Monday, September 17, 2007

Illinois Car Insurance Requirements

Illinois Law requires all motor vehicle owners to have minimum amounts of auto liability insurance. In addition, lending institutions may require physical damage insurance to protect their interests in a financed vehicle.

In the State of Illinois the required minimum coverage for bodily injury is $20,000 per person injured in any one accident and $40,000 for all persons injured in any one accident.

The required minimum coverage for property damage is $15,000 for injury to or the destruction of property of others in any one accident.

Optional insurance may include Uninsured Motorist Coverage. The total amount of this insurance coverage must be equal to the bodily injury liability limits, unless specifically rejected in writing. The amount of Uninsured Motorist coverage may never be less than that which is legally required for Bodily Injury Liability Coverage.

Liability insurance will cover bodily injury (costs stemming from injury or death to pedestrians or to occupants in another vehicle) or property damage (costs stemming from damage to another person’s vehicle or property, i.e., fences, trees and buildings) caused by the policy holder’s negligent operation of the vehicle. Additionally, this coverage may also be used if a member of the policy holder’s family or another person with permission to use the vehicle caused an accident. Legal defense in lawsuits may also be covered under this insurance.

Illinois requires liability limits of 20/40/15 which represent $20,000 for bodily injury coverage per person and $40,000 for bodily injury cover per accident which will pay for medical bills and lost wages. The last number of 15 represents $15,000 for property damage coverage per accident which will pay for repairs and/or replacement of objects damaged or destroyed other than the policy holder’s own vehicle.

Personal Injury Protection (PIP) and No-Fault Coverage are not required by the state, however, Uninsured (UM) as well as Underinsured Motorist Coverage (UIM) is mandatory. The UM coverage will pay expenses for bodily injuries caused by a hit-and-fun driver or a driver without auto liability insurance who is at fault. The monetary limits here are $20,000 per person and $40,000 per accident. UIM coverage will pay the difference between the policy holder’s UIM limits and the liability limits of the driver causing the accident if those limits are lower than UIM. This is required only if the policy holder purchases higher limits of UM coverage.

Collision Coverage as well as Comprehensive Coverage may also be required with regard to actual physical damage.
Purchase Student Health Insurance Online

Home Warranty Insurance

New York Car Insurance

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Elizabeth_Newberry

Where to Get Cheap Illinois Car Insurance

Need to find cheap Illinois car insurance? Want to know where to get the best rates possible with the best companies? Here's what you need to know.

Can I Really Buy Car Insurance on the Internet?

You buy books, electronics, and computers on the Internet. Why not insurance? You can make sure you're getting the cheapest price for your Illinois car insurance by comparing insurance prices online.

All you need to do is go to an insurance comparison website and complete a form with information about yourself, your vehicles, your driving habits, and your insurance needs. You will soon have multiple quotes from A-rated companies to compare, and you can then choose the company with the cheapest rate.

The best insurance comparison websites even have an online chat feature so you can easily get answers to all your questions about Illinois car insurance from an insurance expert. (See link below.)

Comparing Your Quotes

Beside speed and convenience, another advantage of insurance comparison websites is that it's easy to make changes to your information and see how your quote changes. For example, Illinois law requires the following minimum coverages:

* $20,000 for bodily injury coverage per person, up to $40,000 for per accident.

* $15,000 for property damage coverage per accident.

* $20,000 per person, up to $40,000 per accident for uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage

However, these amounts may not cover you if you have a major accident. By using an insurance comparison website you can easily increase your coverage amounts and see how much your premium increases.
Visit http://www.LowerRateQuotes.com or click on the following link to get cheap Illinois car insurance quotes from top-rated companies and see how much you can save. You can get more auto insurance tips in their Articles section.

The authors, Brian Stevens and Stacey Schifferdecker, have spent 30 years in the insurance and finance industries, and have written a number of articles on getting cheap Illinois car insur

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Brian_Stevens

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Illinois Car Insurance Quotes And Saving Money

Cheap car insurance in Illinois is possible, especially if you take into consideration the coverages you need and do some shopping around. Here are a few tips.

The more coverages you get, the more you pay. However, there are minimum coverages required by Illinois state law that you must have. These are:

Liability -- $20,000 for injury or death per person per accident. $40,000 for injury or death if more than one person is involved per accident.

Property damage -- $15,000.

Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury coverage (UIM): $20,000 per person, $40,000 per accident.

Underinsured Motorist Bodily Injury insurance: Required if you purchase higher limits of Uninsured Motorist Bodily Injury coverage.

These are the minimums and you may want to consider higher limits for peace of mind.

Another way to lower your car insurance costs is to raise your deductible. This is the amount you must pay before your insurance coverages start paying. The difference between a $250 and $500, or $500 and $1,000 deductible in premium cost can be quite a bit.

Also, take advantage of any discounts such as savings for an anti-theft device, insuring your home and auto with the same company, good student, senior driver and more.

Use public transportation and drive less. Car insurance companies often base your rate on how much you drive. If you can limit the number of miles you drive in a week, month or year you could lower your insurance costs.

Finally, one of the biggest -- and easiest -- ways you can find cheap car insurance in Illinois is to spend some time shopping around. Insurance company rates in Illinois, like in other states, can vary a lot from one company to another. You should get at least three or more different quotes. Make sure to provide the same information regarding coverages and deductibles to each company or agent to get the most accurate comparison.

Thanks to the Internet, this is pretty convenient these days. You can go to each insurance company and request a quote, or visit a comparison Web site that lets you enter your information once and contacts you with several different agents or provides several different quotes back for comparison.

You can get free comparison Illinois car insurance quotes, plus more information about saving on car insurance at LowerYourInsurance.com. The site also includes a handy worksheet to help you when shopping for car insurance. Scott Lunt writes frequently about the insurance industry.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Scott_Lunt