Pennsylvania Car Insurance (QUOTES, COST & COVERAGE)

What Does Pennsylvania Car Insurance Cover?

Auto insurance covers three types of liabilities, or losses. They are:

1. Property – damage to or theft of vehicles.
2. Liability – the policyholders liability, or legal obligation for the property or bodily injury of others when the driver is at fault.
3. Injury – the medical treatment, long term care, loss of wages, or even funeral expenses of anyone who is injured in an accident.

Pennsylvania requires that drivers have liability insurance. California car insurance policies generally are renewed on a biannual or annual basis.

Pennsylvania car insurance has many coverages – so it’s important to research the options, see what PA requires and what coverages are optional, and how each can protect you in the vent of an accident or other loss. PA auto insurance policies contains at least one or more of the following specific types of coverage and each option is priced separately (this is not an exhaustive list):

Bodily Injury Liability: This type of car insurance coverage protects the policy holder as well as any other drivers listed on the policy by covering medical costs for injuries caused to other motorists. Oftentimes, people will increase the minimum coverage to protect their other assets in the event that an injured motorist sues for additional damages because your automobile insurance will pay up to the limits on the policy – you are out of pocket for expenses that exceed those limits.

Medical Payments or Personal Injury Protection: Should injury to the policy holder or any other occupants of the insured vehicle occur in an accident, this portion of the auto insurance policy will cover the medical bills, lost wages and funeral costs. This option is also known as PIP (Personal Injury Protection).

Property Damage Liability: Property damage liability is the most common type of coverage option and one which is required by law. It covers damage caused by the policy holder (or anyone permitted to drive the insured vehicle) to another vehicle or other type of property such as signs, fences, telephone poles, buildings, etc.

Collision: This type of coverage offers protection for the policy holders vehicle if damage occurs as a result of an collision with another vehicle, object, or even if your vehicle ends up flipping over. Damages caused by potholes are also covered under collision coverage. Even if the policy holder is at fault, collision insurance will cover the repair for damages minus the deductible amount. If the policyholder is not at fault, the insurance company will attempt to recover the costs paid to its policyholder through the other motorists insurance company and if successful, will also reimburse its policyholders’ paid deductible amount too.

Comprehensive: Comprehensive insurance covers the cost of theft of the vehicle or damages/repairs caused by anything other than another vehicle or object. Damages such as those caused by fires, natural disasters, bombs, vandalism, or collisions with animals such as deer. This option also covers shattered or cracked windshields. Both collision and comprehensive coverage are usually optional however if a car is leased, many times the lender will require this type of coverage in addition to liability.

Uninsured and Underinsured Motorist Coverage: If an accident occurs with an uninsured driver or if the other driver does not have sufficient coverage to pay for the full extent of damages, uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage will cover the outstanding expenses. This option also protects the policyholder if involved in a hit and run accident or if hit while a pedestrian.

Gap Insurance: This protects you if your car is totaled and you owe more on the loan or lease than the insurance company pays out. It is usually taken on cars that are 3 years old or less.

Rental Reimbursement: This coverage pays for a rental car if your auto is in the repair shop following a covered comprehensive or collision claim.

Roadside Assistance (Towing & Labor): Much like AAA, this coverage offers a jump start, gas delivery, a flat tire change, even the services of a qualified locksmith of you break down.

What Pennsylvania Car Insurance Doesn’t Cover

Also know as exclusions, which remove risk from the insurer, car insurance typically does not cover:

• Personal belongings inside your auto. Do if someone breaks into your car and steals your laptop – the window would be covered but the computer would not.
• People who live in the same home as you but are not listed on the policy. A basic car insurance policy generally covers you and other people who don’t live with you and who have permission to occasionally use your vehicles. Members of your household must be listed on your policy to have coverage.
• The balance of your car loan is your vehicle is totaled. See gap insurance above.

What Are Pennsylvania‘s Financial Responsibility Requirements?

According to the CA Department of Motor Vehicles:

Financial responsibility (commonly known as PA auto insurance) is required on all vehicles operated or parked on Pennsylvania roadways. You must carry evidence of financial responsibility in your vehicle at all times and it must be provided as specified below when:

• Requested by law enforcement.
• Renewing vehicle registration.
• The vehicle is involved in a traffic collision.

Insurance companies in Pennsylvania are required by law (Pennsylvania Vehicle Code (CVC) §16058) to electronically report private-use vehicle insurance information to the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). Electronic reporting of insurance information and programming changes that took effect in 2006, allow DMV to monitor insurance coverage and take appropriate actions through vehicle suspension as required by law. PA law enforcement and court personnel have electronic access to insurance status on DMV records.

What Are the Minimum Liability Insurance Requirements for Private Passenger Vehicles?

Pennsylvania Insurance Code §11580.1b says:

• $15,000 for injury/death to one person.
• $30,000 for injury/death to more than one person.
• $5,000 for damage to property.

