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I don’t sell car insurance, but as a lawyer practicing in the field of personal injury I frequently see people suffer because they have the wrong insurance coverage. Often, this happens because they purchased directly from an insurance company instead of an independent broker.

Many of my clients who have been seriously hurt in a car accident were struck by someone who had no insurance or only the minimum liability insurance coverage, which is $25,000 in New York and much less in many other states. Unfortunately, many of my clients were sold insurance policies with liability limits of $100,000 or $300,000, but were not sold matching uninsured and underinsured coverage.

Just this week, yet another new client had this problem. My client was a pedestrian crossing the street when she was struck by a car which fled the scene. The driver was caught shortly after leaving the accident, but the owner of the car only has the New York State minimum liability insurance of $25,000 and my client has serious injuries consisting of many broken bones including a fractured arm, leg and skull.

My client owns a car with liability insurance limits of $300,000, but she purchased the insurance from GEICO whose salesperson didn’t sell her underinsured coverage. GEICO does not use independent insurance brokers, but sells insurance directly to consumers through in-house sales agents.

For a small fee, my client could have purchased underinsured coverage of $300,000 which would have allowed her to recover $300,000 for her injuries instead of $25,000. Ironically, she did not need the $300,000 liability coverage to protect her assets. However, since you cannot buy underinsured coverage higher than your liability coverage, I would have advised her to purchase $300,000 liability coverage for the sole purpose of being able to purchase $300,000 underinsured coverage.

I have had many clients in this situation who lost their jobs because of serious injuries and incurred substantial debt. If they had matching underinsured coverage, the additional money available to pay their claim would would be a big help to pay their bills and get their life back together.

Underinsured motorist coverage will pay you money from your own automobile insurance policy if you have been hurt in a car accident by someone who was negligent for causing your injury and who had less liability insurance coverage than you did. Uninsured motorist coverage will pay you when the other car did not have any insurance coverage or the identity of the other car is unknown.

Underinsured and uninsured coverage is inexpensive and usually available in limits that match your liability insurance coverage. It is not available in amounts greater than your liability insurance coverage.

Underinsured and uninsured coverage is so important that a couple of states now require coverage limits matching your liability insurance limits, unless you decline the coverage in writing. Several years ago, I suggested to several New York State senators that they enact a similar law in New York.

I have also seen many clients who were not sold the maximum medical payments insurance, which costs me only $2.01 per month on my car insurance policy. This is particularly important for people who do not have a good health insurance policy. It is also beneficial for passengers who do not have health insurance.

Why should you buy car insurance through an independent insurance broker? The courts have defined the reason. There have been several “malpractice” lawsuits against insurance companies for failure to offer underinsured and uninsured motorists coverage limits matching the liability limits. However, when the insurance company sells directly to consumers, these cases have gone in favor of the insurance companies. The courts found that when a consumer buys insurance directly from an insurance company, rather than an insurance broker, the consumer is only buying insurance and is not paying for advice.

When you buy auto insurance from an independent insurance broker who represents several different insurance companies, you get the advantage of an insurance professional who can evaluate your needs and advise you accordingly. Additionally, only an independent insurance broker can provide you with a choice of insurance companies and premiums, so you get the best coverage at the lowest price.

Whether you buy your car insurance directly from an insurance company or through an independent insurance broker, always make sure that you purchase matching uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage and the maximum medical payment benefits.

Philip L. Franckel, Esq., is the founder of http://www.HURT911.org an accident and injury research web site for people hurt in an accident and personal injury lawyers. Mr. Franckel also publishes articles on Lawyer Advertising at http://www.Lawyer-Advertising-Blog.com

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Car insurance in the United Kingdom is an important and compulsory part of the motorists ongoing motoring cost and when buying a car you should allow for this cost as it can be quite an expensive amount depending on the individual.

It should be noted that although I am writing this as a car driver in the United Kingdom most of the factors taken into consideration for calculating a car insurance premium are fairly standard worldwide procedures and will apply to you as a car driver where ever you may live throughout the world.

There are many factors that are taken into account by the car insurance company when evaluating what premium they will charge you for your annual insurance cover.
Some important facts to the total insurance premium you will pay for your car insurance premium are your age, your sex, past motoring experience and occupation.

An individuals age is one of the most important factors in calculating a car insurance quote as proven statistics held by the insurance companies show evidence that in general younger drivers are more likely to be involved in an accident compared to an older driver.

Also it is certainly proven that female car drivers are less likely to be involved in an accident and therefore cost the insurance company less payout compared to a male driver.

Past motoring experience such as the number of years you have been driving without being involved in a car insurance claim and without receiving police endorsements for car related incidents such as driving without insurance, driving whilst under the influence of alcohol or drug substances, dangerous driving or speeding is also another major factor in the car insurance quote process.

When first obtaining your car insurance quote whether online or offline it is of the utmost importance to provide the car insurance company with all the relevant facts regarding your motoring history as this is the basics upon which your car insurance premium will be based and if accepted by you will be the information written down on the car insurance proposal form, this proposal form is the legal contract between you and your car insurance provider and is signed by you stating that all the facts you have provided are correct.

You will find that by obtaining car insurance quotes from several car insurance companies that your annual premium can be vastly different from company to company and therefore it is in your own interest to shop around to find which one suits you best, always bearing in mind to find out not only the annual car insurance premium but also what cover is provided by the car insurance company for your money.

Copyright 2006 Terry Till

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