Don’t Believe These Myths In Car Insurance

If you want to find a good car insurance, sometimes, it is not enough to ask your friends and colleagues as there are various misconceptions about car insurance that people perpetuate simply because they did not do their fact checking.

Most common insurance myths are:

The color of the car can affect the insurance

One of the common myths going around is that red cars are more expensive to insure than cars of different colors. However, this is simply not true. The color of the car has no bearing when it comes to determining the premium.

In fact, the way insurance companies get the necessary information regarding your car is through the VIN (vehicle identification number). The VIN can tell them the make, year, and model of your car. It can also tell them where the car was manufactured. However, one thing it doesn’t show is the color of the car.

Where does this myth come from? Well, cars that actually prompt insurance companies to the premium are sports cars as driving habits of sports cars owners show that causing a car crash (and generally not driving cautiously) is more likely than if the driver owns a family car. And, guess which color is the most prominent among sports car. If you guessed red, you get the point of this parallel.

The driver is responsible for damages, not the owner of the car

This is another big myth that people like citing. For some reason, they believe that if they lend their car to a friend and that friend causes a crash, it is the friend’s insurance that should cover the damages. As you probably have already understood, this is not true.

When it comes to the insurance, it follows the car, not the driver. It is easy to understand how this myth came to be as it does make much sense not to be responsible if somebody else is driving and they have their own insurance.

This is simply not how insurance companies operate.

The more money your car costs, the higher the premium is

This one definitely makes a lot of sense. However, it is also a misconception. It is not the sales price they check when you apply for insurance. What they check, however (apart from your history), is the potential cost of repairing or replacing your car as they try to determine how much to charge you for the coverage they offer.

Another important information is the loss history of the vehicle. Checking loss history means that they check how many claims they have had to pay for that model. This can lead to some mid-priced cars having higher premiums than costlier vehicles. For example, a sports car can have a higher premium than an SUV that originally cost twice the amount of money the sports car did.

We can see how this myth came to be since expensive cars usually have higher maintenance costs.

Personal property inside the vehicle is covered by auto insurance

Let’s say your laptop got damaged in a car crash. You might think that your car insurance will cover that damage. You might have even heard an anecdote of a friend, or a friend of a friend who managed to get the insurance pay for it.

There is a reason personal property insurance exists. However, the claim for damages for items in your car is potentially subject to a deductible.

You do not need a new policy when changing a car if you recently paid the insurance premium for the last car

As we have said, the insurance does not follow the owner, it follows the car. Therefore, once you have received a new car, your insurance company must issue a new policy. While your coverage might last for a bit more, that is very short lived. So, contacting your insurance company to update your policy is very important.

My insurance will cover my car even when I use it for business

While this is not a perpetuated myth by it being retold, it is a common misconception. If you are using your car for business, you must get business insurance for it, as personal will simply not cover both uses.

In the end, do not be ashamed to ask any and all questions when getting a new insurance policy. Your representative will be happy to oblige and answer any questions you might ask and you will avoid any misconceptions in regards to your car insurance.