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Taking Your Car Insurance Over State Lines

It seems like there's always a ton of paperwork to do when you move. As a matter of fact, it's sometimes hard to decide what's worse when it comes to moving, the actual moving of boxes or the hours of headaches that come with moving your address on every subscription, membership and legal form known to man-including your driver's license and car insurance.

While changing your address with the DMV is as simple as filling out a single form, changing your address to hop state lines with your car insurance is a little more complex. Just changing the address on your driver's license and auto registration isn't going to do the trick. You're going to have to do a little homework to find out how much of what kind of car insurance your state requires.

To put it in simpler terms, car insurance is kind of like your state sales tax. It's determined by your state government rather than any federal office and is different every time you cross state lines. Every state has its own ideas and requirements when it comes to your car insurance, and if you're going to safely cruise the highways of your new stomping grounds you're going to have to make sure your coverage is up to par.

First and foremost, you need to know your state's minimum liability coverage requirements. Liability is the amount you pay everyone else involved in an accident you caused to take care of damages you're responsible for, and it includes any injuries (including whiplash) suffered by the other driver(s) and their passengers, any scratches, dents, cracks and totaled chassis the cars involved are sporting and whatever damage to public and private property managed to slide its way in as collateral damage.

Every state's minimum liability requirements are different, so it's important to make sure you adjust yours accordingly when you're hopping state lines.

The next question to ask is whether or not you want no fault car insurance-or if you have a choice. Some states are strictly no-fault, while others allow you to choose which system you want (in other words, if you want to retain your right to sue for accident related injury). In a no-fault system each party's own insurer pays the bills for their accident and they just walk away, saving you from having to wait weeks for a claim to get paid. (Don't worry, your rates only go up if you're the one responsible.)

The important thing to remember is that you can't count on your insurance agent to make sure you have the right levels of car insurance-or the right amount of coverage for you. While it's easy to give in to the temptation to gloss over your insurance coverage because you have eight hundred and one other things to do after your move-don't. Take the time to do your homework and find out what coverage you really need before signing on the dotted line.

You'll be glad that you did.

Article Source: http://www.bo-knows.com

Anthony M. Peck is the Senior Developer, Software Project Manager, and Director of Business Development for QuoteScout.com. For more information about car insurance after your move, visit them on the web at www.QuoteScout.com.

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