Bethlehem Car Insurance
Bethlehem and the surrounding Lehigh Valley are breathtakingly beautiful. Taking a Sunday drive to many of the areas tourist spots is a great way to relax. The last thought on your mind should have to be insurance and the what-ifs of accidents and injuries.
In Bethlehem and throughout Pennsylvania, all drivers must maintain financial responsibility of their vehicles.
In other words, if you have a car, you need to buy insurance for it. There are penalties for not carrying insurance, or for letting insurance coverage lapse for more than 31 days.
These are the consequences for driving without insurance, according to the Pennsylvania Insurance Department Auto Insurance Guide:
- At least a 300 dollar fine
- Vehicle registration suspended for three months
- Driver’s license suspended for three months
- Vehicle impounded
As soon as you re-instate insurance coverage, you have to pay fees to restore your vehicle registration and your driver's license. If you typically do not like going to the Department of Motor Vehicles, then the entanglement of yourself with the DMV to pay fees is deterrent enough to carry insurance.
The insurance agencies make the paperwork for re-instating insurance involved as well. Worst of all is that once you let insurance lapse and are caught driving without it, you pay dearly. Resulting insurance premiums increase tremendously for years to come.
Be sure you always compare rates before making any decisions! Using our FREE tool above will help you get started!
Why You Need Car Insurance
You might still wonder why you need insurance, beside avoiding fees and suspension of license and registration.
Basically, otherwise, no one can prevent the financial devastation and loss by paying for accident damages and injuries out of your own pocket. It is the simplest way to avoid lengthy court battles where neither side gets what they need, cars repaired and injuries tended.
As the cost of cars increase, wages are staying the same. Many people are underemployed and unemployed. It means you need to insure against damages and injuries you might cause others. In addition, do not assume that other drivers have the means to purchase insurance even beyond the minimum legal limit. Always insure yourself against uninsured and underinsured drivers.
Minimum Pennsylvania Car Insurance
There is medical benefit coverage, which requires that you buy at least 5,000 dollars in coverage. Depending upon your health insurance plan, you may want to purchase more of this, or no additional coverage beyond the minimum.
The next area of coverage is probably the most important. Bodily injury liability pays out to those people you injure in an accident. It pays out for medical and rehabilitation costs.
The state minimum is very basic and to protect yourself from lawsuits you probably want more coverage. It is 15,000 dollars per injured and 30,000 dollars per accident for medical costs.
Because that will not cover much toward medical costs, there is a good likelihood the other parties would sue you. Another area is property damage liability. It covers you against any property damage you may cause. The minimum for this is low at 5,000 dollars. Again, people will sue you for the money they need to make repairs and replace vehicles or any property you damage with your car.
Coverage that is unique to Pennsylvania includes both full tort coverage and limited tort coverage.
Limited tort coverage gives the insured the chance to call on the insurance company to seek recovery of out-of-pocket medical and other expenditures. Full tort coverage allows the insured to call on their insurance company to seek monetary damages for emotional suffering, for instance.
Types of Coverage
To recap, the basic coverage to include in your insurance policy are medical benefits, bodily injury liability and property damage liability. Optional coverage includes additional parts such as collision and comprehensive.
Collision insurance coverage will cover your car if it is an accident. Comprehensive insurance coverage includes anything else that can happen to a car, such as auto theft and break-ins.
Collision and comprehensive coverage are both optional. If you have a loan or lease your vehicle, you are obligated to carry coverage on the car. Many people drop coverage on their vehicle once it is worth less than they would receive from the insurance company if they totaled the vehicle.
Gap coverage is also optional but useful for anyone with a car loan. Gap insurance covers the difference between a financed car's loan amount and the much lower value of the vehicle after it gets totaled in an accident. Otherwise, you could end up owing money.
Saving Money on Coverage
Now that you know what to look for in insurance coverage, you can begin shopping. Start by getting quotes on coverage. Make sure that you buy at least enough insurance to protect the value of your assets.
If you have no assets or cash savings, make sure you still buy plenty of coverage to pay for your own injuries and property damage. when comparing quotes make sure that you are comparing equal values.
For instance, make sure deductibles, policy limits and types of coverage are all the same across insurers. Consider increasing deductibles when comparing prices to lower the premiums. Though, do not do so at the expense of being able to pay deductibles if you need to make a claim.
Better ways to save money are to use what you have. For instance, if you have a teenager who is about to go onto your insurance premium, try these moves.
- Put them through a safe driving course
- If they are good students, let the insurance company know
- Compare quotes for adding them to your insurance against buying their own policy.
Save driving courses save drivers of any age money for a few years at a time. In addition, limiting annual mileage will also save on coverage. That brings up a great point.
Cutting Cost When Life Changes
Some events in life actually save you money. The catch is that you have to remember to contact your insurance company for updated rates. For instance, when your son or daughter is no longer a dependent, take them off of your insurance policy.
Another way you might save is if you get a new job, where you now work from home. If you were a traveling salesperson before who racked up 100,000 miles a year, then telecommuting potentially saves you a good chunk of change on insurance.
If you are moving to a nicer and safer neighborhood, do not forget to update your information with your insurance company. That will likely save you more money as well.
Pennsylvania is like all other states. You have to have car insurance if you own a car. Otherwise you will rack up expensive fees. Insure against liabilities of underinsured and uninsured drivers. In addition, protect yourself from lawsuits by having plenty of liability coverage against injuries and damage you might cause others.
Be sure to use our FREE search tool below to begin comparing rates today!