.