Liability insurance compensates a person other than the policy holder for personal injury or property damage. Comprehensive or collision insurance does not meet vehicle financial responsibility requirements.

How Much Does Pennsylvania Car Insurance Cost?

How much does Pennsylvania car insurance cost? The average price of auto insurance varied widely based on certain factors. The premiums vary depending on the company and their underwriting rules, and it depends on the coverages and deductible selected. Following are some of the main factors that go into the price of a policy:

• Geographical location – The more dangerous your PA location is the higher premiums you will pay as there is a higher probability for claims. If you live in a highly populated urban area (like Los Angeles, San Diego or San Francisco), accidents and insurance claims happen more often and rate are higher.
• Age – Typically drivers under 25 pay more because statistically shown to be inexperienced behind the wheel, easily distracted and to crash more often. They are on of the riskiest category of drivers to insure.
• Gender – Data shows males are more likely to crash, hence men’s premiums are higher.
• Marital status – Married people have been found to be less of a risk to insurers than singles, including divorced or widowed drivers.
• Years of driving experience – Inexperienced drivers pose more risk. That is why under 25 have some of the highest rates.
• Driving record – Drivers with a clean driving record qualify for better rates and can be eligible for a safe driver discount.
• Claims history – More claims = more premium. Insurers actually count frequency (how many claims in a time frame) more than severity (how large the claim was).
• Credit history – The better credit you have, the lower your rates. Most insurers look at credit and weight it heavily.
• Previous insurance coverage – Continual auto insurance history (or at least for the last 6 months) can help get you a better rate.
• Vehicle type – Purchase price, theft rate, cost of repairs, accident rate and safety tests weigh heavily in car insurance cost.
• Vehicle use – A vehicle used to commute work poses more of a risk than the car you only take out of the garage on the weekends.
• Miles driven annually – The less you drive, the less risk you have of being in an accident.
• Coverages – The more coverage you choose with higher limits, the more it will cost you since the insurer is taking on additional risk.
• Deductibles – The deductible is your out of pocket cost before your policy kick in. Lower deductible = higher premium, and higher deductible = lower premium.

And Pennsylvania car insurance premiums after a DUI/DWI will always cost more.

PA Auto Insurance Quotes

Request a Pennsylvania Car Insurance quote in Anaheim, Bakersfield, Chula Vista, Concord, Corona, Elk Grove, Escondido, Fontana, Fremont, Fresno, Fullerton, Garden Grove, Glendale, Hayward, Huntington Beach, Irvine, Lancaster, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Modesto, Moreno Valley, Oakland, Oceanside, Ontario, Orange, Oxnard, Palmdale, Pasadena, Pomona, Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside, Roseville, Sacramento, Salinas, San Bernardino, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Ana, Santa Clara, Santa Clarita, Santa Rosa, Simi Valley, Stockton, Sunnyvale, Thousand Oaks, Torrance, Vallejo, Victorville, Visalia and all other cities in PA.

The Pennsylvania Department of Insurance

The PA Dept. of Insurance is the regulatory agency behind the insurance rules for the state of Pennsylvania. If you want to understand these rules, then this is definitely the agency that you need to focus on. Let’s start with limits within the state.

Pennsylvania Minimum Insurance Limits

• For auto insurance, Pennsylvania requires $15,000 per person and $30,000 per accident.
• For life insurance, there are certain regulations in place to determine how someone is able to get or offer life insurance, but there are no limits listed.
• For commercial insurance, insurance agents may offer broker or casualty insurance as well as covered property insurance, covered causes of loss, specified perils and open perils along with a number of coverage forms like builder’s risk, legal liability, building ordinance, glass, peak season, inflation guard and peak element.

PA Insurance Regulations

As for regular insurance regulations there are a lot of things that Pennsylvania provides that you can look up. For example, there are deadlines for the insurer to pay the claim or deny it, deadlines for submitting paperwork to prove a loss for insurance reimbursement, specific information your insurance company is required to give you and regulations on what information you have to provide to your insurance company.

One of the Pennsylvania regulations calls for you to be treated by your insurance company in good faith. This means that your insurer must be considered of your needs and must communicate completely and honestly with you about your policy and everything that you need to know about it in order to make a good decision. In turn, you are legally obligated to be honest and cooperative with your insurance company when it comes to your claim.

You should also be aware that your insurance company is required to offer prompt, honest and complete communications. The company and all of its representatives must respond to your communications within 15 calendar days with a complete response based upon the facts that are known.

Finally, be aware that your insurance company is required to have a fair claims process. Unless it is specified in your policy, you do not have to use the forms that are provided to you by your insurance provider in order to make a claim. You can create a list of losses on your own if you need to. In addition, insurers are not able to ask for unreasonable proof of loss. If you provide photographic evidence or video of items that you lost, insurers are not able to ask you to provide additional information.