(Published Saturday, October 13, 2007 10:41:17 PM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Marcia Nelesen mnelesen@gazetteextra.com
You pay a lot of money for vehicle insurance.
But do you know what you're buying?
Following is a brief primer on vehicle insurance and general advice from John Wickhem, an insurance agent since 1976.
He cautions that every policy is different, depending on the number of cars, drivers and their ages.
His main advice? Sit down with your insurer and take some time. Look at coverage first rather than the cost of the premiums.
No question is too stupid, he said.
"We go out and spend hours and hours and hours on shoes and hats and gloves to cover our bodies. Insurance is more important than that," he said.
There are four components of vehicle coverage. The first three are purchased together, while the fourth can be added.
-- Liability to others. This coverage pays for damages and expenses that are your fault. Top coverage is $500,000.
-- Medical. Pays for each person in the vehicle up to the limit you purchase. Will pay for any injury involving a car, including getting your leg slammed in the door. This is some of the cheapest insurance you can buy for the potential claim amount.
-- Uninsured- and underinsured-motorist. This is for yourself and the passengers in your vehicle in case the person who hits you has no insurance or is insured for less than the cost of the injuries. Consider buying as much coverage as you can afford. The minimum amount available is $25,000 a person.
Underinsured-motorist insurance does not stack. For instance, if the other driver has $25,000 insurance and you have $25,000, your top coverage is $25,000, not $50,000. But if the other driver has $25,000 and you have $50,000, your coverage is $50,000.
This insurance does not cover your car.
-- Physical damage to your car. This often is called collision or comprehensive coverage. Generally, if a younger person is driving a vehicle worth less than $6,000, Wickhem suggests the consumer buy only liability insurance. Otherwise, the insurance payments for a youthful driver could pay for the vehicle numerous times over.
In addition to the coverage types listed above, Wickhem said people also might want to consider umbrella coverage. Consumers can purchase $1 million or more over the primary coverage. The umbrella does not automatically cover uninsured and underinsured, but that can be purchased at an additional cost. Umbrellas are relatively inexpensive. If you have one car and one house, you might be able to buy an umbrella for less than $100 a year.
Wickhem recalls a client who hit a child with his vehicle.
The client had a $1 million umbrella.
"He felt as though he had done the best he could in a bad situation, and he could give this child some money to give the child a little better life."
