Auto insurance questions people actually ask

No. This site has no affiliation with any insurance carrier, despite the domain name. We are an independent education and comparison resource — we do not sell insurance and no carrier pays for a position on this site.

Nothing legally — it isn't a defined product. People generally use it to mean liability plus collision plus comprehensive. Because different sellers mean different things by it, ignore the phrase and check the individual coverages and their limits on the declarations page instead.

More than your state's minimum in almost every case. Liability pays for the injuries and damage you cause to other people, and anything above your limit is your personal responsibility. Minimums in many states are far below the cost of a serious accident, and raising the limit is usually one of the cheapest changes on the policy.

Only if you could pay it tomorrow without borrowing. Raising it lowers the premium and raises what a claim costs you. Use the deductible calculator on this site to see the point where one option overtakes the other, based on how often you expect to claim.

An SR-22 is a certificate your insurer files with your state confirming you carry the required liability coverage — it's a filing, not a separate insurance policy. It's typically required after certain driving violations, and it usually raises your premium because it signals higher risk to insurers. See the SR-22 guide for who needs one and roughly how long it typically lasts.

In many US states, insurers use a credit-based insurance score as a rating factor. It is not your credit score, and several states restrict or prohibit its use entirely. Your state insurance department publishes what is permitted where you live, and that is the source to trust over any article, including this one.

At every renewal, at minimum — and additionally any time something changes: a violation ages off your record, you move, you buy a different car, or your credit-based insurance score improves. Rates move even when your own situation doesn't, so an insurer that was competitive last year may not stay the cheapest option this year.

Not in itself. What does hurt is a gap in coverage between policies, which can raise your price with the next insurer and is generally not legal while the car is on the road. Shop before your renewal date so the new policy starts the day the old one ends.

Both pay out only up to the car's actual cash value, so as the car depreciates the maximum payout shrinks while the premium doesn't fall as fast. Ask any insurer to price the policy with and without them, compare that against the car's value minus the deductible, and decide the two coverages separately.

It covers you when the driver who hit you has no insurance or not enough of it — which, given how many people carry only minimum limits, is the more common situation. It's usually inexpensive relative to what it covers, and it fills the exact gap other drivers' minimum limits leave behind.

The insurer pays the actual cash value — the depreciated market value at the time of the loss, not what you paid and not what a replacement costs today. If you owe more on a loan than that figure, the shortfall is yours unless you hold gap coverage.

No. Everything here describes the US system — coverages, terminology, regulators and the way claims work. Despite the .id domain, none of this describes insurance in any other country, and rules differ everywhere else too.