I live in Texas and we buy liability insurance on our vehicles. Just this seems pretty rigged because the follow on policies are almost as high as the first policy. If you have a truck and a car you are paying double but you can only drive ONE AT A TIME! If you have 4 vehicles which is not all that rare you can only put 3 on a policy then you have to get a second policy for at least one vehicle.
If you get in a wreck and it is your fault your insurance pays for the damage to the other vehicle and the driver/passenger. You still have to pay a deductible which can be $200-1000. Your rates are set taking into account, if you keep insurance routinely, credit worthiness, home owner, age sex and marital status and of course your driving record.
I am wondering about no fault insurance. How does that work? What is insured, the car or the driver? How are the premiums set? What about deductibles? When there is an accident who pays?
2016-09-16T10:17:57Z
UPDATE, Thanks to all of you. There is some good and helpful information here. I see now that it does not pertain to the liability issue at all.
I think what I can do is simply choose the largest vehicle and drive it all the time. The extra gas will be less by far than the cost of 3 policies at such a ridiculous premium. And this will work in either format.
Texas does not have such an insurance law. About a dozen states have what are called "no fault" car insurance laws (District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, and Utah). No fault insurance means that your own automobile insurer will pay some or all of your medical bills and lost earnings if you get into a car accident, regardless of who was at fault for the accident.
No fault insurance law should not be confused with filing an not at fault insurance claim. Let's say you had your vehicle parked on the street outside your house, at a grocery store, or anywhere, and you returned to your vehicle to find it was damaged. If the at fault motorist did not leave a note and was no where to be found you would have to file a not at fault claim on using your collision coverage. You would then have to pay the set deductible on your collision coverage to have the damage repaired. It is your choice to set your deductibles at whatever cost you wish. The higher the set deductible the lower the monthly, and vice versa as Re Vera kindly suggests. If you do not have collision coverage on the vehicle you would then have to pay the damage costs out of pocket. BTW, filing a not at fault claim will rarely ever increase your insurance premium costs.
When there is an accident who pays? The at fault motorist of course. However, if the at motorist does not have insurance coverage you would then have to use your under-insured/not insured motorist coverage to recoup the damage costs. Or, again, if the other motorist left the scene your collision coverage would have to take care of the repairs.
You can get no-fault insurance in Texas, but it's an optional add on.
That particular wording, no-fault insurance, is kind of totally misleading. Where I live (Ontario), they use the no-fault system for most injuries and vehicle damage claims, but they stopped calling it no-fault. Thank god.
No-fault coverage in basic (very basic) terms, means everyone is covered under their own policy no matter who is at fault for the damage. It does not mean nobody is responsible for a crash, it just means everyone claims under their own policy. The opposite is called the tort system, which is used in Texas. Under the tort system, the owner of the responsible vehicle is liable for any loss or damage their vehicle causes. Both systems work in the same way, because both involve people claiming compensation for loss or damage, but one of them requires fewer lawyers.
You can buy no-fault coverage in Texas. If you buy PIP / Accident Benefits coverage, it will cover you for stuff like medical bills and lost wages even if the accident was your fault. You can buy Uninsured Motorist coverage and Collision coverage, which covers you for lots of at-fault and not-at-fault damage.
There really is no such thing as a cheaper system in the big picture. Michigan uses the no-fault system, and Michigan drivers pay more for insurance (on average) than drivers in Texas. But drivers in Texas generally pay more for insurance than drivers in Ontario, and Ontario uses (mostly) the no-fault system. If the pattern looks a little bit totally confusing, that's because it is.
The first thing you need to know about insurance is that the answer to any question is extremely complicated and can change depending on those little nit-picky details. Insurance questions are never answered with a simple yes or no, they're always a yes with an if and a no with a but.
It makes perfect sense for the premium on each successive car to cost almost as much as the first car. Why? Because you need a policy for EACH POSSIBLE POINT OF LOSS, that is, for each vehicle. You may only be able to drive one at a time, but if you wreck the first car, then get in the second one the next day and wreck it, the insurance company will still have TWO wrecked cars to process a claim for.
To you, the points they use to set your premium may not make sense, but in the grand scheme of the cost to insure you, they do. People who jump around insurance companies and who don't pay bills on time are going to cost more to do business with. Statistically, they also tend to be reckless drivers who have more claims and for larger amounts. Age and home ownership statistically are relevant, because older people and homeowners are less likely to be in accidents. If you're a 30-something accountant with a mortgage, you are likely going to be a more cautious driver and consequently cheaper to insure than a 16 year old.
No fault insurance means that if you get in a wreck, your insurance company is responsible to pay only YOUR losses. It simplifies battles over who was at fault in an accident and makes the paperwork go faster. But as far as insurance rates go, it doesn't change anything. Minimum coverage and deductibles are partially set by state law, but are largely negotiable with your insurance companies. Low deductible policies will have a higher premium, and vice versa.
No fault is confusing, since it applies (only) to medical bills, lost wages and injuries to the policyholder and it's passengers only, If, injured in an accident.
In almost all states, no fault has NOTHING to do with negligence/fault, which applies to tort law. So, if at fault, then your insurance pays under liability for any vehicle damages and injuries to any passengers in the vehicle you are found responsible for (fault). Under liability there is NO deductible, since it pays for (other) vehicle/property damages you caused.
Under collision or comprehensive, do you have a deductible that you (chose) when you purchase insurance that pays for YOUR vehicle that is damaged in an accident.
Yes, with multiple vehicles, you can only drive 1 at a time, so each vehicle is insured each. In most cases, say with 4 vehicles, you will drive the one if parked at the end of the drive way since convenient not to move others to drive. Granted in your case, you have 2 you used in "certain" conditions.
With "most" insurance, with each vehicle they give you a multi car discount, like 10% or more with more vehicles. Just like if you have your homeowners and car in 1 company will give you a multi car/home discount for all your business.
Do you have an agent/broker that can do business in many companies? If not, suggest you find one, since in your case with 2 vehicles of the farm truck and travel trailer, they might be able to adjust your rates due to the limited use, which only they can do by "adjusting" or noting to the computer that they may not be used buy certain limited times/months during the year.
These are questions you ask of a "good" agent/broker for ways to cut costs. They can also explain why or how to reduce any costs.