When you’re shopping for car insurance, it’s important to understand what car insurance coverage you want and what you’re required to buy. For instance, most states require a minimum amount of car insurance to drive a vehicle. Alternatively, if you want extra protection, you may be interested in full coverage insurance. Read about the most common types of car insurance coverage to see how they work.
Auto-Owners offers all the usual coverage types, including liability, other state-required coverage, roadside assistance and comprehensive and collision. The company also offers several add-on coverage types and options:
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Gap coverage can come in handy if you have a loan or lease balance and your car is totaled or stolen. Comprehensive and collision coverages pay out only up to the value of your car, which might be less than you owe on a loan or lease. Gap insurance pays the difference.
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Diminished value coverage is similar to gap insurance, but for less extreme situations. If your car is damaged (rather than stolen or totaled), this add-on will compensate you for the reduced value of your car.
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Additional expenses insurance goes further than traditional rental car coverage. In addition to paying for a rental car if your car is in the shop for a covered claim, this optional coverage also pays for food, lodging and other incidentals if you’re stranded.
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The Personal Automobile Plus package has more than 10 perks and coverages, including identity theft coverage, cell phone insurance and coverage for replacing lost or stolen keys.
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Accident forgiveness. Forgives your first at-fault accident, which means your rates won’t go up after a crash. Available only to drivers with no at-fault claims or major traffic violations in the past 36 months.
Auto-Owners also may include a few benefits in its auto policies that other major insurers don’t.
Common loss deductible. This benefit applies if you have your home insurance through Auto-Owners in addition to an auto policy with comprehensive coverage. If you need to make a claim to both policies for the same event — such as a bad storm or a tree falling on both your house and car — the company will reduce your auto deductible by the amount of your property deductible. If your homeowners deductible is higher, the company will waive your auto deductible.
Collision coverage advantage. If you’re in a collision with another customer of the company, your collision deductible will be waived.
Rental car insurance. When you rent a car, your Auto-Owners policy covers as much as it does for your personal car, as well as any fees from the rental company associated with an accident. Some auto policies have lower coverage limits when you rent a car and don’t pay those fees.
