Haiden Fox Farmers Insurance Agent, collaboration with Tavia Jean Breeze Courier Reporter.
(Taylorville)-It is a requirement for all drivers in Illinois to have some form of car
insurance. Yet most who have auto insurance may need help understanding how it works. You might be overpaying for services you don’t need. On the flip side, you might be underpaying and need the proper coverage in the case of an accident. To legally operate a vehicle in Illinois, you must carry a minimum amount of auto insurance coverage. The State requires liability coverage of at least $25,000 per person and $50,000 per accident for bodily injury, and $20,000 for property damage.
Liability coverage will pay for another person’s medical expenses and property damage if you are at fault in an accident.
In addition to liability coverage, consider purchasing optional coverages, such as comprehensive coverage, collision coverage, medical coverage, and uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage. Comprehensive coverage pays for damage to your vehicle caused by something other than a collision, such as theft, vandalism, or weather-related incidents. Collision coverage helps pay for damages to your car if you are involved in an accident. Medical coverage pays you if you’re also injured in the accident.
Uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage pays for damages to you vehicle if the other driver does not have enough or any insurance to cover the costs of the accident. The amount of coverage you need is based on your circumstances, such as the type of vehicle you drive, your driving record, and the number of assets you have. It’s essential to shop around and compare quotes from different auto insurance companies to ensure you get the best coverage for your needs and budget.
The Breeze Courier contacted Haiden Fox for comments on common misconceptions surrounding auto insurance.
Once you have auto insurance, can you drive any car at any time?
“If you have insurance and decide to drive my car because I permitted you to and you get into an accident, your insurance would play “primary insurance.” It would be based on your policy, where my insurance would come in as secondary insurance and cover whatever yours didn’t. You can also get a “non-owners” policy which does those as mentioned earlier, but you don’t have a car. All of this being said, there may be other companies that wouldn’t cover you if you’re driving a vehicle that isn’t yours, or they may reduce your liability limits to the state minimum if a claim was to happen. I can only speak on Farmers’ Insurance companies in this regard. You can’t only buy insurance on one of your vehicles if you have multipleThey. They all need to be insured. In Illinois, every registered vehicle must have insurance, which gets reported to the Secretary of State. The Secretary of State monitors VIN and Registrations. If no insurance was reported to them on that specific VIN/Registration, they would issue a letter requiring proof of insurance on a specific date. Failure to provide proof of insurance or that the vehicle is in storage will suspend the vehicle registration.”
How often should you adjust your insurance, and why should you adopt
your policy?’
“Adjusting your policy a lot may result in added fees being applied to the policy. Ideally, your agent has built you a policy that covers you in every situation and you should only need to change it for things such as adding/removing a vehicle/driver or if you aren’t driving it as much/at all, such as placing a vehicle in storage for the winter.
Most major companies have coverage across the board for travel through the continental United States. Some policies even include ranges for Mexico & Canada. You can ask your agent if yours is already included in the policy. Changing a policy due to Finances is the most common, outside of adding/removing a vehicle. The world is turbulent, and prices are ever-changing; prices vary everywhere, so shopping for Auto insurance is recommended every year. Sometimes the costs might be similar, and you like your agent; sometimes, another company could save you hundreds, and your agent should understand.” – Haiden.
Why is it essential to pay for the proper amount of coverage?
“Most folks need to learn or understand that having enough coverage can easily protect you from being sued due to an auto accident. Carrying just the bare minimum can result in being sued for whatever amount is over that threshold. For example, A 2023 Ford F150 MSRP is $33,695. If you have State minimum Property damage at $20,000, you will get sued for $13,695; if you hit one of those and total it and that’s on the cheaper XL series. A Limited goes for $84,910, means you’d be sued for $64,910 that’s life-changing debt.” – Haiden.
What should we look for in a policy?
“Having minimal coverage for folks who don’t drive much is one thing. Their “risk” is low, but it doesn’t mean zero. The lowest I usually go in my office is $50,000/$100,000 bodily injury and $50,000 in property damage. I will give everyone $100,000 in property damage if possible. This also doesn’t mean you can’t be sued for medical bills, but it does give you a better chance at having enough coverage.
It’s better than having just $25,000 in Bodily Injury liability coverage, the state minimum for a single person in an accident. The Average cost for a hospital stay is $2,873/day, and the average time spent in a hospital is 4.6 days. That means if you hit someone and hurt them bad enough to be in the hospital, the total cost for just 4.5 days is already $12,928.50, not including any medicine, procedures, or any of that jazz. Couple that with the ambulance getting you there and it being anywhere from $1200-$2000 alone, and you’re quickly approaching the $25,000 limit on bare bones “we got you there and gave you a bed.” Medical coverage, and once it gets above that $25,000 mark, you become liable to be sued for whatever extra cost unless you have another coverage option, like an umbrella policy or something.” – Hayden
There are rumors about a radius limit for how far you can drive with
your insurance policy.
“To my understanding, there is no radius for auto coverage. States may require other things, like different liability limits and other endorsements needed if you move out of State. You must determine if your agent is licensed within the new State; If they are not, you must transfer or find a new agent in the State you are living. However, if you buy a policy in Illinois and then go on vacation to AZ for two weeks and get into an accident on the way back, your Illinois policy will still cover you. As for the smaller insurance companies you mentioned, no small companies sell radius-based insurance, to my knowledge. The small agencies you see, such as Pattersons Ins. Here in town, they are called “Insurance Brokers,” which means they are independent agents not tied to a specific company like myself. They can write business with whatever company they are appointed, Progressive, Erie, Bristol West, etc. But, they are still writing policies with Nationally Recognized insurance companies that, to my understanding, do not have “radius-limited.” coverages outside of the possible Mexico/Canada coverages I mentioned before.” – Haiden.
No matter what insurance company you choose to do business with, make sure you find an insurance agent you can trust and do your research, so you know what changes are being made in the insurance world. With the prices of everything changing, so too can your insurance premiums.
