Southwest Car Insurance
If you live in the Southwest and you are shopping for car insurance, it is important to begin comparison shopping before you buy a policy that is not competitively priced. While price is extremely important to all consumers, there are several considerations that knowledgeable consumers must make before buying coverage from a Southwest car insurance company.
Not all insurance companies are created equal, and finding a top-rated company that does more than just take your money is important.
Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, California, Texas and Nevada are all broadly defined as the American Southwest, and each of these states have their own unique insurance requirements and their own unique rating systems.
As a consumer buying a such a complex financial product like auto insurance, it is important to take your time to learn about mandatory requirements and rating systems before you start shopping. Use the FREE comparison tool above to start your search!
Here is your guide to Southwest car insurance so that you can equip yourself with the information you need to make the best purchasing decision regardless of which state you live in.
Know the Coverage Requirements in Your State
Southwest car insurance requirements are not all the same across the board. Each state has its own unique auto insurance laws, and will be required to buy a minimum amount of liability coverage to satisfy these laws.
You may also be required to purchase Uninsured Motorist protection if this is a state requirement and there are high rates of uninsured drivers in your region. To find the rates of uninsured drivers in your state, use the charts published by the Insurance Research Council so that you can decide if you need coverage even when it is not required.
Uninsured Motorist may cost more money, but it is designed to help you if someone without insurance causes you injury.
In addition to liability coverage, some states, like Utah in the Southwest, operate under a no-fault system. When you live in a no-fault state, you are required to purchase basic Personal Injury Protection of $3000 to pay for your own injuries if you are involved in an accident.
It is extremely important to learn about the limits that you must carry before you begin retrieving quotes. If you are not familiar with the requirements in your state, you can use an exhaustive chart published by Cars.com the compare all of the requirements across the board to see all of the state minimums at once.
If you would like to access only the requirements in your state, visit your state's Department of Insurance website directly. You can also find coverage requirements through each company licensed to do business in your state.
Is auto insurance legally required throughout the Southwest?
If you are wondering if you can legally drive without insurance, the answer is typically no. All states in the Southwest have their own unique financial responsibility laws, and to satisfy these laws drivers must provide proof of a minimum amount of auto insurance coverage.
There is always an exception to the rule that you should be familiar with if you like to know alternatives.
In states where financial responsibility must be proven, you can also file a cash deposit with the department to prove that you have the assets to pay liability claims if you cause an accident. The amount of the deposit required to eliminate the insurance requirement varies, but it is thousands of dollars at a minimum.
Because the average person does not have $15,000 of disposable cash, it is much more practical to buy Southwest auto insurance coverage.
What happens if you drive without insurance?
Failure to buy insurance or prove financial responsibility in another acceptable way can land you in hot water with the law or the Department of Motor Vehicles in your state. If you drive uninsured in any state in the Southwest, you can be issued a citation.
If convicted of driving without coverage, you will have a misdemeanor on your record. You will also be ordered to pay a fine. The fines for driving without insurance vary by state. The amount of the fine can also range depending on your driving history and whether or not you have been convicted of driving without insurance in the past. In some serious cases you may be sentenced to up to 6 months of jail time.
You can also be punished for driving without insurance even when you are not cited or involved in an accident. Most states in the Southwest have an electronic verification system that all insurance companies licensed to do business must report to when a policy is purchased, cancelled or non-renewed. Some of these states that have these systems include: California, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Nevada.
If the Motor Vehicle Department receives notice that your policy has cancelled and you have not purchased another policy, your plates will be suspended and you must pay to have them reinstated. You may also be required to file an SR-22 for financial responsibility. The penalties for driving without insurance can be severe.
It is much more affordable to purchase continuous auto insurance coverage so that you comply with the law and you pass the burden of pay for claims onto a company that can afford to do so.
Find a Financially Stable Company
Once you are familiarized with the coverage requirements in your Southwestern state, you will need to familiarize yourself with financial strength rankings. Companies that have poor financial strength rankings are vulnerable. This means that they may not have the ability to pay claims when they are filed or they may be on the verge of going out of business.
This often happens when a company does not charge residents in their state the appropriate premiums based on their likelihood of filing a claim.
If a company's financial statements, reports and debt shows that the company is secure, you have peace of mind in knowing that the insurer has money in reserves to cover the projected claims for the year so that you do not fall victim to denials that should be covered. This is why price is not always the most important factor that you should consider when buying Southwest car insurance.
How to Assess Southwest Financial Strength
There are independent rating agencies that are experts in financial statements and assess the strength of all companies that do business in the insurance industry. Luckily, the financial rankings are public record and available to consumers so that all consumers are equipped to make smart decisions.
Make sure you rely on the rankings of reputable independent agencies and not on information provided by the company itself. You can find unique rankings through AM Best, Standard & Moddy's and Moody's. Just be sure that you know what each ranking means before you rely on the grades to make a decision.
Find a Company With a Low Complaint Index
A company's complaint index is a ratio that compares the number of complaints filed against a company to how much market share the company has in their region. If the index is high, it is a sign that the company has not been doing business fairly in their area.
If you would like to avoid unfair claims handling, delays, misrepresentation and fraud, you should review the company's complaint index.
You can find this information through the main page of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners website by entering the company name in the search bar. Here, you can access several complaint reports so that you know the classification and also how the company compares to others in the Southwest.
You can also see the result of the complaints and how the complaint was closed. It is very wise to use this information to your advantage as you price shop for auto insurance.
How to Retrieve Your Southwest Insurance Quotes
There are several ways to request premium quotations for auto insurance. Before you start price shopping, it can be helpful to look up the average expenditure for insurance in your state. After doing this, you can see if your personal quotes are close to this average by contacting a local agent, requesting quotes by phone or by using a rate comparison tool.
One of the major advantages of getting quotes through a rate comparison tool that is available for Southwest consumers is that you only must provide your information once to compare rates with several different companies.
Car insurance may be a complex financial product, but if you take the time to do your research you can feel confident that you know what you are buying. Research coverage requirements, auto insurers in your state and then pricing.
Once you select adequate coverage limits and the financially secure insurers, you can truly make the best purchase based on all of the facts and not just pricing alone. Use the FREE rate comparison tool, and start shopping for Southwest car insurance today to save money.