Friday, April 24, 2009

Do I need Insurance

Statistics reveal that around 47 million Americans are still not in possession of health insurance owing to several reasons, like unemployment, underemployment, severe layoffs, not to mention of several other commitments like children’s education, social obligations and household expenses etc. In the midst of all these, if a number of people are staying away from insuring their cars, it is not a big surprise. In the current economic crisis, car insurance may not merit any priority on their list at all. As far as common man is concerned, a lot of thought goes behind every penny that is being spent now. With the companies lying off people every day, health insurance premiums are going up and people are pinching every penny possible to meet the premium requirement.
In this scenario, car insurance is a difficult prospect, and even if some people are interested, they may be on the look out for cheapest possible premium. This is not a surprise though. But, one must use exercise some prudence here. If you own a car, you must definitely be making use of it some time or the other. And when you take your car on the road, you may be very careful while driving, but what is the guarantee that nobody will harm your car or nothing is going to happen to it. Your car might some suffer some damage due to the negligence of a third person, or there my even be a hit and run case where you cannot locate the driver of the car or its number. Then what do you do? Pay for the repairs through your nose or keep the car at home in damaged condition because you cannot afford its repair? Either option does not work in your favor.
The best alternative would be to work out a budget from your monthly income and scour all your expenses thoroughly and eke out some small amount of money which can be set aside for car insurance. Have a small meeting of the family members and seek their cooperation too in arriving at this amount. You will be surprised to discover that it is not a difficult task after all and required only some minor readjustments. Now, do all that you possibly can to look for cheapest car insurance? Consult your friends, relatives, acquaintances, go through all the relevant books on the subject and spend some time in collecting the statistics. People with personal experiences with are able to give valuable information which you will need to consider before finalizing. While collecting data on cheap insurance, find out the prerequisites of the company too, if there are any. Some companies demand too much documentation, which are actually superfluous and involve wasting lot of time. When you have succeeded in collecting the names, consider the reputations of the companies too in the market. Some companies might promise the moon but fail miserably when it comes to prove their credibility. Do not fall for the sweet talks of agents, but be firm and learn to say “no” if you are not impressed with their rates or performance.
Also, take all the precautions with your car that need to be observed in order to reduce your premium rate, like working on your vehicles security system, parking in garage or under a roof where the likelihood of damage is minimal. If your car is owner-driven and is used sparingly, it is better. You may use the internet facility too and convince yourself thoroughly that the rate you have on hand is the cheap and reliable at the same time. Keep in mind all these factors before buying the insurance.