Racine Car Insurance
If you live in Racine, Wisconsin, there are mandatory laws that say that all drivers are required by law to purchase and continuously carry an auto insurance policy. Failure to insure a vehicle once it is registered or to keep up on the payments can lead to serious penalties that can become much more expensive than the standard insurance plan.
This is why consumer education is so very important in the insurance marketplace.
If you are new to Racine car insurance, it is time to learn about not just the requirements, but also about how rates are determined and how you can save off of your premiums.
Reading through driver handbooks and trying to decipher the meaning of the vehicle code in the law books can be extremely difficult for the average person with no industry training. This consumer handbook has been compiled to combat the problem and to educate consumers with information that is accurate, honest, and straightforward.
Read this consumer guide to Racine car insurance and feel confident as you shop the market.
What are the Racine car insurance requirements?
In Racine, you are required to comply with Wisconsin vehicle code. The law does not change from city to city or territory to territory.
As long as you live in Wisconsin, you will be required to follow the mandatory car insurance laws.
In the state of Wisconsin, residents most often comply by purchasing liability insurance, but in other limited situations, people may choose to post security or a surety bond with the Department of Transportation so that they can self-insure.
Why is buying insurance the best option?
Many believe that car insurance it is an unnecessary product to buy. This could not be further from the truth.
The statistics gathered by the Insurance Research Council show that the average driver will be involved in an accident one every 17 years and that the average claim costs $23,450.
Paying for the cost of medical bills and vehicle repairs out-of-pocket can be financially damaging for a lifetime if the accident is serious enough. When you have auto insurance, you will have a contractual agreement with a large insurer that collects a premium and promises to pay a specific amount if certain situations happen.
You will get to choose which situations you want to be covered against. Instead of handing over the large deposit that you could save and earn interest on, you will pay a small premium for the coverage that you hope you never have to use.
Auto insurance provides you with protection, but it also gives you peace of mind that a security deposit will not.
How much car insurance will I be required to carry?
Officials in the state of Wisconsin have set liability auto insurance requirements that change from time to time. If you are moving to Racine from another state, the requirements that you must comply with are different.
Each state has its own insurance requirements that could be very similar or very different depending on the system the state runs off of.
In Wisconsin, which operates on a tort-based system, everyone is responsible for paying for the injuries and property damages that they cause while driving. This is why you must have liability insurance and uninsured motorist coverage in Wisconsin when you are a vehicle owner.
Liability Auto Insurance
Liability insurance includes two different coverage options: Property Damage (PD) and Bodily Injury (BI).
Property Damage will pay for the damage that is sustained to third-party property. This could include cars, lampposts, benches, gates, fences, buildings and more.
Bodily Injury pays for the cost to treat injuries that are sustained in the accident by either pedestrians or people in the other cars. Keep in mind that BI does not pay for your injuries or those of people in your car. Here is the minimum liability you must carry:
- Bodily Injury - $25,000 per one person, no less than $50,000 per accident
- Property Damage - $10,000 for all damages
Uninsured Motorist Insurance
Driving without insurance or a self-insurance certificate is illegal, but not everyone complies with any law. The IRC has found that about 11.7 percent of the drivers in the state do not have insurance. This means, based on the population in Racine, that 9,220 drivers in Racine alone are putting you at risk on a daily basis.
To combat the problem, state officials have passed a law stating that all drivers must carry uninsured motorist protection.
This coverage will pay for your medical bills when you are hit by someone with no insurance or someone who does not have enough coverage to pay your bills. It essentially acts like the liability insurance that the driver does not have and pays per person and per accident.
You must have no less than 25/50/10 of uninsured motorist protection, and you can elect to carry higher limits up to the liability coverage on your policy.
What other types of coverage are available?
Requirements are not the only type of insurance that you can buy. In fact, other forms of coverage will provide you with added protection so that you do not have to spend your own money to recover from an auto accident.
Here are additional coverage types to consider:
- Medical Payments - Will pay to cover immediate medical expenses. The limit is on a per person basis and will pay for you and your passengers. Medical payments kick in no matter who is at-fault for the accident.
- Comprehensive - Pays to repair or replace your car, up to its fair market value in Racine, if it is stolen, vandalized, catches fire, or damaged in a loss where the vehicle is not being driven.
- Collision - Pays for the cost to repair or to replace the covered car when it is damaged or totaled in an accident. It will pay if you, a listed driver, or a permissive user is driving unless the driver is excluded. You will have to pay for your deductible before coverage kicks in.
- Towing and Labor - Acts like a roadside assistance coverage. Will pay for towing, battery delivery, flat repair and more. This coverage is not limited to when you have an accident.
- Rental Car - Will pay for a replacement car while your vehicle is disabled because of a covered claim. If you have a loss that you are at-fault for, you will have to pay for your rental out-of-pocket unless you have supplemental rental car cover.
How are Racine insurance rates calculated?
Auto insurance rates are not solely based on your driving record.
While you driving record and your accident history are very important, there are a handful of other factors that are considered and that will affect your rates.
Knowing how rates are calculated is very important for the consumer.
Every company has their own rating system, but most use the same types of information to set rates. Here is a breakdown of some of the most important factors that will affect your premiums:
- Age and gender
- Marital status
- Years of driving experience
- Vehicle type of safety record
- Location and garaging territory
- Annual mileage
- How the vehicle is used primarily
- Who drives each vehicle
- Prior insurance history
- Credit history
You may not think that all of these factors are important, but insurers spend millions of their money to review data and analyze trends.
These professionals are called actuaries and they have found that each and every factor will either make someone more or less of a risk. The more likely that you are to file a claim, the more you will pay on your insurance premium.
How to Save Money
There are a lot of ways to save money on insurance without lowering your premiums. You can choose higher deductibles, exclude high-risk drivers, take driver classes, get multi-car discounts, carpool to lower your mileage and more.
The most effective way to keep your premiums down is to comparison shop so that you find the insurer that prices people in your class the best.
The quickest way to comparison shop is to use a rating tool that can be accessed online from your home. These online rating tools will show you the rates with the leading auto insurance companies in Racine so that you only have to enter all of your details once.
After you enter the information, instantly review your car insurance quotes and then you can choose which insurer has the most competitive rates.
Enter your zip code below to access car insurance rates from providers in your area today!