Making A Claim and Signing Too Soon!

Have you ever been in an auto accident or minor 'fender bender' which caused you to have to make a claim to your car insurance policy? Well if not you are a very lucky individual. Most people have experienced some form or an automobile accident at some point in their lives whether it be minor are even a major accident.

When something does happen to your car you will need to fill out and submit what is know as a 'claim'. A claim is basically a request by you stating that damage has been done to your car and/or yourself and you need the insurance company to pay for the damages.

Most car insurance companies will do their best to try and settle as quick as possible. This is because they know the longer time that it takes between the accident and settling the claim, the more things can happen that can cause the price tag of the accident to sky-rocket.

One perfect example of this is an accident where some minor injuries may have occurred, but the full extent of the injury has not yet fully manifested. The car insurance company will want to do their best to pay you for the damages to your and possibly the other car involved as quick as they can. Once you sign and accept you are releasing them from any further damages.

I experienced this after an accident I had about 7 months ago. The car insurance company settled the claim the next day and like a dummy I signed before I realized the full impact that the accident had on my body. I did go to the doctor and get checked out for some back and neck pain that I received after being rear-ended, but the doc just said it was some muscle soreness and I let it go.

Well, my pain proceeded for months and did not get better, as a matter of fact my condition has worsened. After being unhappy with my doctor I decided to get a second opinion. This doctor decided to order me to take an MRI. Well, it turns out that I have two slipped & bulging discs in my lower back because of the accident. And guess what? I signed the release after my claim was made stating that the insurance company was not to be held liable for any other damages!

Please learn from my mistake. It has cost me thousands in medical bills now and my job is more difficult to do now because I do manual labor for a living. I can not go back and try to get any more money from the other person's or my car insurance company. I feel abandoned and it sucks; please excuse my language but I get a little emotional about this subject.

If you are ever in a car accident and think everything is OK, please slow down and don't be so quick to settle the claim. There is a reason why these companies want to settle so fast and I learned why the hard way. I thought that they were just a very professional car insurance company that took care of things fast, well I guess they are.

Make sure that if you do make a claim and personal injuries are involved that you consult a personal injury lawyer. If I had anything to do over I wouldn't have been so quick to sign the paperwork. I now have to live with that choice I made and am left to fend for myself for all my medical bills associated with that accident. I wish nothing but the best for everyone and hope & pray that you never get into any serious car accident, but if you do please remember my story.

Michael
Car Insurance Rate

Progressive Car Insurance

The car insurance company Progressive has been a very good company. I personally have used their auto insurance to provide coverage over my fleet of trucks and insure all of my drivers with my business. They have very reasonable rates and very good customer service.

When I first signed up with Progressive I did so through a broker or middle-man company. This is because I have a range of other insurances for my business such as worker's compensation, general liability, and auto. It's just easier to use an agent for some things.

However one time I did have a small issue with my auto insurance, but it was not Progressive's fault. I had made some small changes as I frequently do (adding new people and dropping old employees from the coverage.) Well for whatever reason the change was not reflected when I checked up on it about one month after making the change.

I had requested the change through my agent or representative from the company that I buy all my insurance through (from an independent company). Well for whatever reason the change was not done. I ended up call Progressive directly to see what the change was not made. The told me that they never received the request.

I checked with the company who provides my insurance policies and they said they never received the request, but I know for a fact that this change was requested because I was actually in the office when my assistant made the first call. This kind of upset me, but everyone makes mistakes. I'll let this go once, but the better not mess up again.

Progressive took immediate action and made the change effective immediately. This was kind of scary because what would have happened if the new employee I added actually had an accident when I though he was covered? Well this taught me a very important lesson. Check and double check that a task has been done after you've requested it.

You have to put trust in people to get things done and it can be very hard to micro-manage every little task, but there are some things that are very important and worth checking. If you don't check yourself, make sure that you have someone that you trust to check and then double check. The small amount of time taken to assure than an important change has been made could save you thousands of dollars or even more.

Michael
http://www.ratecarinsurance.net

Lower Payments

Most people know that one way to lower your car insurance payments is to raise your deductible. The deductible is the amount that you will have to come up with or cover up front before your insurance kicks in to pay the rest.

An example would be this: If your car insurance deductible is $500 and you get into an accident causing $5,000 in damages to your car then you would have to pay or cover the first $500 and the insurance company would pay the $4500.

As I just mentioned, a way to lower your monthly payments or premiums is to raise your deductible. If your current deductible is $500, then if you raise it to $1,000 or $1,500 then you could significantly lower your monthly payments. Of course the bad side of this is that if you get into a minor 'fender bender' causing say something like $900 in damages, and your deductible is $1,000, then your insurance will not pay you a dime.

If you choose a lower deductible then you will increase your monthly payments, but this could be worth it depending on your financial situation. Let's say your current auto insurance payment is $150/month with a $1,000 deductible. You could choose to lower your deductible to $500 which would increase your monthly payments to something like $180.

This figures are not based on any particular car insurance company or any specific plan. Everyone is unique and auto insurance coverage varies from company to company and can vary greatly depending on your personal driving record.

Michael
http://www.ratecarinsurance.net