The Satanoff Agency

Yes! Many insurance companies do not cover accidents if their policyholder drive for Uber, Uber Eats, DoorDash, Instacart, Lyft, Grubhub, etc. If you are using your car to earn income, talk to your agent to make sure you have coverage. If you do not and you get in an accident, the insurance company may deny the claim leaving you responsible for paying for the damages.

If you own a home, an umbrella policy would benefit you. Let’s say you have a friend staying the night at your home. They slip when getting out of the shower and they hit their head falling down which causes them to pass away. If their family decided to file a lawsuit for $800k and you could be found liable, your home insurance may only have up to $500k in liability coverage, so you would be responsible for the other $300k. With an umbrella, it would cover that difference for you. Was it really your fault? That’s debatable. Could you be found negligent as the owner of the property? That is certainly possible. Something we tell clients is that in this day and age, you can be sued by anyone, for any reason, for any amount of money. When something terrible happens, the first thing you are going to be thinking is not how much you saved on your insurance. Talk to your agent if an umbrella policy is in your best interest.

Unfortunately, mileage is not a large rating factor for most insurance companies. Depending on your insurance company, they may offer discounts and programs you can enroll in to help you save on your insurance. There are too many factors in your rate to say exactly which one is causing your rate to increase, but one main driver is the used car market. For example, if you were to sell your used car you would likely get much more today than you would a few years ago because of how high demand is. The same reason applies to your car insurance. If you get in an accident and you car is totaled, the insurance company has to factor in the market value of your car today, so while your rate may increase, so does how much you would get for your car. Always reach out to your agent to discuss rate change and if there are ways they can help you save.

Sometimes, if the damage is minimal, no one is injured, and both parties are on the same page, it may be in your best interest to settle the claim out of pocket and not involve insurance. This way, it won’t come up in your accident record and potentially raise your rates. The risk of not involving your insurance is that there would be nothing to stop the person from reaching out in the future claiming that there is more damage from that accident. In any other situation, if someone is injured, no one knows who is at fault, the damage is more than you can afford to pay, or the other party is not cooperating with you, then filing a claim would be in your best interest. The adjuster will investigate, determine fault, and coordinate car repairs and payments so you don’t have to.

Unfortunately, carriers don’t just send out adjusters to determine if something is covered or not unless a claim has been filed. You also don’t want to just file a claim to see if something is covered because even if it’s not covered and nothing is paid out, it will still be reported in your claims history. This is why you should discuss with your agent so they can help you make the decision to file a claim or not. Your agent can’t guarantee something will be covered or not, because they are not adjusters, but they can help advise based on your coverages/deductibles.

If your auto policy has “rental reimbursement” coverage, this coverage is only for if your vehicle is in the shop due to a covered claim. Not for mechanical issues/vacation rentals. BUT, your coverage that you have on your auto policy will extend to the rental car if you choose to rent a car.

While it may not be required depending on your state, it is one of the most important pieces of evidence in a claim. When an insurance company has to investigate who is at fault, they have to go off whatever they can find to piece together what happened. A police report not only includes both parties contact information, it will also state who is at fault. Without it, the claim’s outcome is determined by “he said, she said”.